King's Impact Reception - Exhibitor Information 2024

King’s Impact Reception 2024

Contents Overview

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A thriving and sustainable planet

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Whole-life health for mind and body

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Advancing equality and social mobility

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Peace and justice in a turbulent world

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Technology for good

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KING’S IMPACT RECEPTION

WORKING TOGETHER TO BUILD A BETTER WORLD Today’s biggest challenges are vast, complex and interconnected. They are too divisive to have simple answers. Too urgent to be postponed. And too big to be solved alone. The King’s community has identified five interdisciplinary focus areas to strengthen our collective impact locally, nationally, and globally.

A thriving and sustainable planet

Peace and justice in a turbulent world

Whole-life health for mind and body

Technology for good

One we safeguard and steward with urgency

Through pioneering advancements in prevention, medicine and healthcare

To strengthen resilience and forge pathways to sanctuary

Designing a future that empowers us to live well with technology

Advancing equality and social mobility

So that access and attainment are not defined by background TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT KING’S APPROACH TO IMPACT, PLEASE VISIT THE KING’S IMPACT SITE

kcl.ac.uk/impact

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A THRIVING AND SUSTAINABLE PLANET

THE DICKSON POON SCHOOL OF LAW

Promoting access to justice In The Dickson Poon School of Law, we are unlocking the ways law can respond to the challenges of the climate crisis through our wide-ranging research and legal activism.

• In King’s Legal Clinic, staff and students have worked together to launch a Rights of Nature toolkit, the first of its kind for protecting rivers in England and Wales.

• ‘Sentinels’, a short film produced and co-created by the School, tells the story of a group of young Colombians whose action led to a major court judgement that granted legal rights to the Amazon rainforest.

• Our Centre for Climate Law & Governance was established to investigate the legal and regulatory approaches to climate change and sustainability. This is a key emerging area for research and advocacy that is critical in making climate solutions work for us all.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE WORK OF THE DICKSON POON SCHOOL OF LAW, PLEASE CONTACT ALEXIS BEAUMONT 2

A THRIVING AND SUSTAINABLE PLANET

FACULTY OF NATURAL, MATHEMATICAL & ENGINEERING SCIENCES Helping to solve world hunger using sustainable technologies Despite continued efforts, the global undernourished population is projected to increase from 688 million to 841 million by 2030. Yet 1.3 billion tonnes of wasted food and 11.1 billion tonnes of crop residues, such as wheat straw, are being produced annually.

Dr Miao Guo, Department of Engineering, is investigating the use of sustainable technologies to transform food waste into protein that could help efforts to reduce undernutrition, pressure on agriculture and food supply chains and the effects of the climate crisis.

Dr Guo has found that using fermentation to convert agricultural food waste could provide three times the amount of protein (mycroprotein) the average person needs.

Enough to feed every person in the world, every day.

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TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE WORK OF THE FACULTY, PLEASE CONTACT LOUISA WOOD

WHOLE-LIFE HEALTH FOR MIND AND BODY

FACULTY OF DENTISTRY, ORAL & CRANIOFACIAL SCIENCES Going ‘beyond the mouth’ to improve health and care King’s hosts the largest dental faculty in Europe and the only dental school in the UK to feature in the top ten of the QS World Rankings.

• Our faculty educates more than 20 per cent of the UK’s current oral health workforce through innovative, award-winning training.

• We drive pioneering research programmes that are transforming patient care across dental, oral and craniofacial health.

• And we engage deeply with our local communities to inspire future generations of oral health professionals.

We’re working on innovative solutions to complex health challenges, from microbiome transplants that can improve health and fight disease, to dentures with a suction mechanism inspired by octopus tentacles.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE WORK OF THE FACULTY, PLEASE CONTACT HELENE WILLIAMS 4

WHOLE-LIFE HEALTH FOR MIND AND BODY

FACULTY OF LIFE SCIENCES & MEDICINE SCHOOL OF CANCER AND PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES Getting into the core of cancer Our school’s mission is to improve and save lives affected by cancer through fundamental science discovery.

We’re developing new ways of genetically reprogramming the body’s immune cells to recognise and hunt down cancer. While such CAR-T therapies have already transformed treatment for blood cancers, they’re more difficult to design for solid tumours. We’ve developed a new ‘living therapy’ that can sense when tumour cells are nearby, reducing the risk of toxic side effects and maximising its cancer-killing power.

We’re also developing small-molecule drugs that can pass through natural barriers in the body to reach tumour cells, and penetrate deeper into tumours for maximum impact. Novel therapies and treatments like these can help transform the lives of people living with cancer, enabling them to live well for longer.

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We developed activatable nanoparticles for safe and efficient treatments of hard-to-treat tumours, particularly in the brain. These nanoparticles can be tracked using MRI, and activated by focused ultrasound to deliver therapeutics only in the tumour, avoiding damage to healthy tissues. Our technology could be particularly useful for treating children and young people with brain tumours.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE WORK OF THE FACULTY, PLEASE CONTACT HELEN RATTIGAN

WHOLE-LIFE HEALTH FOR MIND AND BODY

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE FACULTY OF NURSING, MIDWIFERY & PALLIATIVE CARE

CICELY SAUNDERS INSTITUTE OF PALLIATIVE CARE, POLICY & REHABILITATION Getting high-quality palliative care to everyone who needs it.

Death and dying affects us all, and we all deserve comfort and dignity as we approach the end of our life. Palliative care is holistic care for adults and children who are living with life-limiting illness. Palliative care reduces physical, psychosocial and spiritual distress for patients and their loved ones and carers.

The Cicely Saunders Institute was the first purpose-built institute for palliative care in the world, and remains at the forefront of palliative care and rehabilitation research, education and clinical care. Ranked as worldleading, it combines cutting-edge research, skilled multi-disciplinary clinical care, and innovative education to transform practice and provide better care for everyone approaching the end of life.

More than 100,000 people in the UK die every year without the palliative care they need.

This number is rising rapidly. To address this

growing need, King’s is creating a brand-new Impact Centre for Palliative and End-of-Life Care. The Impact Centre will bridge the gap between evidence and practice to transform delivery of high-quality care, and help ensure that everyone who needs palliative care receives it.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE WORK OF THE FACULTY, PLEASE CONTACT REBECCA ELDRIDGE 6

WHOLE-LIFE HEALTH FOR MIND AND BODY

INSTITUTE OF PSYCHIATRY, PSYCHOLOGY & NEUROSCIENCE THE CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROBIOLOGY Building brains: Understanding the body’s most complex organ Despite weighing just three pounds – 2 per cent of our total body weight – the human brain dictates every aspect of our lives: our thoughts, emotions, memories, intelligence, senses, body movement and behaviour. It takes 20 years to develop, including nine months in the womb – an unusually long process compared to other mammals. Each human brain is not only impossibly complex, but totally unique.

New scientific advances have opened an incredible new window into the developing brain, allowing scientists to look at its most formative stages more closely than ever before.

King’s research is revealing how and when differences in brain development occur, aiming to improve the lives of people with neurodevelopmental conditions such as epilepsy, intellectual disability, autism and psychosis.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE WORK OF THE FACULTY, PLEASE CONTACT MAGGY LIU IMAGE CREDITS (clockwise) Pyramidal cells © Robert Hindges Neonate diffusion map © Tom Arichi

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ADVANCING EQUALITY AND SOCIAL MOBILITY

KING’S WIDENING PARTICIPATION Achieving social mobility through educational equality A great education can be a passport to future success. But access to opportunity is not distributed fairly. We want to change this.

The Social Mobility & Widening Participation department works with learners from underrepresented backgrounds, by removing barriers to success and empowering them to access and thrive in higher education. Over the past decade, our flagship programmes have supported over 64,000 students to access educational opportunities.

Through this work, we are creating a diverse community of learners at King’s and are contributing to a world where a young person’s destination is not limited by their start in life.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE WORK OF THE WIDENING PARTICIPATION TEAM, PLEASE CONTACT THE DEPARTMENT 8

PEACE AND JUSTICE IN A TURBULENT WORLD

THE DICKSON POON SCHOOL OF LAW Defending human rights The role of law is critical in defending human rights such as freedom of expression or freedom from torture. The Dickson Poon School of Law has shaped human rights legislation and case law around the world, helping to protect victims of modern slavery and advance equality.

• Professor Robert Wintemute’s influential research and active participation in test cases relating to the rights of same-sex partners has changed legal frameworks across Europe.

• Professor Satvinder Juss’s work gives fresh insight into colonial power: his research is re-connecting communities with the life and legacy of Bhagat Singh, who was tried, convicted and hanged under British Colonial Law.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE WORK OF THE DICKSON POON SCHOOL OF LAW, PLEASE CONTACT ALEXIS BEAUMONT

Above: Sunset at Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, India

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TECHNOLOGY FOR GOOD

FACULTY OF ARTS & HUMANITIES DIGITAL FUTURES INSTITUTE Living well with technology The digital revolution is unfolding around us, affecting all parts of our lives. Technological advances in fields such as AI are changing our work, justice systems, healthcare and more.

With every advancement, there is potential for both harm and good.

The Digital Futures Institute seeks to explore and enhance the relationship between the individual, society and technology. It unites disciplines from across King’s: technical innovators come together with experts in history, ethics and culture to anticipate and to resolve the unintended consequences of digital developments. This is especially needed as new technologies are evolving faster than the regulatory frameworks intended for them.

Among the Institute’s flagship projects are: • Forestscapes: exploring how arts-based approaches to layering sounds may be used to understand forests as living cultural landscapes.

• Interface: revealing the history and meanings of facial technologies, from transplants and facial recognition systems to 3D-printed prosthetics.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE WORK OF THE FACULTY, PLEASE CONTACT IRENE MITROPOLOU 10

TECHNOLOGY FOR GOOD

FACULTY OF NATURAL, MATHEMATICAL & ENGINEERING SCIENCES Answering fundamental questions about our world and universe The Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences aims to answer fundamental questions about our world and universe and tackle global challenges.

Working across traditional subject boundaries and leading pioneering discoveries, our researchers focus on the infinitesimal to the infinite; from nanophotonics to cosmology, cell biology to theoretical physics: • ‘The Purrble’, a smart toy with a heartbeat and responsive to touch that can calm children and young people affected by mental health conditions.

• King’s Quantum are levitating delicate nanotechnology, making it easier to control and more robust to changes in force and temperature, to advance sensing for use in multiple areas, from medical imaging to the detection of dark matter. Levitating delicate nanotechnology, making it easier to control 11

and more robust to changes in force and temperature, to advance sensing for use in multiple areas, from medical imaging to the detection of dark matter.

• ‘Origaker’ is a quadrupedal robot inspired by the evolutionary process that can transform for reptilian, arthropod or mammalian-like movement to navigate across disaster and conflict zones.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE WORK OF THE FACULTY, PLEASE CONTACT LOUISA WOOD

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