About Us
The Rustat Conferences were founded in 2009 and are an initiative of Jesus College, Cambridge. They provide an opportunity for people from the frontlines of politics, the
civil service, financial services, the media, industry, business and education to discuss the
vital issues of the day with leading academic experts. The Rustat Conferences provide
outreach to a wider professional, academic and student audience through the publication of
reports in a variety of media. The Rustat Conferences are directed by John Cornwell and chaired by Professor Robert Mair CBE FREng FRS, Master of Jesus College, Professor of Geotechnical Engineering and Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cambridge University.
In 2009-2011 the Rustat Conferences will address the following themes: The
Future of Democracy; Ethics, Faiths and the Media; Infrastructure, Energy and the Environment; Pressures on Philanthropy; Food Security; Global Warming. The
inaugural Rustat Conference in May 2009 discussed the
Economic Crisis.
The Science and Human Dimension Project (founded 1990) and is a public understanding of science and ethics
programme based at Jesus College, Cambridge. The project is directed by John Cornwell. Please see the
Science and Human Dimension Project section of this site for more information
Directors
John Cornwell
John Cornwell is an author, journalist
and Fellow Commoner of Jesus College, Cambridge where he directs the
Science and Human Dimension Project, a public understanding of science
programme, and the Rustat Conferences. He has written for many
well known publications including The Sunday Times, Vanity Fair, Nature,
Financial Times, Prospect, New Statesman, Spectator, TLS, The Tablet,
New York Times and The Observer. He is author of
Hitler’s
Pope,The Secret History of Pius XII, A Thief in the Night, Power to
Harm, Earth to Earth, and a biography of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
He is editor of
Nature’s Imagination: The Frontiers of Scientific
Vision;
Consciousness and Human Identity;
and
Explanations: Styles of Explanation in Science (all published
by Oxford University Press), and with Michael McGhee, of
Philosophers
and God, Continuum (2009).
Professor Robert Mair, CBE FRS FREng
Robert Mair is Master of Jesus College and Rustat Conferences Chair. He is Professor of Geotechnical Engineering and Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Cambridge. He was a Fellow of St John's College from 1998 to 2001. He is co-founder of the Geotechnical Consulting Group, an international consulting firm based in London, started in 1983. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and its Senior Vice-President, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. Throughout his career he has specialised principally in underground construction, providing advice on numerous projects involving soft ground tunnelling, retaining structures, deep excavations and foundations. Recent projects have included railway tunnels in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bologna, Florence, Rome and Warsaw, and motorway tunnels in Turkey. In the UK he has been closely involved with the design and construction of the Jubilee Line Extension for London Underground, and with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and Crossrail projects. He was responsible for the introduction of compensation grouting in the UK as a novel technique for controlling settlement of structures during tunnel construction - on the Waterloo Escalator Tunnel Project. The technique was widely used on the Jubilee Line Extension Project for the protection of many historic buildings, including the Big Ben Clock Tower at the Palace of Westminster.
Advisory Board
Professor Lord Eatwell
President of Queens’ College, and Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
Professor Peter Nolan
Sinyi Professor of Chinese Management, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
Professor Peter Guthrie OBE FREng
Professor of Engineering for Sustainable Development, University of Cambridge
Dr Shailaja Fennell
Fellow, Jesus College and Lecturer in Development Studies, University of Cambridge
Professor John Thompson
Department of Politics, University of Cambridge
Sir Samuel Brittan
Financial Times, and Honorary Fellow, Jesus College, Cambridge
Tomás Carruthers
CEO Interactive Investor International
Professor Andrew Gamble FBA AcSS FRSA
Head of Department of Politics, University of Cambridge
Jonathan Cornwell
Publisher and Director, Media Symposia