STEM Lectures for Schools: How music can help your heart

You're warmly invited to this in-person event with engineer Prof Elaine Chew. We particularly welcome students from local schools with an interest in STEM subjects. This event is aimed at those aged 16+, but younger students are welcome to attend.

Music is powerful stuff, often taking our bodies through a wide range of feelings in a few short minutes. But can we study this relationship scientifically, and even use this understanding to help improve our health? Join Elaine Chew, Professor of Engineering, to explore cutting edge research using mathematical representations and computational algorithms to uncover the amazing impacts music has on our bodies.

Prof Chew will explore the amazing work being done by her team here at King’s, building tools to monitor in real time the effect music has on people’s hearts and breathing. She will also then discuss how this information could be used to help conditions like irregular heartbeats. Prof Chew will also explore her personal journey in STEM, and her experiences which have led her to her current role at King’s.

Elaine Chew is a Professor of Engineering in the Department of Engineering and School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences at King’s College London. An operations researcher and pianist, Elaine received a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Mathematical and Computational Sciences (Honors) and Music Performance (Distinction) at Stanford University, and Master's and PhD in Operations Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she proposed the spiral array model.

A pioneering music information researcher, she is forging new pathways between music and cardiovascular science. She is Principal Investigator for two ERC projects: COSMOS, which aims to use citizen data science to probe music structures created in performance; and HEART.FM, dedicated to building tools to study how these structures affect cardiac response.

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. If you are aged 14–18 and booking for yourself, please check with a parent or guardian before booking your place. For school groups, tickets are limited to 30 students per booking, to ensure a larger number of schools can attend.

Registration for this event will take place in reception in the main Strand Building entrance. This is on the Strand, directly opposite St Mary Le Strand Church.

This event is organised by the NMES Faculty at King’s College London. If you have any questions or would like any further details, please email [email protected].

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.

The doors to the lecture theatre will open at around 16.00. Complimentary refreshments will also be served at this time. The talk will run from 16.30–17.30. There will then be time for informal networking and Q&A with the speaker until 18.00, when then event will finish.

STEM Lectures for Schools is a series of engaging events for secondary school students, organised by the Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences (NMES). Attendees will hear from researchers working at King’s about the ground-breaking work they do, and the career path they took to get here. Throughout the year, the series will feature speakers from all NMES Departments: Chemistry, Engineering, Informatics, Mathematics and Physics.

This talk will take place in the Edmund J Safra Lecture Theatre, on the ground floor of the King's Building. Access is through the main entrance on the Strand. The theatre is fully wheelchair accessible, with designated spaces for wheelchair users. There are accessible bathrooms on this floor.

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

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 [email protected] 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.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

King's College London, Strand, London, United Kingdom