ANNOUNCEMENT – Universitas 21 Graduate Research Conference 2011
Date: Thursday 23 Sunday 26 June 2011
Venue: University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Semenyih & Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
We are delighted to announce the date of the third Universitas 21 Graduate Research Conference.
This will be the third research conference organised by and for postgraduate research students from across the U21 network. The topic “Food” represents an interdisciplinary topic that allows diverse and complementary research specialism’s to contribute to solving some of the most important questions that face humankind. It will follow on from the very successful PG Research conference on “Water” in Birmingham 2008, and “Future Cities” in 2009. A major objective of universities across the U21 network is to ensure that postgraduate students appreciate the value of belonging to rich intellectual communities in which a multiplicity of research is being carried out. The chosen topic will allow the U21 postgraduate students to integrate science, engineering, health, social science, business, humanities and possibly other subjects into a themed series of talks, posters and networking activities during the conference. This will include professional development activities on the nature and challenges of interdisciplinary research.
About this year’s topic:
The United Nations forecasts that by 2030 the population of the world will approach 9 billion. To prevent starvation we will need to grow 50% more food using, at best, the same amount of land. Certainly we will have to increase crop yield substantially and deliver this using less fertilisers, less water, and less energy. Currently around one billion people are hungry due to extreme poverty while up to two billion individuals live in fear of starvation. In contrast around one billion men, women and children worldwide are obese, while up to two billion adults are described as overweight.
These compelling statistics demonstrate that the topic of food is literally a matter of life and death and that starvation and over-consumption are two of the greatest challenges facing the 21st Century. The underlying issues are highly complex and their resolution will require the attention of individuals skilled in the pure and applied sciences, engineering, humanities, social science and medicine.
The theme of this Universitas 21 Conference is ‘food’ and participants will have the opportunity to contribute to the debate as to how some of these crucial problems might be addressed.
The conference provides an inclusive, multi-disciplinary context to examine topics including: food shortage; food security; farming; cultural, historical and social issues; human health; transport and the environment.
Postgraduate research students from all disciplines are invited to apply, describing the contribution they can make to the conference.
Who can attend the conference?
All U21 postgraduate students with an academic/research interest in food and associated themes. Eligible students are those completing a doctoral or masters degree by research.
The host university
The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) is located in Semenyih, close to Kuala Lumpur. It is an ideal location for several reasons – Malaysia is fairly central for travel by the whole range of U21 partners. It is also a culture that loves food!
Registration
Registration costs for the U21 Graduate Research Conference are US $500 per student. This includes:
- Four nights bed and breakfast accommodation in Kuala Lumpar
- Bus transfers between venues during conference
- Lunch on each day of conference
- Welcome dinner on Wednesday 22 June
- Cultural Night Tour and dinner on Thursday 23 June
- International/cultural Gala dinner on Saturday 26 June
- All conference materials
Full details, including the conference programme and instructions for registration are available at: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/internationaloffice/u21conference/universitas21.aspx
Registration for the event opens on Monday 7th March 2011. |
For further information or help, please contact the conference organisers: U21conference@nottingham.ac.uk