Annamarie Phelps (CBE), Vice-Chair of the British Olympic Association, and Sarah Jayne Williams, Director of Smart Mobility for Ford Europe, will present two TED-style talks on 15 October which will be followed by a panel discussion.
The motion theme explores different concepts of motion in collaboration with high-profile international academics, extending beyond individual movement to encompassing forms of transportation, assisted living, personal comfort, life course changes, performance and precision engineering.
Annamarie’s talk, titled Why Nothing Stands Still: the changing landscape of sport, will consider her personal journey from a background in historical geography and art to elite sports performance and, currently, sports administration. She will explain why the sports industry needs to focus on innovation and change, and therefore embrace inclusion and risk.
Sarah-Jayne Williams talk, Life’s Journey, will discuss how she has embraced leadership roles in telecommunications, global business consulting and now, future vehicle mobility, working closely with European city planners, public transport agencies and communities to create solutions for the changing needs of both urban dwellers and cities.
The panel discussion will focus on the key themes gathered from both talks and be chaired by Chris Harwood, Professor of Sport Psychology at Loughborough University, and will feature both Annamarie and Sarah-Jayne in conversation with Professor Martin Passmore and Professor Vicky Tolfrey.
Talking about the event, Professor Harwood said: “We are delighted to welcome Annamarie and Sarah-Jayne to Loughborough to launch the Motion theme of the Institute of Advanced Studies as part of what will be an exciting and innovative event.”
Professor Tolfrey commented: “The launch event signals the commencement of the theme which will welcome internationally-leading academics from across the world to Loughborough University to engage with colleagues on interdisciplinary notions of Motion.”
Director of the IAS, Professor Marsha Meskimmon, added: “We are delighted to be launching the annual theme of Motion with such an exciting event.
“IAS themed programmes provide an ideal opportunity for bringing the very best international researchers to our campuses to work with colleagues and we look forward to truly dynamic collaborations emerging from this theme.”
Professor Richard Murray from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) visited the University in August to present a lecture focused around safety critical autonomous-systems, which formed around the sub-theme of motion, ‘Intelligent Mobility’.
Other academics who will be visiting the University later in the academic year to discuss the motion theme include Professor Cora Burnett (University of Johannesburg), Professor Eleni Chatzi (ETH Zurich) and Professor Paul Wylleman (Vrije Universiteit Brussels).
The event will take place in the Sir Denis Rooke Building from 6pm-8pm, and those who are interested in attending can book their place online.
The Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) aims to promote an outstanding, interdisciplinary research environment at Loughborough by supporting collaborations with leading international scholars from other institutions.
It brings high profile leading researchers to the campus to collaborate with University staff and host formal and informal events, such as public lectures, academic conferences and postgraduate workshops.