https://www.facebook.com/events/495653777253176/

The Oxford Guild is very excited to welcome Larry Hirst CBE, former Chairman of IBM EMEA, to speak on Thursday 7th May. This will be an incredibly insightful talk and is not one to be missed, especially for anyone interested in technology, business, or issues of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The event will include a Q&A session open to the floor, and promises to cover a wide range of topics, as Larry discusses his high-profile and varied career. ALL ARE WELCOME!

DATE: Thursday 7th May 2015 (2nd Week)
TIME: 6:40pm
VENUE: Habakkuk Room, Jesus College
REGISTER YOUR INTEREST HERE: http://tinyurl.com/LarryHirstIBMGuildTalk

Until his retirement from IBM in July 2010, Larry Hirst was chairman of IBM Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). He represented IBM to the European Commission and other authorities such as NATO and the EDA on issues of international public policy and business regulation. During his time as Chairman, IBM EMEA revenues grew to $35bn, with a workforce of 110,000 people. Previous roles in his 33-year career included Chairman of IBM Netherlands (2002-2010), the leadership of IBM’s business in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands and South Africa (2002-2008).
Larry is passionate about the issues of diversity and inclusion and is an Ambassador to the Everywoman company (https://www.everywoman.com/) and Black British Business Awards (http://www.thebbbawards.com/), as well as a supporter of groups including the Asian Business Networks Association, the European Women’s Achievement Award, the Afro Caribbean Group, Stonewall, Whitehall in Industry, Asian Business Women, and Investors in Diversity.
Larry was appointed C.B.E. in 2006, in recognition of Services to the IT industry.

This event will be particularly insightful for anyone considering a career in technology or business, and there will be a Q&A session as part of the event.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The Hungarian ambassador to London will discuss Hungary’s Euro-Atlantic integration after regaining freedom in 1989. His Excellency will not skirt sensitive questions such as Hungary’s position on Russia, or European energy security and its consequences for Hungary. He will also talk about the new Hungarian constitution.

During a speech in 1957, Prime Minister Harold MacMillan declared “our people have never had it so good”. Now, more than half a century later, are we fundamentally any better off? Through discussion of technological advances, social changes, political reforms, and economic shocks and recessions, this panel will seek to question whether the world we currently live in is indeed a better place than it was in the 1950s.

Chaired by Professor Brian Nolan, Professor of Social Policy, the panel will consist of:

*Dr Max Roser, James Martin Fellow at The Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School
*Dr Anders Sandberg, James Martin Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute
*Professor Robert Walker, Professor of Social Policy

A drinks reception will follow, all welcome.

How can the human economy become more sustainable in the face of a rapidly changing climate? Professor Cameron Hepburn, Director of the Economics of Sustainability programme at The Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, will discuss new ways of assessing climate and economic risk, how to stimulate innovation in greener technologies, and the impacts of climate policy on the economy.

Join in on Twitter #2015climate

Join the Weidenfeld Scholars for an engaging debate on economic inequality moderated by Jon Snow. We will be engaging with what drives inequality, what economic, social and political impact inequality has and what policymakers ought to do to respond.

Format: The ‘Intelligence Squared’ debate format (Two speakers debating for, and two speakers debating against the motion).

Speakers:
For the motion:
Josh Spero (Editor, Spear’s Magazine)
Andreas Wesemann (Financial Services Advisory Group, Ashcombe Advisors).

Against the motion:
Vicky Pryce (Chief Economic Advisor, CEBR)
Alan Gray (Chairman, London Economics).

Moderator: Jon Snow.

Venue of debate: Danson Room, at Trinity College.
Time: 5 to 6.30pm, followed by drinks.

Twenty minute talk, one hour discussion. You’re welcome to come along just to listen, or to take an active part in the discussion. Free entry, no need to book.

Twenty minute talk, Q&As, and an hour of discussion. Free entry, no need to book. You’re welcome to come along just to listen, or to take part actively in the discussion.

Part of a series of one-day conferences held by the Centre for the History and Philosophy of Physics (HAPP).

Arguably the First World War saw the greatest advent of new science and technology and the role of science in warfare than any conflict hitherto. On land the innovations of barbed wire, machine guns and eventually, tanks changed the nature of land battles. At sea, radio communications changed operation of surface fleets and the introduction of submarine warfare changed the nature of war at sea. This war saw also the advent of aerial warfare which was to change the nature of all future wars. This conference seeks to review the key ways in which physics and its mathematics changed the nature of conflict from various points of views: technical, historical and sociological.
Confirmed speakers include:

Professor David Edgerton (King’s College London) – The Sciences and the Great War: Myths and Histories

Dr Elizabeth Bruton (Museum of the History of Science, Oxford) – Hydrophones and Piezoelectricity: Ernest Rutherford and Anti-submarine Innovations in the Royal Navy during World War I

Professor Adrian Smith (University of Southampton) – Warfare and Wind Tunnel: Engineers, Physicists and the Evolution of Combat Aircraft (1914-1918)

Dr Arne Schirrmacher (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) – On the (Self-)Mobilization of Scientists in Germany, France and Britain: The Impact on Physics in War and thereafter

There will be a conference dinner at St Cross in the evening following the end of the conference. Although the conference itself is free of charge, the dinner carries a cost of £35 to attend – booking a place for dinner can be done here; http://www.oxforduniversitystores.co.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=1&catid=2188&prodid=10126

A discussion about the ethics of Arts Sponsorship with Jeremy Spafford, Director of Arts at the Old Fire Station, and representatives from arts activists Art Not Oil – a network is dedicated to taking creative disobedience against institutions such as Tate, National Portrait Gallery and the British Museum until they drop their oil company funding. Together the panel will explore the ethics of sponsorship at a time where funding for the arts continues to be drastically cut. Who is it acceptable to take money from and what is the price that we pay? [IMAGE: Liberate Tate]

Will Hutton will share his views on the ways in which we, as a community, can forge a better society.

‘TRADE IN UK-AFRICA RELATIONS’: Event taking place on July 1st at Oxford Brookes University.

This is part of an ESRC seminar series on British Policy after Labour: Coalition, Austerity, Continuity and Change.

This seminar, the fifth in a series of seven and the first since the Conservative election victory in May, will focus on Trade in UK-African Relations and will feature a number of prominent speakers from the worlds of academia, policy and civil society.

It starts with coffees at 1030 and ends at 1630 (a buffet lunch will be provided).

Places are limited so if you are interested in attending could you please confirm by sending an email to me (shurt@brookes.ac.uk) as early as possible.

If you would like to read more about the ESRC series and previous/upcoming seminars then please take a look at our website – http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/bisa-africa/uk-africa-policy/ – or follow us on Twitter @UKAfricaSeminar.

I have also written summaries of the main themes of the four seminars on my blog – http://internationalpoliticsfromthemargin.net/

Part 1 of a three-part mini-series on notation: Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.

Also coming up… Writing little messages in Italian: the social origins of music notation (August 20th), Arithmetic: a study in the irreversibility of human progress (September 24th).

Free entry, no need to book. You’re welcome to come along just to listen, or to take part actively in the discussion. The meeting room will be indicated on the display screen just inside the Town Hall entrance lobby.

What the World is Losing, a talk with Dr Paul Collins, Dr Robert Bewley & Dr Emma Cunliffe

A special talk with Dr Paul Collins, Curator of the Ancient Near East Collections at the Ashmolean Museum, as well as Dr Robert Bewley and Dr Emma Cunliffe from the University of Oxford School of Archaeology

Saturday 25 July, 10.30am‒12pm
Ashmolean Museum Lecture Theatre

FREE entry. No booking required.

*** Spaces limited. Please arrive early to secure your seat. ***

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Middle Eastern cultural heritage is under threat as never before. These talks highlight what the world is losing in Iraq and Syria, as well as talking about Oxford University’s ‘Endangered Archaeology of the Middle East and North Africa’ project.

Dr Paul Collins spoke in April this year about the recent destruction of museums, libraries, archaeological sites, mosques, churches and shrines across northern Iraq to highlight the unique heritage that is being lost.

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This is a free Festival of Archaeology Talk. See the full programme of events at: http://www.ashmolean.org/events/Festival/

Distinguished historian of science Professor John Heilbron published the definitive “life and letters” biography of Henry Moseley in 1974. Forty years on he returns to Harry to consider whether the First World War robbed him of a Nobel Prize.

Join us for the Oxford launch of the new NoNonsense series

Panelists:

Maggie Black, author of NoNonsense International Development

A former co-editor of New Internationalist, Maggie has written numerous books on development subjects. She has worked as a consultant writer and editor for UN and other international organizations and for NGOs including Save the Children, WaterAid and Anti-Slavery International. She is also the author of the No-Nonsense Guide to International Development.

Peter Stalker, author of NoNonsense The Money Crisis

Peter is a former co-editor of the New Internationalist who now works as a communications consultant to UN agencies. He has edited the global Human Development Report, and produced many other UN reports on economic and social issues. He is also the author of the No-Nonsense Guide to International Migration.

Danny Chivers, author of NoNonsense Renewable Energy

Danny is an environmental writer, carbon analyst and performance poet. He is actively involved in climate justice groups such as Art Not Oil, Reclaim the Power and No Dash For Gas. He is also the author of The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change.

The launch will begin with a panel discussion, introduced and led by Chris Brazier (New Internationalist Co-editor) along with special guest Danny Dorling (Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography at the University of Oxford, and author of many books including the No-Nonsense Guide to Equality and Inequality and the 1%).

The discussion will be followed by an opportunity for questions from the audience, drinks and a chance to buy copies of the new series.

About the NoNonsense Series:

The all-new NoNonsense books cut through the noise and hype surrounding today’s big issues. Concise, comprehensive and critical, they get to the heart of the matter.

FAQs

What are the transport/parking options getting to the event?

Ruskin College is easily accessible by car with ample free parking on site.

Local buses: 280 and U1 — exit at Headington Shops.

To avoid dangerous climate change will require not only very steep cuts in emissions, but also the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Most of the models that avoid dangerous climate change do so by assuming that it will be possible to deploy a technique called biomass energy with carbon capture and storage (or BECCS for short) at a very large scale. But is this realistic?

Please join us for a public discussion to explore this issue. To what extent may it be possible to use biomass as a way of both generating electricity and removing carbon dioxide from the air? What are the likely impacts of such an approach – on climate change, on food supply, on biodiversity and on the will to reduce emissions.

The Oxford Martin School has brought together four excellent speakers with expertise in this field. Dr Craig Jamieson has explored the potential of using waste material from rice production for BECCS, Professor Tim Lenton has modelled how much biomass could be used for BECCS given projected population growth and dietary habits, Professor Nick Pidgeon is an expert on the social acceptability of new technologies and Dr Doug Parr is the Chief Scientist and Policy Director at Greenpeace.

After 1989, capitalism has successfully presented itself as the only realistic political-economic system – a situation that the banking crisis of 2008, far from ending, actually compounded.

So, what do you do about capitalism if you live in a world where it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism?

As the Tories begin a new round of attacks on education and the welfare state, Mark Fisher the author of Capitalist Realism, comes to Ruskin to try and answer this question.

Room 2.09

All welcome, organised by Ruskin College students.

Contact: Peter Dwyer for more information: pdwyer@ruskin.ac.uk

Talk followed by questions and answers.

The extraction of oil and the mining of coal are devastating communities across the world. These operations have forced people from their land, polluted the environment, and led to widespread human rights violations.

According to the Colombia Human Rights Data Analysis Group, an estimated 9,000 people were murdered and 3,000 have disappeared in Casanare over the past two decades. One of those kidnapped was Gilberto Torres, who is bringing a case for compensation against BP and other oil companies in the High Court in London with the help of law firm Deighton Pierce Glynn (DPG) in the UK and Francisco Ramirez Cuellar in Colombia.

The Centre for Global Politics, Economy and Society at Oxford Brookes University, and UCU Oxford Brookes would like to invite you to a special event as part of the campaign tour ‘OIL JUSTICE NOW! Stop Corporate Impunity’ led by the NGO War on Want in partnership with the law firm Deighton Pierce Glynn and the organisation Cos-Pacc (see attached poster for further details).

Speakers are:

– Sue Wilman (Human Rights Lawyer, Deighton Pierce Glynn)
– Gilberto Torres (Former trade unionist with Union Sindical Obrera in Colombia)
– Dr Lara Montesinos Coleman (University of Sussex)
– Francisco Ramirez Cuellar (trade unionist and lawyer with the Colombian Unified Trade Union Federation)

Gilberto Torres is a former trade unionist with Union Sindical Obrera, representing workers in the oil industry. He was abducted and tortured by paramilitaries in 1992 and now lives in exile. Gilberto believes his abduction was ordered and assisted by Ocensa, a joint venture pipeline company part-owned and operated by BP.

Francisco Ramirez Cuellar is a trade unionist and lawyer with the Colombian Unified Trade Union Federation. He has been targeted and threatened because of his legal and campaigning work challenging multinationals who have committed serious environmental and human right abuses in Colombia.

Chaired by Dr Maia Pal (Oxford Brookes University)

Oxbotica are an Oxford University Spin-Out Company from the mobile robotics group. Oxbotica specialize in mobile navigation and perception – allowing robots to precisely map, navigate and interact with their surroundings.”
Graeme Smith, Oxbotica’s Chief Executive has a substantial track record in delivering complex products and services from research and development through to customer launch and has held executive leadership positions in several global start-ups and Joint Ventures.

If you want to learn more about the technology, a career in research, or just have an interest in robotics, come to hear Graeme at OUEngSoc’s first of many lunchtime talks this year. There will be a Q&A session at the end of Graeme’s talk. A buffet lunch will be served after the talk.

Speaker: Professor Alexander Betts (Refugee Studies Centre)

In recent academic and policy arenas in forced migration, the issue of how to understand refugees’ economic lives has emerged as one of the most pressing agendas. This seminar series will therefore gather leading scholars who have been working on related issues in order to consolidate the empirical and theoretical knowledge of refugee economies. Speakers will be convened from diverse and inter-disciplinary backgrounds from anthropology, economics, and political science. In addition to knowledge building, this seminar series is intended to initiate nurturing wider networks of researchers working on economic lives of refugees and to establish a common space for exchanging ideas, discussing findings and challenges.

Renewable energy is a strong component in the race to mitigate climate change, and solar power is a particularly cheap and viable green energy option. Considering current technologies, cost, markets and infrastructure, Professor Henry Snaith, Co-Director of the Programme on Solar Energy: Organic Photovoltaics, and Professor Malcolm McCulloch, Head of the University of Oxford’s Electrical Power Group and Co-Director of The Oxford Martin Programme on Integrating Renewable Energy, will debate whether solar is indeed the answer to the urgent question of irreversible climate change.

Talk, Q&As, and discussion. You’re welcome to come along just to listen, or to take part actively in the discussion. There’s no need to book: just come along on the day.

Speaker: Professor Amanda Hammar (Centre of African Studies, University of Copenhagen)

RSC Public Seminar Series, Michaelmas Term: Refugee Economies
Conveners: Alexander Betts and Naohiko Omata
In recent academic and policy arenas in forced migration, the issue of how to understand refugees’ economic lives has emerged as one of the most pressing agendas. This seminar series will therefore gather leading scholars who have been working on related issues in order to consolidate the empirical and theoretical knowledge of refugee economies. Speakers will be convened from diverse and inter-disciplinary backgrounds from anthropology, economics, and political science. In addition to knowledge building, this seminar series is intended to initiate nurturing wider networks of researchers working on economic lives of refugees and to establish a common space for exchanging ideas, discussing findings and challenges.

About the speaker:
Amanda Hammar is Director and MSO Professor in African Studies at the Centre of African Studies (CAS) at the University of Copenhagen. Her core research interests combine political economy and cultural politics approaches, and the use of ethnography among other methods, to understand the dynamics and spaces of social, economic, political and physical exclusion/inclusion in both agrarian and urban settings, at smaller and larger scales. She is particularly concerned with how these processes unfold and generate change – both symbolic and material – in contexts of displacement and crisis. Within this general framing, she has a special interest in the relationship between sustained crisis and different dimensions of state making and citizen making. She is responsible for the Research Platform at CAS on ‘Sovereignties and Citizenship’. Geographically, most of her work has been focused on southern Africa, particularly Zimbabwe and to a lesser extent Mozambique. Her most recently concluded project has been on Political Economies of Displacement, culminating in an edited volume entitled Displacement Economies in Africa: Paradoxes of Crisis and Creativity. In addition to being a strongly empirically grounded collection (with cases from across the continent), its ambitions include a theoretical challenge to more classic conceptualisations of displacement.

Rising inequality is a key focus in today’s policy discussions and media discourse. Building on research from The Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School (INET Oxford), Professor Brian Nolan, Director of the Employment, Equity and Growth Programme at INET Oxford and Professor John Muellbauer, Deputy Director of Economic Modelling at INET Oxford, will consider the causes and consequences of inequality, and what can be done to address it.

Talk, Q&As, and discussion. You’re welcome to come along just to listen, or to take part actively in the discussion. There’s no need to book: just come along on the day.

Talk, Q&As, and discussion. You’re welcome to come along just to listen, or to take part actively in the discussion. There’s no need to book: just come along on the day.

Oxford Brookes Centre for Global Politics, Economy and Society seminar series

Between Debt and the Devil challenges the belief that we need credit growth to fuel economic growth, and that rising debt is okay as long as inflation remains low. In fact, most credit is not needed for economic growth—but it drives real estate booms and busts and leads to financial crisis and depression. Turner explains why public policy needs to manage the growth and allocation of credit creation, and why debt needs to be taxed as a form of economic pollution. Banks need far more capital, real estate lending must be restricted, and we need to tackle inequality and mitigate the relentless rise of real estate prices. Turner also debunks the big myth about fiat money—the erroneous notion that printing money will lead to harmful inflation. To escape the mess created by past policy errors, we sometimes need to monetize government debt and finance fiscal deficits with central-bank money.

Between Debt and the Devil shows why we need to reject the assumptions that private credit is essential to growth and fiat money is inevitably dangerous. Each has its advantages, and each creates risks that public policy must consciously balance.

Adair Turner is chairman of the Institute for New Economic Thinking and the author of Economics after the Crisis. He lives in London.

Talk, Q&As, and discussion. You’re welcome to come along just to listen, or to take part actively in the discussion. There’s no need to book: just come along on the day.