I must confess that despite being at this university for two previous years, I had never heard of this week before. This is a massive a shame because it is a fantastic celebration of every single part of the university’s academia. This week is so important for it celebrates innovation and the sharing of knowledge, which is for everyone’s benefit. As a Humanities student I easily get frightened by the idea of using knowledge from scientists – honestly, I am so bad at science the mere word ‘physics’ sends shivers down my spine. However, I do often use economic and geographic theories to aid my understanding of philosophy, and English literature would be impossible without a grasp of history and anthropology. There is a lovely quote in Avenue campus which claims that the divide between Humanities and Social Science is a false divide and I think that is very true. It is so easy to see your subject in isolation, and it is those walls which need to be broken down to have a more fruitful learning experience! This is why the Multidisciplinary Research Week is so wonderful – it realises all that and puts on a host of events for you to discover it yourself!
When I heard that the university was holding a TEDx I could barely contain my excitement; I absolutely adore TED and have wasted/spent a lot of productive hours on their site. TED is a website which is dedicated to “ideas worth spreading”, and is full of inspirational short videos which help you to see a new perspective. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, in every element TED celebrates multidisciplinary understanding.
So, having been an avid admirer of TED for so long you can imagine the thrill I got from knowing that the university lecturer James Dyke was organising one based around the theme of sustainable development – and if there was ever a theme which everyone could relate to, it was sustainability; this is a crisis which affects everyone. As soon as I arrived I was immediately challenged, massive ginormous thoughts were put in my head and left there for me to dwell on. Everyone kept on coming back to this idea of a perfect story – the earth’s population will soon hit 8 billion, meaning the need for food security and energy consumption will rise, biodiversity will be lost and the earth will be put under an extraordinary amount of pressure. How will it cope?
Here I was listening to all these facts, and whilst becoming incredibly enlightened, I was also becoming a little disheartened. It seem liked too big a problem, like this perfect storm would engulf everyone.
TEDx – Southampton really challenged my perspective of
sustainability.
Sadly I could not attend much of this week because the library called me, but I did manage to avoid Varsity (which is awesome for someone who is apathetic to sports and does not relish the idea of the rain and cold), instead I went to Southampton’s very own TEDx event!
But, then more speakers came out, speakers that were informed but optimistic, they knew the challenges and were coming up with the most ingenious solutions. The word innovation was put to use and their perspectives were wide and varied, coming up with an answer as to how to do more, with less. There was a big focus on the individual – asking questions was encouraged as was mingling with the speaker in the breaks – because they all realise that Multidisciplinary Research Week is about sharing ideas, the contributions we can make as individuals, teachers, lecturers, parents, citizens and representatives of our subjects.
I think it shows a commitment to the future when the university puts so much effort into Multidisciplinary Research, so I for one was very grateful for the event and only wished I could have seen more of it.
Find out more about Multidisciplinary Research Week here http://www.southampton.ac.uk/multidisciplinary/researchweek/index.page
Florence
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