Details
The 2026 Annual Research Symposium of the UK Alexander von Humboldt Association was held at Alliance Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester on the 11th of September 2026.
Synopsis
Academic Host: Prof Timothy Devinney
Host Institution: University of Manchester
Date: 11th of September 2026
Organisers: Dr Shannon A. Bonke and Prof Belen Olmos Giupponi
Dr Shannon A. Bonke (King’s College, University of Cambridge)
Welcome from the President of the UK AvH Association
The Mark Warner Lecture by Prof David Langslow FBA, Emeritus Hulme Professor of Latin at the University of Manchester and Emeritus Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford.
Greek medicine in Latin translation in sixth-century Ravenna: How Latin translations can contribute to the history of Greek medicine
David spoke on how Greek medical texts were translated into Latin in the city of Ravenna in the Roman era. He explained how his study of the text gave insight into which version of the Greek texts were used and how tracing back the translations gave insight into the original Greek knowledge and lost works.
Dr Susanne M. Rupf, Leopoldina German National Academy of Sciences Fellow at the University of Cambridge.
Making Phosgene More Sustainable: Turning CO₂ and Salt into an Industrial Building Block
Susanne’s research is to generate sustainable chemicals by using the chlorine from sea water and CO2 in an electrochemical process. This approach also avoids the handling of toxic chlorine gas.
Prof Cinzia Casiraghi, Professor of Nanoscience at the University of Manchester.
Inks that can Think: Printed Electronics Enabled by 2D Materials
Cinzia showed how tailored surfactants could be used to exfoliate graphite into graphene in water rather than organic solvents. These graphene sheets could be used to form flexible electrodes on hydrogels to study electrical signals in vivo.
Prof Pascal McKeown, Clinical Professor and Director of Medical Education at Queen’s University Belfast
WG Sebald: His Life and Published Works
Pascal spoke about the meaning and impact of the literary works by WG Selbad, including how they blurred the lines between historical account and fictional narrative with this unique and captivating style
Prof John Baines FBA, Emeritus Professor of Egyptology and Fellow of The Queen’s College at the University of Oxford.
Ancient Egyptian Biographies
John explained how ancient Egyptian biographies reflected the way people wished to be perceived, even if that included deviation from fact. He then showed how this trend in ceremonial hieroglyphics affected previous interpretations with some of these accounts written generations after a family member deceased.
The Brian Ketterer Lecture by Prof Stephen T. Liddle, Emeritus Hulme Professor of Latin at the University of Manchester and Emeritus Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford.
Uranium: Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde?
Stephen spoke on how the periodic table was rearranged through understanding of larger atomic orbitals, learning about uranium chemistry as a key example and preparation of synthetic elements in the second half of the twentieth century. He followed this by showing his work to better understand the chemistry of these elements, which is key to managing spent fuel from nuclear reactors.
UK Alexander von Humboldt Association 