Annual Lecture

KCLEA inaugurated the concept of an Annual Lecture on Engineering topics after the faculty of Engineering was closed in 2013. This proved so popular that even though Engineering is coming back to King's College, we decided to continue these Lectures.

Our last Annual Lecture was on 13th October 2022 at B5 Auditorium Franklin-Wilkins Building, Stamford Street London SE1 9NH from 19.15 - 21.30 GMT. 

You can watch it on the King's Alumni YouTube channel here.

For only the second time in human existence we face the prospect of holding the power to bring about an early extinction to our own species. In the 1950s the scientific breakthrough to split the atom gave us the ability to annihilate ourselves through the atomic bomb. The challenge of atomic weaponry was never solved but through design some stability has been achieved. Climate change is now the heart of the debate on human sustainability and yet (as with atomic weaponry) the public aspect of that debate is argumentative and binary. Can it be that the very approach of arguing two opposing absolutisms is impeding our progress in becoming more sustainable?

In this talk, Martin Stockley (Civil Engineering, 1977) will explore what if anything can be learned from the earlier threat to human survival and how might applying design and scientific thinking help us now. Fighting absolutist causes absorbs energy and produces poor results. What if we took a design approach of complementarity, holding the idea of resource conservation and management alongside the development of resource consuming future technology?

Event schedule:

7:15pm – 7:30pm | Registration

7:30pm – 8:30pm | Lecture and Q&A

8:30pm – 9:30pm | Networking and Refreshments

Investigate the future UK Engineering in the ever demanding world of sustainable technologies by registering for this highly topical Lecture!

In-person tickets were available on a first-come, first-served basis. For those who cannot attend in-person, the lecture was run as a hybrid event. 

Speaker:

Martin Stockley (Civil Engineering, 1977)Vice Chair of Highways England Design Review Panel, Design Council CABE

Martin has worked as a designer since 1971, graduating from King's Civil Engineering in 1977. He has purposely pursued a rounded and inclusive approach to engineering and is a Fellow of the institutions of Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering and Logistics and Transport. Having trained originally as a draughtsman his time has been spent exploring a wide range of engineering demands including: inspecting 125 miles of London's sewers, designing sewage treatment systems in the UK, Trinidad and Libya; working with architects on new buildings and the conversion and reuse of many listed and historic buildings, and was a key instigator in an alternative approach to the design of streets and public realm. His time is currently shared between self-building a new family home in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, coaching an elite swimmer and providing design advice on HS2 and other high level infrastructure and developments.

Details of previous KCLEA Annual Lectures can be found here.