Cyborg Engineering – the Widening Participation Summer Lecture – University of Reading
27 June 2005Some 300 pupils from local schools will get a glimpse of the future of science when they attend a lecture given by renowned 'cyborg' Professor Kevin Warwick at the University of Reading. In 1998, Professor Warwick shocked the international scientific community by having a transponder surgically implanted in his left arm. A series of further experiments took place in 2002 in which neurosurgeons linked his nervous system and a computer. Organised by the University's Widening Participation Office, Professor Warwick's lecture will explain how he was able to connect his brain signals to a robot and try out an 'ultrasonic sense', and how this technology could be used to help the physically impaired in the future. Dr Rachel Fretwell, who is the University's Widening Participation Co-ordinator for Science, said: "This lecture is guaranteed both to educate and amaze the school students that attend. Hopefully, it will also show them that both science and a university education can be exciting." The University's Widening Participation Office organises and runs a range of outreach activities to raise the aspirations of young people who might not otherwise feel that higher education is for them, or who face personal barriers which might prevent them from making the most of educational opportunities. The lecture takes place at the University's Whiteknights campus on Tuesday 28 June. For more information about the Widening Participation Office's activities please visit the website http://www.reading.ac.uk/wideningparticipation End For media enquiries only, please contact Craig Hillsley, the University's press officer: T: 0118 378 7388 E: c.hillsley@reading.ac.uk