Great Hall

L e c t u r e S e r i e S

january - february 2015

We are delighted to announce our inaugural

Great Hall Lecture Series will commence this January

with a series of lectures from academics representing

some of the top universities in the country.

Our visiting speakers look to inspire students and

provoke intellectual curiosity. The topics under

scrutiny will be appropriately diverse to appeal to

every student and will include an eclectic range of

subjects.

Head of Sixth Form, Mr Davidson co-ordinates the

University Lecture Series commented “the lecture

series compliments fantastically with our preparation

for university and beyond. Students see, hear and

engage with the very academic specialists to whom

they will be exposed to at university. In the process,

they have the opportunity to think outside the box

which encourages intellectual exploration rather than

going through the conventional examination hoops”.

Our Great Hall Lecture Series is just one element

of Scarisbrick Hall’s commitment to academic

enrichment which aims to nurture interest and equip

pupils for their lives at university and in employment.

Our lectures aim to broaden horizons and give an

impetus to developing independent thought and

aspirational beliefs and confidence.

Welcome to the inaugural Great

Hall Lecture Series at Scarisbrick

Hall School. Although the series is

closely linked to our Sixth Form, I am

confident that learners of all ages will

find the 2015 series an exciting event

to participate in.

The ethos of our school is to ‘support

and inspire learners to succeed in an

environment of love and care’.

I believe that this lecture series plays

a key role in establishing this ethos.

This unique opportunity for our

students to listen to and engage

with leading academics will spark

aspirations and inspire creative

thought in all who attend.

The 2015 lecture series boasts a

wide variety of content that takes

us from dinosaurs to grapheme and

poetry to processors. I look forward

to welcoming learners of all ages

(including parents and grandparents)

to our inaugural public lecture series

in January 2015.

Mr J Shaw

Headmaster

SIXTH FORM

TUeSDay 20 JanUary

(2.30pm-4pm)

Dr Charles Walkden (Mathematics)

enigma Variations & Cryptography

THUrSDay 22 JanUary

(2.30pm-4pm)

Prof Phillip Manning (Natural Science)

Palaeontology and the Wonders of natural Science

TUeSDay 3 FebrUary

(2.30pm-4pm)

Dr Chris Arridge

astrophysical magnetospheres

THUrSDay 5 FebrUary

(2.30pm-4pm)

Dr Leonid Ponomarenko (Physics)

The amazing properties of graphene

TUeSDay 10 FebrUary

(2.30pm-4pm)

Gareth Williams (Sport & Physical Activity)

‘a subject that has had to reinvent itself?’ The (re)formation of Physical education within UK education policy since 1970.

Prof Charles Walkden is the Course Director for postgraduate studies

in pure mathematics whose research areas involve working on ergodic

theory and dynamical systems. Charles came to Manchester initially

as a post-doc. before that, he was a student at the University of

Warwick where he obtained his PhD in 1997 under the supervision of

bill Parry. Prof Walkden’s research area includes how codes, ciphers

and cryptography works using the enigma machine as an example and

how substitution ciphers have evolved through time. His research is

interdisciplinary such as investigating alan Turing and how he assisted in

shortening WWII saving possibly millions of lives in the process through

code.

Lecture:

Enigma Variations (Cryptography and the Enigma Machine)TUeSDay 20 JanUary (2.30PM – 4PM)

How do codes, ciphers and cryptography work? What was the enigma

machine? How did mathematicians such as alan Turing shorten World

War II and save possibly millions of lives?

In this talk, we will look at how substitution ciphers have evolved from

(easy to crack!) Caesar ciphers to the (much harder to crack!) enigma

machine and (impossible to crack!) one-time pads.

Doctor Charles WalkdenUniversity of Manchester (Mathematics)

www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/~cwalkden/

recent Publications:

Sara I Santos, Charles Walkden. Distributional and local limit laws for a class of iterated maps that contract on average. Stochastics and Dynamics. 2013; 13(2)

Charles Walkden. Transfer operators for contractive Markov systems and stochastic stability of the invariant measure. Dynamical Systems. 2013; 28(1): 34-47.

a Moss and CP Walkden. The Hausdorff dimension of some random invariant graphs. nonlinearity. 2012; 25(3): 743-760

Dr. Phil Manning is Professor of natural History and Head of the

Palaeontology research Group at the University of Manchester and an

internationally recognised palaeontologist, fossil hunter and writer. His

impressive CV boasts a range of qualifications including BSc (Leicester)

1988; MSc (Manchester) 1993; PhD (Sheffield) 1999. Dr. Manning’s

research is both broad and interdisciplinary with active research

topics including: biomechanics, geochemistry and elemental analysis

(particularly specialising in synchrotron-based imaging techniques),

application of LiDar-based imaging to both landscape and skeletal

modelling, high-performance computing work, mechanical analysis of

biomaterials (both extant and extinct), finite element analysis and imaging.

Lecture:

Wonders of Natural ScienceTHUrSDay 22 JanUary (2.30PM-4PM)

This lecture will focus on Dr Manning and his research on vertebrate

palaeontology and evolution. It will explore a range of diverse

subjects including dinosaur tracks, theropid biomechanics, anthropod

palaeontology, vertebrate locomotion and the evolution of flight in birds.

Professor Phillip ManningUniversity of Manchester (natural Science)

www.manchester.ac.uk/research/phil.manning

recent Publications:

battle of the Titans, royal botanical Gardens, Toronto, Canada

Harazim, D., McIlroy, D.M., edwards, n.P., Wogelius, r.a., Manning, P. L., bergmann, U. Do animal-sediment interactions preserve organic carbon during shale diagenesis? The role of grain and mineral-selective deposit-feeding. aaPG abstract Volume. aaPG abstract Volume: american association of Petroleum Geologists Meeting: 2013

Vila, b., Oms, O., Galobart, a., bates, K. T., egerton, V. M. and Manning, P. L. Dynamic similarity in titanosaur sauropods: ichnological evidence from the Fumanya dinosaur tracksite (southern Pyrenees). PLoS One. 2013; 8(2)

brassey, C.a., Margetts, L., Kitchener, a.C., Withers, P.J., Manning, P.L., Sellers, W.I. Finite element modelling v’s classic beam theory; comparing methods for stress estimation in a morphologically diverse sample of vertebrae long bones. Journal of the royal Society Interface. 2013; 10:

Manning, P. L. Imaging in Palaeontology. 2013

Dr Ponomarenko is based at Lancaster but works closely with nobel

prize winning Manchester based Physicists andre Geim and Konstantin

novoselov. His research area lies with physical properties and he will be

talking to students about the amazing properties of graphene.

Lecture:

The amazing properties of grapheneTHUrSDay 5 FebrUary (2.30PM-4PM)

In 2004, two scientists at the University of Manchester in england

isolated a carbon-based material called graphene, with some unusual

properties. andre Geim and Konstantin novoselov hailed it as ‘the

wonder material of the 21st century,’ and they were awarded the 2010

nobel Prize in physics. Scientists now say that someday, graphene may

change the way we live.

Graphene is the first man-made two-dimensional material. It is actually

only a one-atom-thick layer of pure carbon. It is closely related to

nanotubes, and microscopic graphite balls called fullerenes. This lecture

will focus on the amazing properties of graphene including its unlimited

potential and usage in things such as cancer therapy, flexible touchscreens

or for batteries that will charge in second. For example top tennis players

such as novak Djokovic and andy Murray used graphene-based raquets.

Doctor Leonid PonomarenkoUniversity of Lancaster (Physics)

www.physics.lancs.ac.uk/people/leonid-ponomarenko

recent publications:

Hierarchy of Hofstadter states and replica quantum Hall ferromagnetism in graphene superlattices (2014)

Commensurate-incommensurate transition in graphene on hexagonal boron nitride (2014)

Giant magnetodrag in graphene at charge neutrality (2013)

Cloning of Dirac fermions in graphene superlattices (2013)

Dr Chris arridge is a physicist studying the giant planets of our solar

system and how they interact with the Sun and the rest of the Solar

System. He studied physics at the University of Wales, aberystwyth and

applied mathematics at the Department of applied Mathematics and

Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge (at Darwin College) before

studying for a doctorate in The Department of Physics at Imperial College

London. He studied some of the first data to be returned from the Cassini

spacecraft at Saturn and was awarded his PhD in 2007.

From 2006 to 2009 he was a postdoctoral researcher at University

College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory based in the Surrey

hills 13 miles from Guildford, followed by a Science and Technology

Facilities Council Postdoctoral research Fellow. Since October 2012

he has been a royal Society University research Fellow and proleptic

lecturer.

Chris is active in public engagement and regularly speaks to a wide variety

of audiences from schools to astronomical societies and astronomy

festivals. He also works directly with young people, supervising summer

projects for A-level students through the Nuffield Research Placements

and CreST schemes, and also judging such projects at regional and

national science fairs such as The big bang..

Lecture:

Astrophysical magnetospheresTUeSDay 3 FebrUary (2.30PM-4PM)

This lecture will focus on the space environments surrounding giant

planets, also known as their magnetospheres. although we think of

space as a vacuum, the space surrounding the planets is filled with

atoms, molecules, and charged particles some of which have come from

the planets, their ring systems and moons, and the Sun. It will involve

an explanation into how our Sun’s 11-year “Solar Cycle” affects the

magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, trying to understand the origin

of Saturn’s aurorae (also known as the northern lights) and auroral radio

emissions, and examining how tiny charged ice grains move near Saturn’s

enigmatic moon enceladus.

recent Publications:

Jasinski, J.M., C.S. arridge, L. Lamy, J.S. Leisner, M.F. Thomsen, D.G. Mitchell, a.J. Coates, a. radioti, G.H. Jones, e. roussos, n. Krupp, D. Grodent, M.K. Dougherty, J.H. Waite, Cusp observation at Saturn’s high latitude magnetosphere by the Cassini spacecraft, Geophys. res. Lett., 41, doi:10.1002/2014GL059319, 2014.

Walsh, a.P., C.S. arridge, a. Masters, G.r. Lewis, a.n. Fazakerley, G.H. Jones, C.J. Owen, a.J. Coates, an indication of the existence of a solar wind strahl at 10 aU, Geophys. res. Lett 40(11), 2495-2499, doi:10.1002/grl.50529, 2013.

arridge, C.S., n. andré, H.J. Mcandrews, e.J. bunce, M.H. burger, K.C. Hansen, H.-W. Hsu, r.e. Johnson, G.H. Jones, S. Kempf, K.K. Khurana, n. Krupp, W.S. Kurth, J.S. Leisner, C. Paranicas, e. roussos, C.T. russell, P. Schippers, e.C. Sittler, H.T. Smith, M.F. Thomsen, M.K. Dougherty, Mapping Magnetospheric equatorial regions at Saturn from Cassini Prime Mission Observations, Space Sci. rev., 164(1-4), pp. 1-83, doi:10.1007/s11214-011-9850-4, 2012

Professor Chris ArridgeUniversity of Lancaster (astrophysics)

www.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/~csa/

Gareth Williams is Senior Lecturer in Pe and School Sport at edge Hill

University and has a research interest in education policy particularly

with regard to Physical education. Gareth graduated from the University

of birmingham in 1982 with a combined honours degree in Pe and

History. after completing his PGCe at the University of London he

taught at various high schools in Sefton, Oxfordshire and Liverpool.

While completing a part time Master’s degree at Liverpool John Moores

University Gareth’s final appointment in schools was as Head of PE and

Internal Coordinator for the Gifted and Talented at St Margaret’s High

School, Liverpool. at edge Hill University Gareth makes a full and active

teaching contribution towards undergraduate programmes in addition

to speaking at various local and national conferences. He is an external

examiner at the University of Worcester and acts as a reviewer for

various international journals. Gareth also organises the annual ‘edge Hill

University Pe and School Sport Conference.

Lecture:

‘A subject that has had to reinvent itself?’ The (re)formation of Physical Education within UK education policy since 1970. TUeSDay 10 FebrUary (2.30PM-4PM)

This presentation will focus on how changes within school based physical

education are a product of both political and cultural influences from

external sources. It will attempt to dispel some of the ‘myths’ that

surround Pe and School Sport in the 21st century.

Has Pe really struggled to attain status within the curriculum and what

will happen in the future?

Gareth Williamsedge Hill University (Department of Sport and Physical activity)

www.eshare.edgehill.ac.uk/profile/1795

recent publications:

Williams, G (2009) ‘Payments to Pe teachers for extracurricular activities?’ Pe Matters Spring, 4 (1) 24-28

Williams, G., Pinder, S., Thomson, a., and Williams, D. (2010) ‘black’s Dictionary of Physical education and School Sport,’ London: a & C black

Williams, G. and Williams, D. (2013) ‘Whole - school management issues concerning the Pe department: ‘a natural division of labour?’ School Leadership and management,

SIXTH FORM

SIXTH FORM

Scarisbrick Hall | Southport Road | Ormskirk L40 9RQ

01704 841151

www.scarisbrickhallsixth.co.uk