• Ranging from insightful talks on space activities to climate change and oceans to the film industry, the April lineup offers attendees a range of topics
   

Abu Dhabi, UAE, April 1, 2024: The NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Institute has announced a series of in-person talks and conferences for its April lineup. Attendees will gain valuable insights into a wide range of topics, which include the latest breakthroughs in tobacco research, the future of space activities, the evolving role of technology and music within the film industry, the lasting effects of climate change towards the world’s oceans, and a journey through the history of Jerusalem.

Among some of the talks will be Romance and War/Music and Technology: From David Lean's Brief Encounter to His Lawrence of Arabia, which will take place on April 17 in collaboration with Abu Dhabi Festival. Led by award winning author and distinguished Professor of Humanities at Columbia University Lydia Goehr, the talk will explore the connection between the themes of romance and war in two classic films by David Lean set in a post-Second World War context, focusing on transports of love and the transportation of warring parties. Participants will have the opportunity to learn more about the perceptual and industrial differences among Britain and America, and the prominent role technology and music have played in relation to that.

On April 18, a discussion in collaboration with the Zayed Sustainability Prize will focus on the pivotal role of energy, and how a pioneering nature-based solution can simultaneously mitigate climate change, repair ocean ecosystems, and provide eco-friendly alternatives to plastics.

Please see the full list of talks below. For more information, please visit The Institute’s page. 

Third International Meeting for Research on Dokha Tobacco

April 16-17

NYUAD Campus (by invitation; interested scholars please contact nyuad.programs@nyu.edu)

Convened by: Scott Sherman, MD, MPH; Professor of Population Health, Medicine and Psychiatry, NYU Grossman School of Medicine; Andrea Leinberger-Jabari, Assistant Director, Public Health Research Center, NYUAD.

This conference brings together local and international experts in tobacco research along with government leaders in UAE to review the latest research and identify how research can further support tobacco control policy and practice in UAE.

Romance and War/Music and Technology: From David Lean's Brief Encounter to His Lawrence of Arabia

April 17, 6:30-8pm

NYUAD Campus, Conference Center

Speaker: Lydia Goehr, Fred and Fannie Mack Professor of Humanities, Columbia University.

This talk explores the connected themes of romance and war in two classic films by David Lean. Both films were highly charged in a post-Second World War context. They were about transports of love and the transportation of warring parties.

Voices of Sustainability: Pioneering Solutions for Earth’s Future
April 18
NYUAD Campus, Conference Center

Speakers: Caroline Slootweg, Co-founder & CCO/CMO, Kelp Blue; Angela Homsi, Co-founder & CEO, Ignite Power; and Mansoor Hamayun, Co-founder & CEO, Bboxx
In conversation with Antonios Vouloudis, Director of Sustainability and Stewardship, NYUAD
The discussion will center on the pivotal role of energy as the golden thread connecting various developmental priorities and how a pioneering nature-based solution can simultaneously mitigate climate change, repair ocean ecosystems and provide eco-friendly alternatives to plastics. Through their respective interconnected approaches, we will explore how these change-making solutions are paving the way for a more sustainable future.

Visible Certainty: The quest for dark and quiet skies

April 23-24

NYUAD Campus (by invitation; interested scholars please contact nyuad.cass.info@nyu.edu)

Convened by: Simoneta Di Pippo, Visiting Professor of Practice of Physics, NYUAD; Andrea V. Macciò; Professor of Physics; Director of the Center for Astrophysics and Space Science, NYUAD.

The symposium has the goal of fostering dialogue, with the aim of ensuring sustainability in space activities preserving dark and quiet skies for astronomers of today and tomorrow.

(De)Constructing the Virtual Character in Motion Pictures

April 24, 6:30-8pm

NYUAD Campus, Conference Center

Speaker: Luca Fascione, Distinguished Engineer - Ray Tracing, NVIDIA Corporation.

This talk examines what goes into designing a movie character that captures audiences in a contemporary feature and also explores the historical development of the corresponding technology and the aesthetic and structural choices that led to the current understanding of what a virtual character is or should be.

On the Meaning of Place: A Walk Through the Old City

April 29, 6:30-8pm

NYUAD Campus, Conference Center

Speaker: Matthew Teller, Journalist, Author of 'Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City'.

This session focuses on Jerusalem as a layered tapestry of communities, each with its own story. Matthew Teller’s book Nine Quarters of Jerusalem gives voice to these diverse populations. This exploration fosters an intimate understanding of place through the myriad voices of Jerusalem’s Old City.

One Ocean | One Heritage

April 29-May 1, 9am-5pm

NYUAD Campus (by invitation; interested scholars please contact nyuad.programs@nyu.edu)

Convened by: Tim Winter, Professor and Senior Research Fellow, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, NYUAD; Alia Yunis, Author, Director: 'The Golden Harvest', NYUAD; Francesco Arneodo, Professor of Physics; Global Network Professor of Physics, NYUAD; Robert Parthesius, Program Head for Heritage and Museum Studies; Associate Professor Heritage and Museum Studies, NYUAD.

The Ocean Decade Conference, looks to the past for guidance and reflects on the outcomes of COP 28, and the passing of the High Seas Treaty last March. It brings together ocean heritage scholars, policymakers, artists, and practitioners with the goal of fostering interdisciplinary “heritage future” projects that support and empower local communities.