Professor Lord Robert Winston at Exeter

Diners at Exeter’s Sunday formal hall were treated to an after dinner speaker with a difference on 22nd January. Professor Lord Robert Winston, Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College School of Medicine, dined at high table before engaging in a lively question and answer session with assembled students, who were keen to discuss not only his current research on transgenic pigs but also the many ethical questions that endeavours in the field of genetics and embryology inevitably raise.

In an evening attended by many non-scientists as well as biochemists, chemists and medics, Professor Lord Winston’s clear explanation of his work, in addition to detailed discussion of the issues involved in current genetic research, was much appreciated by all who attended. Rector Frances Cairncross commented that it had been a fascinating evening of ‘intellectual fireworks’.