The Explore Life partners are planning a technology commercialization workshop in Seattle this fall for representatives from biotechnology companies, research laboratories, and investors. The workshop will also include selected Russian researchers interested in exploring partnerships with the Seattle-area participants.The centre will be the largest of its kind in the UK and the first to work with other city institutions and local organisations with an interest in the 18th Century, including National Museums Liverpool and the Athenaeum.The multi-disciplinary initiative spans research fields in History, English, Modern Languages and Classics and will include the introduction of a new MA in Eighteenth-Century Studies in 2009. The 18th Century Worlds Centre will provide an intellectual home for scholars through workshops, seminars,exhibitions and conferences and aims to capitalise on the wealth of 18th Century resources on offer in Merseyside Explore Life . Dr Holger Hoock, the Centre's founding Director, said: "Liverpool was one of England's foremost Georgian towns, and much of its 18th and early 19th Century architecture has survived, including the area around Abercromby Square, where the University's Faculty of Arts is now based.Explore Life These buildings give us a great insight into the lives of the people of this era."Other notable Liverpool buildings of this time include the former Blue Coat School of 1716 and The Lyceum, Europe's first lending library, built by architect Thomas Harrison and opened in 1802 as well as the remarkably early railway station of 1836 at Edge Hill. National Museums Liverpool holds a significant collection of 18th and early 19th Century fine and decorative arts as well as science collections and the University libraries and archives hold extensive 18th Century resources. National Museums Liverpool holds collections of 18th Century fine and decorative art as well as science collections.Explore Life . The Athenaeum Group hosts a significant rare books library which the Centre aims to make available to University of Liverpool students. Dr Hoock added: "This unique collaboration, combining the expertise and resources of all involved, will give theparticipating departments unprecedented research opportunities which will place University at the forefront of this research field." The launch will include a public lecture by internationally renowned Professor John Brewer from the California Institute of Technology entitled Sensibility and Spectacle in Late Georgian Britain. The event takes place on Tuesday, 1 May at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, Albert Dock. The Explore Life partners are planning a technology commercialization workshop in Seattle this fall for representatives from biotechnology companies, research laboratories, and investors. The workshop will also include selected Russian researchers interested in exploring partnerships with the Seattle-area participants.