SGR Conferences

Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) organises a conference roughly once a year (in the autumn) on issues of concern related to science, design and technology.

Keynote speakers are leading researchers/commentators in their field, and the event also includes SGR's Annual General Meeting, together with poster sessions or workshops.

This section of the website includes reports of previous conferences. Links to conference presentations and related material are provided where available.

Michael Atiyah answering questions from the audience
Islam and the West: a personal perspective
Date:

Professor Sir Michael Atiyah, OM, FRS, delivered the inaugural Martin Ryle Trust lecture, which took place in Conway Hall, London.

Messages for the Paris conference: The forgotten dimensions of climate change
Date:

SGR conference and AGM 2015

Presentations

Progress towards all-renewable electricity supplies
Prof Keith Barnham, Imperial College London (author of The Burning Answer)

How do we keep 80% of fossil fuels in the ground? Look up, wise up, cheer up
Dr Laurence Matthews, Cap and Share UK

Nuclear weapons and climate catastrophe
Dr Philip Webber, Scientists for Global Responsibility

Demilitarization for deep decarbonization
Tamara Lorincz, International Peace Bureau

A summary of the event, together with the presentations and other material, is now available to download.

 

Living within environmental limits: From science to practice
Date:

SGR conference and AGM 2014

Main presentations:

The case for urgent and radical carbon emission reductions
Dr Maria Sharmina, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Manchester

How can we live well within natural limits? Case studies of One Planet Living
Sue Riddlestone OBE, Chief Executive, BioRegional

The event also included workshops on community energy projects and sustainable living, and tours of eco-homes and renewable energy technologies.

A summary of the event, together with the presentations, is now available to download.

Security and sustainability: the role of science, design and technology
Date:

SGR conference and AGM 2013

Presentations included:

From Offensive Insecurity to Sustainable Security: The Role of Science and Technology
Dr Stuart Parkinson, Scientists for Global Responsibility

Humanitarian Problems from the Use of Nuclear Weapons - and Some Solutions?
Dr Philip Webber, Scientists for Global Responsibility

UK Energy Policy: Secure, Sustainable, Sane?
Dr Ian Fairlie, independent environmental consultant

A summary of the event is available to download, together with presentation slides and some video recordings.

SGR AGM and strategy forum
SGR’s 20th Anniversary Annual General Meeting and Strategy Forum
Date:

SGR members gathered for the organisation's 20th anniversary AGM and strategy forum in London.

Attendees included long-standing members - some of whom had first been active with either Scientists Against Nuclear Arms or Architects and Engineers for Social Responsibility - as well as recent joiners.

Emerging technologies: are the risks being neglected?
Date:

SGR Conference and AGM 2011

Presentations included:

Geo-engineering the Climate, Prof Joanna Haigh, Imperial College London;

Robots on the Battlefield: Ethical and Humanitarian Implications, Prof Noel Sharkey, Sheffield University;

Emerging Technologies and Risk: the Social, Cultural and Political Dimensions, Dr Bronislaw Szerszynski, Lancaster University.

Eight posters were presented in the afternoon session.

A summary, Powerpoint presentations, and newsletter articles are available from this event.

Building a low carbon economy: the pathway from recession
Date:

SGR Conference and AGM 2009

Presentations:

  • The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan - Where are we going?
    Dr Tim Foxon, Sustainability Research Institute, Leeds University/ SGR
  • Arms conversion for a low carbon economy
    Prof David Webb, Praxis Centre, Leeds Metropolitan University
  • A trade union programme for the creation of one million climate-change jobs
    Dr Gareth Dale, Brunel University

Eight posters were presented in the afternoon session.

Summary by Kate Macintosh and Stuart Parkinson

 

Sustainable Buildings and Communities: Their role in meeting environmental and social goals
Date:

SGR Conference and AGM 2008

Presentations:

  • Social Housing: From Paternalism to Cooperatives
    Kate Macintosh MBE, Vice Chair, SGR
  • Making Sustainable Building and Places
    Prof Sandy Halliday, Gaia Research

Ten posters were presented in the afternoon session.

Summary by Alasdair Beal

 

Fighting over the leftovers: Resource depletion and the potential for conflict
Date:

SGR Conference and AGM 2007

Main presentations:
'Climate change and conflict' - Dan Smith, Secretary-General, International Alert
'Energy, peak oil and conflict' - Dr Mandy Meikle, Depletion Scotland

Workshops: Water and conflict - past, present and future; Using less in our homes; Volunteering for SGR

Summarised by Stuart Parkinson, Martin Quick, Tim Foxon, Sean Macintosh

Positive Futures: Successful Applications of Ethical Science, Design and Technology
Date:

SGR Conference and AGM 2006

Main presentations:
'Making Peacebuilding Work' - Prof John Sloboda, Executive Director, Oxford Research Group
'Implementing Sustainable Energy at a Local Level' - Dr Philip Webber, Kirklees Metropolitan Council/ SGR

Workshops: Science and Positive Security - Tools for Change; SGR and the Trade Union Movement; Finding an Ethical Career in Science, Design and Technology