Lord Winston inspires students at the IoP
Posted on 12/06/2012
Lord Winston talks to students at the IoP
Professor Lord Robert Winston, Professor of Science and Society and Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College, gave an inspirational guest lecture to students on the MSc Mental Health Studies and the MSc Organisational Psychiatry and Psychology courses at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King’s on their last day of term.
World-renowned scientist Lord Winston has over 300 scientific publications and has worked as a scientist, doctor and politician. His lecture was entitled “Artistic Madness – when does ‘thinking outside the box’ become unacceptable to civilised society?” Lord Winston discussed the development of the brain in the context of poetry, drama, music and art and gave examples of Beethoven, Bach, T S Eliot and Shakespeare to show how unusual personalities can be the source of enormous creativity.
Professor Shitij Kapur, Dean and Head of School, IoP at King’s said: ‘It is a great honour that Lord Winston has spared time out of his very busy schedule to share his wisdom, experience and great humour, with our students at the IoP. The students clearly found the lecture stimulating and it was a fitting way to end the term.’
Lord Winston said: ‘I really enjoyed meeting such talented and passionate students at the Institute of Psychiatry and congratulate them on their enthusiasm and interest in the important issues of mental health.’
Professor Lord Robert Winston and Professor Emeritus Nick Bouras, one of the founders of the Mental Health Studies Programme at the IoP.
Lord Winston is committed to scientific education and regularly writes and hosts popular science programmes for television. He is Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University, Chairman of the Royal College of Music and Chair of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Trust Fund charity. He was voted "Peer of the Year" by his fellow Parliamentarians in June 2008 for his expertise and work on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Lord Winston has been awarded honorary doctorates at sixteen universities and has been a visiting professor at universities around America, Europe and Australia.
The MSc Mental Health Studies and the MSc Organisational Psychiatry and Psychology courses, run by the Department of Psychosis Studies, are unique to the UK and focus on a wide variety of mental health topics in order to give students an extensive understanding of the current mental health field and the issues society and professionals have to address. Students on the courses come from a wide range of backgrounds, including nursing, psychology, management, work with the homeless, drug and alcohol counselling, physiotherapy and mental health work.
For more information about post-graduate mental health studies at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's, please visit our prospectus.