This lecture is a joint event between the Oxford Martin School and The Institute of New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School

Dishonest practices brought to light by the 2008 crisis have raised questions about the incentives faced by bankers, and about their training. Unfortunately, the remedy of using market discipline through competition policy to make bankers ‘behave’ is problematic.

So there have been many calls for more ethical bankers, but what might this actually look like in practice? Our answer is given by the idea of ‘principled agents’ who at times exhibit a high degree of concern for others in standard economic calculations and at other times operate from moral principle. But how compatible is the use of moral principles with standard economic cost benefit analysis?

Lord Browne of Madingley is presently Chairman of L1 Energy, the Chairman of Trustees of both the Tate and the QEII Prize for Engineering, and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University.

Although criteria for identifying autism have been established based on behavioral factors, researchers are still exploring and developing models to describe the cognitive and affective differences that lead to the known behaviors. Some of these models offer competing ways of understanding autism; some simply describe characteristics of autism. Significantly, these models tend to involve cognitive functions that are also cited in accounts of moral responsibility. This suggests that autism may be a reason not to blame an autistic person for some actions that transgress social, ethical, or legal expectations even when we would certainly blame a neurotypical person for the same action. Whether to treat autism as exculpatory in any given circumstance appears to be influenced both by models of autism and by theories of moral responsibility. This talk will focus on a limited range of theories: autism as characterized in terms of executive function deficit, and moral responsibility based on access to appropriate reactive attitudes. In pursuing this particular combination of ideas, I do not intend to endorse them. The goal is, instead, to explore the implications of this combination of influential ideas about autism and about moral responsibility. These implications can be quite serious and practical for autists and those who interact directly with autists, as well as for broader communities as they attend to the fair, compassionate, and respectful treatment of increasing numbers of autistic adults.

Public event, all welcome. Booking essential.

By 2050, a quarter of humanity will be African. The continent is in profound transition, the scale of which matters not just for the citizens of Africa’s 54 nations, but for the world. It is the fastest urbanising continent, and experiencing rapid industrialisation.

Its economic growth has outperformed Latin America and most developed economies over recent years, yet 55% of Africa’s labour force today is still employed in agriculture, and the challenges of peace and security continue to occupy the headlines about the continent. Six hundred million of its citizens live without access to electricity, yet by 2014 more than 80% of the population had a mobile phone.

The facts about Africa’s growth and development leave no doubt about its unique trajectory, but how will the continent navigate these changes, and how will the world engage with this unprecedented scale and pace of change?

In Oxford, new approaches are being forged to studying and understanding Africa, including the Africa-Oxford Initiative and the inclusion of Africa within Oxford Martin School’s new research theme ‘Great Transitions’. Join us on 7 March to hear from Winnie Byanyima, the Executive Director of Oxfam International, Dr Carlos Lopes, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and current Oxford Martin Visiting Fellow, and Achim Steiner, Director of the Oxford Martin School, and be part of the debate as they discuss the range of African futures that could emerge over the coming decades.

This panel discussion will be followed by a drinks reception, all welcome

Africa currently has the highest disease burden of any region of the world and the least resources in terms of health personnel and health systems. But things are changing rapidly, many countries are in the process of major epidemiologic transitions with falling childhood mortality and the prospects of controlling many of the traditional infectious causes of ill health. At the same time the combined effects of economic development and rapid demographic expansion against a background of increasing urbanisation will pose enormous new challenges for the health of African populations.

In this talk Kevin Marsh, Professor of Tropical Medicine at the University of Oxford, will examine the possible trends for the health of the continent.

Rio gold medallist, Grace Clough, will talk about the experience of competing at sport’s highest levels. When not studying towards an MSc in Sociology, Grace is a member of the British Rowing Squad and won gold in rowing at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. Grace will describe the unique training regime undertaken by British paralympic athletes with the aid of a short Team GB video. Join us to find out about the Rio experience, from the gruelling preparations to the exhilaration of competing and ultimately winning. There will be ample opportunity to ask questions.

Grace visits schools to advocate better integration of disability and to encourage students to persist in the face of obstacles. Her academic research looks at the media portrayal of disability and its impacts. Her own story is inspirational. She only took up rowing in late 2013, yet in an impressive unbeaten run she was a member of the LTA mixed coxed four that won gold at the 2014 and 2015 World Championships, then won gold again at the Paralympic Games at Rio 2016. In recognition of this, Grace was honoured with the award of the MBE in the New Year’s Honours list.

Join Grace in the Mawby Room at Kellogg College from 17:30 for refreshments. The seminar will begin at 17:45. It is free and open to all, and there is no need to book.

Saïd Business School is thrilled to announce Lawrence H. Summers, American economist and former Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama, will be in conversation with Dean Peter Tufano at the School on Thursday 16 March. Registration is essential to confirm your attendance.

Lawrence H. Summers is the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus of Harvard University. During the past two decades, he has served in a series of senior policy positions in Washington, D.C., including the 71st Secretary of the Treasury for President Clinton, Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama and Vice President of Development Economics and Chief Economist of the World Bank.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975 and was awarded a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1982. In 1983, he became one of the youngest individuals in recent history to be named as a tenured member of the Harvard University faculty. In 1987, Mr. Summers became the first social scientist ever to receive the annual Alan T. Waterman Award of the National Science Foundation (NSF), and in 1993 he was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, given every two years to the outstanding American economist under the age of 40.

He is currently the Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University and the Weil Director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government at Harvard’s Kennedy School. He and his wife Elisa New, a professor of English at Harvard, reside in Brookline with their six children.

The Diseases of Modern Life project is hosting an event on ‘Germs Revisited’.

Bad germs? Friendly bacteria? Do we need to rethink our relationships with the microscopic world? Join us for an interdisciplinary lunch time talk. All welcome. Lunch provided.

Using past and present ideas drawn from medicine, fiction, and art, Dr Emilie Taylor-Brown (Faculty of English), Dr Jamie Lorimer (School of Geography and the Environment), and Dr Nicola Fawcett (Medical Sciences Division) come together to discuss new ways of thinking about human-microbe relationships in dialogue with developing trends in microbiome studies.

The Diseases of Modern Life is supported by the European Research Council.

Jeffrey Aronson presents a light-hearted talk on spelling in systematic reviewing.

Jeff is a Consultant Physician and Clinical Pharmacologist at the Oxford University Department for Primary Health Care.

His research expertise includes methods of classifying, detecting, and reporting adverse drug reactions, including systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

This talk is part of the Meta-analysis course which is one of our Postgraduate modules in Evidence-Based Health Care.

This is a free event and members of the public are welcome to attend by registering

Saïd Business School is pleased to welcome Lubomira Rochet, Global Chief Digital Officer of the L’Oréal Group, to speak at the School on Wednesday 26 April.

Leading digital transformation at L’Oréal

L’Oréal is the world’s number one beauty company with leading brands such as Maybelline New York, L’Oréal Paris, Garnier, Lancome, Kiehl’s, and Kerastase. The group was also named by Adweek as 2017’s hottest digital marketer. How did one of the world’s oldest consumer goods companies get to this position? Lubomira Rochet, the Chief Digital Officer for L’Oréal globally and member of the group’s executive committee, will talk about the digital transformation of L’Oréal’s businesses that she and her team have enacted since she joined the company in 2014.

The seminar is open for anyone to attend and will take place at Saïd Business School on Wednesday 26 April followed by a short networking drinks reception until around 7.30pm. Please remember that registration is required to attend this event.

This talk will outline some of the challenges of mixed methods research and illustrate how they can be addressed in health psychology and other health research. Felicity will critically reflect on mixed methods research that she has conducted and discuss the philosophical and technical challenges of mixed methods, grounding the discussion in a brief review of methodological literature.

Mixed methods research is characterized as having philosophical and technical challenges; the former can be addressed by drawing on pragmatism, the latter by considering formal mixed methods research designs proposed in a number of design typologies. There are important differences among the design typologies which provide diverse examples of designs that health researchers can adapt for their own mixed methods research. There are also similarities; in particular, many typologies explicitly orient to the technical challenges of deciding on the respective timing of qualitative and quantitative methods and the relative emphasis placed on each method. Characteristics, strengths, and limitations of different sequential and concurrent designs are identified by reviewing a series of mixed methods projects each conducted for a different purpose.

Adapting formal mixed methods designs can help health psychologists and other health researchers address the technical challenges of mixed methods research and identify the approach that best fits the research questions and purpose. This does not obfuscate the need to address philosophical challenges of mixing qualitative and quantitative methods.

Dr Felicity Bishop is a health psychologist leading an interdisciplinary programme of mixed methods research around complementary therapies and placebo effects in health care within Psychology at the University of Southampton.

This talk is part of the Mixed Methods in Health Research module, which is part of the MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care.

This is a free event and members of the public are welcome to attend.

As part of the Surgical Grand Rounds Lecture Series, Professor François Pattou will be presenting ‘Gastric bypass; from intestinal glucose transport to diabetes. What is the expected duration?’.

François Pattou is Professor of Surgery at the Faculty of Medicine of Lille, France, and Head of the Department of General and Endocrine Surgery at Lille University Hospital. Professor Pattou also leads a research group at the University of Lille, INSERM U1190, devoted to the clinical development of biotherapies for treating diabetes and a funding member of the LABEX European Genomic Institute for Diabetes (EGID).

This strategy has the potential to transform China’s relations with Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. The linkages are embodied in the Silk Road Economic Belt and New Maritime Silk Road. It is aimed at internal Asian economic development, a process never significantly supported by the countries of Asia or by external actors, especially in Europe and North America.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is the financing vehicle for intergovernmental cooperation, thus serving as enabler of the development process. This seed money supplements even larger sums from Asian governments and private sector actors who will supply most of the capital. Key infrastructure components include railroads, telecommunications, and ports, all to be integrated by sea and by land.

Successful implementation of the strategy will accelerate Asian development and lead to greater internal Eurasian economic integration. Failure of the United States to participate in the AIIB, even as most important world economies are members of the bank, relegates the US to being a weak participant in this major global-economic transformation.

The Seminar Convenor is Professor Chris Rowley, Visiting Fellow of Kellogg College and Professor Emeritus of Cass Business School, City, University of London.

Refreshments will be served from 16:45. The seminar will begin at 17:00.

All are welcome to attend this seminar and booking is not required.

As part of the Surgical Grand Rounds lecture series, Mr James Gilbert (Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) and Dr Simon Knight (Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, Oxford University) will discuss innovations in access surgery.

Will the US and global economy thrive, or barely survive, under Trumponomics? Will erratic policymaking and populist pandering lead to economic catastrophe? Or will business-friendly reforms and expansionary fiscal and monetary policies bring unprecedented prosperity? A distinguished panel of economists – Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University, Martin Wolf of the Financial Times, and John Muellbauer of Oxford Univesity – will debate the early economic consequences of Trumpism and how policies are likely to take shape in key areas such as trade, tax, infrastructure, finance, and monetary policy.

Kenneth Rogoff, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Harvard University and recipient of the 2011 Deutsche Bank Prize in Financial Economics, was the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund from 2001 to 2003. The co-author of This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, his new book, The Curse of Cash, was released in August 2016. He is the Visiting Sanjaya Lall Professor at the University of Oxford.

Martin Wolf is chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, London. He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 2000 “for services to financial journalism”.

Professor John Muellbauer is a Senior Research Fellow of Nuffield College, Professor of Economics and a Senior Fellow of the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, Oxford University.

Science, Medicine and Culture in the Nineteenth Century Seminar Series. All welcome, no booking required.

Ursula Martin, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford, will be speaking on Ada Lovelace in Her Mathematical Context

Ada, Countess of Lovelace, 1815 – 1852, the so called “first computer programmer”, is famous for her 1843 paper, which combined technical detail, and farsighted reflections, in describing Charles Babbage’s unbuilt analytical engine, a mechanical computer which, in principle, would have had the same capabilities as a modern machine. Lovelace’s broader reflections include the complexity and difficulty of programming, the potential for mathematical experiment, algebra, or composing music, and even, as noted by Alan Turing, the limits of machine thought.

Celebrated as an icon of women in science, Lovelace has been the subject of many popular accounts, with intense debate as to her ability and contribution to the 1843 paper. The only biography to study Lovelace’s mathematics is detailed, confident, but mathematically incorrect: the only edition of the letters is somewhat unscholarly and leaves out the mathematical content, stressing notions of poetical science.

Our recent work (with Christopher Hollings and Adrian Rice) is the first study of Lovelace by historians of mathematics, ad describes her eclectic childhood education, and her private study in 1840, at university level, with the eminent mathematician Augustus De Morgan. We identified her increasing insight, tenacity with details and desire to grasp abstract principles – the skills required for independent mathematical work.

One might assess such varying accounts of Lovelace’s life and contribution against changing contexts of class, gender, or mental stability; changing perceptions of mathematics amongst both professional mathematicians and the general public; changing perceptions of how to present women scientists; or better understanding of the misremembering or composure of women’s contributions. Despite her reputation, we lack a scholarly account of the 1843 paper, and the trajectory of its ideas, rooted in the relevant mathematical context, or a biography that treats her as a member of a scientific community, alongside Babbage, De Morgan and Somerville, rather than constraining her as marginal or exceptional.

Who’s listening? Communicating research in a noisy world

Dan Richards-Doran, Communications Manager, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford

The proliferation of social and digital media tools, combined with the availability of camera-equipped smartphones, means anyone can set themselves up as an online channel. Scientists looking to disseminate their research findings now no longer have to simply rely on their press office or publisher, they have at their finger-tips a fancy toolbox of tactics to broadcast their evidence to the world, but with the increasingly crowded media landscape how can they ensure their message gets through to the right audience?

This talk will discuss who the “public” actually are and what media they consume when it comes to science. Applying basic communications planning theory, it will briefly overview how to develop a plan before embarking on any communication activity, highlighting the opportunities for getting the most out of social and traditional media and the importance of dialogue to support science communication with impact.

Dan is Communications Manager at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford. He is responsible for communicating the Department’s research communications and supporting researchers to communicate their work.

This talk is part of the Knowledge into Action module, which is part of the MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care.

This is a free event and members of the public are welcome to attend.

Trials registries are a relatively new phenomenon and are there to ensure that a complete view of research is accessible to all. Yet, half off all trial results go unreported.

The talk will discuss the important of registries the evidence in the registry that matters and discuss how the CEBM and EBM Datalab are working with the WHO to improve clinical trial transparency

Professor Carl Heneghan is an advisor to the World Health Organization’s International Clinical; Trial Registry Platform and co-founder of AllTrials.

A book colloquium featuring Stuart H Newberger, an international lawyer who represented victims of the terrorist plot hatched by Colonal Qaddafi that brought down French Airlines Flight 772. His latest book The Forgotten Flight: Terrorism, Diplomacy and the Pursuit of Justice tells the story of how he fought for justice for seven of the 170 people killed in one of the deadliest acts of terrorism in history.

This real-life legal thriller combines the international intrigue of le Carré with the courtroom drama of John Grisham, and asks how we can bring leaders of sovereign nations to account for their crimes.

For the first time, Stuart Newberger reveals how French investigators cracked the case and takes us inside the courtroom to witness the litigation against the Libyan state that followed. In the age of globalization, The Forgotten Flight provides a fascinating insight into the pursuit of justice across international borders.

Stuart H. Newberger is a senior partner at international law firm Crowell & Moring. His practice handles complex international disputes, many involving the actions of governments. He lives in McLean, Virginia.

Praise for The Forgotten Flight:

“Gripping, shocking, forensic: a true legal thriller that captured me entirely.”
Philippe Sands, author of East West Street

“In the war against terrorism, lawyers can make a difference. A must read for all those interested in how the rule of law can be an important weapon in the ongoing struggle.”
Kenneth Feinberg, former Special Master of the Federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund

Launch and discussion of Mari Mikkola’s new book, ‘The Wrong of Injustice: Dehumanization and its Role in Feminist Philosophy’

Join the English Faculty Twentieth Century Poetry Reading Group for a special event at the T. S. Eliot Theatre: Kay Redfield Jamison – author of the groundbreaking memoir An Unquiet Mind, and world expert in bipolar disorder – discusses her acclaimed new book, Robert Lowell: Setting the River on Fire, a study of the American poet’s mental illness, character and creativity.

Professor Jamison will read extracts from the book, before answering questions in conversation with Stephanie Kelley, and discussing Lowell’s life and work more generally.

The event is free and open to the public!

LMH Principal Alan Rusbridger will be in conversation with Professor Richard Sennett on Friday 2nd June. He’s based at LSE and NYU and is a sociologist writing about cities, labour and culture. His most famous books were probably ‘The Fall of Public Man’ and the ‘Corrosion of Character’. Among other awards, he has received the Hegel and Spinoza Prizes and an honorary degree from the University of Cambridge.

This event is in partnership with the Resolution Foundation

The accumulation and distribution of wealth across Britain has been a contentious issue since the dawn of economics. But while wealth inequality is traditionally viewed as being between rich and poor, a new divide is also emerging – the wealth gap between generations.

The failure of younger generations to accumulate wealth – through pensions, property and savings – will reduce their lifetime living standards, particularly once they reach retirement. This would have profound implications for both families and the state, so what can be done?

As part of its Intergenerational Commission, chaired by Lord Willetts, the Resolution Foundation will soon be publishing a series of papers analysing Britain’s wealth across generations. Ahead of this launch, the Oxford Martin School is hosting an event to explore these issues and the role of public policy in tackling Britain’s new wealth divides.

Experts from the Foundation will present some of the emerging findings from its work on intergenerational wealth inequality, while Professors John Muellbauer and Brian Nolan will discuss possible policy responses, before taking part in an audience Q&A.

Designing a study usually involves consulting a statistician, typically to check the sample size is adequate and the analysis feasible. In this talk, however, I will discuss my role in the design of some studies that were definitely not typical. I will discuss the ways that some unusual research questions, in alcohol, in clinician behaviour and in alternative medicine, have led me to get involved with some interesting study designs. I will describe my experiences of leaving my statistician’s desk and computer to help collect data in the very real world and present some of the unusual papers that our students have contributed to on blood pressure measurement, alcohol and sobriety, and thermometry.

This talk is part of the Introduction to Study Design and Research Methods module, which is part of the MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care.

This is a free event and members of the public are welcome to attend.

N.B. This event is not yet confirmed; however we expect it to be very popular. Please register your interest and, once confirmed, your registration will be converted into an order.

In 2013, the Bank of Japan adopted quantitative and qualitative monetary easing; a policy of unprecedented large-scale monetary easing. Since then, the economic and price situation in Japan has greatly improved.

In this talk, Governor Kuroda will recount how he was strongly inspired about the importance of expectations in monetary policy by a lecture by Professor Hicks when he studied here at the University of Oxford. He will discuss the latest monetary policy measures in today’s banking as well as topics to help central banks to appropriately manage people’s inflation expectations and raise the effectiveness of monetary policy in a global low-growth, low-inflation environment.

The seminar will take place at Saïd Business School followed by a short networking drinks reception and is open for anyone to attend. Please remember that registration is required.

As part of the Surgical Grand Rounds lecture series, Mr Henk Giele (Consultant in Plastic, Reconstructive and Hand Surgery, Oxford University Hospitals NHS) will present ‘Should surgical innovation be taught and encouraged?’

Type 2 diabetes is the epidemic of the 21st Century. There are 415 million people living with diabetes worldwide, and 90 per cent of them have Type 2. It’s increasing, costly and life-changing. Diabetes is the single largest cause of amputations, stroke, blindness and kidney failure. So are we doing enough to prevent it? Can we use our understanding of genetics to improve treatment and care?
Join us to hear Professor Anna Gloyn (University of Oxford) sharing her view.

Oxford India Speaker series and Saïd Business School presents:
Ajay G. Piramal in conversation with Dean Peter Tufano

The event will span a range of topics including entrepreneurship, the future of the Indian economy and business ethics.

Mr Ajay Piramal is one of India’s leading industrialists, philanthropists and social entrepreneurs. He is the Chairman of a business conglomerate, Piramal Group & Shriram Group (market cap: $7.5 billion; Revenue $3 billion), with activities in healthcare, financial services, real estate, information services, glass packaging and more.

The seminar is open for anyone to attend and will take place at Saïd Business School on Tuesday 13 June followed by a short networking drinks reception until around 7.30pm. Please remember that registration is required to attend this event.

Dr John Reader launches his new book, published by Palgrave Macmillan – Theology and New Materialism: Spaces of Faithful Dissent. A panel presentation will preface a wider debate following chapters in the book which include not only issues of human agency and transcendence, but also the search for a New Enlightenment and practical issues of politics, aesthetics and technology.

Join renowned chef Tom Kerridge and nutrition scientist, Susan Jebb, to discuss connections between emotions, food and weight. Tom explores how a diet of meat, eggs, fish, nuts and dairy can help us lose weight. Tom and Susan will discuss how the type of food on our plates affects our health and the tips and tricks that can help us to lose weight – and keep it off.

Tom Kerridge is a Michelin-starred chef appearing on Great British Menu, MasterChef and Saturday Kitchen. Between 2013 and 2016, Tom lost 11 stone (70 kg.) By developing and following a diet designed to boost dopamine levels, the reward hormone responsible for making us happy, Tom was able to maximize his enjoyment of food and so satisfy his appetite while eating less.
Susan Jebb is Professor of Diet and Population Health at the University of Oxford and a former government advisor on obesity and food policy. Her research puts different types of diets and behavioural techniques to the test. She was featured in the BBC Horizon series What’s the Right Diet for You?