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

May
31
Thu
Is what you perceive real? @ St Aldates Tavern (The blue room)
May 31 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm

To what extent what we perceive is real? How does experience affect our perception of the world? Dr Matthew Parrott, Prof Brian Rogers and Dr Kerry Walker are ready to take you for a captivating journey through perception, from philosophy to neuroscience! Come find out whether we are or not just a brain in a jar!

Jun
12
Tue
‘Taming the sun: innovations to harness solar energy and power the planet’ with Dr Varun Sivaram (Joint event with Oxford Energy @ Oxford Martin School
Jun 12 @ 5:00 pm – 6:15 pm

Solar energy, once a niche application for a limited market, has become the cheapest and fastest-growing power source on earth. What’s more, its potential is nearly limitless – every hour the sun beams down more energy than the world uses in a year. But Varun Sivaram, Fellow for science and technology at the Council on Foreign Relations, former Oxford researcher, and author of a new book, Taming the Sun, warns that the world is not yet equipped to harness erratic sunshine to meet most of its energy needs. And if solar’s current surge peters out, prospects for replacing fossil fuels and averting catastrophic climate change will dim.

Innovation can brighten those prospects, Sivaram will argue. Financial innovation is already enticing deep-pocketed investors to fund solar projects around the world, from the sunniest deserts to the poorest villages. Technological innovation could replace today’s solar panels with coatings as cheap as paint and employ artificial photosynthesis to store intermittent sunshine as convenient fuels. And systemic innovation could add flexibility to the world’s power grids and other energy systems so they can dependably channel the sun’s unreliable energy. Unleashing all this innovation will require visionary public policy: funding researchers developing next-generation solar technologies, refashioning energy systems and economic markets, and putting together a diverse clean energy portfolio.

This talk will be followed by a drinks reception and book signing, all welcome.

Jun
13
Wed
Every Woman Series: Afua Hirsch ‘Brit(ish)’ @ Blackwell's Bookshop
Jun 13 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Every Woman Series: Afua Hirsch 'Brit(ish)' @ Blackwell's Bookshop  | England | United Kingdom

Blackwell’s Bookshop Oxford Broad Street is delighted to welcome to the bookshop Afua Hirsch, who will be discussing her extraordinary book ‘Brit(ish)’. Voted by our booksellers as our championed Book of the Month on it’s publication, ‘Brit(ish)’ explores race, identity and belonging in Britain.

Brit (ish)

Where are you really from?

You’re British. Your parents are British. You were raised in Britain. Your partner, your children and most of your friends are British.

So why do people keep asking you where you are from?

‘Brit(ish)’ is about a search for identity. It is about the everyday racism that plagues British society. It is about our awkward, troubled relationship with our history. It is about why liberal attempts to be ‘colour-blind’ have caused more problems than they have solved. It is about why we continue to avoid talking about race.

In this personal and provocative investigation, Afua Hirsch explores a very British crisis of identity. We are a nation in denial about our past and our present. We believe we are the nation of abolition, but forget we are the nation of slavery. We are convinced that fairness is one of our values, but that immigration is one of our problems. ‘Brit(ish)’ is the story of how and why this came to be, and an urgent call for change.

Afua Hirsch is a writer and broadcaster. She has worked as a barrister, as the West Africa correspondent for the Guardian, and as social affairs editor for Sky News. ‘Brit(ish)’ is her first book and was awarded a RSL Jerwood Prize for Non-Fiction.

Entry to the event is at 6:45pm, a selection of drinks will be available to purchase at our till point before the talk starts at 7pm. Tickets cost £5. For all enquiries, please email events.oxford@blackwell.co.uk .

The Blackwell’s Every Woman Series

From February 2018, Blackwell’s Broad Street will launch a year-long series of events in conjunction with the Centenary of Women’s Suffrage in the UK.

The 1918 Representation of the People Act gave women of property over the age of 30 the right to vote – not all women, therefore, could vote. It was a step, but it was not the whole journey. And many would argue that we are still a long way from stepping the journey’s full distance towards gender equality in this country and worldwide. Blackwell’s Centenary events programme will focus around the following questions:

1) How much does the vote mean today?

2) How far are we still from achieving gender equality?

3) How can we recognise intersectional privilege and oppression, and platform those demographics of women who weren’t acknowledged by this achievement 100 years ago, and are still under-represented and undervalued today?

Jun
18
Mon
Lecture by Somalia’s Minister of Women and Human Rights Development @ Green Templeton College Oxford
Jun 18 all-day
Lecture by Somalia's Minister of Women and Human Rights Development @ Green Templeton College Oxford

Her Excellency Minister Deqa Yasin Hagi Yusuf, Minister of Women and Human Rights Development, Federal Government of Somalia

Advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in conflict-affected contexts: Current challenges and opportunities in Somalia.

In Somalia, conflict has increased many burdens for women and girls. However, Somalia’s transition from conflict also offers unique windows of opportunity to advance gender equality, while empowering women can in turn strengthen peace and development. These are some of the reasons why the Federal Government of Somalia prioritises gender equality and women’s empowerment as central objectives in its current National Development Plan. In this context, amongst other initiatives, the Minister of Women and Human Rights Development is currently leading ground-breaking efforts to develop Somalia’s first dedicated legislation on sexual offences, recently passed through cabinet, to advance women’s leadership and participation at all levels and to establish an independent Human Rights Commission through an inclusive and transparent process.

On 18 June 2018, the Honourable Deqa Yasin Hagi Yusuf, Somalia’s Minister for Women and Human Rights Development will discuss challenges and opportunities involved in these efforts to advance gender equality, sustainable peace and development in Somalia.

Speaker:

Her Excellency Minister Deqa Yasin Hagi Yusuf serves as the Minister of Women and Human Rights Development of the Federal Government of Somalia. She previously held the position of Deputy Chair of the Federal Indirect Election Implementation Team (FIEIT), where she played a central role in enabling women to take up 24 per cent of seats in parliament, up from 14 per cent in previous elections. Prior to joining the government, she worked as Operations Manager with IIDA Women’s Development Organization, a civil society organisation working to advance peacebuilding, women’s empowerment and human rights in Somalia since 1991. In this capacity, she actively participated in the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding, the first forum for political dialogue between countries affected by conflict and fragility, civil society and international partners. Born in Somalia, H.E Deqa Yasin Hagi Yusuf was raised and educated in Italy and previously worked as a civil servant for the government of Canada.

Biotech Booms in China: Innovation, Intellectual Property and Investment @ Main Seminar Room New Biochemistry Building
Jun 18 @ 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm

Welcome to the first event in our two-part China-UK Science Innovation Series!

In 2016 alone, China invested USD236 billion in Research and Development, making it the second largest investor in innovation globally. Given this, as well as China’s rapid economic growth, Science Innovation Union (SIU) and the Oxford Chinese Life Sciences Society (OCLSS) have decided to team up to hold an outstanding two-session event on this exciting area of development. Attendees will hear from a distinguished group of high profile speakers coming from the government, academic and private sectors. Our audience will have the chance to learn about how China and the UK have been working together to boost innovation, opportunities available for funding and to get an update on the latest leading-edge research.

Speakers:
Sunan Jiang (Minister Counsellor for Science and Technology, the Chinese Embassy in the UK)

Dr Wenming Ji (Managing Director at Oxford Cardiomox Ltd.; Former Senior Consultant at Isis Innovation Ltd; Former Project Manager at Innovation China UK)

Dr Shisong Jiang (CTO of Oxford Vacmedix)

Schedule:
17:30-17:40 Registration

17:40-18:00 Speaker 1

18:05-18:25 Speaker 2

18:30-18:50 Speaker 3

18:50-19:10 Q&A

19:10-20:00 Networking

As always, this event is free and open to the public!

The second part of this series is entitled:
“Building bridges between UK and China: From investment to ongoing global research advances” and will take place on the evening of June 26th.
Please keep an eye out for further details in the coming weeks!

St Cross Talk: A History of Food Fraud and Its Detection @ West Wing Lecture Theatre, St Cross College
Jun 18 @ 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
St Cross Talk: A History of Food Fraud and Its Detection @ West Wing Lecture Theatre, St Cross College | England | United Kingdom

A History of Food Fraud and Its Detection
Dr Duncan Campbell (DPhil Soil Solution Chemistry, 1986)

Duncan’s talk will cover the long history of food adulteration from medieval Germany to 19th century America, the pioneers who applied scientific methods to its detection in the 19th century and some modern examples from Britain and further afield.

Duncan was a student member of St Cross College from 1982 to 1985. After his time at St Cross and a period of post-doctoral research, he broadened his horizons to apply chemical analysis to public protection and gained the qualification required to act as a Public Analyst in 1994.

Although small in number, Public Analysts play a key role in enforcing many aspects of food legislation in the UK, directing the analysis of food and providing expert opinion on the results. A leading member of the profession, Duncan has contributed to the wider debate on protecting the public’s interests in relation to food, as well as TV programmes including the second episode of Netflix’s documentary series ‘Rotten’ which sets out to expose fraud and corruption in today’s global food industry.

Drinks reception to follow.

Jun
20
Wed
AI in an evening @ The Old Music Hall
Jun 20 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
AI in an evening @ The Old Music Hall  | England | United Kingdom

Do you want to learn about artificial intelligence? Have you been put off by technical jargon or fears of terminator robots?

Come along to this evening course for beginners run by the AI consultancy Oxford Insights.

No previous experience or knowledge of AI is required.

The course will cover important definitions, developments and debates in AI today, to help you answer three questions:

what is AI?

who is doing what?

why should we care?

Our teachers are AI experts and great communicators who will bring technical discussions to life.

This will be a small group to leave space for lots of discussion. We are charging the very low introductory price of £15 for this evening only!

AI in an evening @ Old Music Hall
Jun 20 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Do you want to learn about artificial intelligence? Have you been put off by technical jargon or fears of terminator robots?

Come along to this evening course for beginners run by the AI consultancy Oxford Insights.

No previous experience or knowledge of AI is required.

The course will cover important definitions, developments and debates in AI today, to help you answer three questions:

what is AI?

who is doing what?

why should we care?

Our teachers are AI experts and great communicators who will bring technical discussions to life.

This will be a small group to leave space for lots of discussion. We are charging the very low introductory price of £15 for this evening only!

 

Jun
21
Thu
Panel Discussion ‘Neurotech Now, and Beyond the Horizon’ @ Oxford Martin School, Seminar Room 1
Jun 21 @ 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Panel Discussion ‘Neurotech Now, and Beyond the Horizon’ @ Oxford Martin School, Seminar Room 1 | England | United Kingdom

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) offer the opportunity to control devices directly with the brain. Brain-controlled devices can return communication to those without speech, memory function to those with hippocampus damage, while prosthetic limbs controlled via the brain continue to develop at a pace. In the future, these technologies may also open doors to enhancements of the scope of human abilities beyond that which we generally expect.
This panel explores the state of the art in BCIs: What ethical issues arise with these technologies? How ought they to be understood, in terms of personal identity, or moral responsibility? Extending into the future, how might BCIs feature in human enhancement? Based in what we know already, we will set out to speculate about ‘beyond the horizon’, emerging BCI technologies and how to prepare for them.

Aug
22
Wed
Nic Cheeseman & Brian Klaas – How to Rig an Election @ Blackwell's Bookshop
Aug 22 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Nic Cheeseman & Brian Klaas - How to Rig an Election @ Blackwell's Bookshop | England | United Kingdom

Based on their first hand experiences as election watchers and their hundreds of interviews with presidents, prime ministers, diplomats, election officials, and conspirators, Cheeseman and Klaas document instances of election rigging from Argentina to Zimbabwe, including notable examples from Brazil, Kenya, India, Nigeria, and Russia. This eye-opening study offers a sobering overview of corrupted professional politics, while providing fertile intellectual ground for the development of new solutions for protecting democracy from authoritarian subversion.

Sep
13
Thu
Earthquakes from Space @ Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Sep 13 @ 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Earthquakes from Space @ Oxford University Museum of Natural History | England | United Kingdom

Large numbers of satellites currently circle Earth, continuously observing its surface in a variety of ways. In this lecture, Professor Barry Parsons will explain how these satellites may be used to investigate earthquakes – mapping earthquake faults; determining the topography produced by past and recent earthquakes; imaging the displacement of the earth’s surface in earthquakes; measuring the straining of near-surface material, strain that will eventually be released in future earthquakes – and to find out what happens in an earthquake below the surface.

Professor Barry Parsons was Director of the Centre for the Observation and Modelling for Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET) from 2002 to 2013. COMET is an Earth Observation Centre of Excellence supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) that links scientists at several earth science departments, deploying earth observation (satellite) techniques on questions concerning the science and hazard of earthquakes and volcanoes.

Barry is currently Principal Investigator for a NERC-funded consortium project, Looking inside the Continents from Space (LiCS), which aims to exploit the opportunities to measure crustal strain accurately and in detail presented by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 radar satellites.

This lecture is suitable for an audience of approx 16+, especially those with an interest in Physics, Geography, space technology and applied sciences.

Oct
11
Thu
“Innovation for planetary health: the economics of the fourth industrial revolution” with Prof Michael Grubb & Respondent – Prof Malcolm McCulloch @ Oxford Martin School
Oct 11 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

This is a joint lecture with The Rockefeller Foundation Economic Council on Planetary Health at the Oxford Martin School

Technological innovation is critical to addressing planetary health challenges. What can be done to ensure that innovation systems and the new “Fourth Industrial Revolution” respond effectively with positive social, environmental and economic consequences? How can we ensure equality of the energy transition?

Oct
23
Tue
Artist’s Talk: Claudia Clare, ‘Subversive Ceramics’ @ Photo Studio, Richard Hamilton Building, Headington Campus, Oxford Brookes University, Headington Road, Oxford OX3 0BP
Oct 23 @ 5:30 pm – 6:45 pm
Artist's Talk: Claudia Clare, 'Subversive Ceramics' @ Photo Studio, Richard Hamilton Building, Headington Campus, Oxford Brookes University, Headington Road, Oxford OX3 0BP | England | United Kingdom

The esteemed ceramicist Claudia Clare is an artist who uses this traditionally domestic medium to present social commentary, often on issues of trauma, sexuality, and revolution. Having been subjected to censorship by public art institutions, Claudia joins us to speak not only about her work but also about the fight against bureaucracy and institutional politics. www.claudiaclare.co.uk

This talk is part of the FAR (Fine Art Research) Guest Lecture series, supported by the School of Arts at Oxford Brookes University. All talks are free to attend, and everyone is welcome to join us. Booking is essential: www.eventbrite.com/e/artists-talk-claudia-clare-subversive-ceramics-tickets-50921796464

Oct
24
Wed
“How useful and reliable is a simplified perspective on technological change?” with Prof Christopher Magee @ Oxford Martin School
Oct 24 @ 5:00 pm – 6:15 pm

This is a joint event with INET@Oxford

Technological change involves many economic, social and individual human factors that are interwoven in a complex pattern; thus, technological change serves as an exemplar for a complex socio-technical system. Moreover, some individual factors central to technological change are challenging areas with more unknown than understood: among these areas are individual creative invention, scientific interplay with technology, new business formation, human/product interactions and others. In this lecture, technological change and socio-technical system expert, Chris Magee, Oxford Martin Visiting Fellow and Professor at the Institute for Data, Systems and Society at MIT will share a perspective that can help all of us better understand this phenomenon despite the complexity.

His focus on a major regularity displayed by all technological domains – a constant yearly percentage improvement in performance – and study of how these performance improvement percentage/rate varies over different technologies (but not over time) is one important foundation for this perspective. A second foundation is the wide interconnection among ideas and knowledge that drive improvements in domains that nonetheless have independent and different rates of improvement. Technological change, the process underlying the profound changes in society over the past 200 years – especially economic growth – is surprisingly decoupled from many societal and economic details.

This talk will be followed by a drinks reception, all welcome

Nov
6
Tue
Romanes Lecture: Dr Vint Cerf – Co-inventor of the Internet @ Sheldonian Theatre
Nov 6 @ 5:45 pm – 7:00 pm
Romanes Lecture: Dr Vint Cerf - Co-inventor of the Internet @ Sheldonian Theatre | England | United Kingdom

Vint Cerf is the co-inventor of the Internet, and Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google. In his lecture, he will be speaking about “The Pacification of Cyberspace”; a look at how to pacify the relatively lawless environment of the Internet, while preserving the utility of its openness to creative innovation and technological revolution.

The Romanes Lecture is the University of Oxford’s annual public lecture series, running since 1892.

Nov
8
Thu
Where next for Social Policy? Reflections in an age of social discord @ Simpkins Lee Lecture Theatre, Lady Margaret Hall
Nov 8 @ 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Where next for Social Policy? Reflections in an age of social discord @ Simpkins Lee Lecture Theatre, Lady Margaret Hall | England | United Kingdom

New movements for social justice from the 1970s delivered searching critiques of the discipline and practice of social policy and the welfare state. But how far have such perspectives since influenced social policy as a discipline and practice?

Join Fiona Williams as she explores how contemporary social movements – especially those around gender, race, migration, disability, austerity and the environment – pose material, political and ethical questions as to how we are to live our lives. These questions are crucial to imagining what form an alternative, transformational social policy might take.

Nov
16
Fri
Neurodivergent Middle-earth @ Christ Church, Lecture Room 2
Nov 16 @ 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Neurodivergent Middle-earth @ Christ Church, Lecture Room 2 | England | United Kingdom

Anna Milon, Education Secretary of the Tolkien Society will be joining us to give her talk, Neurodivergent Middle-earth:

Existing scholarship on Tolkien and mental health has largely focused on the aftermath of trauma or the idea that the characters in question are terribly ill and need either curing or isolating from society. In this talk, Anna Milon invites you to challenge this reductive view of mental health and explore possible neuro-divergence that does not hamper the adventures of our favourite LotR characters.

Nov
20
Tue
Radical Art History: Nick Lee, ‘Uncertain Progress’ @ Oxford Brookes University
Nov 20 @ 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Radical Art History: Nick Lee, 'Uncertain Progress' @ Oxford Brookes University |  |  |

The multi-talented Nick Lee is a Lecturer in Media Arts at Royal Holloway, University of London, a researcher at the House of Lords, and co-founder of the radical south-London project space, the Peckham Pelican.

Nick, an academic with a reputation as a revolutionary nonconformist, will be joining us for the final FAR (Fine Art Research) guest lecture of 2018.

This discussion at Oxford Brookes will present a series of painted images ordered to demonstrate the development of perspectiva artificialis (artificial perspective).

The following question will be posed: what exactly is developing in these images and what subsequent forms of image-making does artificial perspective make possible?
(Progress here, as elsewhere, is uncertain; a way of seeing is produced which structures in turn how we see the world.) The extent to which computer-generated images replicate and further systematise this way of seeing will be considered…

FREE & ALL WELCOME

Booking is essential:
www.eventbrite.com/e/radical-art-history-nick-lee-uncertain-progress-tickets-52493195561

Nov
22
Thu
Blockchain Competition Launch and Drinks @ Maths Institute
Nov 22 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Blockchain Competition Launch and Drinks @ Maths Institute | England | United Kingdom

Join us for the launch event of the Future of Blockchain 3 Month Competition.

We will be joined by 8 of the leading projects in the blockchain space. Teams include:

Gnosis

Kyber

Iconomi

Liquidity Network

Thunder

Zilliqa

———————————–

The Future of Blockchain is a 3 month idea competition hosted at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, LSE, UCL and KCL.

Challenge = Build something involving blockchain in 3 months

Over £80k cash in prize, Top Prize = £20,000 cash, 24 Bounties of £2,000 cash prizes from our supporters

———————————–

Winter Cohort:

Launch Events = 21st (Cambridge), 22nd (Oxford), 23rd (London) November 2018

Starts = Monday 3rd December 2018

———————————–

More info at www.futureofblockchain.co.uk

Nov
25
Sun
CARU | Arts re Search Annual Conference 2018 @ Chakrabarti Lecture Theatre & JHB207
Nov 25 @ 11:00 am – 6:15 pm
CARU |  Arts re Search Annual Conference 2018 @ Chakrabarti Lecture Theatre & JHB207 |  |  |

Sunday, 25th November 2018
11am – 6.15pm (Registration starts at 10.30am)
Chakrabarti Lecture Theatre & JHB207,
John Henry Brookes Building, Headington Campus, Oxford Brookes University, Headington Road, Oxford OX3 0BP

“What does it mean to research through creative practice?”

Keynote Speaker: Dr Geof Hill (Birmingham City University)
www.bcu.ac.uk/research/-centres-of-excellence/centre-for-research-in-education/people/geof-hill

To have a look at the schedule and book your ticket, please visit: ars2018.eventbrite.co.uk

Delegate/Attendance fee: £30 / Early Bird Tickets (£20) are available until 18th November – includes lunch & refreshments

We’ll be posting speaker information leading up to the event so keep an eye out for our Facebook event page: www.facebook.com/events/455606768180452

This event is supported by the School of Arts at Oxford Brookes University and the Oxford City Council.

For a digital copy of the event booklet and more information please contact: info@ca-ru.org

We look forward to seeing you there!

CARU Conference Team
Follow us on social media: @CARUpage

Nov
28
Wed
Organic Synthesis in the 21st Century: why fish is always served with a slice of lemon @ Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory
Nov 28 @ 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Organic Synthesis in the 21st Century: why fish is always served with a slice of lemon @ Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory | England | United Kingdom

Prof Varinder Aggarwal is one of the most notable organic chemists in the UK. In this talk, he introduces organic synthesis: the art of making the molecules that change how you live and die.

This engaging talk will be accessible to people from all backgrounds, including A-level and college students.

Free entry to Oxford University chemistry department members on showing your Bod card. Talks are free for OUSS members and £2 for non-members. Sign up for membership on our website or on the door.

To apply for dinner with the speaker afterwards, please contact oxfordscisoc@gmail.com before 17:00 on Tuesday 27th.

Nov
29
Thu
Aleksandr Bogdanov (1873–1928) and the general science of organization @ Wesley Memorial Church
Nov 29 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Aleksandr Bogdanov (1873–1928) and the general science of organization @ Wesley Memorial Church | England | United Kingdom

Talk followed by questions and discussion. This is part of a series of eight meetings on Thursday evenings, each one beginning at 7:30 and ending at 9pm.

11 October
The right to say untrue and damaging things
Wesley Memorial Church, New Inn Hall St

18 October
Flat earth: a Marxist critique
Wesley Memorial Church, New Inn Hall St

25 October
Tithe, timber, and the persistence of the ancien régime
Wesley Memorial Church, New Inn Hall St

1 November
The dream of human life: art in the Italian Renaissance
Oxford Town Hall, St Aldates

8 November
Antisemitism: more geese than swans
Wesley Memorial Church, New Inn Hall St

15 November
Marcus Aurelius and the self-help movement
Wesley Memorial Church, New Inn Hall St

22 November
Hegelian contradiction and prime numbers
Wesley Memorial Church, New Inn Hall St

29 November
Aleksandr Bogdanov (1873–1928) and the general science of organization
Wesley Memorial Church, New Inn Hall St

Jan
30
Wed
Katherine Wheelhouse: “Don’t Process Chemists just Make Things Bigger?” @ Danson Room, Trinity College
Jan 30 @ 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Katherine Wheelhouse: “Don't Process Chemists just Make Things Bigger?” @ Danson Room, Trinity College

Dr Katherine Wheelhouse did her MChem at Jesus College, Oxford, working in the chemistry department with Prof Tim Donohoe before joining GSK as a process chemist in 2008. Since 2011 Katherine has specialised in application of chemical catalysis to pharmaceutical manufacture. She is a GSK scientific fellow, a member of the RSC Applied Catalysis Committee and also of the editorial advisory board of the journal Organic Process Research and Development. Katherine is going to talk about what it is that process chemists do (to enable doing things bigger) and how this fits into the development of medicines, illustrating with some examples from recent projects.

The talk is free for OUSS members, or £2 on the door. Membership can be obtained on the night or on our website. Those interested in meeting the speaker for dinner after the talk may contact oxforduniscisoc@gmail.com. eng

Feb
8
Fri
Hirsch Lecture 2019 (Materials, Engineering and Medical) @ Lecture Room 1, Thom Building (Dept of Engineering)
Feb 8 @ 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Hirsch Lecture 2019 (Materials, Engineering and Medical) @ Lecture Room 1, Thom Building (Dept of Engineering)

‘Triboreacted materials as functional interfaces in internal combustion engines and medical implants’

Reducing CO2 and particulate emissions to halt global warming and improve the air cleanliness in developed and developing nations is urgent. A similarly large challenge is the provision of medical implants that will serve the ageing population. Both challenges are underpinned by the need to understand important functional interfaces.
This talk will focus on the engine and the hip and will present how an understanding of the interactions between tribology and chemistry/corrosion play a crucial role in the interfacial friction, wear and integrity. The integration of state-of-the-art surface science with engineering simulations in both of these areas enables engineers to create optimised systems with improved performance

Power-posing politicians, human pheromones, and other psychological myths with Tristram Wyatt @ Rewley House
Feb 8 @ 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm
Power-posing politicians, human pheromones, and other psychological myths with Tristram Wyatt @ Rewley House

Newspapers often feature studies that sound too good to be true and often they aren’t – they are myths.

Some myths may be harmless but the phenomenon affects most kinds of research within evidence-based science. The good news is that there’s a new movement tackling misleading and unreliable research and instead trying to give us results that we can trust.

Using his research in to human pheromones as an example, Tristram will discuss how and why popular myths, including power-posing, are created and how efforts have been made to address the ‘reproducibility crisis’.

Tristram Wyatt is an emeritus fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford and formerly Director of Studies in Biology at OUDCE. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford. He’s interested in how animals of all kinds use pheromones to communicate by smell. His Cambridge University Press book on pheromones and animal behaviour won the Royal Society of Biology’s prize for the Best Postgraduate Textbook in 2014. His TED talk on human pheromones has been viewed over a million times. His book Animal behaviour: A Very Short Introduction was published by Oxford University Press in 2017.

Open to all. The talk is designed for researchers from all disciplines and is open to the public.

Feb
18
Mon
Maddie Breeze – “All Imposters? Contemporary Circulations of Imposter Syndrome in Higher Education” @ John Henry Brookes Building (JHB) - Room 204
Feb 18 @ 4:15 pm – 5:15 pm

Maddie Breeze is a sociologist and Chancellor’s Fellow in the School of Education, University of Strathclyde. Her book Seriousness in Women’s Roller Derby was awarded the 2016 Philip Abram’s Memorial Prize by the British Sociological Association and she has researched and published on: imposter syndrome as a public feeling, feminist collaborations across academic career stages, widening participation, gender and sport, and young people’s political participation.

In this talk I begin by considering imposter syndrome as a ‘public feeling’ (Cvetkovich 2007, 2012) in higher education. Feeling like an imposter is anecdotally ubiquitous among academics, and is commonly understood to involve sensations of not belonging, of out-of-place-ness, and the conviction that one’s professional competence, is fundamentally fraudulent, that it is only a matter of time before this is discovered, before being found out. Feeling like an imposter involves the suspicion that signifiers of professional success have somehow been awarded by mistake or achieved through a convincing performance, a kind of deception. Drawing on Cvetkovich’s work on depression, I argue that thinking of imposter syndrome as a public feeling involves three steps. Firstly, putting it in social and political context, mapping imposter syndrome according to the intersectional inequality regimes that characterise contemporary UK HE. Secondly, asking what feeling like an imposter can tell us about shifts in the structure and governance of UK HE including the oft-diagnosed new managerialism and neoliberalisation, primarily marketization, casualization, and cultures of audit and measurement. Thirdly, re-thinking imposter syndrome, not as an individual deficiency or private problem of faulty self-esteem to be overcome, but instead as a resource for action and site of agency in contemporary UK HE. I explore these three steps by presenting a short story about feeling like an imposter; a piece of semi-fictional auto-ethnography, which draws on precedents for using personal narrative to analyse academic labour, as well as those for writing fiction as a mode of inquiry. The talk concludes by considering the implication of making ‘imposter syndrome’ public, in particular by asking how claims to ambivalent insider/outside positions circulate in everyday academic talk.

Feb
21
Thu
Television: remote control @ Wesley Memorial Church
Feb 21 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Television: remote control @ Wesley Memorial Church

Talk followed by questions and discussion

All welcome

This is the latest in a series of eight weekly talks. The full list is:

Brexit: archaic techniques of ecstasy
Thursday 17 January: 7:30pm–9:00pm
Wesley Memorial Church (New Inn Hall St)

Shamanism: taking back control
Thursday 24 January: 7:30pm–9:00pm
Wesley Memorial Church (New Inn Hall St)

Tithe, timber, and the persistence of the ancien régime
Thursday 31 January: 7:30pm–9:00pm
Oxford Town Hall (St Aldates)

Hegelian dialectics and the prime numbers (part 2)
Thursday 7 February: 7:30pm–9:00pm
Wesley Memorial Church (New Inn Hall St)

Christopher Caudwell (1907–1937) and ‘the sources of poetry’
Thursday 14 February: 7:30pm–9:00pm
Wesley Memorial Church (New Inn Hall St)

Television: remote control
Thursday 21 February: 7:30pm–9:00pm
Wesley Memorial Church (New Inn Hall St)

Fascism and populism: can you spot the difference?
Thursday 28 February: 7:30pm–9:00pm
Wesley Memorial Church (New Inn Hall St)

The epos of everyday life
Thursday 7 March: 7:30pm–9:00pm
Wesley Memorial Church (New Inn Hall St)

Feb
23
Sat
OxFEST’s 8th Annual Conference: Expanding Horizons @ Lady Margaret Hall
Feb 23 @ 9:00 am – 5:30 pm
OxFEST's 8th Annual Conference: Expanding Horizons @ Lady Margaret Hall

The day will consist of a range of events, hosted by speakers from different areas of STEM and industry. Expect to hear from keynote speakers, engage with panel discussions, and get hands on experience in smaller workshops focusing on entrepreneurship, outreach, disabilities and more.

Don’t miss out on hearing from a range of speakers, including: Dr. Chonnettia Jones, Director of Insight and Analysis at the Wellcome Trust; Prof. Daniela Bortoletto, Professor of Physics at Brasenose; plus Oxford’s own Vice Chancellor, Louise Richardson.

Everyone is welcome, regardless of gender, year and subject.

For more information visit OxFEST’s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/294126621288050/

Feb
27
Wed
“The Globotics Upheaval: Globalization, Robotics, and the Future of Work” with Prof Richard Baldwin @ Oxford Martin School
Feb 27 @ 5:00 pm – 6:15 pm

Automation, AI and robotics are changing our lives quickly – but digital disruption goes much further than we realise.

In this talk, Richard Baldwin, one of the world’s leading globalisation experts, will explain that exponential growth in computing, transmission and storage capacities is also creating a new form of ‘virtual’ globalisation that could undermine the foundations of middle-class prosperity in the West.

This book talk will be followed by a drinks reception and book signing, all welcome.

Feb
28
Thu
“Saving labour: automation and its enemies” with Dr Carl Benedikt Frey @ Oxford Martin School
Feb 28 @ 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm

In 2013, Carl Frey and Michael Osborne published a paper titled ‘The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?’ which estimated that 47% of jobs in the US are at risk of automation.

In this talk Dr Carl Benedikt Frey, Co-Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Technology and Employment, will discuss the societal consequences of the accelerating pace of automation, and what we can learn from previous episodes of worker-replacing technological change.