During somitogenesis, the presomitic mesoderm segments sequentially to form somites, which are the precursors of the bones, muscles, and part of the dermis. The segmentation clock is a molecular oscillator that regulates and coordinates the spatiotemporal timing of somite formation. Characterisation of human presomitic mesoderm has been enabled by the recent advances in the culture of human induced pluripotent stem cells and organoids. 

However, organoids that recapitulate somitogenesis have not been categorised at scale, and it has not been shown that they can be staged across the segmentation clock cycle. Here, a high-throughput system was developed which addresses these issues.  Human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived somitoids (in vitro organoid model recapitulating the segmentation clock) were cultured in a 384-well plate, and a programmable feeding schedule was used to stagger the initiation of oscillations. An automated, custom pipeline for image processing, segmentation, and analysis was developed that can represent Hes7-Achilles oscillations using a small number of parameters.  

The results showed that by staging feeding gates, the Hes7-Achilles signal could be distributed across the segmentation clock cycle, a finding corroborated by follow-up qPCR. In addition, media change on an existing oscillation induces a Type 0 phase response, in which the segmentation clock is reset to a high-Wnt/low-Notch transcriptional state. Perturbing the plate causes a Type 2 phase response in which the segmentation clock can be accelerated or delayed.  

Venue: Fulton G20

We present a structured approach to learning nonlinear dynamical systems with neural networks. Standard neural networks, while expressive, often fail to identify the underlying physics of the system, producing inaccurate emulators even within the domain of training. In response, our proposed model draws inspiration from the Shaw–Pierre construction of nonlinear normal modes, by encoding inductive bias to constrain learning to invariant manifolds in phase space, which decouple nonlinear oscillators. The physics-informed architecture and loss functions are evaluated on autonomous oscillatory systems to demonstrate that the learned neural network is interpretable, approximating the nonlinear modal subspace, to which the learned dynamics are confined. The construction produces a structure-aware neural network for nonlinear dynamical systems, with faster training and better generalisation when compared to conventional black-box architectures.

Venue: Fulton G20

Cancer is a complex and disease characterised by a set of biological properties commonly referred to as the Hallmarks of Cancer. These include sustained proliferative signalling, evasion of growth suppressors, cell death resistance, angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis, as well as immune evasion, metabolic deregulation, and genomic instability. 

This talk will briefly situate mathematical oncology within the context of these hallmarks, with only a concise overview of established modelling approaches. The main focus will be on our most recent developments in hybrid mathematical models for patient-scale cancer metastasis. Particular emphasis will be given on the combination of the continuum descriptions of the tumour microenvironment with discrete individual cancer cell-level dynamics. We will also discuss our newest work on the use of augmented and virtual reality technologies as tools for the exploration, and interpretation of high-dimensional model outputs. 

The talk will conclude with a short discussion of open challenges and future directions, highlighting how advanced hybrid modelling and immersive visualisation may contribute to more predictive and translational mathematical oncology.

Venue: Fulton G20

Coinciding with Bahar Noorizadeh’s exhibition The Debtor’s Portal, Weird Economies X Scotland is a public event series composed of discussions, workshops, and performance. 

Building on the provocative stance embedded in the alternative pedagogical and curatorial platform Weird Economies, founded by Noorizadeh in 2021, the event series engages with the distinctive art ecologies of Scotland to deepen and amplify Noorizadeh's interrogation of the critical relationships between art, society and financialization. 

Financialization is a prevalent factor shaping the art and cultural sector today. Artistic practice in recent years increasingly maps this critical intersection, whether through engaging with economies of care, the beautification of urban space in the image of capital investment and shifting social subjectivities reliant on reputational metrics and rating models.

 By critically addressing organisational structures and forms of agency in culture production, the event series highlights the necessity for renewed investment in grassroots initiatives and solidarity-based practices. Weird Economies X Scotland grasps the changing positionality of being an art practitioner amid the ongoing precarity of public funding in a world suffering the political instability of authoritarianism.  

Weird Economies X Scotland is co-curated with Bahar Noorizadeh.

Participant information

Events are free, open to all and require no prior experience or knowledge to attend. Participants can sign-up via Eventbrite for one or all of the one-off sessions.

Book free tickets via Eventbrite

Weird Economies x Scotland

Weird Ecologies of Art 
Thursday 12 February 2026, 5.30–8.30pm (In-person)
Exhibition Preview & In-conversation with Bahar Noorizadeh & Anjalika Sagar, Kodwo Eshun (The Otolith Group) chaired by Sophia Yadong Hao

Expand Extract Repent Repeat
Thursday 5 March, 6.30–8.30pm (Online)
Artist's Talk by Nida Sinnokrot & Discussion with Adam HajYahia, Bahar Noorizadeh

Right to the City: Art and the Production of Space
Thursday 12 March, 6.30–8.30pm (In-person)
Round Table chaired by Angela Dimitrakaki
Speakers: Tiffany Kaewen Dang, Charles Mudede, and Bahar Noorizadeh

Money Hacks 
Thursday 26 March, 6.30–8.30pm (In-person)
Workshop facilitated by Bahar Noorizadeh 

Reuter in Tehran
Saturday 11 April, 7–8.30pm (In-person)
Live Performance by Bahar Noorizadeh in collaboration with Intibint

The main reunion activity will take place on Friday 11 September with plenty of free time over the course of the weekend to catch up and re-visit old haunts and Dundee’s many attractions.
 

Welcome to the Scottish Fluid Mechanics Meeting 2026.

This year's Scottish Fluid Mechanics Meeting will be held at the University of Dundee. The meeting offers an informal setting to discuss ongoing fluid mechanics research from across Scotland and beyond. It is particularly aimed towards offering PhD students and early career researchers an opportunity to introduce themselves and their work, alongside contributions from more senior researchers.