Queen Mary Conversations Week

While they are inside our mouths, teeth shift, decay and fragment; yet once outside of the mouth, they become almost indestructible remnants of who we are, and were. This conversation explored the practices of dentistry, the histories of teeth, smiling, exploratory art of scanning and depicting teeth through microtomography, Pringles cans, and heritage techniques. Panellists: QMUL historian Colin Jones, author of The Smile Revolution in Eighteenth Century Paris, sculptor Janetka Platun,  David Mills of Queen Mary’s Institute of Dentistry, Professor of Applied Performance Practice Ali Campbell (QMUL Drama) and Head of Paediatric Dentistry Ferranti Wong (QMUL), who discussed their collaboration on the child-led research project The Dental Detectives to explore dental anxiety and possible solutions in paediatric dentistry.

How does data move, and how does motion create data? What counts as predictable or unpredictable motion, and how does it move us emotionally?  These are questions that dancers, sports scientists, mathematicians, data scientists and choreographers all grapple with. This conversation explored the overlaps between the work of data scientists and mathematicians in using data to predict motion, the ways in which dancers and sports scientists map movement and featured commissioned conversation between the choreographer Alexander Whitley and QMUL Professor of Mathematics Thomas Prellberg. Other panelists included Professor Dylan Morrissey,Consultant Physiotherapist and Professor of Sports and Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy at Bart's and the London NHS Trust, Andy Reynolds, Medical Director at the English National Ballet, Professor of Computer Vision and Human Sensing Ioannis Patras of the QMUL School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science Dr Martin Welton, Reader in Theatre and Performance and Dr Elisabetta Versace (QMUL School of Biological and Chemical Sciences), who explored how digital technologies support dancers’ learning and the potential for Artificial Intelligence to help dancers gain additional skills from home during the pandemic. 

The celebrated East End prize-fighter Daniel Mendoza revolutionised boxing in the late 18th and early 19th century. As a Jewish boxer, Mendoza experienced and challenged antisemitism throughout his life. Mendoza’s body was buried in the Novo Jewish Cemetery at Queen Mary, which still contains a plaque commemorating his life. This conversation discussed the arts and histories of boxing in the East End, the Jewish histories of Mendoza’s East London and Irish histories of bareknuckle boxing and Bare Knuckle, the autobiographical show of artist Jake Boston. Other panelists included QMUL’s Dominic Johnson, Professor of Performance and Visual Culture, Professor of Urban Literature Nadia Valman (QMUL), Dr Mark Phelan from Queens University Belfast and sports scientist and Upper Limb injury specialist Ian Gatt of the English Institute of Sport and Head of Performance Support for GB Boxing.