World in Motion: Understanding the Dynamics Behind Maps and Fluids

Map-making is a serious business. There’s a science devoted to that, and only highly specialised companies and organisations can endeavour to translate every feature on Earth into a feature on a map with the right size and location. But that’s what make maps reliable, too. So much so that, besides being part of our everyday lives, scientists use them to assess the effects of drought and deforestation, identify migration patterns or making predictions, amongst others. And yet, all maps are wrong. All of them make assumptions on how the world is or should be, and in so doing, maps have particular built-in world views and become political. They define what is included and what is not, what can and can’t be done with them, and the stories that they convey. In other words: maps shape the world as much as they are shaped by them. In this talk, we will explain how maps are made to understand how they have been used to exert power and how they are still doing so. We will then focus on OpenStreetMap, a collective effort to “map the world as it is”, and how are they succeeding or failing in doing so in an equitable way.

In a world where cultures are constantly crossing paths, “intercultural competence”, the ability to understand and navigate cultural differences, is more important than ever. But how do schools actually teach it?

In this talk, we explore how international schools in China present ideas about intercultural competence in their public messaging. Drawing on real examples from school mission statements and promotional materials, we look at how schools balance the idea of cultural understanding with local expectations, market demands, and parents’ hopes for success.

Sometimes, intercultural competence is treated as a genuine educational goal; other times, it becomes part of broader narratives like “global citizenship” or “international mindedness.” Through these stories, we invite the audience to think about how education shapes young people’s views of culture, and why genuine intercultural understanding is so essential in today’s world.

Fluid dynamics is the study of the world around us, and we’re going to take everyday examples found around us to build the same intuitive understanding of fluid behaviour that mathematicians rely on. Join to see how the Navier-Stokes equations bring the world of fluids to life!