EXPeditions Base Camp: Science as a Calling

​Join the EXPeditions base camp! Each month, we explore innovative ideas featured on our platform.

​Science as a Calling

​For some, science is a career. For many, it’s a calling. It’s the late nights in the lab, the thrill of a breakthrough, and the relentless drive to solve the unsolvable.

​But how do we protect that spark in an ever-changing world?

​The Base Camp Event:

​Join us for an inspiring online gathering hosted by leading scientists: a global conversation about the passion, the struggle, and the future of scientific vocation.

​What to Expect: An evening of conversations at the crossroads of science, vocation, and impact.

• ​Part I — Supporting Early Career Scientists What does it take to nurture the next generation of researchers?

• ​Part II — Innovation: Academia and Startups What happens when research meets entrepreneurship?

• ​Part III — Encouraging New Vocations How do we inspire more people to pursue a life in science?

• ​Part IV — Testimonials from Participants

​About the speakers:

​Silvia Vignolini — Director of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and Professor of Chemistry and Bio-materials at the University of Cambridge. A 2019 Philip Leverhulme Prize winner, her research sits at the interface of chemistry, physics and biology, studying how light interacts with materials and how natural structures can inspire man-made ones.

​Anna Vignoles CBE — Director of the Leverhulme Trust and former Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge. As an economist of education, her research focused on issues of equity and value in education, and the role played by education and skills in the economy and wider society.

​Tracey Brown OBE — Director of Sense about Science, an independent charity that has turned the case for sound science and evidence into popular campaigns to urge scientific thinking among the public and the people who answer to them. She leads the charity's work on the transparency of evidence used by governments to ensure that the public has access to the same evidence and reasoning as decision makers.

​Davide Michieletto — Professor of Biomaterials at the University of Edinburgh and 2024 Philip Leverhulme Prize winner. As leader of the Topological Active Polymers Lab, he works on DNA-based materials that can change properties over time, breaking boundaries between disciplines to explore the frontiers of soft matter and biology.

​Léa Wenger — CEO and co-founder of Cyclana Bio, a Cambridge-based biotechnology company dedicated to women's health. With a background in veterinary medicine and a PhD in neuroscience from Cambridge University, she bridges academic research and entrepreneurship to develop new treatments for endometriosis, using tissue-level models and AI-driven data integration to uncover novel therapeutic targets.

​Agueda Gras-Velazquez — Head of the Science Education Department at European Schoolnet and coordinator of Scientix, the European community for science education. Holding a PhD in Astrophysics, she has spent over a decade connecting science education research, policy and practice across Europe.

​Hannah Wakeford — Associate Professor in Astrophysics in the School of Physics at the University of Bristol and a 2024 Philip Leverhulme Prize winner. She leads a group investigating the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets and brown dwarfs using space-based telescopes, like Hubble and JWST.

​Save the Date: May 19th @ 5:30pm (UK)

​Platform: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81004392233

​Share your spark !