Building the Technologies of the Future by Taking Inspiration from Biology

ABOUT THE TECH TALK

From the depths of the ocean to the heart of the deserts, somehow living things find a way to survive. When we look at Biology, we see remarkable resilience. When we look even more closely, right down to length scales thousands of times smaller than the human hair, we see efficient and elegant molecular machinery driving the key processes of Life. Hence, if engineers want to develop new technologies that solve real world problems, they can take inspiration from Biology, which has had millions of years to evolve solutions to the hardest problem of all – survival.

In this talk I will give a flavour of some of the technologies that I and others are working to develop. I will also say a little about my journey to where I am today. Zero prior technical or scientific knowledge is required. All are welcome!

(This is the first talk associated with the RSC ‘Tech group’; more tech/science/engineering events will hopefully follow soon.)

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr Katherine Dunn is Director of Mechanical Engineering and a Senior Lecturer at the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. Her role is multi-faceted – not only is she in charge of Mechanical Engineering, but she also carries out research on cutting-edge technologies in bioengineering.

Katherine has been at Edinburgh since 2017, and before coming here she worked for three years at the University of York. She spent the previous nine years studying and carrying out research at Oxford, having been educated at a state school in Kent. Katherine has been a member of the Royal Scots Club for just over a year.

Host or Publisher Royal Scots Club