Science Cafés

The Science Café dates for 2026 are:

Otley Science Café logo
  • Thursday 26th March
  • Thursday 18th June
  • Thursday 24th September
  • Thursday 12th November, Science Festival Café

The last Café of the year is during Festival week.

Thursday 12th November, 7.30pm

Our Science Festival Café explores how trees cool, the problem of rising myopia and duality in mathematics.

Three expert speakers, time for Q&A after every session and refreshing drinks available from the bar. Come and enjoy the evening!

Here’s what’s on the agenda:

  • How Cool Are Trees
    • Dr Cat Scott, Director of Leeds Ecosystem, Atmosphere & Forest Centre, University of Leeds
      • We’ve probably all experienced cooler temperatures whilst walking through a forest, but do we know why? Trees are doing more than just providing shade, they’re powering an additional process that keeps leafy streets and woodlands several degrees cooler than the surrounding built up spaces.
      • Find out what’s going on, and how Cat and the Gair Wood team are studying this at the University of Leeds’ new research woodland. Find out more at https://leaf.leeds.ac.uk/gairwood/
  • Seeing the Future: Can We Slow Myopia Progression in Young Adults?
    • Kathryn Webber, Bradford School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Bradford
      • Myopia (short-sightedness) is becoming increasingly common around the world, but it is more than just a need for stronger glasses or contact lenses. Higher levels of myopia can increase the risk of eye disease later in life.
      • In this short talk, you’ll discover how myopia can be managed in children and hear about the MoMUS study, which is investigating whether treatments used in childhood could also help young adults whose myopia continues to progress.
  • Invitation to Dual with Mathematics
    • Dr Kasia Wyczesany, School of Mathematics, University of Leeds
      • What if two seemingly different things were really two ways of looking at the same idea? Mathematics is full of surprising pairings like this, known as dualities. A duality links two seemingly different objects or concepts in a way that allows us to understand one by studying the other. 
      • In this Science Café talk, we’ll explore some beautiful examples of duality and discover how mathematicians use these unexpected relationships to gain fresh insights. We will also see how the duality also inspired In Dual Light, an artwork created for Night Light Leeds and projected onto the Leeds Civic Hall building.
      • To find out more about In Dual Light, visit: https://www.cityofmaths.co.uk/whats-on/light-night-leeds

Further information and tickets

The Science Café will start at 7.30pm on Thursday 12th November

As usual, tickets for the Café are £6, but free for students in full time education (though a ticket is still required)

Tickets are available from the Courthouse or you can click/tap here

Otley Courthouse Arts Centre
Courthouse Street
Otley
West Yorks
LS21 3AN

01943 467466

You can email Otley Science Festival here: info@otleysciencefestival.co.uk
or follow us on Bluesky, Threads or Facebook (we are no longer present on X / Twitter)

Looking back to earlier in the year, this was the September Science Café:

Thursday 24th September, 7.30pm

Our autumn Science Café explored a possible alternative to animal research and rethinking one of the societal challenges of today.

Here’s what was on the agenda:

  • The Good, the Bad and the Leaky: growing blood vessels on-a-chip
    • Georgina Lee, School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Leeds
      • My talk will focus on how organ-on-chip is becoming an alternative to animal models, as well as the current drawbacks. I will also touch briefly on my research, which is specific to growing blood vessels.
      • This talk had to be postponed from the March Science Café
  • Obesity: reframing the evidence for complex social problems
    • Professor Claire Griffiths, Co-Director of the Obesity Institute, Leeds Beckett University
      • Is it time to reframe the evidence for complex social problems? How do we implement and evaluate a systems approach to address population obesity, in real world settings? 
  • Planetary Nurseries Revealed
    • Dr Alison Young, Stephen Hawking Fellow, University of Leeds
      • Unfortunately Dr Young was unable to attend on the night. We hope that we will be able to reschedule this session for a later café.

Before that, our June Café:

Thursday 18th June

  • Mapping The Invisible Universe
    • Dr Josie Rawes, School of Physics, Engineering and Technology, University of York
      • Explore how astronomers map a universe we can’t see with our eyes by tuning into radio wavelengths, revealing hidden structures and phenomena. This talk introduces why radio telescopes must be so large, how they uncover dramatic extragalactic jets from distant galaxies, and what comes next with next-generation observatories and the growing challenge of managing vast amounts of cosmic data.
  • Working class lobsters – the crayfish ecological power struggle
    • Dr Josie South, School of Biology, University of Leeds
      • Crayfish are cute, dastardly, and delicious. Some are disappearing before our eyes while some are wreaking ecological havoc. Join us in discussing why these species are so divisive and what attributes make you a winner or a loser in the ecological power struggle of the working class lobster.
  • The Cambrian Explosion and the financial success of Berkshire Hathaway
    • Prof. Richard Mann, School of Mathematics, University of Leeds
      • The Cambrian Explosion marks one of the most extraordinary chapters in the history of life on Earth, when most major animal groups first appear in the fossil record. Compared to later periods, the rate at which new species emerged was strikingly rapid.
      • In the world of finance, Berkshire Hathaway, led by Warren Buffett, has outperformed the broader market for decades. Much of that advantage was concentrated in its early years, when growth was fastest.
      • These two very different examples reveal a shared pattern. Successful growth often follows a predictable trajectory: an initial burst of rapid expansion, followed by slower, steadier progress. In this talk, I’ll explore how stochastic models of growth naturally produce this pattern, and what they can teach us about the history of life, evolution, and how to invest our money.

Before that, on 26th March we looked at:

  • Frontier Science – drones, Romans and river crossings at the edge of the Roman Empire
    • Dr Kayt Armstong, Department of Archaeological & Forensic Sciences, University of Bradford
  • The Good, the Bad and the Leaky: growing blood vessels on-a-chip to model cancer drug delivery
    • Georgina Lee, School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Leeds
      • My talk will focus on how organ-on-chip is becoming an alternative to animal models, as well as the current drawbacks. I will also touch briefly on my research, which is specific to growing blood vessels.
  • Weather Forecasting With AI
    • Prof. Doug Parker, School of Earth & Environment, University of Leeds
      • Over the past 3-4 years, AI-based weather prediction models have achieved the same levels of accuracy that “physics-based” models took 60 years to attain, using a fraction of the computational cost. We don’t know if this progress will continue, or whether all models have nearly reached a natural limit of prediction skill due to the mathematics of chaos.
      • Although the rise of AI models has surprised many scientists, it can be viewed more simply as a return to ideas of statistical and analogue weather prediction, which had been largely abandoned in the 1970s as physics-based models advanced.
      • Many claim that AI weather prediction will democratise weather prediction, but is it more likely to drive forecasting away from the public sector weather services and into the hands of global corporates?

Earlier Science Cafés

For the record we have also left available information about earlier Science Cafés. 2019 to 2025 is here and 2017/2018 can be found here.

September ’17 Café follow up: local air pollution

Professor Pilling C.B.E. (Emeritus Professor, School of Chemistry, Univ. of Leeds) provided the following links related to local air quality issues for us to share here.

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