Brains at the Bevy

What is the Brighton Aquifer, how does it affect the water you drink and how can we protect it?

7 June 2023, Professor Martin Smith and Susie Howells   

Road surface water is a major cause of pollution, carrying metals and hydrocarbons as well as particles from tyres off the road system and into the surrounding natural environment. An estimated 365,000 people rely on the aquifer of the Brighton Chalk Block for their drinking water. In this talk Professor Martin Smith will present his research on flow through the chalk aquifer, and how it influences groundwater chemistry and pollutant transport. 

Professor Martin Smith of the University of Brighton and Susie Howells of The Aquifer Partnership will do a joint talk about a collaborative project with the Living Coast Biosphere, with the support of UNESCO, which will explore how the Wild Park rainscape works to remove pollutants and improve water quality. This will show how well the approach works, to promote it to other urban areas, and to help improve the design of future sustainable drainage schemes. 

Launched in 2016, The Aquifer Partnership (TAP) is a collaboration between Brighton & Hove City Council, the Environment Agency, South Downs National Park Authority and Southern Water to protect the aquifer of the Brighton chalk block. 

 Professor Martin Smith is Professor of Geochemistry, a geologist, geochemist and mineralogist, and is the Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Exchange in the School of Applied Sciences.

Why some people live to be one hundred?

4 October 2023, Professor Richard Faragher   

Why do some people live to be over a hundred and remain in good health while others develop illnesses in their seventies? Is it down to genetics? How important are lifestyle decisions? In this talk Richard Faragher, Professor of Biogerontology at the University of Brighton, will discuss some of the big unanswered questions that remain in the biology of ageing. He will discuss the things that can extend a healthy life, from exercise to a good diet, but also why the experts agree that there is something special about the biology of humans who survive more than a century, despite sometimes not having led particularly healthy lives. 

 Professor Richard Faragher is Professor of Biogerontology, School of Applied Sciences and Centre for Stress and Age-Related Disease 

Stress and Cancer Mind/Body Interactions 

1 November 2023, Dr Mel Flint

During the COVID-19 pandemic increased levels of stress were reported globally due to social isolation, lockdowns, and job losses. Exposure to psychological stress produces a physiologic response involving the release of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. While our bodies adapt to acute stress, prolonged exposure to stress due to chronic stressors may lead to long-term damage. These stressors generally result in an increased and prolonged release of stress hormones that may contribute to cancer initiation, progression and spread. We will discuss the evidence from our lab that stress can contribute to cancer progression and drug treatments and what we can do to reduce this.

Dr Mel Flint is a Reader in Cancer Research and is the leader of a stress and breast cancer program and section head for Therapeutics at the University of Brighton.

Doris Day: from “most everything girl in Hollywood” to “most misunderstood girl in the world”  

6 December 2023, Professor Tamar Jeffers McDonald  

Having attained fame and success as a big band singer in the 1940s, Doris Day was signed by Warner Bros. and made her first movie in 1948. Within a few months of this first film appearance, the industry, critics and audiences alike became very excited about her, and she was swiftly hailed by one fan magazine as “the most everything girl in Hollywood”. So, what happened in her life and career to take her from this epithet, epitomising all that seemed positive and exciting, to the second in my title, “the most misunderstood girl in the world” by 1964?  

This talk will explore how Day’s stardom changed over time in Hollywood, from her first rapturous reception, through peaks and troughs of popularity, to a position where, by the end of her live film career towards the close of the 1960s, she was being viewed – by the media if not by audience members – in almost completely negative terms.  

 Professor Tamar Jeffers McDonald is Professor of Film History and Dean of the School of Art and Media at the University of Brighton.

The Waste Exchange - waste as an opportunity for creative interventions to empower change

7 February 2024, Rachael Taylor  

Rachael Taylor, a fashion academic, creative artist, and podcast host shares how her alternative economies research transformed into an opportunity to deliver creative interventions in the form of a venue titled The Waste Exchange at Shangri-la in Glastonbury Festival. The Waste Exchange is a method of turning rubbish into a currency for exchangeable experiences that inspire audiences to have a closer relationship with their rubbish, each other, and their environment.  

In 2022 at Shangri-la, the Waste Exchange expanded into a Re-use Waste Lab and Greenhouse Art Community Garden, with activities from skills swapping, community planting seeds of change, growing money with a message, transforming leftovers and reimagining scraps into vegetable dye for clothing waste.  Rachael will be joined by one of her team members - Sara Fernee who runs the Bevendean Community Garden, forest club sessions and works with Food partnerships and initiatives across Brighton. 

 Rachael Taylor is a lecturer in the School of Art and Media.

How do we cope with life’s ups and downs? by Professor Rusi Jaspal and Dr Claire Bloxsom

6 March 2024, Professor Rusi Jaspal and Dr Claire Bloxsom   

Life has its ups and downs. We sometimes feel uncertain about the future. Bad things happen. Psychologists have long studied how people are affected by life challenges and, crucially, how they attempt to cope when these challenges arise. Coping can take many shapes and forms. We may deny our reality, re-think what the ‘bad thing’ means or simply accept it and move on. How we cope depends on so many things: our personality, our upbringing, our environment and society – to name just a few. This talk explores psychological research on coping and provides some practical tips for confronting life challenges effectively.  

 Professor Rusi Jaspal is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research & Knowledge Exchange) and a Professor of Psychology

Previous talks in the series

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