How has humanities scholarship influenced biomedical research and civil liberties and how can scholars serve the common good? Entrepreneur and scholar Donald Drakeman will discuss his new book exploring the value and impact of the humanities in the 21st century with:

– Stefan Collini (Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature, University of Cambridge and author of What Are Universities For?)
– Richard Ekins (Tutorial Fellow in Law, St John’s College, University of Oxford)
– Jay Sexton (Associate Professor of American History, University of Oxford)

Chaired by Helen Small (Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford and author of The Value of the Humanities)

Free, all welcome. Join us for a sandwich lunch from 12:30, with discussion from 13:00 to 14:00. No booking required, seats will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

About the book

An entrepreneur and educator highlights the surprising influence of humanities scholarship on biomedical research and civil liberties. This spirited defence urges society to support the humanities to obtain continued guidance for public policy decisions, and challenges scholars to consider how best to fulfil their role in serving the common good.

The event is part of Book at Lunchtime, a fortnightly series of bite size book discussions, with commentators from a range of disciplines.

Moisés Hernández-Fernandez from the Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, University of Oxford, UK will present a seminar on the
1st of June 2016, (at 1pm) entitled

“White Matter Tractography and Human Brain
Connections Using GPUs”

Abstract

Understanding the human brain is one of the key scientific challenges of the 21st century. A key component for gaining insight into brain functional mechanisms is understanding the underlying anatomical and structural organisation and how functional subunits are interconnected at the global and local scale. Studying brain organisation (and its potential disruptions) is also a necessary first step for investigating the etiology, progression and pathology of neurological and psychiatric diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease. Diffusion MRI (dMRI) uniquely allows us to study such organisation, reveal the wiring diagram of the brain, and provide estimates of tissue microstructure non-invasively and in-vivo. Despite its great potential and its wide use, the analysis includes the very time-consuming statistical modelling of four-dimensional datasets that restrict the potential and the clinical applicability of the technology. We present a novel parallel framework for analysis of dMRI data that exploits the immense computational power provided by modern GPUs and allows accelerations of up to two orders of magnitude when comparing GPU performance with a single-threaded CPU implementation.

This talk details the research that led to the NVIDIA 2016 GPU Centre of Excellence Achievement Award.

About the speaker

Moisés Hernández-Fernandez is a DPhil student at the Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, University of Oxford. His research focuses on high performance computing applied to the analysis of diffusion MRI (dMRI) data. He is interested in how parallel computer architectures, such as Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), can be used in scientific applications that require very high computational resources. His current work uses GPUs for resolving tissue microstructural patterns and for estimating long-range brain connectivity.

This seminar is open to all and will start at 1pm in the OeRc Conference Room
(Room 278)

****Lunch will be made available****

Three high-profile SPC alumni return to their college to discuss the impending EU Referendum in a forum chaired by the Master, Mark Damazer CBE.

Join the Editor of the Sunday Times, Martin Ivens (BA Modern History – 1977), the Deputy Editor of the New Statesman, Helen Lewis (BA English – 2001), and the BBC’s Political Correspondent Ben Wright (BA Modern History – 1996) for a panel discussion in which they will cut through the rhetoric surrounding this most controversial of issues in contemporary British politics, and who will then face your questions.

We’ve all seen it: A renegade detective pores over the scene of a grizzly murder. They find an overlooked clue; a hair, a footprint, a shell casing. Detailed forensic analysis matches the clue to the bad guy, and the bad guy goes to jail. This is how modern day forensics are portrayed in shows such as ‘CSI’ and ‘Silent Witness’; forensic evidence is seen as conclusive when it comes to catching suspects and deciding if someone is guilty in a criminal trial. But, at a time when shows like Serial and Making a Murderer have brough miscarriages of justice to international prominence, Emma McClure will explain how the traces left behind at a crime scene can sometimes lie.

The science in areas such as DNA collection has progressed enormously in recent decades allowing for breakthroughs in many old and cold cases. However, we have also seen many high profile exonerations of those previously convicted of the most serious of crimes on seemingly ‘conclusive’ forensic evidence. This has lead to increasing scrutiny of the way it is analysed, interpreted and presented in the courtroom.

In this talk, prison lawyer Emma McClure examines the issues with forensic techniques, highlighting the amusing, confusing and sometimes tragic consequences of failing to take a skeptical approach to evidence in the field of forensic science.

Join the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/797735430370840/

7.30PM start at St. Aldates Tavern, and entry is free, although we do suggest a donation of around £3 to cover speaker expenses. We tend to get busy, so arrive early to make sure you get a seat. Come along and say hello! All welcome. http://oxford.skepticsinthepub.org/Event.aspx/7986/The-Phantom-of-Heilbronn-and-other-Forensic-Faux-Pas

Sir Nicholas Stadlen is a former Barrister (Fountain Court Chambers) and High Court Judge and is currently a Visiting Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford.

As a QC he was voted Barrister of the Year in 2006 after his successful defence of the Bank of England in its epic legal battle with the liquidators of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), giving the longest speech in English legal history (119 days).

As a High Court Judge, he sat in the Queen’s Bench Division principally hearing public law judicial review cases from 2007 to 2013.

In 2006/07 he conducted a series of one hour podcast interviews for The Guardian with Gerry Adams, Desmond Tutu, FW DeKlerk, Simon Peres, Hanan Ashrawi, Tony Benn and David Blunkett. They can still be heard on The Guardian website under the series title Brief Encounter.

Amongst other things, Sir Nicholas will be speaking about the Rivonia Trial lawyers, defendants and other anti-apartheid activitists in the 1960s about whom he is currently writing a book. The Rivonia Trial took place following the arrest of 10 ANC leaders, working with Nelson Mandela, who were tried for 221 acts of sabotage.

The event will take the form of a conversation with the Principal of LMH, Alan Rusbridger, and will be followed by a Q&A session and drinks. If you would like to attend, please book online at https://lmh-law-society-sir-nicholas-stadlen.eventbrite.co.uk

A free chance to see the 2015 film directed by Stephen Spielberg and based on a true story. Bridge of Spies stars Tom Hanks, who plays Jim Donovan, an American lawyer recruited by the CIA in 1957 to represent Rudolph Abel at trail, after the European artist, living in the US, was arrested for spying for the Russians.

Set during the Cold War, during a time of intense distrust and fear of nuclear capabilities, the move was to ensure Abel had a fair trail. That small act of fairness played out into a drama of complexities, as Donovan successfully pleads for Abel to get life imprisonment, rather than the death sentence. His argument was that Abel may be a fair future exchange for any US citizens imprisoned by the Russians.

Professor Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy and Law, New York University, will deliver the annual Wolfson Berlin Lecture.

Speaker
Kwame Anthony Appiah is a philosopher, cultural theorist, and novelist whose interests include political and moral theory, the philosophy of language and mind, and African intellectual history. Kwame Anthony Appiah grew up in Ghana and earned a Ph.D. at Cambridge University.

The World Post listed Professor Appiah on its Global Thought Leaders Index in December 2015, which was led by Pope Francis (#1), Paul Coehlo (#2) and Muhammad Yunus (#3).

An introductory talk of about twenty minutes, followed by Q&As and an hour or so’s discussion among the audience. You’re welcome to come along just to listen, or to take an active part in the discussion.

Where poetry meets science creative sparks fly, so come along and hear ideas catch fire at SciPo – a day of talks, panel discussions and readings with the distinguished Welsh poet, Tony Curtis, Director of Medicine Unboxed, Samir Guglani, multi-award-winning poet Lesley Saunders and St Hilda’s College’s own resident science poet – Sarah Watkinson. The event will be introduced by Jenny Lewis of the Poet’s House, Oxford.

There is increasing recognition over the last decade that conservation, while conserving biodiversity of global value, can have local costs. Understanding these costs is essential as a first step to delivering conservation projects that do not make some of the poorest people on the planet poorer. Using examples from Madagascar and Bolivia, we explore the challenges of quantifying the impact of conservation on local wellbeing.
Julia Jones is Professor in conservation science at the School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography, Bangor University. Julia is interested in how people interact with natural resources and how incentives can be best designed to maintain ecosystem services; for example the growing field of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) and how schemes such as REDD+ can effectively deliver global environmental benefits while also having a positive impact on local livelihoods. She also has a strong interest in the design of robust conservation monitoring using different types of data, and in analysing the evidence underpinning environmental policies and decisions.

“Where have all the bumblebees gone?”
Since the mid-nineteenth century, three species of bumblebee in the British Isles have gone extinct, and several other species have become so rare that they are at risk of extinction. In this talk, Dr Darren Jeffers will discuss the causes of the decline in British bumblebees; their key role in pollination; how we might reverse
the losses and the likely effects of climate change. He will also share the results of some recent research using museum specimens of extinct species and proffers the question: Can we learn anything from these dusty depositories of ecological data to aid the conservation effort?

This is a free event with no pre-booking required.

British Science Association Oxford Branch
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Professor Gerhard Schroth is Emeritus Professor of Radiology/Neuroradiology at the University of Berne in Switzerland.

The title of his talk is: ‘The development and effects of thrombectomy in the treatment of actute stroke.’

We’ve all heard of genes – they make your eyes blue, hair curly or nose straight. But how do they actually work and why do siblings look so different when they share much of their genetic makeup? Kat Arney, author of ‘Herding Hemingway’s Cats’, and her sister, comedian Helen Arney, set aside their shared genetic quirks and sibling rivalry to explain the latest thinking, telling stories with their trademark flair and wit about cats with thumbs, fish with hips and wobbly worms.

Herding Hemingway’s Cats – Understanding how our genes work

We’ve all heard of genes – they make your eyes blue, hair curly or nose straight. But how do they actually work and why do siblings look so different when they share much of their genetic makeup? Kat Arney, author of ‘Herding Hemingway’s Cats’, and her sister, comedian Helen Arney, set aside their shared genetic quirks and sibling rivalry to explain the latest thinking, telling stories with their trademark flair and wit about cats with thumbs, fish with hips and wobbly worms.

Telegraph writer Helen Yemm brings her column Thorny Problems to life by answering your gardening conundrums and dispensing invaluable advice in the picturesque setting of the Botanic Garden.

Professor Bill Fulford is a Fellow of St Catherine’s College and Member of the Philosophy Faculty, University of Oxford; Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Mental Health, University of Warwick Medical School; and Director of the Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice, St Catherine’s College, Oxford (valuesbasedpractice.org).
The title of their talk is ‘The Montgomery ruling on consent: values and evidence in surgical care’.

Professor Ashok Handa is Associate Professor in Surgery and Director of Surgical Education at the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences at the Univeristy of Oxford.

The title of their talk is ‘The Montgomery ruling on consent: values and evidence in surgical care’.

Kay Davies has dedicated her life to the cure of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, which is one of the most common, fatal genetic disorders diagnosed in children. She contributed to the design of the pre-natal tests used around the world. Her team isolated a key gene sequence for the potential treatment of the disease, and she’s now leading clinical trials for the development of a cure. Learn about this scientific journey, and engage in a
conversation with one of the most remarkable Oxford scientists.

Leopold Eyharts flew on the Atlantis Shuttle to the International Space Station in 2008. Part of his mission included the installation of the Colombus Space Laboratory, the main contribution of Europe to the International Space Station. In 1998, Leopold flew
on a Soyouz Space Shuttle to the Russian MIR station. Engage in a conversation about his adventures and the future of manned exploration of space. Chaired by Valerie Jamieson, Editorial Content Director, New Scientist.

We all know that our satnav systems use GPS and weather forecasting uses meteorological satellites, but do you know that satellites are also used in farming, finance, transport systems, helping with natural disaster management, tracking wildlife and helping to eradicate illegal fishing? Learn about the latest satellite
technology, and how space is part of our everyday life.

Book on http://www.oxfordshiresciencefestival.com/space-day.html

What would it have been like to visit your physician in the 19th century? Researcher Melissa Dickinson takes you on a time travel to discover how the sounds of the body helped determine medical diagnoses thanks to surprising instruments.

Date/Time: Saturday 25 June, 15:00
Venue: Story Museum, Pembroke Street, Oxford
Admissions: £5/£4(conc.)/£16(fam.)
Suitability: 14+
Book here:
http://www.oxfordshiresciencefestival.com/sat-opening-weekend.html

How does our lifestyle affect the likelihood of developing dementia? What choices can you make to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s? Join John Gallacher for a lively discussion and Q&A on exciting new research that indicates a healthier lifestyle – including exercising, limited alcohol intake, and not smoking – is more important than genetics for cutting the risk of Alzheimer’s.

How did the Universe begin? We are now on the hunt to find signals from the Big Bang itself, looking for ripples in space-time put in at the beginning of time. Engage in a fascinating conversation with cosmologist Jo Dunkley, and find out how new telescopes in Chile and the South Pole might give us the answer!

Date/Time: Saturday 25 June, 15:00
Venue: Oxford Town Hall, Long Room
Admissions: £5/£4(conc.)/£16(fam.)
Suitability: 14+
Book here:
http://www.oxfordshiresciencefestival.com/sat-opening-weekend.html

Neural implants, nanomedicine, brain enhancing drugs, genetic engineering…
Many human enhancement technologies are emerging and raise ethical and legal
challenges. This interactive event will present scenarios and take you on a
journey to the edge of technologies and ethics.

Date/Time: Saturday 25 June, 16:30
Venue: Oxford Town Hall, Assembly Room
Admissions: £5/£4(conc.)/£16(fam.)
Suitability: 14+
Book here:
http://www.oxfordshiresciencefestival.com/sat-opening-weekend.html

Have you ever wondered if you could really grow plants on Mars? You’ve seen the movie, now come see the science behind The Martian, with Kyle Grant. His project specialises in the design of bacteria and plants that can colonise and survive in Martian and Lunar settings. In collaboration with NASA, the project hopes to one day provide crop plants and engineered bacterial counterparts for the support of astronauts on space missions.

Date/Time: Saturday 25 June, 16:30
Venue: Story Museum, Pembroke Street, Oxford
Admissions: £5/£4(conc.)/£16(fam.)
Suitability: 16+
Book here:
http://www.oxfordshiresciencefestival.com/sat-opening-weekend.html

Apocalypses and politics go hand in hand as University of Oxford physicist Fran Day takes a break from studying particles that probably don’t exist to take to the stage in
a stand-up comedy spectacular that is witty, irreverent and occasionally surreal. Equipped with bundles of laughs, what better way is there to spend your Saturday afternoon?

Date/Time: Saturday 25 June, 17:00
Venue: Oxford Town Hall, Long Room
Admissions: £5/£4(conc.)/£16(fam.)
Suitability: 14+
Book here:
http://www.oxfordshiresciencefestival.com/sat-opening-weekend.html

Why do people move? How do you decide between the risk it takes to make the journey, and the opportunities it may bring you? Based on a live experiment on Broad Street (which will take place earlier on Saturday 25 June), this discussion explores the personal characteristics one needs to have to become a migrant, and highlights the latest research on migrations.

Date/Time: Saturday 25 June, 19:00
Venue: Oxford Town Hall, Assembly Room
Admissions: £7/£5(conc.)/£22(fam.)
Suitability: 14+
Book here:
http://www.oxfordshiresciencefestival.com/sat-opening-weekend.html

Come and be part of a unique evening combining scientific talks with inspirational dance. Hear researchers from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics talk about their work as their science is interpreted by FLUX, a dance company specialising in translating scientific principles into theatrical form. A one-off event exploring curiosity and creativity in their many and varied forms.

Date/Time: Sunday 26 June, 14:30
Venue: Story Museum, Pembroke Street, Oxford
Admissions: £5/£4(conc.)/£16(fam.)
Suitability: 14+
Book here: http://www.oxfordshiresciencefestival.com/sun-opening-weekend.html

How to assess potential treatments for a disease such as Ebola, during the largest outbreak in history? Peter Horby’s team run clinical trials under such challenging conditions. Share this scientific and humanitarian mission, with insights from clinical studies led in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

How to create in the lab the process taking place at the heart of the stars? How to harvest this energy to power the world? Nuclear fusion is arguably the hardest technical challenge humanity works on at the moment. The UK significantly contributes to this world-wide research effort with the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy. Get insights from the lab, and learn everything you need to know about nuclear fusion!

Book here: http://www.oxfordshiresciencefestival.com/sun-opening-weekend.html