Professor Jim Al-Khalili (photo credit Allan Shedlock)
2017 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of John Napier after whom Edinburgh Napier University is named, and whose former home – Merchiston Tower – is situated on the campus where I work. Over the course of 2017 a series of events has commemorated John Napier and his work. Continue reading
Merchiston Tower
Whenever I deliver an invited presentation to an international audience I like to give a little bit of background about myself, the city of Edinburgh, the city’s four universities, and my home institution: see for example slides 7-23 in the presentation that I recently gave in Brazil. For the latter I refer to the work of John Napier (1550-1617), after whom Edinburgh Napier University is named, and whose former home – Merchiston Tower – is situated on the campus where I work. Continue reading
This coming week I am the guest of the Departamento de Engenharia de Produção da Politéchnica at the University of São Paulo in Brazil. During my visit I am making a presentation at a research symposium. The focus of this is the work of colleagues in the School of Computing who are members of the Centre for Social Informatics. The slides for my presentation are provided below, along with a summary of the main points that I will be making when I take the stage on Wednesday.
Finland experienced a fresh covering of snow last week
I have examined quite a few PhDs over the course of my career, both in English and in French, but until last week I had not had the opportunity to participate in a doctoral defence at a Nordic university. Last week I travelled to Åbo Akademi University in the Finnish city of Turku to serve as the opponent at the PhD defence of a thesis (in English) entitled Social media and public libraries: exploring information activities of library professionals and users.
Hazel Hall 