30 April 2025

• Speaker: Professor Tim Smith, University of the Arts London
• Title: The attentional theory of cinematic continuity

In this seminar, Professor Tim Smith will discuss the below research:

Creators of film, TV and videos tell stories by selecting and emphasising key details of an audiovisual scene through editing, cinematography and sound design. Such edited film sequences instantaneously transport the viewer through space and time in ways that are physically impossible and, due to their divergence from reality should pose problems for viewer comprehension. However, filmmakers have at their disposal a suite of cinematic techniques that can minimize viewer awareness of the cuts, create the perception of a continuous scene across sequences of shots and maximize comprehension. In this presentation I will cover the empirical evidence of the impact of these techniques on viewers and outline the Attentional Theory of Cinematic Continuity (AToCC), a theoretical framework that uses empirical and computational evidence of how we attend to, perceive and comprehend real-world audiovisual scenes to explain how filmmakers have co-opted these natural processes when crafting cinematic stories.

26 March 2025

• Speaker: Dr Tamsin Newlove-Delgado, University of Exeter
• Title: Children and Adolescent Mental Health: Public Health Aspects

2 April 2025

• Speaker: Professor Ellen Townsend, University of Nottingham
• Title: Mental Health: Self harm

23 April 2025

• Speaker: Professor Alison Heppenstall, University of Glasgow
• Title: Agent-Based Modeling for Understanding Urban Complexity

Many wicked problems - such as social, health, and economic inequalities, alongside the push for sustainable and net-zero cities - are unfolding in urban environments. However, many interventions are implemented without fully understanding their cascading consequences. Do they reduce or exacerbate existing inequalities?

Recent perspectives view cities and social systems as being shaped by individual decisions and networks of information, money, and social ties. This makes individuals central to the simulation of urban dynamics. Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) provides a powerful framework to simulate these interactions, capturing how individual behaviors aggregate into broader societal patterns.

This talk will introduce ABM, illustrating its utility through real-world examples. It will also explore the key challenges and opportunities associated with using ABM to inform urban policy and decision-making.

21 May 2025

• Speaker: Dr Charles Ogunbode, University of Nottingham
• Title: Climate justice now! Examining public understanding of climate justice and the implications of climate justice beliefs for action and policy support

In this talk, Dr Charles Ogunbode will present findings from a global research program examining public awareness and endorsement of climate justice. This includes an in-depth exploration of how communities of colour in the United Kingdom and United States interpret the concept, as well as an analysis of how climate justice compares to other key psychological drivers — uch as risk perception, worry, and efficacy beliefs — in predicting climate action and policy support. I will conclude by discussing how engaging with climate justice beliefs can uniquely enhance public engagement with climate change, offering new pathways for advocacy and communication.