The CSAR PhD Student Awards application process for 2024 awards is now open.
CSAR exists to encourage an appreciation of the application of research through lectures and online webinars, visits, the CSAR PhD student awards and outreach to schools. We make time around these for conversation and interaction (when conditions permit), providing excellent opportunities to meet people, make new friends, expand horizons, and network.
Our members are a broad mix of people, from students and researchers to entrepreneurs and business professionals, from those still at school to those already retired - all from a wide range of backgrounds. We welcome new members to our lectures, webinars, and other events, and encourage you to join CSAR online in advance of the event you wish to attend.
CSAR also makes annual awards of £1,000 each, to recognise outstanding research with real world application and to assist students to pursue their research or careers. The scheme is open to students in any discipline at the University of Cambridge, currently studying for their Ph.D.
CSAR lectures are held in the Wolfson Lecture Theatre at Churchill College, with live streaming of the event (via Zoom) for those who don't wish to attend in person. The individual lecture pages have links to the Eventbrite booking system where you can book tickets for in-person attendance or Zoom viewing. Attendance is free for subscribing members of CSAR (individual, family, school students...) ; there's a small fee for others.
The use of Zoom means that it is now very easy to record lectures, and to put the recordings on the CSAR website; we encourage you to visit the video library or our YouTube channel, and view the excellent lectures that you may have missed. Some selected recordings are highlighted in the main body of the Video Library page, but the year-by-year menu on the right has all of them (some speakers don't want their talks shown on YouTube, because they show us unpublished results).
If you attend in person, you are welcome to buy self-service dinner in Churchill Dining Hall beforehand, and wine, tea and coffee, and biscuits are available outside the lecture theatre. There is also usually the chance afterwards to chat with the speaker and other CSAR members afterwards in the college bar. There is plenty of free parking at Churchill.
Please do not attend the lectures in person if you are feeling ill or showing symptoms of COVID-19.
Events will be announced here on the website and by email when they are finalized. The emails will go to those members who have opted in to receiving emails about future events. If you have chosen not to receive these messages at present, but wish to start, please go to "Update details" at the top right of this page, and change your email preferences. You do not need a password; our membership system will send you a one-time link.
If you are not a member of CSAR but wish to attend or view future events, please join! This means your email address will go into our database and you can receive notifications of events. There is a variety of free memberships available. Click on the green "Join Us" button at the top of this page, enter your details, and under "Membership" select "Pay-as-you-go" or one of the other free membership types. This will allow you to participate in events on an occasional basis. Of course, we very much welcome paid memberships as well, which give you unlimited free participation in events, and the chance to go on our visits to organisations in and around Cambridge. Finally, under "Marketing Option" choose "Yes" to receive notification of future events. You don't need to remember a password for the membership system; it sends you a one-time link if you wish to log in.
*****************************************************************************************************************************
CSAR is a registered charity run by volunteers; donations are very welcome and allow us to continue our operations (covering, for example, our Zoom licence) and to maintain our PhD Student Award scheme. You can find a button to donate via our Paypal account on each lecture page, and on the Sponsors and Donors page.
Professor Sabine Bahn and colleagues, University of Cambridge
Improving and accelerating the correct diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder using a two-stage diagnostic approach.
Lecture Mon 22nd Jan 2024
Professor Mark Middleton, University of Oxford Department of Oncology; Cancer Research UK Oxford Centre
.
Lecture Mon 5th Feb 2024
Professor Martin Fodstad Stølen, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences/Fieldwork Robotics Ltd.
.
Lecture Mon 4th Mar 2024
Dr. Daniel Ives, Shift Bioscience
Shift Bioscience is using deep learning to unlock cellular reprogramming, a powerful biological pathway that can reverse aging and age-driven diseases in the dish but is not yet safe for clinical use.
Lecture Mon 27th Nov 2023
Owlstone Medical
A visit to Owlstone Medical's site on the Cambridge Science Park, for subscribing CSAR members only (Individual, Family, Donor, Honorary and Complimentary - 19 places).
Visit Tue 14th Nov 2023
Recent speakers include Dr. Pearce Keane of Moorfields Eye Hospital, on the use of AI in interpretation of retinal scans; Dr. Giles Yeo from the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit, University of Cambridge, on the truth about diets; Professor Didier Queloz, University of Cambridge, on the exoplanet revolution; Professor Tim Lang from City University London on the UK food supply; and Ian Cash from International Electric Company, on space-based solar power generation.
Pre-pandemic visits have been to CMR Surgical, to see its world-leading Versius system of next-generation robotic-assisted surgery; Greene King’s historic Bury St Edmunds Brewery in the company of Ross O’Hara, the youngest Master Brewer in the UK; and to the Cavendish Laboratory’s Maxwell Centre, one of the world's leading physics research laboratories and its Centre dedicated to industrial and societal applications. In 2023 we have had excellent visits to the British Antarctic Survey and the Institute of Manufacturing.