In Lecture 6, the final lecture of Seminar Series 2014-2015, Professor Bruce S. McEwen delivers a talk on how experience shapes the brain across the lifecourse; epigenetics, biological embedding and cumulative change. Professor McEwen is a neuroscientist at The Rockefeller University, New York. He studies the brain and in this lecture, discusses ho…

The fifth lecture of the 2014-2015 Seminar Series is delivered by Linda de Caesteker, Director of Public Health, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Linda talks about justice for women and in particular, the Commission for Women Offenders that she was part of. One of the recommendations of the Commission was to establish Community Justice Centres, along…

Lecture 4 of the 2014-2015 Seminar Series is delivered by Andy Whightman, self employed writer and researcher from Edinburgh. In the Seminar, Andy discusses land, society and economy, the importance of land not just as an economic resource but how it fits in with our sense of place and the impact of how we regulate land - it's ownership, it's use -…

In Lecture 3 of the 2014-2015 Seminar Series, Marilyn Waring, Professor of Public Policy AUT University, Auckland New Zealand, delivers a presentation on the Economics of Dignity. The dignity discussed concerns those people who are care givers and in particular, children and the question of children's agency. Professor Waring relates this to the ne…

In Lecture 2 of the 2014-2015 Seminar Series, Byron Vincent, writer and performer, delivers a talk on Nature, Nurture and Society. He first talks about his experience of growing up on sink estates and how environment often shapes behaviour and discuses what can be done about that. In the second part he talks about his diagnoses of Bipolar disorder …

Kevin Morgan, Professor of Governance at Cardiff University delivers this lecture on Urban Food Policy. He looks at the rise of the city as a new player in the food policy debate taking the experiences of London, New York, Toronto and distills some of the lessons learned for cities in UK.Af admin@spokenword.ac.uk (admin@spokenword.ac.uk)

Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister, talks about the work of the Go Well projectAf admin@spokenword.ac.uk (admin@spokenword.ac.uk)

In this lecture, Dr. Reeve, post-doctoral researcher at Oxford University, puts forward the case that austerity does harm health but that is a choice we make and we can change how our governments respond to the recession and recessions in the future.Af admin@spokenword.ac.uk (admin@spokenword.ac.uk)

Professor Ian Deary, Director of The Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology at Edinburgh University, presents this lecture on healthy cognitive ageing and principally, the research he has carried out on the Lothian birth cohorts of 1921 and 1936.Af admin@spokenword.ac.uk (admin@spokenword.ac.uk)

Dr Manie Sher a Director from the Tavistock Institution of Human Relations in London presents this lecture on 'Who are the real insane? Our perceptions of disordered thinking and behaviour as defences against imagination'. The Tavistock Institute is concerned with a broad range of issues through activities involving research, organisational and cha…

The first of the Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH) 2013-14 Seminars; Maria Pereira reflects on Money, Love and Virtue.Af admin@spokenword.ac.uk (admin@spokenword.ac.uk)

In the final lecture of the 2012/2013 series of lectures provided by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH), Professor Jane Macnaughton, Medical Humanities, University of Durham, discusses the links between Medical Humanities and the idea of the Fifth Wave in Public Health.Af admin@spokenword.ac.uk (admin@spokenword.ac.uk)

Professor Rachel Yahuda delivers a presentation on epigenetics and the effects of stress on the next generation.Af admin@spokenword.ac.uk (admin@spokenword.ac.uk)

Public health faces many challenges today and this will intensify in the future across many different areas – cost, technology, lifestyles, expectations etc. In this lecture, Dr Joe Ravetz proposes that we need new ways of thinking to deal with these challenges.Af admin@spokenword.ac.uk (admin@spokenword.ac.uk)

What of healing? In this lecture Dr David Reilly described his exploration of what might emerge from our efforts to improve health and wellbeing when we shift our focus from external interventions towards life's innate drive to restore equilibrium and wholeness. His approach was born of necessity over twenty years ago when he was working with patie…

Founded by MOBO award-winner Akala in 2009, The Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company is a musical theatre production social enterprise which offers young people a different view of the arts and ultimately of themselves. Working in a variety of settings including schools, prisons and community venues, engaging in music and literature, the Hip Hop Shakespeare…

Identifying biologic and behavioural causes of disease has been one of the central concerns of epidemiology for the past half century. This has led to the development of increasingly sophisticated conceptual and analytic approaches focused on the isolation of single causes of disease states. However, the growing recognition that (a) factors at mult…

Vorarlberg in Austria has 20 years of experience in experimenting with different ways and methods of promoting a more sustainable society. Out of this experience has emerged the idea of a 'learning institution' embedded in a tight-knit network of co-operating institutions. In this lecture Manfred Helrigl outlined a 'philosophy of self-organization'…

We all blame our genes for many of our features, behaviours and illnesses. Recent studies suggest that the environment before birth is also a major influence on the risk of ill-health across the lifespan and perhaps into a further generation. This process, called ‘developmental programming’, has been studied intensively in recent years and is begin…

Very few people argue with the need to address the social determinants of health and much effort has already been made at national and international level to reduce persistent health inequities between and within countries. However, global health inequities continue to widen, as the effectiveness and quality of programmes vary considerably, sometim…

Since 2010 the University of Strathclyde, the University of Herat and the NGO PeaceWaves International Network have been collaborating on two projects funded by the British Council. The first, under the scheme called DelPHE and started in September 2010, is a three year collaborative research project titled Afghan Civil Society's opinion and sugges…

Since 2010 the University of Strathclyde, the University of Herat and the NGO PeaceWaves International Network have been collaborating on two projects funded by the British Council. One of these collaborative projects is under the scheme called INSPIRE International Strategic Partnership and started in January 2011. The focus of this project is to …

A growing number of people, including millions from Britain, have been entering a global precariat, part of an emerging class structure shaped by globalisation. In this lecture, drawing on his new book, The Precariat: A New Dangerous Class, Professor Standing examined the labour market dynamics that underpin the growth of the precariat and set out …

Seminar Series 7 concluded on Tuesday 10 May 2011 at St Andrew's in the Square, Glasgow. Everyone faces stressful experiences. They are facts of life. Not everyone handles stressful experiences in quite the same way, however. And not all stressful experiences are the same. Some are brief. Others are chronic. Some are psychological. Others are physi…

The fifth seminar in Series 7 took place on Wednesday 13 April 2011 at the Trades Hall of Glasgow. Public policy debates in industrialized societies tend to evolve around two instrumental subsystems: the economy and the welfare state. The ultimate goal of these subsystems - the well-being of citizens - receives very little attention. It seems as if…

The 11th Healthier Future Forum took place on Thursday 31 March 2011 at Glasgow Science Centre. Taking the focus of 'a resilient Glasgow', this event presented indicators of progress and drew upon newly developed conceptual models to improve understanding about Glasgow's health. Delegates were encouraged to think about Glasgow's past, its present a…

The fourth seminar in Series 7 took place on Tuesday 8 March 2011 at the Lighthouse, Glasgow. It has become all too evident in recent months that the world, as well as local society, is being subjected to an increasing pace of shocks. These range from natural events, such as earthquakes, eruptions, super-storms and large scale flooding, to societal…

The third seminar of Series 7 took place on Tuesday 8 February 2011 at the City Halls in Glasgow. It was Plato who first observed that human beings naturally integrate the true, the good and the beautiful. We still observe this in our own lives when we are allowed to do so. Yet, the true (as manifested in the ideologies of scientism and economism) …

The first Seminar Series event of 2011 took place on Wednesday 19 January at the Teacher Building, Glasgow. Hazel Henderson spoke live from Florida via webcast. At the seminar Hazel discussed the implications of recognising global finance as a commons for re-structuring our current global casinos. She explored how to restore the purpose of finance …

The first seminar in this Series took place on Thursday 18 November 2010 at the Lighthouse. The ATLAS Collaboration will conduct experiments at the very edge of science, using one of four detectors located on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The Collaboration consists of over 3000 scientist working in over 174 research institutes and univer…

Adam Kahane delivered the last seminar from this series. His lecture was based on his assertion that the two methods most frequently employed to solved our toughest social problems - relying on violence and aggression, or submitting to endless negotiation and compromise - are fundamentally flawed and that the seemingly contradictory drives behind t…

At the fifth lecture of this Seminar Series, David Gustave, an Educational Motivator from the children's charity 'Kid's Company' delivered a seminar based on both personal biography and professional experience. He spoke about the needs of young people in the UK today, and how their needs can often be wrongly judged. He spoke about how young people …

The fourth lecture of the sixth Seminar Series was delivered by Wayne Elliot, Head of Health forecasting at the Met Office. The presentation given by Wayne was called 'Impact of weather on human health - current and future issues' and was deliverd at the Lighthouse, Glasgow. Those who attended this event heard about the work of the Met Office in re…

This lecture took place at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Economic growth is supposed to deliver rising prosperity: higher incomes increasing wellbeing and leading to prosperity for all. But this conventional formula is failing. Growth has delivered its benefits, at best unequally. Moreover, the ecological and social conse…

On Monday 27 April, at the CCA Glasgow, Shakti Maira provided his presentation on Nested Realtionships - Beauty, Aesthetics, Art and Happiness.Af admin@spokenword.ac.uk

In this lecture Dr Burns reflects that recent trends show relative improvements in some Scottish health indices compared to other countries. However, health inequality remains an obstinate challenge in Scotland, with the greatest difficulties found largely in the Clydeside conurbation. The policy implications of this and the findings of recent rese…

Recent demographic trends suggest that demands on healthcare will increase to such an extent that no matter how efficient healthcare professionals are, they will never be able to provide enough care in light of the ageing population and increasing prevalence of chronic ill-health. This gap between the need for care and the size of the workforce cou…

Talking Cities – The Micropolitics of Urban Space From Kevin Macleod to Prince Charles, it seems everyone is talking cities. What makes an eco-town or city? What is sustainable design? Architecture and happiness? Perhaps more importantly, what does inclusiveness, equality and diversity mean in the built environment? Place-making, the new term on th…

Glasgow Centre for Population Health Seminar Series 6.Af admin@spokenword.ac.uk

We’ve got the future in our hands: Are we up to it? There is mounting evidence that the demands of everyday life in these complex and uncertain times is presenting humanity with both a threat to survival and also an opportunity for evolutionary transformation. Is humanity being pushed beyond our limits to cope or are we instead on the cusp of a bre…

The determinants of 'happiness' and its distribution both domestically and internationally suggest that a more appropriate target for policy is 'unhappiness', which responds to several forms of public action. But setting happiness as an objective does suggest some policy priorities. These include non-material forms of recognition, taxation of posit…

Julian Tudor Hart and David Donnison have been outstanding contributors to the British welfare state and the NHS since its beginning. In this conversation they reflect upon their experience in a period of considerable change in accountability, professionalism, democracy and ask do we still live in a generous society? In the light of all this, what …

By placing too high a value on the material aspects of life, English speaking nations put themselves at twice the risk of mental disorder over their mainland European counterparts. This overemphasis on materialism has its roots in the ideologies and policies of the Thatcher administration in the UK and the Reagan administration in the USA. Through …

Individual differences in response to stressful experiences are a hallmark of the human condition. The same experiences that some people find aversive are considered neutral or rewarding by others. Paradoxically, experiences that are rewarding can also be defined as stressful because they activate stress hormone systems, such as the hypothalamic pi…

Looking back over the twentieth century we can see many examples of utopian schemes which have inadvertently brought disruption to millions; from compulsory ‘extended family’ villages in Tanzania, collectivisation in Russia, Le Corbusier’s urban planning, the Great Leap Forward in China and agricultural ‘modernization’ in the tropics. Why do well-i…

Humanity has now become as powerful a geological agent in shaping the operation of the planet as the oceans, ice sheets and rivers, to the extent that many believe we have entered a new geological era. What is happening to the planet? How confident are we that we understand the changes, and how should we respond to them if the science is uncertain?…

Professor Tannahill has recently been appointed as Honorary Visiting Professor to the School of Health & Social Care. Professor Tannahill's appointment will support the School's development in two areas of strategic importance; Research Development and Social Enterprise.Af admin@spokenword.ac.uk

Professor Bruce Link’s research has focused on how and under what conditions socioeconomic disparities are translated into health inequalities. In this lecture, Professor Link will introduce the fundamental-social-causes concept and present evidence related to its scope and validity by focusing on health patterns and trends in New York. Using data …

Featuring renowned speakers Professor Richard Wilkinson and Professor Corey Keyes, this seminar was held in Glasgow on Thursday 11th October 2007. As part of the Journal of Public Mental Health series of seminars, it explored key issues in public mental health and invited debate about the gap between what we know about population level influences o…

Featuring renowned speakers Professor Richard Wilkinson and Professor Corey Keyes, this seminar was held in Glasgow on Thursday 11th October 2007. As part of the Journal of Public Mental Health series of seminars, it explored key issues in public mental health and invited debate about the gap between what we know about population level influences o…