Thu 20 Nov 15:00: Challenges and opportunities in understanding the dynamic behaviour of engineering materials under complex loading paths
In the automotive and transportation sectors, engineering materials are frequently subjected to impulsive loading during collision events. Understanding their behaviour under such conditions is essential for designing safer, more impact-resilient structures. However, current research often overlooks critical factors, such as the combined influence of complex loading paths, strain rate, and environmental conditions.
This seminar will explore two key areas: (i) state-of-the-art experimental techniques for investigating the behaviour of lightweight materials under complex loading and environmental conditions; and (ii) the potential of controlling stress wave synchronisation and timing, alongside data-driven modelling approaches.
- Speaker: Antonio Pellegrino, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Bath
- Thursday 20 November 2025, 15:00-16:00
- Venue: Seminar Room West, Room A0.015, Ray Dolby Centre, Cavendish Laboratory.
- Series: Physics and Chemistry of Solids Group; organiser: Stephen Walley.
Mon 27 Oct 18:00: Reflections on dementia research and ageing societies
Dementia is a topic of considerable public interest. How empirical evidence has contributed to this societal awareness and indeed fear will be covered in this talk. It will span research from the 1980s when not much was understood about dementia up to contemporary perspectives. The focus will be on the epidemiological and public health evidence base, and how this relates to the results published from clinical and lab based research. The findings from UK and other high income countries of reduced age specific prevalence (%) will be explored, and the implications of results from brain based studies that dementia is not inevitable in the presence of ‘alzheimer’ type changes. The role of inequalities, risk varying across countries and time and our knowledge about protective factors have strengthened during recent years, and the balance of high risk with whole population approaches to reducing risk for society will be considered.
- Speaker: Professor Carol Brayne CBE - Cambridge Institute of Public Health
- Monday 27 October 2025, 18:00-19:00
- Venue: Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre, Department of Chemistry.
- Series: Cambridge Philosophical Society; organiser: Beverley Larner.
Fri 06 Feb 08:45: Grand Rounds - soft tissue
Chaired by Laura Owen
- Speaker: Layla Thompson, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 06 February 2026, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Thu 20 Nov 13:00: Targeting the interplay between oncogenic RAS signaling and tumour immune evasion in lung cancer
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Professor Julian Downward, Francis Crick Institute
- Thursday 20 November 2025, 13:00-14:00
- Venue: CRUK CI Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CRUK CI) Seminars in Cancer; organiser: Kate Davenport.
Thu 04 Jun 17:00: Positional encodings in LLMs
Positional encodings are essential for transformer-based language models to understand sequence order, yet their influence extends far beyond simple position tracking. This talk explores the landscape of positional encoding methods in LLMs and reveals surprising insights about how these architectural choices shape model behavior.
We begin with the fundamental challenge: why attention mechanisms require explicit positional information. We then survey the evolution of encoding strategies, from sinusoidal approaches to modern techniques like RoPE, examining their architectural implications and trade-offs.
The talk delves into how these different encoding strategies fundamentally shape model architectures and representations. We analyze the specific limitations and trade-offs of each approach, examining how positional information propagates through transformer layers and influences the learned representations.
- Speaker: Valeria Ruscio
- Thursday 04 June 2026, 17:00-17:45
- Venue: Lecture Theatre 2, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building.
- Series: Foundation AI; organiser: Pietro Lio.
Tue 21 Oct 11:15: Title TBC
Abstract TBC
- Speaker: Dr. Weiyang Wang (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)
- Tuesday 21 October 2025, 11:15-12:00
- Venue: TBC.
- Series: Hills Coffee Talks; organiser: Charles Walker.
Fri 12 Dec 13:00: Seminars in Cancer Please note this seminar is on a Friday
Abstract not available
Please note this seminar is on a Friday
- Speaker: Andrea Sottoriva, Human Technopole
- Friday 12 December 2025, 13:00-14:00
- Venue: CRUK CI Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CRUK CI) Seminars in Cancer; organiser: .
Wed 03 Dec 14:30: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Professor Dario Alfè, UCL
- Wednesday 03 December 2025, 14:30-15:30
- Venue: Unilever Lecture Theatre, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry.
- Series: Theory - Chemistry Research Interest Group; organiser: Lisa Masters.
Wed 19 Nov 14:30: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Dr Tomoaki Yagi, RIKEN
- Wednesday 19 November 2025, 14:30-15:30
- Venue: Unilever Lecture Theatre, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry.
- Series: Theory - Chemistry Research Interest Group; organiser: Lisa Masters.
Wed 12 Nov 14:30: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Dr Alex Epstein, University of Cambridge
- Wednesday 12 November 2025, 14:30-15:30
- Venue: Unilever Lecture Theatre, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry.
- Series: Theory - Chemistry Research Interest Group; organiser: Lisa Masters.
Wed 26 Nov 14:30: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Dr Roshan Kumar Maharana
- Wednesday 26 November 2025, 14:30-15:30
- Venue: Unilever Lecture Theatre, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry.
- Series: Theory - Chemistry Research Interest Group; organiser: Lisa Masters.
Thu 12 Mar 14:00: Title to be confirmed Host - Marco Geymonat
Abstract not available
Host - Marco Geymonat
- Speaker: Dr Simonetta Piatti from Centre de Recherche en Biologie Cellulaire de Montpellier
- Thursday 12 March 2026, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: Biffen Lecture theatre tbc and Zoom.
- Series: Genetics Seminar ; organiser: Caroline Newnham.
Thu 29 Jan 14:00: Title to be confirmed Host - Aylwyn Scally
Abstract not available
Host - Aylwyn Scally
- Speaker: Dr James DiFrisco from The Francis Crick Institute, London
- Thursday 29 January 2026, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: Biffen Lecture theatre tbc and Zoom.
- Series: Genetics Seminar ; organiser: Caroline Newnham.
Thu 22 Jan 14:00: Title to be confirmed Host - Lin Wang
Abstract not available
Host - Lin Wang
- Speaker: Professor Aleksandra Walczak from Laboratoire de physique, l’École Normale Supérieure, Paris
- Thursday 22 January 2026, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: Biffen Lecture theatre tbc and Zoom.
- Series: Genetics Seminar ; organiser: Caroline Newnham.
Thu 30 Apr 14:00: Title to be confirmed Host - Ben Steventon
Abstract not available
Host - Ben Steventon
- Speaker: Professor Rebecca Heald, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Berkeley
- Thursday 30 April 2026, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: Biffen Lecture theatre tbc and Zoom.
- Series: Genetics Seminar ; organiser: Caroline Newnham.