Some face-to-face events are returning. Check carefully for any requirements.
Music Business Seminar to promote Record Store Day. Bit of industry chat and some live music for the price of a pint! Love to see you there 🙂

Rome: an Empire’s Story
With Professor Greg Woolf, University of St Andrews
Saturday 19 April, 11am–12pm, Headley Lecture Theatre
Our April Director’s Special Guest Lecture will be given by Professor Greg Woolf, University of St Andrews, on the subject of the Roman Empire, telling the story of how this mammoth empire was created, how it was sustained in crisis, and how it shaped the world of its rulers and subjects.
Tickets on the door £8/£7

Local craftsman Simon Clements will talk about the techniques and materials used in making stitched and glued canoes, illustrated with model canoes from the Pitt Rivers collection.
These were the original Native American “Utility vehicle” – come along and find out how to make your own and learn more about the boat collection here at the Museum.

The Global Art Compass: New Directions in 21st‒century Art
With Alistair Hicks, author
Tuesday 22 April, 2-3pm, Headley Lecture Theatre
Alistair Hicks talks about his new book in which he argues that no single curator, critic, or dealer should monopolize our view of contemporary art. Instead, he encourages us to make our own way through the art world: to see art, listen to the artist, and trust our own responses.
Tickets £5/£4
http://www.ashmolean.org/events/Lectures/?id=132

The Topic of the Debate segment of the afternoon (from c. 630pm) will be
______ … “THE ART of BEING HUMAN” … _________
We’ll explore how art has been/ could be used for social, personal, and also spiritual development. Do you think Modern Art is an Empty SHELL?!
“Art with no Meaning is Pointless; Aesthetics alone don’t make great Art”
Do you agree with the above statement?
With Wu Tang Clan trying to claim there latest album is ART by releasing only one copy (for sale to the highest bidder!) can anything now be art?
How has art affected you? Does it have to be in a gallery or coffee table book to classify as “a work of art”? What about Graffiti? Performance Art?
Come to the ART BAR and take part in our discussion as part of Festival Taster “Jam Sandwich” on Sat 26th April. Workshops start at 5pm including Hoola Hooping, Costume making, interactive theatre, musical improvisation (jamming)

Arts of War and Peace: Samurai Culture in Japan
With Jasleen Kandhari, art historian
Tuesday 29 April, 2-3pm, Headley Lecture Theatre
The Edo period in Japan was a peaceful time ruled by the Tokugawa Shoguns. This lecture explores the sumptuous art forms of Samurai culture including arms and armour, lacquerware, gold screen paintings and Japanese tea ceremony wares from the 17th‒19th centuries.
Tickets £5/£4
http://www.ashmolean.org/events/Lectures/?id=132

Medieval Craftsmen
With lecturer Tim Porter
Wednesday 30 April, 2–4pm, Headley Lecture Theatre
Tim Porter explores the great legacy of medieval craftsmanship. Under choir stalls and lost in dusty corners, the work of woodcarvers survives in scores of medieval churches. Sometimes a towering rood screen will give their work context, but more often it’s a matter of eloquent fragments, worn by centuries of human touch.
Tickets £9/£8 (includes tea and cake)
http://www.ashmolean.org/events/Lectures/?id=132

The Egyptian Myths: A Guide to Ancient Gods and Legends
With Garry J. Shaw, historian
Thursday 1 May, 2-3pm, Headley Lecture Theatre
In this introduction to the mysteries of Egyptian mythology, learn about gods, goddesses, and demons, and the parts they play in the netherworld and the cosmos.
Tickets £5/£4
http://www.ashmolean.org/events/Lectures/?id=132
Join us in the Edmund Safra Lecture Theatre, Saïd Business School, for a talk by Dr Gavin Yamey MD MPH, a physician and medical journal editor with training in public health who leads the Evidence to Policy initiative E2Pi in the Global Health Group at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
Prompted by the 20th anniversary of Investing in Health, the World Bank’s 1993 World Development Report (WDR 1993), in 2013 an independent commission of 25 renowned economists and global health experts from around the world revisited the case for health investment. The commission was chaired by Lawrence Summers, the Chief Economist at the World Bank responsible for choosing global health as the focus of WDR 1993, and co-chaired by Dean Jamison, lead author of WDR 1993. The commissioners aimed to reconsider the recommendations of WDR 1993; to examine how the context for health investment has changed in the past 20 years; and to develop a highly ambitious forward-looking health policy agenda targeting the world’s poor populations. The report, Global Health 2035: A World Converging Within a Generation published in The Lancet, lays out a roadmap for achieving dramatic gains in global health by 2035 through: a grand convergence around infectious, maternal, and child mortality, major reductions in the incidence and consequences of non-communicable diseases, and the promise of pro-poor universal health coverage.
*ALL WELCOME* Join us for a drinks reception immediately afterwards

The surviving polychromy of a second century Roman marble sculpture at the British Museum (BM SC 1597), also known as the Treu Head, was investigated scientifically and rigorously compared to other Greek and Roman works of art. The analysis showed very close similarities between the paint layers of the Treu Head and those of contemporaneous, highly naturalistic mummy portraits from Egypt.
The extremely limited extent of surviving paint on the head and the highly sophisticated painting technique make the reconstruction of the original polychromy a task fraught with difficulties. With the intentional aim of excluding a modern reinterpretation of ancient painting techniques, the colour reconstruction proposed here was created by digitally ‘transplanting’ images of face parts from original Roman mummy portraits onto the Treu Head. The digital transplant involved reshaping the different facial features of the mummy portraits to those of the Treu Head. The novelty of this colour reconstruction lies not only on the thorough scientific reliability of the data, but also on the use of only Roman painted objects.
The final appearance of the head is therefore not intended as a definitive reconstruction of the ‘original’ appearance, but as a ‘possible’ appearance.

Popular Representations of Development takes a novel approach to the broad discipline of development studies that goes beyond narrow policy or social science frameworks. Instead, the authors reassess the breadth and popularity of development studies through analysis of literature, films, and other non-conventional forms of representation.
Encompassing the FLJS programmes in development and law, film, and literature, this book colloquium invites attendees to rethink their understanding of development issues in favour of a holistic approach.
Participants include
Professor David Lewis, editor of Popular Representations of Development and Professor of Social Policy and Development, LSE
Dr Catherine Jenkins, Lecturer in Law and Chair of the Centre for Law and Conflict, SOAS
Dr Tim Markham, Head of Department, Media and Cultural Studies, Birkbeck
Dr Amir Paz-Fuchs, Lecturer in Employment Law, University of Sussex
Martin Wynne, Digital Methods Specialist, Oxford e-Research Centre
Dr Simon Underdown (Oxford Brookes University) will explore how we made the journey from small-brained African apes to the dominant animal on the planet, answering questions such as ‘why are humans so smart?’, ‘why is there only one species of human?’, and ‘why are we the only animal with language and art?’.
As part of the Oxford Brookes University Festival, Outburst, at Pegasus, 6-10 May 2014. #OutBurst2014

Professor Sally Shuttleworth, Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford and Dr Sally Frampton, Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the University of Oxford, will both talk about the role of Citizen Science in their AHRC Constructing Scientific Communities: Citizen Science in the 19th and 21st Centuries project.
The project uses the framing of ‘Citizen Science’ to consider how ‘public’ participation in science was understood in the nineteenth century. The project brings together historical and literary research in the nineteenth century with contemporary scientific practice, looking at the ways in which patterns of popular communication and engagement in nineteenth-century science can offer models for current practice.
Alumni Lecture 2014.
In the Department of Social Policy and Intervention’s Centenary year, Jacqueline Bhabha, Harvard, will deliver the Alumni Lecture, followed by a drinks reception. Make a booking by sending an email to events@spi.ox.ac.uk

William Kelly: Artist of Conscience
Thursday 8 May 2014, 6.30-7.30pm (drinks from 6.15pm)
Ashmolean Museum Education Centre
(Evening entrance via St Giles)
Internationally acclaimed US artist William Kelly talks about his life and work. Kelly’s varied career has seen him work as a taxi driver and a welder, before he went on to become a Fulbright Scholar and Dean at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne. Today Kelly is known as a painter and printmaker and an artist of conscience, committed to a humanist approach in his creative practice. Part of the Why Art Matters series.
Booking essential – £8/£7
http://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford/#search=Conscience
speakers:
William Kelly, Artist and Humanist
Dr. Rama Mani, Senior Research Associate at the Centre for International Studies at the University of Oxford and Councillor of the World Future Council
Between the artist and the museum
Friday 9 May 2014, 5-6.30pm (doors will open at 4.45pm)
Ashmolean Museum Headley Lecture Theatre
A symposium with Michael Govan (Humanitas Visiting Professor in Museums, Galleries & Libraries at Oxford University) and Vik Muniz (Artist). Chaired by Paul Hobson (Director, Modern Art Oxford).
Free admission but booking is essential.
http://www.humanities.ox.ac.uk/humanitas/museums-galleries-libraries

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

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

In this lecture series, Naomi Richman explores the evolution of the ideas central to major global belief-systems such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and Marxism, and their status in the modern world from a social-scientific and secular perspective.
6 Lectures run on Mondays starting the 12th May.
6-7pm, Roy Griffiths Room. ARCO Building, Keble College.
Free, open to all, and followed by discussion.
Weeks 1 and 2: Christianity and Secularisation. Week 3: Buddhism. Week 4: Judaism. Week 5: Islam. Week 6: Marxism, Nationalism and Scientific Humanism
For more information, contact Dr Bea Prentiss,
How Should We Read the ‘Signs of the Times’?: Secular vs. Sacred; Spiritual vs. Religious; Fundamentalism vs Pluralism, etc.
Martyn Percy is Principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon and the Oxford Ministry Course. He is also Professor of Theological Education at King’s College London, and Professorial Research Fellow at Heythrop College London. An Honorary Canon of Salisbury Cathedral, he has served as curate at St. Andrew’s, Bedford, and Chaplain and Director of Studies at Christ’s College, Cambridge before being appointed as Director of the Lincoln Theological Institute 1997. He was a Canon of Sheffield from 1997-2004, and Canon Theologian of Sheffield from 2004-10. He moved to Oxford in 2004 to take up his current position at Cuddesdon.
Martyn has served as a Director and Council member of the Advertising Standards Authority, and as a Commissioner of the Direct Marketing Authority. He is currently a member of the Independent Complaints Panel for the Portman Group (the self-regulating body for the alcoholic drinks industry), a member of the BBC Standing Committee on Religion and Beliefs, as well as an Advisor to the British Board of Film Classification. Since 2003 he has co-ordinated the Society for the Study of Anglicanism at the American Academy of Religion. Prior to ordination, Martyn worked in publishing. He is also the Patron of St. Francis’ Children’s Society – an Adoption and Fostering Agency.
Upstairs, in the function room, at the Mitre. 7:30pm with drinks and nibbles served from 7pm.
A view from the Pacific: re-envisioning the art museum
Tuesday 13 May 2014, 5-6.30pm (doors will open at 4.45pm)
Ashmolean Museum Headley Lecture Theatre
A lecture by Michael Govan (Humanitas Visiting Professor in Museums, Galleries & Libraries at Oxford University). Chaired by Professor Christopher Brown (Director, Ashmolean Museum). The event will be followed by a drinks reception to which members of the audience are warmly invited.
Free admission but booking is essential.
http://www.humanities.ox.ac.uk/humanitas/museums-galleries-libraries
Speaker:
Professor James Sweeney, Professor of International Law, University of Lancaster

Magic Museums at Night
Special Ashmolean Late Night Opening
Friday 16 May
7–10pm
FREE ENTRY
For 2014’s Museums At Night event, the Ashmolean is putting on an evening of magic. Curators will be presenting the magical and mystical objects of the collection while visitors are invited for magic shows and workshops, tarot reading, stargazing, flamenco dance and more.
https://www.facebook.com/events/448472011951907/

Magnificence, Love and Scaffolds: Politics at the Court of Henry VIII, With Dr Suzannah Lipscomb
Saturday 17 May, 11am–12pm, Ioannou Centre
Historian, author, and broadcaster Dr Suzannah Lipscomb will speak on the politics of spectacle, persuasion, magnificence, and the politics of love at the court of Henry VIII. The court revolved around the splendid person of the king himself. And although politics was the only game worth playing, it was a dangerous game, ‘for the most part’, Sir Thomas More observed, ‘played on scaffolds’.
Tickets £8/£7
http://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford/#search=Magnificence