It seems the evolution versus creationism debate will never end. Professor Steve Jones, a geneticist from University College London will address delegates at the 7th annual University College Dublin-Conway Festival of Research in O’Reilly Hall, University College Dublin on Thursday, September 20th 2007 about ‘Why evolution is right and creationism is wrong’.

Why hear an argument against something unproven at all? Jones is concerned that intelligent Design is being presented as scientific fact. Proponents of intelligent design state that the universe and everything in it has been designed by a higher being based on the premise that some systems are just too complex to have evolved.

A MORI poll commissioned by the BBC television programme Horizons found that over half of the British public are not convinced by Darwin’s theory of evolution, opting instead for either creationism or intelligent design to explain the origin and development of life. There have also been court cases here in the United States involving school curriculum boards that want to teach intelligent design as an alternative to evolutionary theory in biology classes.

Steve Jones is Professor of Genetics at University College London. In addition to his own research on the population genetics of humans, snails, and fruitfly, Professor Jones is actively involved in efforts to engage the public on scientific issues.

The other keynote speakers include Professor Peter Dervan from the California Institute of Technology, a distinguished chemist who recently received the National Medal of Science from the President of the United States. His presentation is entitled ‘Towards transcriptional therapy with programmable DNA binding oligomers’.

Professor Kim Nasmyth, University of Oxford will address delegates on the topic of ‘How do cells hold sister chromatids together?’ Professor Nasmyth’s research on the mechanisms controlling gene development is widely acclaimed.

- UCD Conway