On stage at Bright Club

Something I never, ever, thought would happen: me doing stand up. This was last Monday at Bright Club.

What to call the short film competition?

Looking for a name for the short-film competition I'm organising.

The competition will be open to the people of Archway in London. The theme is "healthcare".

There will be prizes for the best film by an under-16 and the best film for an over-16s. Winning and shortlisted films will be shown at a special screening.

After the competition, the films will be used to teach medical students about the patient's perspective of healthcare.

The idea is to increase communication between UCL Medical School, which is partly based at the Whittington Hospital in Archway, and the local community.

Archway is at the intersection of Islington, Camden and Haringey and has high levels of socio-economic deprivation and quite sizeable black and minority ethnic populations.

Assisted dying

Cheery topic for today's post.

Went to a UCL debate last night on assisted dying.

Most of the original panel couldn't make it becasue they were at a debate on the same issue in the Lords - somewhat unfortunate timetabling. But the attending panel made their statements clearly and in a surprisingly unemotional manner. It was also interesting to hear Debbie Purdy's point of view from the audience.

The clearest point for me came from Sir Ken Macdonald QC, former Director of Public Prosecutions, who said that nobody has been prosecuted for helping someone commit suicide (e.g. by taking them to a clinic in Switzerland, Holland or Oregon) because it is not deemed to be in the public interest. What is the point of a law that is never exercised?

An amusing aside from Dr Evan Harris MP. Trained as a doctor, he's now a Lib Dem MP. His campagning on the pro-choice side of the abortion issue led the Daily Mail to dub him "Dr Death". Apparently his Jewish mother didn't know what to make of this. One the one hand she was dismayed and upset. On the other hand, dissapointed that he had left medicine for politics, the article at least provided concrete proof to show her friends that her son was really and truly a doctor.

Oh, and here's an article from Charlie Falconer about the amendment that is currently being debated in the Lords (see above).

What are universities for?

This afternoon I went to an inspiring symposium at UCL on public engagement.

The idea is that universities should not just teach students and conduct research, but should endeavour to educate everyone. As the Vice-Provost Michael Worton pointed out, public engagement isn't just writing in the Guardian or even the Telegraph (as he put it), it's enabling all sorts of people being able to benefit from academic expertise.

Public engagement is the new big thing. Mostly probably because grant giving bodies require it (just as assessments motivate medical students, so grant requirements motivate researchers).

It was great to see some of the work people have been doing. The archeologists are training members of the public to survey key sites along the River Thames. The UCL Department of Space and Climate Physics holds all sorts of rocket-building and story-telling events at their posh campus in Guildford, Surrey.

And it's not just the scientists - UCL Scandanavian Studies are involved in Bright Club - a mix of comedy, music, art, new writing, science and performance; and the museums at UCL regularly hold events such as The Big Draw in the holidays for children and photography competitions.

I need to think what I can do to get people involved in my psychological, medical educational research...

I am certainly biassed, but UCL has such a varied mix of disciplines, it really is great. Here's a picture of students preparing to stage Twelfth Night in the quad this evening.