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.

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.

Date/Time: Monday 27 June 12:30-13:15
Venue: Blackwell’s Bookshop, Oxford
Admissions: Free, Drop-In
Suitability: 14+
Find out more: http://www.oxfordshiresciencefestival.com

Explore mental health questions with authors of the ‘A very short
introduction’ series, and researchers and health practitioners from the Oxford Academic Health Science Network.

Today’s session: Schizophrenia, psychotic disorders, bipolar disorders… get ‘a very short introduction’ to severe mental illness and dive into a thought provoking discussion with psychiatrist Tom Burns.

Date/Time: Tuesday 28 June 12:30-13:15
Venue: Blackwell’s Bookshop, Oxford
Admissions: Free, Drop-In
Suitability: 14+
Find out more: www.oxscifest.org

Explore mental health questions with authors of the ‘A very short
introduction’ series, and researchers and health practitioners from the Oxford Academic Health Science Network.

Today’s session: Get ‘a very short introduction’ to mental health during adolescence and dive into a thought-provoking discussion with psychiatrist Belinda Lennox and psychologist Peter Smith

Ludo, snakes & ladders and draughts are all popular pastimes, but in the past couple of decades a new generation of board games from designers with backgrounds in maths and science has begun to break the Monopoly monopoly. Perhaps the most successful of these is multi award winning Reiner Knizia, who joins mathematician Katie Steckles and board game lover Quentin Cooper to discuss how you develop a game which is easy to learn, hard to master and fun to play time after time. With a chance to have a go at some of Reiner’s latest creations and other top games afterwards.

Book here: http://www.oxfordshiresciencefestival.com/tuesday.html

Date/Time: Wednesday 29 June 12:30-13:15
Venue: Blackwell’s Bookshop, Oxford
Admissions: Free, Drop-In
Suitability: 14+
Find out more: www.oxscifest.org

Explore mental health questions with authors of the ‘A very short introduction’ series, and researchers and health practitioners from the Oxford Academic Health Science Network.

Today’s session: Drugs can help patients suffering from various mental illnesses like depression, anxiety or schizophrenia. How do these drugs work in the brain? How to ensure the safety of patients? Get ‘a very short introduction’ to drugs for psychotherapy, and dive into a thought-provoking discussion with pharmacologist Les Iversen.

Date/Time: Thursday 30 June 12:30-13:15
Venue: Blackwell’s Bookshop, Oxford
Admissions: Free, Drop-In
Suitability: 14+
Find out more: http://www.oxfordshiresciencefestival.com

Explore mental health questions with authors of the ‘A very short introduction’ series, and researchers and health practitioners from the Oxford Academic Health Science Network.

Today’s session: Mental health problems account for nearly 40% of all illness but only 13% of NHS funds are devoted to their treatment. How to best address the mental health challenge with limited resources? Get ‘a very short introduction’ to mental health services, and dive into a thought provoking discussion with psychiatrist David Clark.

Date/Time: Friday 1 July 12:30-13:15
Venue: Blackwell’s Bookshop, Oxford
Admissions: Free, Drop-In
Suitability: 14+
Find out more: http://www.oxfordshiresciencefestival.com/friday.html

Explore mental health questions with authors of the ‘A very short introduction’ series, and researchers and health practitioners from the Oxford Academic Health Science Network.

Today’s session: Why do we need sleep? What happens to our health when we don’t get enough, and how does our modern lifestyle impact our sleep quality? What causes the major sleep disorders? Get ‘a very short introduction’ to sleep and dive into a thought-provoking discussion with neuroscientist Russell Foster.

Join us for a sensational evening of cabaret – an alchemy of acts delivered by Science Oxford’s network of creative science performers. If you love science, stage and stand up, you’ll be in your element with our periodic table-themed cabaret including science presenter and geek songstress Helen Arney and compered by award-winning science communicator Jamie Gallagher. See the everyday elements that make up the world around us in a new light, watch in disbelief as gold is created before your eyes, and learn about their origins and how they behave inside our bodies. Get your tickets now – once they are gone they argon!

Imagine constantly worrying about something that you know is not real, or feel a deep anxiety that only repetitive (and often embarrassing) behavior can diminish. Now imagine this happening 24 hours a day for 365 days a year and you can begin to understand what it might be like to suffer from OCD. Join scientist Paula Banca who will discuss the OCD brain and why psychopaths never suffer from it, followed by artist Dan Holloway’s performance poetry inspired by his own experience. This event is part of the Storytelling Science project.

Psychologist in the Pub events are completely free and open to everyone, so please join us on:

Thursday 7th July, 6:30 for 7pm start, with Dr Kinga Komarzynska & Dr Chelsea Slater

What can we learn from crime scene behaviour?

Crime linkage focuses on identifying crimes committed by the same offender using crime scene behaviour. Offender behaviour is used to distinguish between crimes committed by the same person and crimes committed by different people. The presentation will introduce this evidence-based approach to the detection of serial offenders and will be a brief introduction to the theory behind crime linkage as well as exploration of some of the empirical research that investigated behavioural consistency and change within a series of crimes perpetrated by serial offenders.

The talk will be held in the function room in Wig & Pen pub.
The venue is wheelchair accessible.

Get your game face on – it’s poker night at Science Oxford.

Brush off your pack of cards and outplay Lady Luck with an evening of poker probability and psychology. Learn more about the head games that define what happens at the poker table with mathematician and author of The Perfect Bet Adam Kucharski and psychologist Danielle Shore, who’ll show how your poker face can affect your opponents’ decision-making. Their talks will be followed by a friendly poker tournament – the perfect opportunity to put into practice the science of poker.

Chips included as part of ticket price.

‘Depression and the Brain’ will be discussed from the point of view of neuroscience, psychology/psychiatry and philosophy. Three eminent speakers will give talks and arising questions will be discussed under audience participation. Tea and coffee will be served at the interval.

‘Developmental risk and resilience: The challenge of translating multi-level data to concrete interventions’

In these Loebel lectures Prof Essi Viding will use disruptive behaviour disorders as an illustrative example to introduce the challenges we face when we try to understand development of psychopathological outcomes. We classify disorders at the level of behaviour, yet individuals arrive at the same behavioural outcomes via multiple different developmental trajectories; a phenomenon called equifinality in the developmental psychopathology literature. A related concept is heterogeneity; we can find individuals with markedly different aetiology to their disorder within the same diagnostic category. The current diagnostic categories identify clinically disturbed functioning, but they do not identify a homogeneous group of individuals.

Getting better at individuating distinct pathways to a disordered outcome is only part of the challenge. Once risk factors for a specific developmental trajectory are identified, we still need to understand their modus operandi. There is no doubt that both biology and the social environment play a role in the emergence of psychopathology, but meaningfully studying their interplay is far from trivial. What are the key biological indicators of vulnerability and resilience? How can we isolate causal mechanisms? How do we model multiple social risk factors and their impact over development?

In Essi Viding’s Loebel lectures, as well as in the talks given by speakers in the accompanying workshop, the following questions will be considered:

How does ‘latent vulnerability’ (of either genetic or environmental origin) translate to a disordered outcome, or conversely what makes some individuals with ‘latent vulnerability’ resilient? To what degree are individuals agents in generating their own environmental circumstances? Do certain behaviours, which can appear disordered, represent adaptations to a specific social ecology? The workshop will also involve discussion between the speakers and the participants on the following issues:

i.what study designs can help us advance our understanding of the questions outlined above

ii.what implications can be drawn for prevention and treatment of psychiatric disorders

iii.what are the challenges of translating individual differences and group level data to bear on the treatment of a single individual

‘Developmental risk and resilience: The challenge of translating multi-level data to concrete interventions’

In these Loebel lectures Prof Essi Viding will use disruptive behaviour disorders as an illustrative example to introduce the challenges we face when we try to understand development of psychopathological outcomes. We classify disorders at the level of behaviour, yet individuals arrive at the same behavioural outcomes via multiple different developmental trajectories; a phenomenon called equifinality in the developmental psychopathology literature. A related concept is heterogeneity; we can find individuals with markedly different aetiology to their disorder within the same diagnostic category. The current diagnostic categories identify clinically disturbed functioning, but they do not identify a homogeneous group of individuals.

Getting better at individuating distinct pathways to a disordered outcome is only part of the challenge. Once risk factors for a specific developmental trajectory are identified, we still need to understand their modus operandi. There is no doubt that both biology and the social environment play a role in the emergence of psychopathology, but meaningfully studying their interplay is far from trivial. What are the key biological indicators of vulnerability and resilience? How can we isolate causal mechanisms? How do we model multiple social risk factors and their impact over development?

In Essi Viding’s Loebel lectures, as well as in the talks given by speakers in the accompanying workshop, the following questions will be considered:

How does ‘latent vulnerability’ (of either genetic or environmental origin) translate to a disordered outcome, or conversely what makes some individuals with ‘latent vulnerability’ resilient? To what degree are individuals agents in generating their own environmental circumstances? Do certain behaviours, which can appear disordered, represent adaptations to a specific social ecology? The workshop will also involve discussion between the speakers and the participants on the following issues:

i.what study designs can help us advance our understanding of the questions outlined above

ii.what implications can be drawn for prevention and treatment of psychiatric disorders

iii.what are the challenges of translating individual differences and group level data to bear on the treatment of a single individual

‘Developmental risk and resilience: The challenge of translating multi-level data to concrete interventions’

In these Loebel lectures Prof Essi Viding will use disruptive behaviour disorders as an illustrative example to introduce the challenges we face when we try to understand development of psychopathological outcomes. We classify disorders at the level of behaviour, yet individuals arrive at the same behavioural outcomes via multiple different developmental trajectories; a phenomenon called equifinality in the developmental psychopathology literature. A related concept is heterogeneity; we can find individuals with markedly different aetiology to their disorder within the same diagnostic category. The current diagnostic categories identify clinically disturbed functioning, but they do not identify a homogeneous group of individuals.

Getting better at individuating distinct pathways to a disordered outcome is only part of the challenge. Once risk factors for a specific developmental trajectory are identified, we still need to understand their modus operandi. There is no doubt that both biology and the social environment play a role in the emergence of psychopathology, but meaningfully studying their interplay is far from trivial. What are the key biological indicators of vulnerability and resilience? How can we isolate causal mechanisms? How do we model multiple social risk factors and their impact over development?

In Essi Viding’s Loebel lectures, as well as in the talks given by speakers in the accompanying workshop, the following questions will be considered:

How does ‘latent vulnerability’ (of either genetic or environmental origin) translate to a disordered outcome, or conversely what makes some individuals with ‘latent vulnerability’ resilient? To what degree are individuals agents in generating their own environmental circumstances? Do certain behaviours, which can appear disordered, represent adaptations to a specific social ecology? The workshop will also involve discussion between the speakers and the participants on the following issues:

i.what study designs can help us advance our understanding of the questions outlined above

ii.what implications can be drawn for prevention and treatment of psychiatric disorders

iii.what are the challenges of translating individual differences and group level data to bear on the treatment of a single individual

Martin Barker (Professor Emeritus of Film Studies at Aberystwyth University, Director of the Global Hobbit Project) will be visiting Oxford to discuss the results of the landmark Global Hobbit Project, a research initiative examining the popular reception of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit Film trilogy.

Synopsis:
“Tolkien aficionados may have disagreed somewhat among themselves about the value and achievements of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. But any frustrations – or celebrations – over the 2001-3 films were nothing compared to the overwhelming sense of let-down occasioned by the Hobbit trilogy. But your disappointments are, I am afraid, grist to the mill of an audience researcher like me. In 2014 I led a consortium of researchers in 46 countries across the world, to gather responses to Peter Jackson’s second trilogy. We managed to attract just over 36,000 completions of our questionnaire. Of course, when we conceived and planned the project, we couldn’t know what the films would be like, or what range of responses and debates they might elicit. In this presentation I will (briefly) explain why and how we carried out the research, and offer some of its major findings. These can act, I hope, as a kind of mirror to the depths, and also the significance, of the sense of disappointment experienced by even the most hopeful and forgiving viewers. And they open an important agenda about the changing role of ‘fantasy’ in our contemporary culture.”

Please join us at 7pm on Thursday of 7th Week (November 24th) for a presentation by Daniel Castro Garcia and Thomas Saxby on their recent publication ‘Foreigner: Migration into Europe 2015–2016’.

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“The photographs are a protest against those who so
readily attack refugees and migrants entering Europe
without taking into consideration the dangers faced
during the journey.” (Foreigner: Migration into Europe 2015–16 by John Radcliffe Studio www.johnradcliffestudio.com)

For more information please read the press release below:

‘Foreigner: Migration into Europe 2015–2016’, is a photography book that documents the lives of people at various stages of their migration to Europe. The book is divided into three sections, focusing on migration to Italy from North Africa, migration to Greece and through the Balkans from the middle east, and the migrant camp in Calais known as ‘The Jungle’. Alongside the photography, written texts serve both as a context, and a means to share the stories of the people we met during the project.
The book was created in response to the imagery used in
the media to discuss the issue of migration, which we felt was
sensationalist, alarmist and was not giving people the time and
consideration they deserved. We wanted to approach the subject from a calmer perspective, using medium format portrait photography as a means of meeting the people at the centre of the crisis face to face – and of learning something about their lives.

John Radcliffe Studio is the creative partnership of Thomas Saxby and Daniel Castro Garcia. We specialise in photography, film and graphic design and have spent the last year documenting the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe.

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The Moser Theatre is fully accessible, with access to gender netural toilets, and the event will be **FREE** to attend. Oxford for Dunkirk will be collecting donations before and after the event in aid of La Liniere Refugee Camp, Dunkirk, France: please see our page for more details! (www.facebook.com/oxfordfordunkirk)

Jenny Josephs & Why eating insects might soon become the new normal

By 2050 the global population will reach 9 billion and this will put ever increasing pressure on food and environmental resources. It will be a challenge to ensure global food security without further damaging the environment with intensified farming practices.

One UN backed solution is to focus on alternative sources of protein, such as insects for food and animal feed. About 2 billion of us already include insects in our diets, though it is still a growing trend in the west.

Insects are described as having a variety of different flavours, from mushroomy to pistachio or pork crackling. They are comparable to beef in protein and contain beneficial nutrients like iron and calcium. Their environmental impact is also minimal, requiring far less water and feed than cattle, and releasing fewer emissions.

During this talk, Jenny will explain how insects might replace some of the meat in our diets and also give some tips on how to cook them. You will be invited to sample some tasty bug snacks after the talk!

Bio: After completing a PhD in Visual Cognition at the University of Southampton, Jenny changed course and started The Bug Shack – a business promoting and selling edible insects. Jenny is a regular speaker at Skeptics events and science festivals and she recently returned from a trip to research attitudes towards eating and farming insects in Thailand and Laos.

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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/8101/Why-eating-insects-might-soon-become-the-new-normal

Join the Facebook event and invite your friends: https://www.facebook.com/events/1317127301666085/

A twenty minute talk to introduce the topic, followed by Q&As and about an hour’s discussion. All welcome.

Interdisciplinary seminars in psychoanalysis. The seminar is open free of charge to members of Oxford University and to mental health professionals but space is limited.
To attend it is helpful (but not essential) to e-mail Paul Tod at paul.tod@sjc.ox.ac.uk

Explore the latest thinking and research in the pursuit of happiness during this open lecture followed by the award winning documentary HAPPY

Tweet, unlike, hashtag, unfriend. While these terms can now be found in the Oxford English Dictionary, the effect of social media on human psychology is still widely unknown. Is social media really changing the way people socialise? Amy Orben is a College Lecturer in Psychology at The Queen’s College Oxford and currently doing her DPhil in Experimental Psychology. Her research focuses on Facebook stalking and its effect on friendship formation online. Her newest findings paint an exciting picture about social media, evolutionary limitations and new methods of communication. She will talk to us about her recent work and its implications for friendship psychology and social media.

The talk will be held in the function room at the
Wig & Pen pub, George Street, which is wheelchair accessible.

Psychologist in the Pub talks are completely free, and open to all; British Psychological Society members and non-members,
so please join us for the evening. No booking required.

Tweet, unlike, hashtag, unfriend. While these terms can now be found in the Oxford English Dictionary, the effect of social media on human psychology is still widely unknown. Is social media really changing the way people socialise? Amy Orben is a College Lecturer in Psychology at The Queen’s College Oxford and currently doing her DPhil in Experimental Psychology. Her research focuses on Facebook stalking and its effect on friendship formation online. Her newest findings paint an exciting picture about social media, evolutionary limitations and new methods of communication. She will talk to us about her recent work and its implications for friendship psychology and social media.

The talk will be held in the function room at the
Wig & Pen pub, George Street, which is wheelchair accessible.

Interdisciplinary Seminars in Psychoanalysis
The seminar is open free of charge to members of Oxford University and to mental health professionals but space is limited.
To attend it is helpful (but not essential) to e-mail Paul Tod at paul.tod@sjc.ox.ac.uk

Lord Browne of Madingley is presently Chairman of L1 Energy, the Chairman of Trustees of both the Tate and the QEII Prize for Engineering, and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University.

Interdisciplinary Seminars in Psychoanalysis. The seminar is open free of charge to members of Oxford University and to mental health professionals but space is limited. To attend it is helpful (but not essential) to e-mail Paul Tod at paul.tod@sjc.ox.ac.uk

The construct of gratitude is gaining wide attention in the field of positive psychology. Gratitude diaries can be used as a simple, intentional activity to reframe our daily experiences and encourage positive reflection.

The majority of studies have used adult participants and there has been limited research into how gratitude diaries can have a positive impact on children’s well-being. Tara Diebel is an Educational Psychologist working for Hampshire County Council and completed her professional doctorate at Southampton University in 2013. She will talk about her research in primary schools that evaluated whether gratitude diaries could improve a child’s school experience and social well-being.

This talk will outline some of the challenges of mixed methods research and illustrate how they can be addressed in health psychology and other health research. Felicity will critically reflect on mixed methods research that she has conducted and discuss the philosophical and technical challenges of mixed methods, grounding the discussion in a brief review of methodological literature.

Mixed methods research is characterized as having philosophical and technical challenges; the former can be addressed by drawing on pragmatism, the latter by considering formal mixed methods research designs proposed in a number of design typologies. There are important differences among the design typologies which provide diverse examples of designs that health researchers can adapt for their own mixed methods research. There are also similarities; in particular, many typologies explicitly orient to the technical challenges of deciding on the respective timing of qualitative and quantitative methods and the relative emphasis placed on each method. Characteristics, strengths, and limitations of different sequential and concurrent designs are identified by reviewing a series of mixed methods projects each conducted for a different purpose.

Adapting formal mixed methods designs can help health psychologists and other health researchers address the technical challenges of mixed methods research and identify the approach that best fits the research questions and purpose. This does not obfuscate the need to address philosophical challenges of mixing qualitative and quantitative methods.

Dr Felicity Bishop is a health psychologist leading an interdisciplinary programme of mixed methods research around complementary therapies and placebo effects in health care within Psychology at the University of Southampton.

This talk is part of the Mixed Methods in Health Research module, which is part of the MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care.

This is a free event and members of the public are welcome to attend.