Rethinking the Senses: Fifth Sense Launch Day

This event is organized as part of the AHRC Large Grant Rethinking the Senses in collaboration with Fifth Sense. Fifth Sense is a UK based organization supporting taste and smell disorder sufferers.

Run in collaboration with the charity Fifth Sense, this event is designed to highlight the hidden role that the sense of smell plays in our lives. There is little understanding across society about the role of smell in everyday life and the issues that are faced by smell and taste disorder sufferers.  It will act as a powerful statement as to how Fifth Sense intends to address both these areas, by using the collective experiences of its members and playing a leading role in educating society on the importance of the sense of smell to our health, wellbeing and quality of life.

This will be accomplished through a series of short talks from guest speakers, interspersed with interactive activities and demonstrations.  The event will start with a look at the sense of smell (and taste) throughout human history, and how/why we have got to a point where it is so undervalued, and then look at the different ways in which it impacts on our lives, and the impact of smell and taste disorders – through first-hand experiences of Fifth Sense members. Speakers include Duncan Boak, (Fifth Sense founder), Dr Alex Rhys- Taylor (Goldsmiths, University of London), Carl Philpott (University of East Anglia) and Dr Darren Logan (Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust).

Following this we will look at the challenges faced in treating patients and in getting funding for research, which will lead into why, and how, Fifth Sense was founded and what it intends to achieve.  This will be followed by some talks on some of the work that we, and the researchers whom we are involved with are doing to improve understanding of the senses of smell, taste, and disorders relating to them.

Attendance at this event is limited and on a strictly first come, first served basis by registering your details. For further information and to book a place at this event please visit http://www.thesenses.ac.uk/.