This event is part of the Friday Forums, a series of events consisting of a panel followed by an audience discussion. It is a rule of the Forum that half of the time is given over to audience discussion. Do come along expecting to be involved in lively discussion and debate. All Friday Forums are free with lunch provided and are open to all Imperial members.
This Friday Forum, the last in the current series, is a mini-sequel to our celebrated 2023 conference ‘The Day of Doubt’. Join our provost, Professor Ian Walmsley CBE, and leading Anglican priest the Very Rev. Dr Mark Oakley, Dean of Southwark, in a debate about the way doubt and belief are each vital ingredients in the good research life.
This Friday Forum is less a debate about the religion-science interface, and more an exploration of the way ‘not-knowing’ and, ‘belief-even-when-the-evidence-is-thin’, are vital mindsets both in science and in religion.
What are we to make of this convergence? Does it suggest that science is as contemplative as religion; or that religion works with evidence as much as does science? How do scientists keep believing, even when the evidence falters and the pace slackens? And how does the church, or indeed Imperial College, sustain its people when the way is narrow?
In this debate Professor Walmsley and Dr Oakley are joined by Dr Mellor, director of the Science Communication Unit, Imperial College.
Panellists:
Professor Ian Walmsley CBE FRS, Provost of Imperial College London
Very Rev. Dr Mark Oakley, Dean of Southwark
Dr Felicity Mellor, Director of the Science Communication Unit, Imperial College London
Lunch: 12:20 – 13:00
Discussion: 13:00 – 14:00
Register
Register here.