Oct 23 2013
Artificial Intelligence and robot expert, Professor Noel Sharkey, is amongst the prestigious guest speakers at Leeds Metropolitan University's annual Festival of Politics and Applied Global Ethics next month.
Professor Sharkey is a well-known expert in the field of robots and drones (unmanned aerial vehicles), regularly writing for the Guardian and appearing on television and radio. An Emeritus Professor at the University of Sheffield and Chairman of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC), he will be engaging in a debate with Dr Peter Lee of Portsmouth University, based at RAF Cranwell, on the subject of the ethical use of unmanned drones during the Festival which runs from Monday 4 to Friday 8 November at the University's city campus.
The annual Festival of Politics & Applied Global Ethics is a programme of talks, discussions and debates providing opportunities for argument and discussion on important issues and challenges facing the world today and the way we live.
This year the festival is welcoming a range of high-profile external speakers and organisations from the academic, political and campaigning worlds including: Fred Pearce, Sunder Katwala, Rachel Reeves MP, Professor Roger Mac Ginty, Citizens UK, Migration Watch, People's Assembly, New Economics Foundation, British Future, Yorkshire & Humberside TUC, and Social Liberal Forum.
Topics up for debate will include 'civilising the torture trade', 'is immigration good for Britain?', 'defusing the 'population bomb', 'hybrid forms of peace building' and 'building a one nation economy'.
Speaking about the series, Dr Paul Wetherly, Reader in Politics at Leeds Met, commented: "The idea of the festival is to provide a space for students and staff within the university community and beyond to think about and debate challenging questions and issues that we face today at national and global levels. Global population growth, immigration, new military technologies, austerity, 'one nation' politics, among others to be discussed at the festival, are issues that affect all of us and the future of our society. The point is to highlight the reasons why people disagree about the nature of these challenges and how we should respond to them, and to expose those reasons to scrutiny and debate."
Events in the festival are free and open to members of the public who are interested in engaging with these issues along with students and staff within the university.
For details of the full programme and to register on events, please visit http://bit.ly/15YdBZk and for more information contact Dr Paul Wetherly [email protected] For more information about Politics and Applied Global Ethics at Leeds Met, please see www.leedsmet.ac.uk/about/politics-and-applied-global-ethics.htm