Christian Fuchs, Professor of Social Media at Westminster University, will lead the discussion of his recently published book Social Media: A Critical Introduction, which navigates the controversies and contradictions of the complex digital media landscape.

Exploring the role of social media in contemporary popular movements including the Occupy Movement and the Arab Spring, and drawing on theorists including Marx, Weber, Habermas, and Durkheim, Professor Fuchs asks:

Is Google good or evil?
Is Facebook a surveillance threat to privacy?
Does Twitter enhance democracy?
What did WikiLeaks reveal about political accountability, the transparency of power, and new forms of cultural censorship?

In this lecture, Rory O. Millson, Partner at Cravath, Swaine and Moore LLP, will explore the legality and ethics of the increasingly common use of military drones to kill ‘enemy combatants’ in the ongoing fight against terrorist groups in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

Part of the Oxford Internet Institute’s Bellwether Lectures series.

Speaker: Caroline Haythornthwaite
Learning has left the classroom. It is being re-constituted across distance, discipline, workplace, and media as the social and technical interconnectivity of the Internet challenges existing structures for learning and education. The new ‘e-learning’ is more than a learning management system – it is a transformation in how, where, and with whom we learn that supports formal, informal and non-formal learning, life-long learning, just-in-time learning, and in ‘as much time as I have’ learning. But to do so, e-learning depends on the power of crowds and the support of communities engaged in the participatory practices of the Internet. We are networked in our learning, but also in our joint construction of knowledge and its legitimation, and in the social and technical practices that support knowledge co-construction, learning and education. This talk explores the emerging trends and forces that are radically reshaping learning and knowledge practices. The talk further explores the changing landscape of learning and knowledge practices with attention to motivations for contributing and valuing knowledge in crowds and communities, and the implications for future knowledge practices.

In this talk by Tom Steinberg, we will explore how previous epochal technologies (e.g steam, nuclear) affected politics and government but didn’t require leaders to develop any brand new, specialist skills in order to govern effectively. You didn’t have to be a master of atomic physics to understand what the Bomb would do, and reading classic texts like Machiavelli could still help you negotiate, even with the Soviets. But the digital revolution is different. It brings policy options to the table that simply didn’t exist before, and makes the standard forms of public sector delivery implode (think Healthcare.gov or the NHS IT disaster). In this seminar, Tom will discuss the nature of this gap, and float some possible solutions.

Please note that this seminar will be conducted ‘off-the-record’ under Chatham House rules and will be followed by a drinks reception.

Directed by the Oscar Award winning documentary maker Alex Gibney, We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks tells the story of Julian Assange’s rise and fall as the founder of Wikileaks and self-proclaimed defender of truth and freedom. The film draws on the testimony of over twenty witnesses and charts the role of Bradley Manning and other key players in the birth of a new age of digitial whistle-blowing and citizen journalism.

This free screening is being held as part of the new FLJS programme examining the socio-legal implications of the rise of social media in the digital age, and raises questions in relation to freedom of speech, censorship, and the respective roles of the citizen and the state in the twenty-first century.

Dr Jonathan Bright, Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, will give a short talk before the film highlighting some of the main issues raised.

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.

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

I for one welcome our new robot overlords
Thursday 23 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.

Despite our extensive knowledge of the major challenges the world faces during coming decades, impasse exists in global attempts to address economic, climate, trade, security, and other key issues. The Chancellor will examine the implications of this gridlock, drawing on the work of the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations – of which he is a member – as well as experiences from his distinguished political and diplomatic career.

This lecture is also being live webcast on youtube, please follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB3QmvwvHCk

About the Speaker

Lord Patten joined the Conservative Research Department in 1966. He was seconded to the Cabinet Office in 1970 and was personal assistant and political secretary to Lord Carrington and Lord Whitelaw when they were Chairmen of the Conservative Party from 1972-1974. In 1974 he was appointed the youngest ever Director of the Conservative Research Department, a post which he held until 1979.

Lord Patten was elected as Member of Parliament for Bath in May 1979, a seat he held until April 1992. In 1983 he wrote The Tory Case, a study of Conservatism. Following the General Election of June 1983, Lord Patten was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office and in September 1985 Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science. In September 1986 he became Minister for Overseas Development at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1989 and was appointed a Companion of Honour in 1998. In July 1989 he became Secretary of State for the Environment. In November 1990 he was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Chairman of the Conservative Party.

Lord Patten was appointed Governor of Hong Kong in April 1992, a position he held until 1997, overseeing the return of Hong Kong to China. He was Chairman of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland set up under the Good Friday Peace Agreement, which reported in 1999. From 1999 to 2004 he was European Commissioner for External Relations, and in January 2005 he took his seat in the House of Lords. In 2006 he was appointed Co-Chair of the UK-India Round Table. He was Chairman of the BBC Trust from 2011-2014.

He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, and Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He served as Chancellor of Newcastle University from 1999 to 2009, and was elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 2003. His publications include What Next? Surviving the 21st Century (2008); Not Quite the Diplomat: Home Truths About World Affairs (2005) and East and West (1998), about Asia and its relations with the rest of the world.

Sir David, formerly the Director of GCHQ, the Permanent Secretary of the Home Office and the first UK Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator, will
examine the complex and rapidly evolving challenges of intelligence in a digital age and the implications for human rights of digital surveillance.

Drawing on experience and expertise in government service and his recent writing, Sir David will offer comparisons between the American, British and European experience, and explain how recent revelations about global surveillance affect the UK.

This lecture is part of the activities of the International History and Grand Strategy Research Group in the University’s Department of History, Philosophy and Religion.

About the speaker
PROFESSOR SIR DAVID OMAND

As the first UK Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator, Professor Sir David Omand was responsible to the Prime Minister for the professional health of the intelligence community, national counter-terrorism strategy and homeland security.

He was Permanent Secretary of the Home Office from 1997 to 2000. As well as Director of GCHQ, he has served as the Deputy Undersecretary of State for Policy at the Ministry of Defence. He is a member of the Bildt Commission on Global Internet Governance and of the RUSI Inquiry into surveillance set up by the Deputy Prime Minister.

Dr David Clifton, Royal Academy of Engineering University Fellow in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford, will discuss how healthcare systems world-wide are entering a new, exciting phase: ever-increasing quantities of complex, multiscale data concerning all aspects of patient care are starting to be routinely acquired and stored, a process in which mobile health (or “m-health”) has a key role to play.

This seminar will describe the next generation of mobile healthcare technologies, where much of the key, underpinning research is taking place at Oxford. David will describe how mobile healthcare can improve patient outcomes, allow patients a greater stake in managing their own conditions, and, in underdeveloped regions, improve access to affordable healthcare.

Join in on twitter with #c21health

This seminar will be live webcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C4CrjeQsOk

About the speaker:
Dr David Clifton is a tenure-track member of faculty in the Department of Engineering Science of the University of Oxford, and a Governing Body fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He is a University Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

A graduate of the Department of Engineering Science, Dr Clifton trained in information engineering and was supervised by Professor Lionel Tarassenko CBE, Chair of Electrical Engineering. He spent four years as a post-doctoral researcher in biomedical engineering at Oxford before his appointment to the faculty, at which point he started the Computational Health Informatics (CHI) lab.

Dr Clifton teaches the undergraduate mathematics syllabus in Engineering Science, runs the graduate course in machine learning at the Oxford Centre for Doctoral Training in Healthcare Innovation, and teaches engineering policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford. He is a founding Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Biomedical & Healthcare Informatics (JBHI), an Associate Editor of BMC Medical Informatics, and of the British Journal of Health Informatics & Monitoring (BJHIM). He is the Associate Director of the Oxford Centre for Affordable Healthcare (OxCAHT).

The Innovation Forum, a student led, UK-wide network, invites all medics, entrepreneurs, scientists and coders to connect at our Oxford Launch event and to find out about “Digital Health: Opportunities and challenges in Oxford”. Our experienced panel of 4 speakers will cover a range of topics but we envisage touching upon core themes such as:

• What is digital healthcare?
• What opportunities exist in Oxford for talented coders/entrepreneurs etc. to connect with the medical community?
• What issues exist with access and use of data? How can students/interested people navigate this

Sherpa Adventure Gear presents the BMC Club Autumn Lecture series! The Oxford University Mountaineering Club will be hosting Neil Gresham and Kenton Cool to speak at the Oxford Maths Department (Mathematical Institute, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6HD) on Wednesday the 5th of November at 7:30pm. Doors open at 7pm, there will be a raffle in the interval, with the final lecture finishing at 9:30pm. Tickets for this exciting event will cost £8, and can be purchased here or on the door.

Neil is one of Britain’s most well known all-round climbers and is one of the few climbers in the world to have climbed E10. He is also the UK’s most experienced climbing coach, and is the training columnist for Climber magazine and Rock & Ice magazine.

Kenton is the holder of the British record for most Mount Everest summits, recently completing the ‘Triple Crown’ of Everest, Nuptse and Lhotse in three days. He is also a Piolet d’Or nominee for a route on Annapurna III and was the first British person to complete a ski descent of an 8,000m peak.

Professor Sarah Whatmore, head of School of Geography and the Environment, will speak about ‘Living with flooding: the science and politics of flood risk management’.

Sarah Whatmore is Professor of Environment and Public Policy at the University of Oxford and one of the world’s leading scholars on the relationship between environmental science and the democratic governance of environmental risks and hazards. She has worked extensively on the conditions that give rise to the public contestation of environmental expertise; the dynamics and consequences of environmental knowledge controversies for public policy-making; and the design of methods for conducting environmental research that enable the knowledge of affected communities to inform the ways in which environmental problems are framed and addressed.

Professor Whatmore is currently Head of the School of Geography and the Environment and Associate Head (Research) of the Social Sciences Division at the University of Oxford. She is an elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the Academy of Learned Societies in the Social Sciences (AcSS) and the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) (RGS) and has served on its Council. She is also a member of the Social Science Expert Panel advising the UK Government’s Departments of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
A free lunch is provided. To book a place please email ahdg@st-annes-mcr.org.uk

Non-fat, low-fat, saturated fat, trans fats, healthy fats – in an era where we seem to be constantly bombarded with often conflicting messages about our diets, is all this information actually making us any healthier? How can we cut through media hysteria and make wise choices about the food we eat, and what impact do our consumption habits have, not just on our own health but that of the planet?

Speakers:

Professor Susan Jebb, Professor of Diet and Population Health, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford
Dr Tara Garnett, Principal Investigator, Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food
Dr Mike Rayner, Principal Investigator, Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food
Join in on Twitter with #c21health

This seminar will be live webcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UbwkWsEdmU

About the Speakers:
Professor Susan Jebb is a nutrition scientist and her research interests are focused on how what we eat affects the risk of gaining weight or becoming obese and the interventions that might be effective to help people lose weight or reduce the risk of obesity-related diseases. She has also conducted a series of randomised controlled trials to study the impact of dietary changes on the risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In general, this work highlights that body weight is a more important risk factor for ill-health than differences in the nutritional composition of the diet. She has strong scientific collaborations with the Behaviour and Health Research unit at the University of Cambridge and the MRC Human Nutrition Research unit, where she was a Programme Leader for many years.

She is also very interested in how scientific evidence on diet is translated into policy and practice, by government, industry, the public health community and the media. She was the science advisor for the Foresight obesity report and subsequently chaired the cross-government Expert Advisory Group on obesity from 2007-11. She is now a member of the Public Health England Obesity Programme Board. She also Chairs the DH Public Health Responsibility Deal Food Network, developing voluntary agreements with industry to improve the food environment. She is one of the Chairs of the NICE Public Health Advisory Committees. She is actively involved in a number of events and media projects to engage the public in issues relating to diet and health. In 2008 she was awarded an OBE for services to public health. She is a Trustee and former Chair of the Association for the Study of Obesity.

Dr Tara Garnett is a Principal Investigator at the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food and she initiated, and runs the Food Climate Research Network, now based at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford.

Her work focuses on the contribution that the food system makes to greenhouse gas emissions and the scope for emissions reduction, looking at the technological options, at what could be achieved by changes in behaviour and how policies could help promote both these approaches. She is particularly interested in the relationship between emissions reduction objectives and other social and ethical concerns, particularly human health, livelihoods, and animal welfare. Much of her focus is on livestock, since this represents a nodal point where many of these issues converge.

Tara is keen to collaborate through the FCRN with other organisations to undertake research, organise events and build and extend interdisciplinary, intersectoral knowledge in this field.

Dr Mike Rayner is a Principal Investigator on the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food and Director of the British Heart Foundation Centre on Population Approaches for NCD Prevention, which is based within the Nuffield Department of Population Health of the University of Oxford, and which he founded in 1993.

Mike’s particular research interests are in food labelling, food marketing, food taxes and the relationship between a healthy diet and sustainable diet.

Mike is also Chair of Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming in the UK, and Chair of its Childrens’ Food Campaign in the UK. He is a trustee of the UK Health Forum, Chair of the Nutrition Expert Group for the European Heart Network based in Brussels and a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel of the International Obesity Task Force. He is also an ordained priest in the Church of England.

Globalisation has brought us vast benefits including growth in incomes, education, innovation and connectivity. Professor Ian Goldin, Director of the Oxford Martin School, argues that it also has the potential to destabilise our societies. In The Butterfly Defect: How globalisation creates systemic risks, and what to do about it, he and co-author Mike Mariathasan, Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Vienna, argue that the recent financial crisis is an example of the risks that the world will face in the coming decades.

The risks spread across supply chains, pandemics, infrastructure, ecology, climate change, economics and politics. Unless these risks are addressed, says Goldin, they could lead to greater protectionism, xenophobia, nationalism and to deglobalisation, rising conflict and slower growth.

The book talk will be followed by a book signing and drinks reception

This book talk will be live webcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuW2rgtZuIM

About the Book
Global hyperconnectivity and increased system integration have led to vast benefits, including worldwide growth in incomes, education, innovation, and technology. But rapid globalization has also created concerns because the repercussions of local events now cascade over national borders and the fallout of financial meltdowns and environmental disasters affects everyone. The Butterfly Defect addresses the widening gap between systemic risks and their effective management. It shows how the new dynamics of turbo-charged globalization has the potential and power to destabilize our societies. Drawing on the latest insights from a wide variety of disciplines, Ian Goldin and Mike Mariathasan provide practical guidance for how governments, businesses, and individuals can better manage risk in our contemporary world.

Goldin and Mariathasan assert that the current complexities of globalization will not be sustainable as surprises become more frequent and have widespread impacts. The recent financial crisis exemplifies the new form of systemic risk that will characterize the coming decades, and the authors provide the first framework for understanding how such risk will function in the twenty-first century. Goldin and Mariathasan demonstrate that systemic risk issues are now endemic everywhere in supply chains, pandemics, infrastructure, ecology and climate change, economics, and politics. Unless we are better able to address these concerns, they will lead to greater protectionism, xenophobia, nationalism, and, inevitably, deglobalization, rising conflict, and slower growth.

The Butterfly Defect shows that mitigating uncertainty and systemic risk in an interconnected world is an essential task for our future.

In the past 5 years there has been an explosion of interest in a new way to raise capital for projects for entrepreneurs and start-ups: Crowdfunding. It has seen projects as diverse as video games consoles, television series and even breweries opening around the world, and allows the general public the chance to become intimately involved with the projects that they back.

‘Cosy’ is a home environment-control product developed by Green Energy Options (GEO) that was successfully launched on Kickstarter in 2013, raising over £20,000. Since then Cosy has been going from strength to strength, even with tough competition from the likes of Nest and Tado.

Simon Anderson, the Chief Strategy Officer of GEO, will coming to discuss how Crowdfunding is allowing for a fundamental shift in how small companies and start-ups can launch their products. He will discuss the unique challenges that Crowdfunding creates, the many advantages, and ultimately how it is allowing rapid technological change across a range of industries.

Panel:

Professor Charles Godfray, Director, Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food and author of the chapter How can 9-10 Billion People be Fed Sustainably and Equitably by 2050?
Professor Ian Goldin, Director, Oxford Martin School, Editor of Is the Planet Full? and author of the chapter Governance Matters Most
Professor Sarah Harper, Director, Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, Oxford Martin School and author of the chapter Demographic and Environmental Transitions
Professor Yadvinder Malhi, Director, Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests, Oxford Martin School and author of the chapter The Metabolism of a Human-Dominated Planet
Dr Toby Ord, James Martin Fellow, Oxford Martin Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology and author of the chapter Overpopulation or Underpopulation?
The panel will discuss whether our planet can continue to support a growing population estimated to reach 10 billion people by the middle of the century.

The panel discussion will be followed by a book signing and drinks reception.

This panel discussion will be live webcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFIqDQP1Vjc

About the Book:
What are the impacts of population growth? Can our planet support the demands of the ten billion people anticipated to be the world’s population by the middle of this century?

While it is common to hear about the problems of overpopulation, might there be unexplored benefits of increasing numbers of people in the world? How can we both consider and harness the potential benefits brought by a healthier, wealthier and larger population? May more people mean more scientists to discover how our world works, more inventors and thinkers to help solve the world’s problems, more skilled people to put these ideas into practice?

In this book, leading academics with a wide range of expertise in demography, philosophy, biology, climate science, economics and environmental sustainability explore the contexts, costs and benefits of a burgeoning population on our economic, social and environmental systems.

We are delighted to welcome Torsten Reil (CEO and founder – NaturalMotion) to Saïd Business School on Friday 21st November.

Torsten founded NaturalMotion, a leading games and technology company based in Oxford, London and San Francisco. The company develops and publishes high-end, free to play social mobile games for iOS and Android and with over 30 million downloads and counting, is one of the fastest growing publishers on these platforms. Last week, Global University Venturing awarded NaturalMotion, Exit of the Year 2014 after it was acquired by Zynga for $527million.

NaturalMotion began as a project in the Zoology Department at the University of Oxford in 2001. Working with Isis Innovation, Torsten developed a business plan and secured first-round investors. Earlier this year, that cycle was completed with a return to the seed funds managed by Isis Innovation that will help launch the next generation of spin-outs from Oxford.

About Torsten
Torsten holds a BA in Biology from Oxford University and an MSc in Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems from Sussex University. Prior to founding NaturalMotion, Torsten was researching for a PhD in Complex Systems at Oxford University’s Zoology department. Torsten has been named amongst MIT’s TR100 global top innovators, and has spoken at TED, TED Global and Apple’s iPhone 5 keynote.

Talk: 4pm – 5.15pm
Drinks reception: 5.15pm

Interested in nano research combining physics, chemistry, engineering and materials science? The following talk may be of interest:

Nanoscience is the science of the very small. But why is that interesting? Alexandra Grigore and Tarun Vemulkar, both PhD students at ‘the other place’, will talk about their experience working in this multidisciplinary field and what the future could hold for someone working in the area. Things that they will talk about will include DNA origami and nanopores for faster genetic sequencing, nanomagnetic devices, photonic structures in butterfly wings, latest solar cell technologies, 3D metamaterials and more. If you are considering a PhD, this is also a chance to ask them questions about their interdisciplinary 4 year MRes + PhD programme at the Nano Doctoral Training Centre (NanoDTC) in Cambridge, in addition to your other questions about nanotechnology.

We are delighted to welcome Michael S. Malone to Saïd Business School on Monday 24th November.

Mike has covered Silicon Valley and high-tech for more than thirty years, and was twice nominated by the San Jose Mercury-News for the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. He is the author or co-author of more than a dozen award-winning books, notably the bestselling ‘The Virtual Corporation’, ‘The Future Arrived Yesterday’ and most recently ‘The Intel Corporation’. A regular editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal, Mike has hosted three nationally syndicated public television interview series and co-produced the Emmy-nominated primetime PBS miniseries The New Heroes. As an entrepreneur, Mike was a founding shareholder of eBay, Siebel Systems (sold to Oracle) and Qik (sold to Skype), and is currently vice-chairman of a new start-up, PatientKey Inc. Mike holds an MBA from Santa Clara University, where he is currently an adjunct professor. He is also an associate fellow of the Said Business School at Oxford University, and is a Distinguished Friend of Oxford.

Mike will also be signing copies of his new book ‘The Intel Trinity: How Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove Built the World’s Most Important Company’ during the drinks reception following his talk.

“Few people capture the rhythms and values that fuel Silicon Valley as well as longtime journalist Michael S. Malone. In his latest book, he takes on the history of Intel, a company he started covering when most reporters were still using typewriters. He reveals his deep knowledge on every page.”
—Reid Hoffman, cofounder & chairman of LinkedIn and co-author of The Alliance

Copies of the book will be available to buy for £20 (cash only).

Talk: 6pm – 7pm
Drinks reception and book signing: 7pm

This year’s Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food Lecture is by Michael Mack, CEO of Syngenta

He will be talking about: “Technophobia vs. technophilia: The polarized debate about our food”

This is the second in the series of Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food Lectures, following our inaugural lecture by Professor Susan Jebb on “Diet, Health And The Environment: Towards A More Sustainable Diet” in November 2013.

Syngenta is one of the world’s leading agribusiness companies, working in biotechnology and plant genomics.

Speaker Biography: Michael Mack was Chief Operating Officer of Seeds (2004–2007) and Head of Crop Protection, NAFTA Region (2002–2004) for Syngenta. Prior to this, he was President of the Global Paper Division of Imerys SA, a French mining and pigments concern, from the time of its merger in 1999 with English China Clays Ltd., where he was Executive Vice President, Americas and Pacific Region, in addition to being an executive Director of the Board. From 1987 to 1996, he held various roles with Mead Corporation. Michael Mack was Chairman and President of the Board of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce from 2009 to 2012, and is currently a member of the Board.

Michael Mack has a degree in Economics from Kalamazoo College in Michigan, studied at the University of Strasbourg, and has an MBA from Harvard University.

Have you ever wondered if you choose your favourite cheese by its shape rather than its flavour? What if your glass of sauvignon blanc suddenly tasted nicer while listening to Mozart?

Most synesthetes would have no problem relating the two, but it turns out we use all of our senses – whether we realise it or not – when it comes enjoying a nice cheese board and glass of wine with friends.

Join experimental psychologist and author Professor Charles Spence for an evening of sensory explosions and explanations as he demonstrates how our environment affects our perceptions of food. As a guest, your task will be to enjoy eating cheese and drinking wine all in the name of science. Charles will be joined by Prof John Schollar from the Centre of Biotechnology at Reading University, who will explain the many wondrous microbiological processes that give different cheeses their distinctive flavours.
Professor Spence’s research has been picked up by leading restaurateurs such as Heston Blumenthal and his book ‘The Perfect Meal’ (September 2014) provides an excellent gastronomic guide for people interested in the science of dining.
The evening will be facilitated by science journalist and broadcaster Quentin Cooper.

There will be plenty of cheese and wine to test your own perception of flavour and musical accompaniment from our in-house classical pianist.

Don’t miss out on the most delicious, multisensory event of the festive season.

This event is suitable for 18+ only
Tickets are £22.50 per person or £80 for a table of 4.

Book your tickets online: http://www.scienceoxford.com/live/whats-on-so/cheesemas-the-multisensory-science-of-cheese-and-wine

Ben Okri OBE, Booker Prize-winning author, will be in conversation with Donald Sloan, Head of the Oxford School of Hospitality Management, on the topic ‘Food, Death and Ritual’.

Hosted by Ken Hom OBE, this event is part of a series of public lectures organised by Oxford Gastronomica, the Oxford School of Hospitality Management’s centre for food and cultural studies.

Ben Okri has published many books including The Famished Road, which won the Booker Prize in 1991. His work has been translated into 26 languages and has won numerous international prizes including the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Africa, the Paris Review Aga Khan Prize for Fiction, the Chainti Ruffino-Antico Fattore International Literary Prize and the Premio Grinzane Cavour Prize.

The recipient of many honorary doctorates, he is a vice-president of the English Centre of International PEN and was presented the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum for his outstanding contribution to the Arts and cross-cultural understanding in 1995.

He has been a Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge and is an Honorary Fellow of Mansfield College, Cambridge. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature since 1987 he was awarded an OBE in 2001. He was born in Nigeria, and lives in London. Ben Okri’s latest novel, The Age of Magic, was published on 23rd October 2014. Following his lecture Ben will be signing copies.

There is no charge to attend this lecture.

A dinner will be held in Ben Okri’s honour, after his lecture, in Brookes Restaurant. Tickets cost £49 per head, to include a drink on arrival, three course dinner and wine.

Humanity is at the beginning of a revolution that will change the way you think about your family, you work and yourself and bring radical change for every institution and every nation, as well as changing the definition of wealth.
It will challenge the definition of what it means to be human and once it’s over, society will be completely re-organised and our sense of ourselves and our place in the universe altered. You may not know it but you’ve already seen the trailer.
In this talk Mark Stevenson shows us the main feature, that’s coming sooner than we realise.

MARK STEVENSON, AUTHOR, ENTREPRENEUR AND FUTURIST

Mark is an entrepreneur and thinker on global and societal trends, innovation and technology. He ha worked with IBM, the Barbican, Audi and the Wellcome Trust, helping them to see where the world is going – and how to adapt.
He is author of An Optimist’s Tour of the Future and We Do Things Differently. He has advisory roles wit Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Earth Challenge and the crowd-investing company Trillion Fund. He is also a occasional professional comedy writer.

Stephen Venables, will be giving a lecture on the 28th January in aid of Llanberis Mountain Rescue and Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue, with all proceeds from ticket sales split between the two charities.

Stephen was the first British person to summit Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen, which he did alone via a new route on the gigantic Kangshung Face.

21CC is a multidisciplinary conference, which unites leading minds to explore the opportunities and challenges of the 21st century. Led by Oxford students it is partnered with the Oxford Martin School, which pioneers research, policy and debate on global issues.

What: Our 2015 conference will cover some of the most pressing global challenges and opportunities of the 21st century including cybersecurity, geoengineering, inequality and arms trafficking.

Who: Speakers include the Director of Privacy International, the UK Parliamentary Cyber Adviser, previous Director of the Special Forces, the ex-VP of the World Bank, Head of Arms Control at Amnesty International, Directors from the Institute for New Economic Thinking, leading climate change scientists, UN and NATO experts and many more!

When: 7th Feb, Saturday of 3rd Week, at the Mathematics Institute.

Visit: www.21cc-oxford.com for tickets and more info!

*** Life After New Media ***
4-5.15pm Seminar Room, Oxford Internet Institute, 1 St Giles
* Please sign up by emailing events@oii.ox.ac.uk*

Sarah Kember, Professor of New Technologies of Communications,
Goldsmiths, University of London
With response by Nina Wakeford, Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford
Chaired by Dr Isis Hjorth, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford

In this talk Sarah Kember will speak to her formulation of mediation
as a vital process, as outlined in her recent book Life After New
Media (MIT Press, 2012 – with Joanna Zylinska). In this book Kember
argues that we should move beyond our fascination with
objects–computers, smart phones, iPods, Kindles–to an examination of
the interlocking technical, social, and biological processes of
mediation. Doing so reveals that life itself can be understood as
mediated–subject to the same processes of reproduction,
transformation, flattening, and patenting undergone by other media
forms. Drawing on the work of Bergson and Derrida, Kember suggest that
the dispersal of media and technology into our biological and social
lives intensifies our entanglement with nonhuman entities.
Mediation–all-encompassing and indivisible–becomes a key trope for
understanding our being in the technological world.

This event is a collaboration between the Ruskin School of Art and the OII.
*** Please sign up by emailing events@oii.ox.ac.uk***

**About Sarah Kember**
Sarah Kember is a writer and academic. She is Professor of New
Technologies of Communication at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Recent publications include a novel The Optical Effects of Lightning
(Wild Wolf Publishing, 2011) and a monograph Life After New Media:
Mediation as a Vital Process (The MIT Press, 2012). She co-edits the
journals of photographies and Feminist Theory. Current research
includes a feminist critique of smart media (iMedia. The gendering of
objects, environments and smart materials, Palgrave, forthcoming) and
an affiliated novel, provisionally entitled A Day In The Life Of Janet
Smart. Sarah is also co-PI of an RCUK funded project on digital
publishing and part of the Centre for Creativity, Regulation,
Enterprise and Technology (CREATe).

The burden of chronic diseases is rapidly increasing worldwide. It has been estimated by the World Health Organization that, in 2001, chronic diseases contributed approximately 60% of the 56.5 million total reported deaths in the world and approximately 46% of the global burden of disease. Moreover, the proportion of the burden of non-communicable diseases is expected to increase up to 57% by 2020. Approximately 50% of the total chronic disease deaths are attributable to cardiovascular diseases, with obesity and diabetes occurring earlier in life. Improving quality of care for chronic diseases requires an effective longitudinal medical record that can be used to track patient statuses. Focusing on the empowering application of electronic medical records and other eHealth/mHealth systems to manage healthcare, Dr Fraser will discuss the potential strategies for managing chronic diseases in the LMICs.

The role of eHealth in chronic disease management in low and middle income countries
and the importance of scalable, modular, open systems

Dr Hamish Fraser

Monday, February 9th, 2015
The Mawby Room, Kellogg College
5PM – 6PM
** Drinks Served from 4.30pm**

Abstract

The burden of chronic diseases is rapidly increasing worldwide. It has been estimated by the World Health Organization that, in 2001, chronic diseases contributed approximately 60% of the 56.5 million total reported deaths in the world and approximately 46% of the global burden of disease. Moreover, the proportion of the burden of non-communicable diseases is expected to increase up to 57% by 2020. Approximately 50% of the total chronic disease deaths are attributable to cardiovascular diseases, with obesity and diabetes occurring earlier in life. Improving quality of care for chronic diseases requires an effective longitudinal medical record that can be used to track patient statuses and generate Focusing on the empowering application of electronic medical records and other eHealth/mHealth systems to manage healthcare, Dr Fraser will discuss the potential strategies for managing chronic diseases in the LMICs. He will draw examples for over 10 years experience leading the development of open source web-based medical record systems including OpenMRS, along with data analysis tools, and pharmacy systems to support the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV in Peru, Haiti, Rwanda, Malawi and the Philippines.

Biography

Dr Hamish Fraser is a physician who recently returned to the UK as Associate Professor in eHealth at the University of Leeds. Prior to this he was an Assistant Professor in the Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston. For 12 years he was the Director of Informatics and Telemedicine at Partners In Health (PIH), a non-profit global health care organization founded in 1987 by Paul Farmer, Ophelia Dahl, and Jim Yong Kim. Dr Fraser’s work has led to the migration of medical informatics tools and expertise from high income countries to some of the poorest and most challenging environments in the world. Along with colleagues from the Regenstrief Institute at the University of Indiana and the South African Medical Research Council, Dr. Fraser is a co-founder OpenMRS, an international collaboration to develop a flexible, open source electronic medical record system platform for use in low and middle income countries (LMICs). OpenMRS is now used to support patient treatment in more than 50 LMICs. Dr Fraser has recently been co-leading a project to develop a custom version of OpenMRS adapted for use by staff in protective equipment in the Kerry Town Sierra Leone Ebola Treatment Center. He has a strong interest in the evaluation of medical information systems in LMICs and has carried out studies in Peru, Haiti, and Rwanda. He is a Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics and Section Editor for the Journal BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making.

Data has invaluable applications to ensure organisations like Oxfam are needs driven and responsive, meanwhile there are also huge risks to communities if the related processes are not designed and managed in a responsible manner. Adopting meaningful approaches to data security and ethical methodology is not a new effort within Oxfam and the development community nor is it for academics. What is new, however, is the way that the changing digital landscape is presenting new challenges and opportunities which we must react to and ensure staff have resources and knowledge about how to collect, store, manage, use and even dispose of data responsibly. How can NGOs like Oxfam come together with academics and practitioners alike to tackle emerging privacy and security challenges when it comes to effective management of data? As Oxfam are in the process of applying a Responsible Data Policy, how can we learn from and support one another, particularly when it comes to guidance and what policy means in practice?