Getting Ready for Human Space Exploration

What?

Mankind is preparing for a new space age: space agencies are planning manned missions to the Moon and to Mars, while commercial ventures may open up the prospect for non-astronauts to visit other planets.  During this event, we will engage in a multi-disciplinary discussion on the future of Human Space Exploration.  Firstly, Dr Elisa Ferré (Psychology Department, RHUL) will explain how microgravity impacts on human physiology and in particular cognition.   Then, Prof Jill Marshall (School of Law, RHUL) will reveal how law and human rights are applied in outer space.  Finally, Prof Adam Roberts (English Department, RHUL) will look at the presence of space exploration in Science Fiction.  Human Space Exploration gives us much to think about and discuss.

Who?

Dr Elisa Ferré is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at RHUL and Director of the Vestibular Multisensory Embodiment VeME Lab.  She researches how the brain integrates signals from different sensory modalities, including vestibular-gravitational inputs.  Using a range of techniques from neuroscience, neurophysiology and experimental psychology, she has demonstrated that vestibular signals are crucial in several cognitive processes, including spatial representation, decision-making, bodily awareness, motor control and perspective taking.

Prof Jill Marshall is a Professor of Law in the School of Law at RHUL and an International lawyer qualified in England and Wales.  She researches the legal regulation of who we are, our identity, and what it means to be human with a focus on women’s lives.  This includes analysis of international law, universalism, global justice and human rights in their complexities of real life situations with emphasis on the connections between law and humanity, care and belonging.

Prof Adam Roberts is Professor of Nineteenth-century Literature in the English department at RHUL, where he also teaches creative writing.  He has published sixteen novels, all science fiction, has won the BSFA and Campbell awards and is a FRSL.

When?

14th November 2018 at 6pm

Where?

Windsor Auditorium, Royal Holloway University of London, UK