Nerd Nite Brighton

Tickets on sale from Rialto Theatre

For November we are bringing you the best in evidence-based-entertainment with talks on community energy projects, dark matter and consciousness. Plus beer, cake and nerdy quiz fun. Be there and be square!

Doors open 7.30pm for 8pm start

Venue: Rialto Theatre.

Our speakers this month:

**Daniel Curtis – The Community Energy Revolution: How Local People Are Taking Back Power**

For 100 years the energy landscape has been owned and operated by a small cartel of suppliers who build massive power plants and sell their energy to everyone else. These power stations cost millions of pounds to build, rely on vast quantities of fossil fuels and nuclear materials, and concentrate power in the hands of the few. However, technologies like wind turbines and solar panels are transforming our relationship with energy. Homeowners, businesses and whole communities are now able to start generating their own energy for the first time, taking direct ownership of the means to power buildings, transport, and all aspects of 21st Century life.

Dan is communications and marketing manager of Brighton and Hove Energy Services Cooperative, a social enterprise developing community energy projects across Sussex. Investors become members of the cooperative and take shared ownership in all energy projects developed. BHESCo have delivered low carbon energy solutions for schools, community and leisure centres, art galleries, churches, shops and homes, which collectively bring down annual carbon emissions by 321 tonnes and reduce fuel bills by £70,000 a year. Dan is a fan of Whitehawk FC, and doesn’t drink on school nights.

**Kathy Romer – Dark Energy**

Professor Kathy Romer makes her long-awaited return to Nerd Nite Brighton. Originally from Tyneside, Kathy got her BSc in Physics with Astrophysics from the University of Manchester in 1990 and her PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Edinburgh in 1995. She then moved to the USA and was a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University and at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). After a short time as a research professor at CMU, she secured a tenure track position there. She moved back to the UK in 2004 to take up a lectureship at the University of Sussex. She is still at Sussex and is now both a Professor of Astrophysics, and a Public Engagement Fellow for the Science and Technology Research Council. Kathy is a world expert in the discovery and exploitation of X-ray clusters of galaxies. She is principal investigator of the XMM Cluster Survey collaboration and is coordinating the cluster research for the international Dark Energy Survey project.

**Adam Barrett – Does capitalism require endless growth for a stable economy?**

On our finite planet, there must be an end to economic growth (at least in advanced nations). But is it possible to have a stable capitalism without growth? If we have to keep paying back debt with interest, don’t we have to keep producing more stuff? Surely, in this era of climate change and increasing strain on the world’s resources, and when growth no longer makes us happier and healthier, we should be answering this question. But mainstream economics can’t answer it. It can’t explain crashes- remember how surprised economists were by the big crash 10 years ago? I’m a mathematician who became obsessed with this question about growth. I made my own model economy, and I’ll talk about what I found.

Dr Adam Barrett is a multi-disciplinary mathematician and data scientist at the University of Sussex. While he is best known for his research on the neuroscience underlying consciousness, he applies methods across diverse domains, e.g. to macroeconomics and sustainability science.

Hosted by Dr Mick Taylor
Doors open 7.30pm for an 8pm start.

£4 Regular Nerds
£3 Unemployed/NUS/65+ Nerds

We regularly sell out, so if you buy a ticket and can’t make it, PLEASE contact the Rialto Theatre and they will give you a refund and sell the ticket on to someone who can attend. Thanks!

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