Are you up to the challenge?

The official launch of Imperial College's new Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and the Environment initiative took place on Thursday 24th October.

A beautiful autumnal day at Imperial College’s Silwood Park campus saw over 100 guests attend interactive demos, presentations and discussions centred around the ‘Grand Challenges’ themes of Sustainable food and water supplies, Managing target species in complex environments, and Predicting and mitigating the effects of environmental change.

Guests were able to find out about GCEE research through visiting interactive demos run by Dr Rob Ewers: 'The SAFE Project', Dr Eoin O’Gorman: 'How will global change alter our natural resources?', Dr Simon Pooley and Paul Schnell: 'How not to get eaten by a crocodile', Dr Damian Rivett: 'Global challenges in microbial biodiversity research' and Dr James Rosindell: 'OneZoom Tree of Life'

Professor Sir John Beddington, former Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government officially launched the initiative with a powerful speech in which he fully backed the initiative.

Other thought provoking and informative presentations were made by Professor Colin Prentice and Professor Miguel Araujo, these were followed by a lively panel discussion between. Professor Lord Robert May, former Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government and a member of the UK Government’s Climate Change Committee, Francesca Manchi from the European Commission, Deborah Keith of Syngenta, Professor James Holland Jones of Stanford University; a GCEE International joint appointee and Professor Yadvinder Mahli; Oxford University, GCEE Associate Member. 

Videos of the presentations are available on our website and you can read the press coverage by Bracknell News.

The day drew to a close with a ceremonial tree planting by Professor Maggie Dallman, Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences followed by a champagne reception.