Some face-to-face events are returning. Check carefully for any requirements.
A public meeting with a short introductory talk followed by questions and discussion.
The end of violence
Thursday 25 September, 7:30pm to 9:00pm
Oxford Town Hall, St Aldates
All welcome
Organised by Oxford Communist Corresponding Society.
This is the last in a three-part series of public meetings on violence and war. The three meetings of the series are:
Thursday 17 July
The war to end all wars
Thursday 21 August
The anti-war movement
Thursday 25 September
The end of violence
All are from 7:30pm to 9:00pm in the Town Hall
The seminar will focus on the role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the modern inter-Orthodox and inter-Christian relations, and the role of the Patriarchate in global politics.
The Future of the Church of England:
A debate on the future of the Church of England, featuring speakers Revd Dr Andrew Davison, Professor Robin Gill, Lord Mawson, and Revd Canon Anna Norman-Walker. Chaired by Professor Linda Woodhead and introduces by The Rt Hon Charles Clarke.
Seminar by Prof Beverly Clack, Professor in the Philosophy of Religion, Oxford Brookes University.
Michaelmas Term 2014 Seminar Series
‘FERTILITY, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT’
Thursdays – 12:30 – 14:00
Seminar Room, Oxford Institute of Population Ageing,
66 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PR.
Convener: Dr Melanie Frost
Professor Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Professor of Global Health; and Commissioner on the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations, will provide his perspective on the key long-term challenges in global health, addressing the burden of both communicable and non-communicable disease.
This seminar will be followed by a drinks reception, all welcome.
Join in on twitter with #c21health
This seminar will be live webcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEwlBU7bNrA
About the speaker:
Professor Peter Piot is the Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a Professor of Global Health. Professor Piot is also a Commissioner on the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations. In 2009-2010 he was the Director of the Institute for Global Health at Imperial College for Science, Technology and Medicine, London. He was the founding Executive Director of UNAIDS and Under Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1995 until 2008, and was an Associate Director of the Global Programme on AIDS of WHO. Under his leadership UNAIDS became the chief advocate for worldwide action against AIDS, also spear heading UN reform by bringing together 10 UN system organizations.
Professor Piot has a medical degree from the University of Ghent (1974) and a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Antwerp (1980). In 1976 he co-discovered the Ebola virus in Zaire while working at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium. He was a professor of microbiology, and of public health at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, the Free University of Brussels, and the University of Nairobi, was a Senior Fellow at the University of Washington, a Scholar in Residence at the Ford Foundation, and a Senior Fellow at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He held the chair 2009/2010 “Knowledge against poverty” at the College de France in Paris, and is a visiting professor at the London School of Economics. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and was elected a foreign member of the Institute of Medicine of the US National Academy of Sciences, and is also an elected member of the Académie Nationale de Médicine of France, and of the Royal Academy of Medicine of his native Belgium, and a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.
He was knighted as a baron in 1995 and has published over 550 scientific articles and 16 books, including his memior No Time to Lose. In 2013 he was the laureate of the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize for Medical Research and in 2014 he received the Prince Mahidol Award for Public Health.
We have yet to discover other life in our Galaxy, but we have a good idea where it might be! Join the astrophysicists Chris Lintott (BBC’s Sky at Night) and Grant Miller from Zooniverse, the largest, most successful online citizen science project, discuss exoplanets and their potential habitability.
A public meeting with a short introductory talk followed by questions and discussion.
The difficulty of imagining a free society
Thursday 16 October, 7:30pm to 9:00pm
The Mitre, corner of High St and Turl St (upstairs function room)
All welcome
Organised by Oxford Communist Corresponding Society.
Part of the Oxford Internet Institute’s Bellwether Lectures series.
Speaker: Caroline Haythornthwaite
Learning has left the classroom. It is being re-constituted across distance, discipline, workplace, and media as the social and technical interconnectivity of the Internet challenges existing structures for learning and education. The new ‘e-learning’ is more than a learning management system – it is a transformation in how, where, and with whom we learn that supports formal, informal and non-formal learning, life-long learning, just-in-time learning, and in ‘as much time as I have’ learning. But to do so, e-learning depends on the power of crowds and the support of communities engaged in the participatory practices of the Internet. We are networked in our learning, but also in our joint construction of knowledge and its legitimation, and in the social and technical practices that support knowledge co-construction, learning and education. This talk explores the emerging trends and forces that are radically reshaping learning and knowledge practices. The talk further explores the changing landscape of learning and knowledge practices with attention to motivations for contributing and valuing knowledge in crowds and communities, and the implications for future knowledge practices.
Speaker: Lina Molokotos-Liederman (Uppsala University)
The first part of the seminar will look at the Orthodox Christian approach of addressing social issues of poverty, injustice and inequality, and the concept of Orthodox diakonia. The second part will focus on Greece as a case study, discussing the response of the Church to the social costs of the economic crisis (its charitable social welfare activities), but also the impact of this crisis on the Church itself.
As the dust settles after the Scottish referendum and the UK gears up for the next general election, the Oxford Martin School and the Department of Politics and International Relations bring constitutional experts together to debate what next for the United Kingdom?
Panel:
Professor Iain McLean, Professor of Politics, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford and specialist in devolution
Dr Scot Peterson, Bingham Research Fellow in Constitutional Studies and Junior Research Fellow in the Social Sciences, University of Oxford
Chair: Mure Dickie, Financial Times Scotland Correspondent
There will be a drinks reception after the debate, all welcome
About the speakers
Professor Iain McLean was born in Edinburgh and went to school there. He came to England for the first time as a student at Oxford where he obtained his MA, M.Phil and D.Phil. He was a college tutor in an undergraduate college for 13 years, during which the college scaled the heights of PPE. He has worked at the Universities of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Warwick, and Oxford, and has held visiting professorships at Washington & Lee, Stanford, Yale, and the Australian National University.
He has been an elected councillor on Tyne & Wear County Council (committee chair) and Oxford City Council (group leader). In recent years he has principally worked on UK public policy, and started the Department of Politics and International Relations Public Policy Unit in 2005.
His research areas and insterests are:
Public policy, especially UK. Specialisms in devolution; spatial issues in taxation and public expenditure; electoral systems; constitutional reform; church and state.
The Union (of the United Kingdom) since 1707. Rational-choice approaches to political history
Dr Scot Peterson primarily in Colorado, in the United States, where he did his undergraduate work in Political Science and Philosophy at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He earned a Master of Arts degree from the University of Chicago in Political Science, and attended law school at the University of California (Boalt Hall) in Berkeley. After practicing law for fifteen years in Colorado he came to Oxford, where he earned his doctoral degree.
He is interested in the constitutional history of the United Kingdom and of the United States, focusing particularly on matters arising from the relationship between church and state. His D.Phil. thesis was about the religious establishments, or the lack of them, in the three nations that make up Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) in the early twentieth century. He is concerned with questions of why those relationships have been maintained in recent history, despite the supposed ‘secularization’ inherent in modern Western democracies. He analyzes them as political and historical phenomena, engaging in archive research and applying rational choice methodology.
The first speaker in Oxford Females in Engineering, Science and Technology brand new speaker series ‘Inspiring STEM’ promises a fascinating talk on her research and personal experiences in combining professional career and personal life, do not miss out:
Professor Helen McShane is a Professor of Vaccinology and Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellow at Oxford University, where she leads a programme of research to develop a new vaccine for Tuberculosis (TB). The BCG vaccine currently administered to children has been around for 90 years and shows only a limited and short-lived effect. Crucially, it does not offer protection against pulmonary TB, which is the most common form of the disease. TB remains a major killer worldwide with 1.4 million victims a year, and resistance has evolved to many drugs used to treat it, so new ways of preventing the disease are badly needed.
Helen originally planned to become a GP, but after 6 months in practice decided to embark on clinical medicine and PhD research into infectious diseases. By the time she arrived at the defense of her thesis, she had been pregnant with her second child and she has successfully juggled home and work life ever since (now, a mum to 3 children).
‘Inspiring STEM’ series of talks aims to bring together Oxford’s Women in STEM, showcase the research performed by the very best scientists and engineers, and inspire the audience to realize their potential. It reflects the academic aspect of OxFEST while providing a glimpse into possible career paths that we can take.
Why is intergenerational equity not better reflected in our policies? Why are calls on policymakers to extend their concern beyond short-term election cycles so ineffective? On 21 October, a year on from the release of the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations’ Report ‘Now for the Long Term’, the conference will examine these questions and survey options for better embedding a long-term perspective in our institutions.
Two sessions will evaluate innovative mechanisms and tools for re-orienting our practices towards the future. The effectiveness and legitimacy of various measures such as ombudspersons for future generations or improved reporting methods will be assessed by leading practitioners and theorists.
Speakers:
Professor Ian Goldin, Director, Oxford Martin School
Peter Davies, Wales’ Commissioner For Sustainable Future
Oras Tynkkynen, Vice-Chair, Finnish Committee for the Future
Catherine Pearce, Director Future Justice, World Future Council
Simon Caney, Oxford Martin Programme on Human Rights for Future Generations, University of Oxford
Juliana Bidadanure, Political and Social Sciences Department, European University Institute, Florence
Jörg Tremmel, Institute for Political Science, University of Tübingen
Peter Lawrence, Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania
The conference is free and open to all and will be followed by a drinks reception.
Part of the St John’s Gender Equality Festival, Oxford University LGBTQ Society Trans Reps – Alyson Cruise and Rowan Davies – will be presenting an interactive Trans 101 session where we will talk about the basics of trans issues, what some important words mean and how to be respectful to trans people. They hope people can ask them questions without feeling awkward. They’ll explain the
relationship between trans issues and feminism, and how cis feminists can be more inclusive for trans people in general.
Eating Restoration Glue to Stay Alive: A History of Hermitage
With Dr Rosalind P. Blakesley, University of Cambridge
Ashmolean Lecture Theatre
Wed 22 Oct, 11am–12pm
The Hermitage is an institute like no other, housing over 3 million objects in buildings as iconic as the Winter Palace, seat of the Romanov dynasty until its spectacular fall from grace in 1917. As the Hermitage celebrates its 250th anniversary, Dr Blakesley charts its history from the lavish patronage of Catherine the Great to the unparalleled acquisitions of Impressionist and Post- Impressionist works.
Michaelmas Term 2014 Seminar Series
‘FERTILITY, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT’
Thursdays – 12:30 – 14:00
Seminar Room, Oxford Institute of Population Ageing,
66 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PR.
Convener: Dr Melanie Frost
No other large-scale health intervention can have as big an impact on child mortality as vaccination. Across the world millions of lives have been saved by innoculation, and in the past ten years the annual number of measles cases worldwide has dropped from one million to 200,000. But just as important as creating new vaccines is ensuring that children have access to them. Join us at the Oxford Martin School as Dr Matthew Snape, Consultant in Vaccinology at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS trust and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Oxford, looks at the challenges involved in making sure the success story of childhood vaccination can be a global one.
Join in on twitter with #c21health
This seminar will be live webcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CO2L5Rq7tU
Come along to St John’s MCR to hear Professor Daniel Freeman, clinical psychologist and recent author of ‘The stressed sex?’ give a talk on the links between gender and mental health as part of St John’s Gender Equality Festival.
A fascinating and lively talk, with wine and nibbles provided.
The Future of the Church of England:
A debate on the future of the Church of England, featuring speakers Andrew Mackie, Bishop John Pritchard, Dame Fiona Reynolds and Sir Barney White-Spunner. Chaired by Professor Linda Woodhead.
Come along for a panel discussion about gender and the workplace following a drinks reception and followed by a question answer session. Part of St John’s Gender Equality Festival. We have a great line-up of people, including:
–PROF GINA RIPPON: Neuroscientist and investigator of differences between male and female brains
–CATHERINE MALLYON: Executive Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company
–BARBARA SLATER: the BBC’s first female Director of Sport
–JO HARRISON: from No More Page Three
–PROF LINDA MCDOWELL: Professor at the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford
A public meeting with a short introductory talk followed by questions and discussion.
I for one welcome our new robot overlords
Thursday 23 October, 7:30pm to 9:00pm
The Mitre, corner of High St and Turl St (upstairs function room)
All welcome
Organised by Oxford Communist Corresponding Society.
Tutankhamun and Revolution
With Dr Paul Collins, Jaleh Hearn Curator for Ancient Near East and co-curator of ‘Discovering Tutankhamun’
Ashmolean Lecture Theatre
Sat 25 Oct, 2‒3pm
This talk considers three historical periods when the image and idea of Tutankhamun became a focus for revolution both in Egypt and beyond. Starting in the ancient world, the revolutions of the Amarna age, into which Tutankhamun was born, witnessed a transformation in the concept of kingship. In the early 20th century, as Egypt claimed independence from British control, Tutankhamun became a symbol of opposition to imperial rule. Finally, in recent years, Egypt has faced political upheaval and revolutionaries have again employed the image of Tutankhamun.
‘Dana, Ruth and Jess down shots to console the heartbroken, to comfort the anxious and just pass the time. Kicked out from the family home, Jess’s dad, Jim, invades the party with just as much recklessness as the girls. As the night passes and vodka bottles are emptied, Friday night in becomes high drama.’
St. John’s Gender Equality Festival presents a rehearsed reading of ‘The Acid Test’ by Anya Reiss. A sharp comedy by an exciting young female playwright, The Acid Test explores a space where gender expectations; sexuality; female friendships; fatherhood; adult responsibility and self-image collide.
Come and join us at 5pm on Saturday 25th October at 20 St. Giles for the performance followed by an illuminating panel discussion with special guest speakers and the cast.
Despite our extensive knowledge of the major challenges the world faces during coming decades, impasse exists in global attempts to address economic, climate, trade, security, and other key issues. The Chancellor will examine the implications of this gridlock, drawing on the work of the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations – of which he is a member – as well as experiences from his distinguished political and diplomatic career.
This lecture is also being live webcast on youtube, please follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB3QmvwvHCk
About the Speaker
Lord Patten joined the Conservative Research Department in 1966. He was seconded to the Cabinet Office in 1970 and was personal assistant and political secretary to Lord Carrington and Lord Whitelaw when they were Chairmen of the Conservative Party from 1972-1974. In 1974 he was appointed the youngest ever Director of the Conservative Research Department, a post which he held until 1979.
Lord Patten was elected as Member of Parliament for Bath in May 1979, a seat he held until April 1992. In 1983 he wrote The Tory Case, a study of Conservatism. Following the General Election of June 1983, Lord Patten was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office and in September 1985 Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science. In September 1986 he became Minister for Overseas Development at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1989 and was appointed a Companion of Honour in 1998. In July 1989 he became Secretary of State for the Environment. In November 1990 he was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Chairman of the Conservative Party.
Lord Patten was appointed Governor of Hong Kong in April 1992, a position he held until 1997, overseeing the return of Hong Kong to China. He was Chairman of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland set up under the Good Friday Peace Agreement, which reported in 1999. From 1999 to 2004 he was European Commissioner for External Relations, and in January 2005 he took his seat in the House of Lords. In 2006 he was appointed Co-Chair of the UK-India Round Table. He was Chairman of the BBC Trust from 2011-2014.
He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, and Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He served as Chancellor of Newcastle University from 1999 to 2009, and was elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 2003. His publications include What Next? Surviving the 21st Century (2008); Not Quite the Diplomat: Home Truths About World Affairs (2005) and East and West (1998), about Asia and its relations with the rest of the world.
Sir David, formerly the Director of GCHQ, the Permanent Secretary of the Home Office and the first UK Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator, will
examine the complex and rapidly evolving challenges of intelligence in a digital age and the implications for human rights of digital surveillance.
Drawing on experience and expertise in government service and his recent writing, Sir David will offer comparisons between the American, British and European experience, and explain how recent revelations about global surveillance affect the UK.
This lecture is part of the activities of the International History and Grand Strategy Research Group in the University’s Department of History, Philosophy and Religion.
About the speaker
PROFESSOR SIR DAVID OMAND
As the first UK Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator, Professor Sir David Omand was responsible to the Prime Minister for the professional health of the intelligence community, national counter-terrorism strategy and homeland security.
He was Permanent Secretary of the Home Office from 1997 to 2000. As well as Director of GCHQ, he has served as the Deputy Undersecretary of State for Policy at the Ministry of Defence. He is a member of the Bildt Commission on Global Internet Governance and of the RUSI Inquiry into surveillance set up by the Deputy Prime Minister.
This lecture is a joint event by the Oxford Martin School and The Oxford International Relations Society (IRSoc)
Speaker: Kate Allen, Director, Amnesty International UK
The lecture is free and open to all and will be followed by a drinks reception for members of IRSoc, membership is available on the night.
About the speaker:
Kate Allen is the Director of Amnesty International UK. She fronts Amnesty’s campaigns which demand respect for women’s rights, stronger restrictions on the arms trade, the release of all prisoners of conscience, and an end to torture and the death penalty.
About IRSoc:
Oxford International Relations Society is one of the most active and dynamic societies at Oxford. Its remit is to educate students about the opportunities and challenges in global affairs, including international law. Our events are widely anticipated as highlights of Oxford’s calendar and we are building an exceptional reputation among our members and throughout the wider student body. (http://irsoc.org/)
The Time of the Gods: Myths from Ancient Egypt (STUDY DAY)
With Dr Garry Shaw, Egyptologist and author
Tue 28 Oct, 10.30am‒4pm
An introduction to Egypt’s creation myths and a history of the reigns of these gods on earth. This study day will cover myths, both well-known and the more obscure, related to notable deities such as Re, Amun, Osiris, Horus and Isis.
Unwrapping Tutankhamun
With Dr Christina Riggs, Senior Lecturer, School of Art History and World Art Studies, University of East Anglia
Ashmolean Lecture Theatre
Tue 28 Oct, 2.30‒3.30pm
After three years of work in the tomb, Howard Carter and his team were ready to reveal the body of Tutankhamun. Using photographs and diaries from the excavation, this illustrated lecture follows Carter’s work in stages as they worked through the layers of wrappings around Tutankhamun’s body, and considers what else we can learn from the unwrapping of other materials in the tomb.
OxFEST Workshop Series: Body Language and Communication Styles workshop with Shell
When: Tuesday 28th October 4.15pm | Week 3
Where: Centenary Room at Careers Service (Banbury Road)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/375364692627152/
Sign up only: email your CV to OxFEST President on anna.muszkiewicz@sjc.ox.ac.uk
Come to our workshop on body language and communication styles! Co-organised with Shell, it will provide you with key skills for interviews, meetings, negotiation and everyday life. This is a FREE event. Email your CV to OxFEST President on anna.muszkiewicz@sjc.ox.ac.uk by 17 October 5pm to sign up as spaces are limited. Priority will be given to OxFEST members.
This workshop has proven very popular in the past so the spaces will fill up quickly! Sign up by 5pm on 17th October 2014!
Author of Chavs and The Establishment, Owen Jones discusses the current problems that Britain faces with Harry Leslie Smith. Harry is the author of this year’s bestselling Harry’s Last Stand and a 91 year old survivor of the Great Depression, a second world war RAF veteran and an activist for the poor and for the preservation of social democracy. Owen Jones is a left-wing English columnist, author and commentator. He is a regular columnist for The Guardian.
The event will be chaired by Melissa Benn, writer, journalist and campaigner. Melissa is the author of ‘What Should We Tell Our Daughters? The Pleasures and Pressures of Growing Up Female’ and ‘School Wars: The Battle for Britain’s Education’.