Imperial Inaugurals

Most heart attacks and strokes are caused by fatty deposits building up in our blood vessels supplying the heart and brain. Professor Joseph Boyle, Professor of Chemical Systems Pathology at the National Heart and Lung Institute, explores how white blood cells can either clear deposits and repair vessels, or trigger the damage leading to a heart attack or stroke.

Light powers the global internet, enables deep-space and medical imaging, and sustains life on Earth. But how do we control something so fast and intangible?

Join Riccardo Sapienza, Professor of Physics, as he pushes the boundaries of what we can do with light, from metamaterials and ultra-thin lenses to manipulating it in space and time. Can light waves from the past and future interact? Can light scatter from superluminal modulations without breaking relativity?

Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform medical imaging, from earlier detection of diseases to more accurate diagnosis. Yet AI systems can fail when faced with new or different data, raising important questions about their reliability, robustness and fairness.

Join Professor Ben Glocker, Professor in Machine Learning for Imaging, to discover why causality matters for understanding when AI works and when it fails, and how ‘what-if’ reasoning could help expose blind spots and build more trustworthy medical imaging AI.

HTLV affects an estimated 10 million people worldwide, yet remains one of the world’s most neglected viruses. Once it infects a cell, the virus becomes part of its DNA, allowing the infection to persist for life.

Join Professor Goedele Maertens, Professor of Retrovirology, to explore how HTLV establishes infection and how existing HIV drugs could offer a promising way to prevent transmission.

Trillions of cells constantly sense and respond to the world around them, but how do we see these hidden processes in action?

Professor Alejandra Tomas Catala, Professor of Cell Biology, reveals how new technologies are helping us understand the signals that regulate metabolism, and what they could mean for tackling diseases such as diabetes.

The ‘bit’ transformed how we compress, transmit and store information. But as more information is produced by machines, for machines, do the same rules still apply?

Professor Deniz Gündüz, Professor in Information Processing, explores how information theory can help answer questions emerging in the age of intelligent machines.

How are financial models built from complex and uncertain data, and what tools do we need to make sense of them?

Professor Jack Jacquier, Professor of Mathematics, brings together the theory and application of mathematical finance, from stochastic analysis and numerical modelling to the potential of quantum computing.