Evening Public Lecture at the University of Cambridge Climate & Nature Research Showcase 2026

The Operating System of Life: Why Planetary Health Is the Story of This Century - Professor Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood

As part of the Cambridge Climate and Nature Research Showcase, we are delighted to invite members of the public and Showcase attendees to a special evening public lecture.

The evening keynote lecture on the state of planetary health will be given by Professor Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood (Executive Director, Sunway Centre for Planetary Health, University of Malaysia; Professor of Global Health).

Abstract: We have built modern medicine on top of a planet we are quietly dismantling. Drawing on three decades in disaster zones, clinical practice, international organisations and government, what does it mean to take the health of the whole Earth as seriously as the health of a single patient. This keynote explains, in plain terms, what planetary health is and how we make a planetary diagnosis legible — translating how a warming, fraying Earth inpacts human lives. It asks what universities are for in such an age, why the communities healing people and those defending the planet still work apart, and how our growing cities could become the place where they finally act as one for inter-generational justice.

Dr Mahmood is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Clean Air and co-chair of the Climate and Heath steering group. She was Special Advisor on Public Health to the Prime Minister of Malaysia during the COVID pandemic, former Chief of the World Humanitarian Summit at the United Nations and Under Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. She is an ASEAN Prize-winner and founder of MERCY Malaysia, a leading humanitarian organisation from the Global South.

The lecture will be followed by a fireside chat that includes Dr Mahmood, Prof Emily Shuckburgh CBE FRMetS (Director of Cambridge Zero, Chief Scientific Advisor, DESNZ, UK Govt) and Prof Bhaskar Vira (Cambridge Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Environmental Sustainability). There will be time for audience Q&As.

Join us at this special evening lecture where we bring together researchers, practitioners, policymakers and members of the wider community for conversations and connections. This event is open to all.

Key Dates and Info

Date/Time: Fri 26 Jun 2026, 18:30-20:00 BST/GMT+1
Location: Ray Dolby Centre (Cavendish Laboratory), JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0US (map)
Register to Attend: on Ticket Tailor (tickets are free)

Questions/Comments? Contact the Showcase Organising Team at comms@zero.cam.ac.uk