NRI's Dr Steve Belmain will be presenting a lecture at the Autumn public lecture series of the University of Greenwich's Faculty of Engineering and Science. The events are free to attend and open to all, and will take place at the Medway Campus from October 2013.
Dr Steve Belmain, an ecologist at NRI, will be addressing the subject of rat problems and their impact on society, on Wednesday 27th November. His lecture, titled 'Rats, Disease Outbreaks and their Impact/Management in Developing Countries' will highlight the importance of improving rodent management in the developing world and its contribution to improving livelihoods and reducing poverty.
His research has been crucial in understanding the transmission risks of Lassa fever and plague and has attracted widespread media interest. Steve's work has also been the subject of a documentary produced for the Discovery Channel about rat swarms in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh.
Other events in the lecture series include 'A Spoonful of Sugar: Blood, Drugs and Materials' with Dr Alison Edwards, lecturer in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Medway School of Pharmacy on Wednesday 2nd October. Alison will be looking at examples of the vital biological roles played by sugars, which may be used to develop new drugs.
On Wednesday 30th October Professor Jeremy Everett will address the fact that many medicines are not effective or safe for all patients, in 'Personalised Medicine: Getting the Right Medicine to the Right Patient'. Jeremy is Professor of Pharmaceutical Technologies at the University's School of Science.
Three more public lectures are planned for the new year including Dr Gabriella Gibson, Reader in Medical Entomology at NRI on the 19th February. Other speakers include Professor Mike Bradley, Director of the Wolfson Centre (22 January and Dr Nazanin Zand, Lecturer in Food Sciences & Nutrition, School of Science (19 March).
Lectures will be held in Pembroke Building and will begin at 6.30pm. Admission to these lectures will be by registration only, with places allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
To register, or for further information about one of the events, email science-public-lectures@gre.ac.uk or call 020 8331 9800.