Knowledge Quarter:Positive Disruption Talks
On the 25th of October as part of the Bloomsbury festival, the Knowledge Quarter organised a series of talks on the theme of Positive Disruption at Conway Hall.
The day started with a lecture by Prof. Jim Smith, Director of Research at the Francis Crick Institute who spoke on the topic of Positive Disruption in Science and Medicine. Dr Jaime Brassett who leads the MA in Innovation Management at Central Saint Martins took the lead at 14:30 with a fascinating exploration of how to think positive disruption in the Cultural and the Creative Industries. Finally, we concluded our afternoon with a panel discussion where the two previous speakers were joined by Paula Graham-Gazzard, Director of Fossbox CIC and Domino Pateman, Women of the World festival programmer at Southbank Centre, chaired by Sarah Stein Lubrano from The School of Life. The multidisciplinary reflected in the panel provoked an inspiring debate on what the effect of positive disruption can be in science, arts, technology and its impact on society. We saw disruption defined as different subject matters and scientific specialisations adopting new working methodologies; as the ability to translate technological pioneering ideas into social changes; as the choice of thinking critically and the necessity for the creative industries to be fuelled by an imagination that is not at rest; as the transformative power of the arts and how disciplines and society fails when is not able to offer equal opportunities to all individuals.
Knowledge Quarter would like to thank the speakers, the audience and the Bloomsbury festival for an inspiring, thought provoking afternoon at Conway Hall.
