Some face-to-face events are returning. Check carefully for any requirements.

An Interdisciplinary Conference sponsored by Las Casas Institute at Blackfriars Hall and The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH). The conference.
In a time when globalization emphasizes the free flow of ideas, goods, and capital, migration appears at the forefront of political agendas in many countries around the world. Discussions on migration tend to focus on the economy, emphasizing the protection of the working class and the attraction of highly skilled migrants; on national identity, emphasizing nationalism and “us versus them” sentiments; and on national security, emphasizing protection from external threats. In the conference we will explore the ways religious and faith traditions contribute, challenge, and shift the discourse about migration.
For more information go to http://migrationfaithaction.org
or register at http://migrationfaithaction.org/register/
Dr Simon Underdown (Oxford Brookes University) will explore how we made the journey from small-brained African apes to the dominant animal on the planet, answering questions such as ‘why are humans so smart?’, ‘why is there only one species of human?’, and ‘why are we the only animal with language and art?’.
As part of the Oxford Brookes University Festival, Outburst, at Pegasus, 6-10 May 2014. #OutBurst2014
Professor Roger Griffin (Oxford Brookes University), author of ‘Terrorist’s Creed’, will draw upon actual examples of terrorist attacks and a number of films in this talk to help explain why ‘ordinary’ individuals carry out violent attacks, and what possibilities might exist for deradicalization (for years 14+).
As part of the Oxford Brookes University Festival, Outburst, at Pegasus, 6-10 May 2014. #OutBurst2014
Alumni Lecture 2014.
In the Department of Social Policy and Intervention’s Centenary year, Jacqueline Bhabha, Harvard, will deliver the Alumni Lecture, followed by a drinks reception. Make a booking by sending an email to events@spi.ox.ac.uk
Join English PEN (the literary network which works to defend and promote free expression) for an evening of poetry and debate, with discussion about how publishing and human rights campaigns can join forces to help writers from across the world (ages 15+).
As part of the Oxford Brookes University Festival, Outburst, at Pegasus, 6-10 May 2014. #OutBurst2014
Between the artist and the museum
Friday 9 May 2014, 5-6.30pm (doors will open at 4.45pm)
Ashmolean Museum Headley Lecture Theatre
A symposium with Michael Govan (Humanitas Visiting Professor in Museums, Galleries & Libraries at Oxford University) and Vik Muniz (Artist). Chaired by Paul Hobson (Director, Modern Art Oxford).
Free admission but booking is essential.
http://www.humanities.ox.ac.uk/humanitas/museums-galleries-libraries

The inaugural Oxford Education Conference is taking place in Pembroke College, Oxford on the 10th May 2014. Specialists from all over the UK will be gathering to discuss educational inequality – one of the most significant issues of today’s society. Supported by OUSU and the Oxford Hub, the Oxford Education Conference has been organised by a student committee and will bring issues of gender, BME, socio-economic background, and further education to the foreground.
We will be hearing from former Minister of Education Andrew Adonis, Teach First/BBC Tough Young Teacher’s Charles Wallendahl, and countless experts from government, social investment groups, and academics. The Oxford Education Conference will offer delegates the opportunity to hear from pioneering experts in Education and will hope to offer some possible solutions to the issues we face today.
For more information (and to purchase your ticket), check out www.oxeduconf.com, www.facebook.com/oxeduconf, www.twitter.com/oxeduconf and join the conversation with the handle #oxeduconf14

India: A Short History
With Andrew Robinson, author
Saturday 10 May, 2-3pm, Headley Lecture Theatre
India is the world’s largest democracy and a fast-growing economy. It is also a civilization with roots more than four thousand years old, including the technically advanced cities of the Indus Valley, the Buddha, Hindu dynasties, the Mughal Empire, and the British Raj. This lecture looks at individuals, ideas, and cultures, as well as the rise and fall of kingdoms, political parties, and economies.
Tickets £5/£4
http://www.ashmolean.org/events/Lectures/?id=132
Led by David Aldridge, an academic philosopher, educationalist and experienced role-playing enthusiast, this evening is intended for curious or experienced gamers alike to sample Dungeons and Dragons, celebrating collaborative storytelling and raising serious questions about ethics, metaphysics, and our own potential as human beings (ages 16+).
Part of the Oxford Brookes University festival, Outburst, at Pegasus, 6-10 may 2014. #OutBurst2014
A collaboration between the Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre and the Archway Foundation (an Oxford-based mental health charity), this event will feature writing produced by the Archway Foundation’s services during workshops with Brookes’ creative writing students.

The following three papers will be presented around the theme of dreams and sleep, and their different interpretations across cross disciplinary research studies:
ANKE EHLERS: ‘Haunted by Trauma: Flashbacks and Nightmares in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder’
TIM VINEY: ‘Activity Patterns of Identified GABA-releasing Neurons in the Rodent Hippocampus During Movement and Sleep’
DELPHINE FAYARD: ‘Sylphic Dreams in Eighteenth-Century French Literature’
This seminar series provides an opportunity to network with other members of the University, and to hear how other researchers plan, conduct and complete their research projects. We meet each term on Mondays of 3rd Week at 5.30pm to hear very brief presentations by a graduate student, a research fellow and a senior fellow at Wolfson, and continue with lively discussion over wine, followed by dinner in hall.

In this lecture series, Naomi Richman explores the evolution of the ideas central to major global belief-systems such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and Marxism, and their status in the modern world from a social-scientific and secular perspective.
6 Lectures run on Mondays starting the 12th May.
6-7pm, Roy Griffiths Room. ARCO Building, Keble College.
Free, open to all, and followed by discussion.
Weeks 1 and 2: Christianity and Secularisation. Week 3: Buddhism. Week 4: Judaism. Week 5: Islam. Week 6: Marxism, Nationalism and Scientific Humanism
For more information, contact Dr Bea Prentiss,
A view from the Pacific: re-envisioning the art museum
Tuesday 13 May 2014, 5-6.30pm (doors will open at 4.45pm)
Ashmolean Museum Headley Lecture Theatre
A lecture by Michael Govan (Humanitas Visiting Professor in Museums, Galleries & Libraries at Oxford University). Chaired by Professor Christopher Brown (Director, Ashmolean Museum). The event will be followed by a drinks reception to which members of the audience are warmly invited.
Free admission but booking is essential.
http://www.humanities.ox.ac.uk/humanitas/museums-galleries-libraries
Join us for a lunchtime talk by Geoff Kistruck – Associate Professor and Ron Binns Chair in Entrepreneurship at Schulich School of Business, York University. Geoff’s primary research interests involve social entrepreneurship and innovation, principally within the context of poverty alleviation efforts in base-of-the-pyramid markets.
His talk will focus on Base-of-the-Pyramid (BOP) markets and how they present significant governance challenges when undertaking large-scale investments. In the absence of strong legal institutions, organizations must design creative solutions for ensuring that local partners adhere to their agreements. Drawing upon social interdependence theory, his talk will propose that the use of alternative goal structures will serve to motivate local partners to fulfil their commitments.

Magic Museums at Night
Special Ashmolean Late Night Opening
Friday 16 May
7–10pm
FREE ENTRY
For 2014’s Museums At Night event, the Ashmolean is putting on an evening of magic. Curators will be presenting the magical and mystical objects of the collection while visitors are invited for magic shows and workshops, tarot reading, stargazing, flamenco dance and more.
https://www.facebook.com/events/448472011951907/
When is a volcano going to erupt and how do you measure that?
What is Magma and how can we start studying it?
These questions and more will be explained by top academics from Oxford University.
More details on our website.
https://www.facebook.com/events/575525219212880/
Associate Professor Jake Lynch is fighting a case in Australia’s Federal Court to uphold his right not to take part in institutional collaborations between the University of Sydney, where he directs the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, and two Israeli universities. The case against him, under Australia’s racial discrimination legislation, is brought by Shurat HaDin, a right-wing Israeli law centre and NGO.
Lynch will explain the rationale for the academic boycott of Israel, part of the original PACBI call issued by 170 Palestinian civil society organisations in 2005, and give an update on the court case.
His struggle is taking place on the frontline of a declared tactic by Israel of using the courts in countries around the world to stifle the BDS movement. He will set out what is at stake, describe the galvanising effect of the case on the movement in Australia, and explain how a successful boycott movement is an essential precursor to peace with justice.
Intellectual Property Discussion Group (IPDG)

On Thursday 22nd at 6pm the Simpkins Lee will host a panel discussion exploring the battle for women’s education. Featuring a heavyweight line-up of Jane Robinson (author of the bestselling ‘Bluestockings’), Sarah Pine (OUSU VP for Women), Lyndall Gordon (alumni and Fellow of St. Hilda’s College) and Tim Whitmarsh (Head of ‘Women and the Humanities’ at TORCH), it promises to be a smashing 45 minute insight into the world of women’s colleges, the battle for equality, and why ‘women’s studies’ deserves a place on the curriculum.

Cézanne and the Modern Exhibition Lecture
Gauguin’s Paradise Lost
With Alastair Wright, Fellow of St John’s College
Friday 23 May, 11am-12pm, Headley Lecture Theatre
Like many Western visitors to Tahiti in the later 19th century, Gauguin bemoaned the destruction of the island’s culture by French colonialism. Examine the roots of this melancholy view of paradise lost and explore how it is reflected in Gauguin’s painting, sculpture, and print-making.
Tickets £4/£3
http://www.ashmolean.org/events/SpecialEvents/?id=148
To find out more about Cézanne and the Modern, and to see all exhibition events, follow this link.

Of Dogs and Men: Gilbert Cannan and his Mill (1916) by Mark Gertler
With Jan Cox, art historian
Friday 23 May, 2-3pm, Headley Lecture Theatre
This lecture explores and analyses Mark Gertler’s apparently innocent painting of a man, two dogs and a windmill. Discover how the picture tells a story that includes Peter Pan, Scott of the Antarctic, a ménage à trois, insanity, and suicide.
Tickets £5/£4
http://www.ashmolean.org/events/Lectures/?id=132

This talk will confront an enduring Western belief in the supernatural power of images: the conviction that a statue or painting of the Madonna can fly through the air, speak, weep or produce miraculous cures. Contrary to widely held assumptions, cults of particular paintings and statues held to be miraculous have persisted into modernity – even in the context of the contemporary European city. We shall be considering how these images ‘work’.
The 2014 Roger Moorey Memorial Lecture
Ancient Egyptian Biographies: From Living a Life to Creating a Memorial
With Professor John Baines, University of Oxford
Friday 30 May, 5.30–6.30pm, Wolfson College
More than in most civilizations, ancient Egyptians had themselves depicted in tomb decoration, on stelae, and in statuary. Thousands of examples survive, providing a rich source for studying what mattered to people in their lives and how they wished to be remembered. This lecture makes suggestions about the institutions that sustained the practice of creating biographies and discusses a range of relevant monuments.
Free, no booking is required.