All seminars start at 5pm and take place in KW303.
For more details about future Big Picture seminars also see our webpage.
| Date | Details |
|---|---|
| 16 January | Simon Greenbury: Life in tourism marketing - It could be you! Simon will share his PR and marketing experience specialising in the travel, leisure, airline, exhibition and event sectors. Topics will include:
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| 23 January | Timothy Jenkins : "Peace Through Travel", Visit Britain and the UK's influence overseas Tourism influences whether people choose to invest and trade with British companies and positively influences their views on key export, governance and cultural attributes. In his lecture, Timothy Jenkins will make the case that the national tourist board, VisitBritain, is a key pillar in Britain's influence overseas and that tourism is an important (although sometimes overlooked) component of soft power. |
| 30 January | Joe Twyman: Vampires, Magic Wands and Pret-a-Manger: Learning about "Big Data" Big Data is described by many as 'the next big thing' that will change the world - but what actually is 'Big Data' and how can it be used? Drawing on more than a decade of experience of working with Big Data in the world of public opinion research, pollster Joe Twyman will take an in-depth at the subject. The past, present and future of Big Data will be covered, including a number of weird and wonderful examples to help explain everything. |
| 6 February | Matthew Ward: Blockchain and the New Economy This lecture will explain what blockchain is and then take a look at what it enables, including in the rising gig, sharing and crypto economies, peer-to-peer trust without needing a giant tech company to facilitate that trust; and where anything and everything – including ideas - can be tokenised and sold, yielding completely new business models. |
| 13 February | Simon Pirani: Burning Up: how fossil fuel use became unsustainable, and what to do about it Coal, oil and gas have been society's main fuels since the industrial revolution – but of all the fossil fuels ever consumed, more than half were burned in the last fifty years. Consumption has grown even faster since scientists confirmed that fossil fuel use is the main cause of potentially devastating global warming. In 1992 the world's governments signed the Rio convention that recognised the need to reduce fossil fuel use – but since then it has risen by more than 60%. This seminar will focus on how we got into this situation, and what we can do about it. |
| 13 March | Matthew Pennycook Matthew Pennycook has been the Member of Parliament for Greenwich and Woolwich since May 2015. Before becoming an MP, Pennycook worked for a number of charitable and voluntary organisations including the Fair Pay Network and the Resolution Foundation where he led on issues relating to welfare reform, low pay and working poverty. He has served as Shadow Brexit Minister since October 2016. |
| 20 March | Perfection is not for startups and we will look at how it can ruin productivity and kill a business. It is not a good mix to combine the traits and expectations of perfectionism with the stresses and processes of being an entrepreneur. We'll understand why this is the case and learn how to manage it in a startup culture. We'll also go over Lean Methodologies, why/how they are used and understand how startups are disrupting the biggest corporations. |
