Calling all STEM students from GCSE to A Level to university! Welcome to our Annual Engineering Schools Lecture, highlighting the amazing research that takes place here. Delivering the 2025 lecture is Dr Michael Berthaume, who will explore his work combining engineering with anthropology.

Talk title

Anthroengineering: designing better lives with engineering.

Talk description

As society faces new problems, we need new skills and ways of thinkings to tackle these. In this lecture, Dr Michael Berthaume will explore how we can combine the worlds of engineering and anthropology to help advance our understanding of human evolution, and design novel technologies to improve people’s lives.

Traditionally scientists have worked in their separate areas, but as the problems we need to tackle become ever more complex, the boundaries between disciplines become fuzzy and break down. Michael will unpack the new field of anthroengineering he has pioneered, which is helping us better understand the variation we see in humans today, and what this means for how our bodies work and move. 

This knowledge can then be used to improve human lives in a range of ways, with Michael’s team focussing on how to better provide culturally relevant and sustainable prosthetics to low and middle income countries. Here are King’s our Engineering Department is filled with a diverse group of scientists, working on a range of interesting projects just like this, which straddle different scientific topics, and aim to help shape the world for the better. 

About the speaker

Dr Michael Berthaume is a Reader in the Department of Engineering at King’s College London. Before joining King’s, he was at London South Bank University where his administrative duties included being Deputy Head of the Division, in charge of Research and Enterprise. He is a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI), member of the Exceed Research Network (ERN), and an executive member of the inaugural UK Young Academy, which is supported by the Royal Society and other senior academies within the UK.

Dr Berthaume is an “anthroengineer” with degrees (UMass, Amherst) and postdoctoral experience (University of Hull, Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Durham University, and Imperial College London) in both anthropology and engineering. He truly believes transdisciplinarity is the future, providing a holistic view of problems and challenges, enabling them to be addressed and solved in new, novel manners.

 

Schedule

15:15 - Event opens; registration, refreshments and engineering activities

16:15 - Theatre doors open

16:30-16:40 - Theatre event starts; welcome and housekeeping

16:40-17:00 - Research talk from King's Engineering PhD student Iman Ismail

17:00-18:00 - Dr Michael Bertaume talk and Q&A

18:00 - Event finishes

 

Important information

Attendance
This event is aimed at those aged 16+. Younger attendees are welcome, but please note that attendees under the age of 14 must be accompanied by a responsible adult. For school groups, tickets are limited to 20 students per booking, to ensure a larger number of schools can attend. If you are aged 14–18 and booking for yourself, please check with a parent or guardian before booking your place.

Registration for this event will take place in reception in the main Strand Building entrance. This is on the Strand, the opposite side of St Mary Le Strand Church from Bush House. Refreshments and activities are in the Engineering Quad Labs and the Lecture will take place in the Edmond J. Safra Lecture Theatre.

This event is organised by the Department of Engineering at King’s College London, together with the Faculty Outreach Team. If you have any questions or would like any further details, please email nmes-outreach@kcl.ac.uk.

For in-person events we operate a policy of overbooking, to help manage on the day drop-out rates. Please ensure you arrive in good time to avoid disappointment on the day.

Accessibility
This talk will take place in the Edmond J Safra Lecture Theatre, on the ground floor of the King's Building. The theatre is fully wheelchair accessible, with designated spaces for wheelchair users. There are accessible bathrooms on this floor. The refreshments and activities will take place in the Engineering Quad Labs, on the -1 level of this building.

Wheelchair access is via lift. The nearest step-free underground station is Blackfriars, but a number of bus routes stop a short distance from the Strand Campus.

Photography and privacy notice
The event you will be attending will have photography and/or videography. If you do not wish to appear in any recordings or photographs, please approach our registration team on the day of the event or email nmes-outreach@kcl.ac.uk beforehand. Photographs and recordings taken may feature in our publications or on the King’s website and social media channels. All personal data will be processed in accordance with King’s privacy policy available here.

We collect and process your personal information to help us manage and run the event. In accordance with the King’s College London Data Retention Schedule, we will keep your information until the completion of the event. To find out more about how the university deals with your personal information, including your rights, please see the university’s core privacy notice. Your personal information will be transferred to the United States via Eventbrite. Please read this article where you can find out more on how Eventbrite protects your data.