51 newly promoted and recruited Professors are taking part in the 2018 Professorial Inaugural Lecture series at UNSW Sydney to mark their achievement and showcase their specialist knowledge.

Please join us for the first Inaugural Lecture for the 2018 series.

Lecture 1: Professor Gabriel Lodewijks
Back to the Future
The aviation and transport landscape is changing rapidly caused by significant technological innovations. Today, passengers have to deal with new self-service systems at airports. Pilots and car drivers have to adjust to a future world with automated or autonomous vehicles. One may wonder however, what is driving what? Have we redesigned the way we travel and found the technology to enable that? Or have we simply adopted new technologies and now struggle to handle the new practices? In order to answer these questions, we may have to go back to the drawing board before we can go back to the future.

Lecture 2: Professor Pall Thordarson
Chemical Complexity and Life
Chemistry has two great powers. It helps us to explain the world around and it allows us to make things. My work is driven by the desire to understand and learn from nature how chemicals interact with each other and then go on to form complex systems with function. This knowledge then allows us synthesise new materials to support cell growth and treat diseases. Ultimately it should also answer one of the greatest questions in science – How does chemistry become biology? This seemingly straightforward question holds the key to understanding what life is and what was the origin of life. 

Location: The Chancellery, Council Chambers, Gate 9 UNSW (Building C22) Google map