Now that you’re over the age of 10 asking ‘silly’ questions about dinosaurs may feel well… a little silly! So we’re offering you the opportunity to ask anything and everything you ever wanted to know about dinosaurs but were too afraid to ask. Need to keep up with your Dino-obsessed son or daughter or just fascinated by all things prehistoric, this is your chance to find everything you need to know. From the simple to the complex; from the strange to the straightforward, come and put your questions to Oxford’s Dr Roger Benson who will be leading this talk on all things Dinosaur.

From the struggle to get up on a Monday morning to coping with jet-lag, the body has to carefully balance our need to be alert or to be at rest. But how does the
brain control this? How much sleep do we really need? Join us to hear Dr Peter Oliver discuss some of the facts and myths surrounding sleep; highlighting new research in this area as well as the role of genetics in the control of circadian rhythms. Plus, why do flamingos sleep on one leg??? Come along and find out!
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For September we are back at Catherine Street and our usual date of third Thursday in the month. We are inviting you to bring along your portfolio or a piece of recent work that you are proud of and would like to show to the group.

This can be digital or physical – a website that you have built or been a part of building, a video you have made or contributed to. Print designers bring along your latest document or other product. Photographers bring a set of prints or show us your website.

We are looking to give you creatives 6 minute slots to show your portfolios.

This is not a night of critique it is a night to celebrate your creativity and restart on a high after the summer!

You can also come just to watch and get some inspiration, but if you’d like to show something please let us know by posting in the conversation on Meet-Up , or you can email Richard at Film Oxford, office@filmoxford.org

Sculptor & director of The Bullpen foundry, Wesley Jacobs will talk about the alchemy of casting iron sculpture, running furnaces, wielding and manipulating metal and how it draws people into its magic and mystique. Wesley was awarded a 2013 Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship to undertake practical research into current iron casting practice in the USA. Since returning to the UK, he has been putting into practice his experience, having built a new furnace and teaching at his small foundry near Abingdon.

Why is so much writing so bad, and how can we make it better? Is the English language being corrupted by texting and social media? Do the kids today even care about good writing? Why should any of us care? In ‘The Sense of Style’, the bestselling linguist and cognitive scientist Steven Pinker answers these questions and more. Rethinking the usage guide for the twenty-first century, Pinker doesn’t carp about the decline of language or recycle pet peeves from the rulebooks of a century ago. Instead, he applies insights from the sciences of language and mind to the challenge of crafting clear, coherent, and stylish prose. Join us in the magnificent Sheldonian Theatre to hear from one of the most important public intellectuals.

The land of the Pharaohs has long been a source of inspiration for Western artists, but the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922 unleashed a craze for all things Egyptian as never before, influencing everything from the visual arts to music and literature.

Join art critic Alastair Sooke in conversation with Ghislaine Wood, from the V&A, and Professor Stephanie Moser of Southampton University for this unique Friday at 5pm about the influence of ancient Egypt on our cultural lives.

Ticket £9 discounts £7

Shocking, haunting and unsettling, Peter’s book @earth makes a powerful statement about the current eco-crisis, the arms race and the injustices dominating today’s world. Peter will discuss the content of this, his most recent book, which brings together over 40 years of images, from the Vietnam war in 1968 to the present day. @earth is as revolutionary in form as it is in content, telling a story through the universal language of photomontage – the long-favoured medium of radical artists.

Throughout his career, Peter has consistently challenged power structures and injustices, from his anti-nuclear works of the 1980s to the powerful images he created in response to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This lecture is being hosted at Oxford Brookes as part of Photography Oxford Festival ’14 – the first major new festival of its type in the UK for many years.

For further details, please see: http://www.photographyoxford.co.uk

About the speaker

Peter Kennard PhotoPeter Kennard was born in London in 1949. He is a senior tutor in photography at the Royal College of Art and his work is in many major collections, including Tate, the V&A and the Imperial War Museum.

His work has been published in numerous publications including The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, The Independent, New Statesman and Time Magazine.

The seminar will focus on the role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the modern inter-Orthodox and inter-Christian relations, and the role of the Patriarchate in global politics.

Egyptomania: The Allure of Ancient Egypt
With Henrietta McCall, Department of the Middle East, British Museum

2pm Saturday, 11 October 2014 at Ashmolean Museum | Venue Information

Henrietta McCall talks about the enduring appeal of ancient Egypt in western culture. She assesses how it began with Napoleon in the early 19th century; how symbols and imagery from antiquity inspired architecture, gardens, furniture and fashion; and how in the 1920s that appeal reached its climax with the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.

What is contemporary art? What does contemporary mean? This course will look at and contextualize some of the major currents within art today. Whether you are an art aficionado, or you would simply like to explain what the new Tate Modern exhibition is all about, this course is aimed at all levels.

This course runs for eight weeks on Mondays at 7.30 – 9pm, from the 13th October to the 1st December.

For more details, and to sign up go to knowledgeproject.co.uk, or email alison@knowledgeproject.co.uk

About us:

The Knowledge Project offers affordable evening classes in exciting subjects. Our classes are taught by specialists in small, friendly groups (no more than ten) and are centred on lively discussion. We are a social enterprise and all our proceeds go to local children’s charity Jacari.

In the coming term we also have spaces available on:

– Shakespeare
– Environmental Science
– Novel Writing
– Moral Philosophy
– Anthropology
– Psychology

Courses are held over 8 evening sessions (£80) or in a single intensive Sunday (£50).

‘Tutankhamun and Co. Ltd’: Arthur Weigall and the Discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb

With Julie Hankey, author of ‘A Passion for Egypt: Arthur Weigall, Tutankhamun and the Curse of the Pharaohs’

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Tue 14 Oct, 2.30‒3.30pm

From 1905 to 1912, Arthur Weigall was Howard Carter’s successor as Chief Inspector of Antiquities for Upper Egypt. He used his position to conduct a campaign against government practice of allowing amateur collectors to excavate for private profit. With Tutankhamun’s discovery, Weigall came into open conflict with Carter’s patron, Lord Carnarvon, over his exclusive contract with The Times, and ‒ at a time of political unrest in Egypt ‒ over his assumption of rights to the contents of the tomb.

We invite you to join us at 3pm each day from Monday 13th October to Friday 17th October when five leading academics will be lighting up Blackwell’s Bookshop and talking about their passion for their subject.

Timothy Garton-Ash Professor of European Studies, University of Oxford and Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford “What Does Studying History Teach Us?”

These talks are free to attend places are limited so please arrive early to ensure a seat. For more information please visit our Customer Service Department at Blackwell’s Bookshop, Broad Street, Oxford.

The Jerash and Decapolis Cities
With Linda Farrar, historian and archaeologist

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Thurs 16 Oct, 2–4pm (inc. tea & cake),

Today, the ancient Greco-Roman Decapolis region straddles the countries of Jordan, Israel and Syria. This lecture explores the distinct characteristics of the cities of Jerash, Gedara, Pella and Philidelphian (Aman) and tells the stories of each cities unique role in the development of this historic region.

Discuss the clinal and ethical implications of the 100,000 Genomes Project
An evening event organised by the Progress Educational Trust (PET) in partnership with Genomics England. The event is free to attend, but advance booking is required – please email Sandy Starr at sstarr@progress.org.uk and he will add you to the attendee list. If tweeting about this event, please use the hashtag #100KGP
The 100,000 Genomes Project aims to sequence 100,000 whole genomes from around 75,000 participants by 2017. The project is recruiting NHS patients with common cancers, plus NHS patients with rare diseases and their families. Participation is voluntary, with participants giving informed consent for their whole genomes to be sequenced.
Sir John Chisholm – Chair of Genomics England, the company established by the Government to carry out the project – says that ‘participating patients will have the opportunity to benefit from clinical insights derived from the sequencing of their genome’. But what are these benefits and insights?
Participants will receive feedback from their clinician about their genome sequence, but it is by no means guaranteed that they will receive improved care. Many participants will not receive a diagnosis, but taking part in this project may provide their only hope. With UK Prime Minister David Cameron saying ‘I believe we will be able to transform how devastating diseases are diagnosed and treated in the NHS and across the world’, is there a danger that people will have unrealistic expectations? Could this create an unethical inducement to take part?
The 100,000 Genomes Project is both a research project and a healthcare initiative. This gives the project unprecedented scope to link genetic data with treatment outcomes, but also poses a number of challenges. One such challenge is how best to deal with incidental findings – genomic discoveries with implications for the participant’s health, that are not pertinent to the condition that led to participation in the first place. Who should decide what is fed back to the participant?
The project is currently in its pilot stage, but as it ramps up to capacity, these and other important issues must be addressed. This event will explore what the 100,000 Genomes Project has to offer patients, and what patients have to offer the 100,000 Genomes Project. It will give you an opportunity to put questions and comments to Sir John Chisholm and others involved in the project, and to hear a range of contrasting views on the ethical and practical issues raised.

Jim Gwilliam will be presenting a talk on Micro Four Third Lenses (M43) that are used on some video and stills cameras (including the Blackmagic pocket cinema camera). The M43 system design specification allows for smaller bodies to be designed, and the shorter flange focal distance means smaller lenses. Virtually any lens can be used on MFT camera bodies, as long as an adapter exists. The aim of M43 is to get DSLR like images without the bulky size of DSLR cameras.

Smaller and lighter cameras and camcorders can mean more creative freedom for camera operators and cinematographers. He will be bringing along a variety of lenses and adapters and explain how they are used and how they can be employed in video work to get the best results.

The talk will be on practical tips to get you up and going, and how to get great images, with these affordable lenses, (not the science behind them).

Second speaker Adam Hale (also on video production)

We will be holding the Adobe Group Raffle for everyone that attends. People will put their names into a hat and winner will be picked at random, Prize is one-year’s subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud (premiere, after effects, photoshop & 20+ more programs).

A public meeting with a short introductory talk followed by questions and discussion.

The difficulty of imagining a free society
Thursday 16 October, 7:30pm to 9:00pm
The Mitre, corner of High St and Turl St (upstairs function room)
All welcome

Organised by Oxford Communist Corresponding Society.

Overture to the Oxford Ceramics Fair
With Janice Tchalenko, potter

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Fri 17 Oct, 2–3.30pm

Janice Tchalenko is an award-winning potter whose work has been exhibited internationally and commissioned for retail outlets such as John Lewis. In this lecture Janice talks about her work and inspiration.

Saturday Spotlight
Antiguan-born Harley was one of the first three students to take the University of Oxford’s Diploma in Anthropology in 1908. His personal archive has been loaned to the Pitt Rivers Museum for a special display that illustrates his life and work – as a student, a curate and a local politician.
Pamela Roberts, author of a recent book titled ‘Black Oxford: The Untold Stories of Oxford University’s Black Scholars’ will present a talk illustrating Harley’s life, from growing up in St John’s, Antigua, via studies at Howard, Yale and Harvard Universities, to Oxford and the Pitt Rivers Museum and his later life spent working as a councillor in Leicestershire.

Prof Peter Visscher, Professor and Chair of Quantitative Genetics, Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland

Driven by advances in genome technologies, the last 7 years have witnessed a revolution in our understanding of complex trait variation in human populations. Results from genome-wide association studies and whole-genome exome studies have shown that the mutational target in the genome for most traits appears to be very large, such that many genes are involved in explaining genetic variation. Genetic architecture, the joint distribution of the effect size and frequency of variants that segregate in the population, is becoming clearer and differs between traits. I will show new results from disparate complex traits including height, schizophrenia, motor neurone disease and gene methylation, to illustrate polygenicity and the power of experimental sample size.

“Everywhere the Glint of Gold”: Colourising Tutankhamun’s Tomb
With Liam McNamara, Ashmolean Keeper for Ancient Egypt and Sudan and co-curator of ‘Discovering Tutankhamun’ exhibition

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Sat 18 Oct, 2‒3pm

Howard Carter’s evocative description of the ‘wonderful things’ he saw upon entering Tutankhamun’s tomb continues to capture the public’s imagination. The excavation of the tomb and its contents were documented in black and white photographs taken by Harry Burton. This talk explores the various methods by which the excavators – and their successors – sought to ‘colourise’ the contents of the king’s tomb, from 20th-century gouache paintings on ivory, to the latest in 21st-century digital imaging techniques.

Eye of Horus Necklace workshop
With London based jewellery design company Tatty Devine

Ashmolean Museum

Sat 18 Oct, 2 – 3.30pm

Influenced by the ‘Discovering Tutankhamun’ exhibition, join esteemed independent design company Tatty Devine and make your own ‘Eye of Horus’ necklace at this exclusive jewellery making workshop. Learn the essential techniques and skills needed to create a necklace in gold and sapphire mirror Perspex. Create your perfect statement piece or a one-of-a-kind gift that’s fit for a Pharaoh.

The first speaker in Oxford Females in Engineering, Science and Technology brand new speaker series ‘Inspiring STEM’ promises a fascinating talk on her research and personal experiences in combining professional career and personal life, do not miss out:

Professor Helen McShane is a Professor of Vaccinology and Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellow at Oxford University, where she leads a programme of research to develop a new vaccine for Tuberculosis (TB). The BCG vaccine currently administered to children has been around for 90 years and shows only a limited and short-lived effect. Crucially, it does not offer protection against pulmonary TB, which is the most common form of the disease. TB remains a major killer worldwide with 1.4 million victims a year, and resistance has evolved to many drugs used to treat it, so new ways of preventing the disease are badly needed.
Helen originally planned to become a GP, but after 6 months in practice decided to embark on clinical medicine and PhD research into infectious diseases. By the time she arrived at the defense of her thesis, she had been pregnant with her second child and she has successfully juggled home and work life ever since (now, a mum to 3 children).

‘Inspiring STEM’ series of talks aims to bring together Oxford’s Women in STEM, showcase the research performed by the very best scientists and engineers, and inspire the audience to realize their potential. It reflects the academic aspect of OxFEST while providing a glimpse into possible career paths that we can take.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1918280418310524/

Tutankhaten ‒ Prince and King
With Dr Marianne Eaton-Krauss, independent scholar

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Tue 21 Oct, 2.30‒ 3.30pm

The name of Tutankhamun is familiar throughout the world, yet academics continue to dispute not only the identity of the boy king’s parents, but also the meaning of the name he was given at birth, Tutankhaten. This lecture explores these questions and examines objects that document his life up until the moment the decision was taken to alterhis name to Tutankhamun, marking the conclusion of a campaign to restore the god Amun to his traditional place at the head of the pantheon from which he had been toppled by the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten.

What is it like to be a brain surgeon? How does it feel to hold someone’s life in your hands, to cut into the stuff that creates thought, feeling and reason? How do you live with the consequences of performing a potentially life-saving operation when it all goes wrong? In neurosurgery, more than in any other branch of medicine, the doctor’s oath to ‘do no harm’ holds a bitter irony. Operations on the brain carry grave risks…

Henry Marsh will be discussing his book, ‘Do No Harm’.

Eating Restoration Glue to Stay Alive: A History of Hermitage
With Dr Rosalind P. Blakesley, University of Cambridge

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Wed 22 Oct, 11am–12pm

The Hermitage is an institute like no other,
 housing over 3 million objects in buildings as iconic as the Winter Palace, seat of the Romanov dynasty until its spectacular fall from grace in 1917. As the Hermitage celebrates its 250th anniversary, Dr Blakesley charts its history from the lavish patronage of Catherine the Great to the unparalleled acquisitions of Impressionist and Post- Impressionist works.

The Sick Rose is a beautifully gruesome and strangely fascinating visual tour through disease in an age before colour photography. This stunning volume, combining detailed illustrations of afflicted patients from some of the worlds rarest medical books, forms an unforgettable and profoundly human reminder of mankinds struggle with disease. Incorporating historic maps, pioneering charts and contemporary case notes, Richard Barnetts evocative overview reveals the fears and obsessions of an era gripped by epidemics. Richard will be accompanying his talk with a slide show presentation of the books illustrations in all their glory – not for the squeamish!

Judit was born in Budapest and came to England in 1956. Formerly a science librarian, she has authored or contributed to a great many books, on topics ranging from sunspots to the construction of Budapest’s Chain Bridge. Her interest in old letters is the focus of her talk.

Tutankhamun and Revolution
With Dr Paul Collins, Jaleh Hearn Curator for Ancient Near East and co-curator of ‘Discovering Tutankhamun’

Ashmolean Lecture Theatre

Sat 25 Oct, 2‒3pm

This talk considers three historical periods when the image and idea of Tutankhamun became a focus for revolution both in Egypt and beyond. Starting in the ancient world, the revolutions of the Amarna age, into which Tutankhamun was born, witnessed a transformation in the concept of kingship. In the early 20th century, as Egypt claimed independence from British control, Tutankhamun became a symbol of opposition to imperial rule. Finally, in recent years, Egypt has faced political upheaval and revolutionaries
have again employed the image of Tutankhamun.

The Time of the Gods: Myths from Ancient Egypt (STUDY DAY)
With Dr Garry Shaw, Egyptologist and author

Tue 28 Oct, 10.30am‒4pm

An introduction to Egypt’s creation myths and a history of the reigns of these gods on earth. This study day will cover myths, both well-known and the more obscure, related to notable deities such as Re, Amun, Osiris, Horus and Isis.

Special Russian Art Tour
Leonid Pasternak to Mir Iskusstva: the Russian Art World in the 1900s
With Dr Galina Mardilovich, independent scholar

Tuesday 28 October, 2.30‒3.15pm

Ashmolean Museum Gallery 21

Discover the treasures of the Ashmolean with this great introduction to the Museum. Free, no booking required