Edge Hill University’s high profile speakers for Festival of Ideas

From public health to e-health and from poverty to psychology, Edge Hill University’s Festival of Ideas 2017 is set to welcome a host of high-profile guest speakers to discuss some of the biggest challenges facing the world today.

Exploring the themes of ‘Identity and Belonging’, the Festival of Ideas offers an exciting programme of debates, talks, films, exhibitions, round-tables and performances throughout June, looking at who we are, how we can shape our own identity and ultimately, find somewhere to belong.

Notable speakers include:

• Internationally renowned scientist Professor Janet Hemingway CBE, Director of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, who will present the Athena SWAN Annual Lecture. Janet will take the audience on an inspiring personal journey through her eminent 34-year career, touching on her work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and her ground-breaking discoveries about insecticide resistance in mosquitos that continue to save lives around the world today.
• Dr Liz Mear, Chief Executive of the Innovation Agency (Academic Health Science Network) will discuss the importance of new technologies in an increasingly over-stretched and under-funded NHS. With patients competing for beds and consultants’ time, can e-health solutions change the patient identity and reduce the strain on resources?
• Naomi Eisenstadt CB has spent her career working for a fairer and more equal society, and in her role as Independent Advisor on Poverty and Inequality, contributed to Fairer Scotland, a national discussion on how the country could be fairer, more equal place to live. Naomi, who has worked across government to address the needs of excluded groups in society, will discuss the process of producing her anti-poverty recommendations and the personal and professional challenges she faced along the way.
• Edge Hill’s own Professor Geoff Beattie will bring his uniquely witty and informative style to the Festival with a fascinating insight into the world of psychology and language. The former on-screen psychologist on ten series of Big Brother will look at the hidden aspects of language and what these reveal about our status, position and identity, and launch his latest publication, The Psychology of Language and Communication.

The Festival of Ideas 2017 features more than 40 FREE exciting events from 7-30 June.

For more details and to book tickets go to ehu.ac.uk/FOI