A training session for those wishing to hone their communication skills and develop a pitch to take part in the Three Minute Thesis Competition, for DPhil students only. This specialist training is designed for those taking part in the Three Minute Thesis Competition. This session will help you develop your pitch. Read more about the Three Minute Thesis competition here: https://www.mpls.ox.ac.uk/training/training-and-development-blog/three-minute-thesis-competition-launched-deadline-25-may-training-sessions-available-in-march DPhil students from any academic divisional are eligible to take part. In this session you will be taken through the key ingredients to craft a compelling three minute presentation, and have the chance to get feedback on your presentations. Register for the 3MT Oxford heat Thurs 30 May, 3-4pm, Manor Road Building – register: https://cosy.ox.ac.uk/accessplan/clientinput/course/coursebooker.aspx?coursedateid=95409 The final will take place 19 June, 5-6pm at the Manor Road Building. Note that an alternative date for this training is available: 27 March, 1.30pm – 4.30pm, Manor Road Building – register: https://cosy.ox.ac.uk/accessplan/clientinput/course/coursebooker.aspx?coursedateid=95411
We have established that caveolae are dynamic mechanosensors that buffer cell membrane tension variations to protect the cell against mechanical stress. We have now investigated the role of caveolae mechanics in cell signaling. We found that the mechanical disassembly of caveolae increases the amount of non caveolar caveolin-1 at the plasma membrane and releases the EHD2 ATPase from the neck of caveolae. I will show how these two events are critically involved in the regulation of JAK/STAT signaling and gene transcription. Our data link for the first time caveolae mechanosensing to intracellular signaling and establish caveolae as key mechanosignaling devices. ---- Christophe Lamaze is a former resident in medical biology who graduated in Pharmacy (Paris V University) and in Cell Biology (Paris XI University). He is Director of Research, 1st Class at INSERM and Deputy Director of the "Cellular & Chemical Biology" Department at the Institut Curie, where he heads the laboratory "Membrane Mechanics and Dynamics of Intracellular Signaling". Early on, he focused his research on endocytosis and intracellular trafficking. As a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. SL Schmid at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California (1992-97), he established the key role of endocytosis in intracellular signaling (Science 1996; Nature 1996), a pioneering work opening a new field of investigation, and leading to the concept of the “signaling endosome”. In 1997, he joined the Institut Pasteur where he characterized the first clathrin-independent endocytosis known today as the FEME pathway (Mol. Cell 2001). He set up his own team at the Institut Curie in 2001 to study the role of cell membranes dynamics in signaling, focusing on the interferon receptor and JAK/STAT signaling (Cell, 2016, Nature Commun. 2016). In 2011, his team established that caveolae are mechanosensors that provide protection for cells under mechanical stress (Cell 2011).
Planning for elections, calculating the denominator in disease incidence rates, assessing natural disaster impacts, measuring demand for services—underlying all of these activities and many more is the need for ongoing subnational scale data on population sizes and characteristics. While it is often taken for granted that fine-grained, robust, consistent and recent data on populations are readily available in high income settings, obtaining consistent, comparable and spatially-detailed demographic data for resource poor regions can be a challenge. Census data can be incomplete, unreliable or outdated, while registration systems are often weak or lacking completely, and limited funds, conflicts and poor access to many areas make the collection of new data difficult. These features present substantial obstacles to strategic planning for disease elimination, vaccine delivery, reliable health metrics, health system planning and outbreak control. Moreover, with increasing population mobility, the demographic distributions of countries are changing rapidly, with human mobility patterns influencing disease transmission dynamics and elimination efforts. Professor Tatem will provide an overview of the work of WorldPop (www.worldpop.org) and Flowminder (www.flowminder.org) in developing and implementing geospatial methods for integrating census, survey, satellite and cellphone data to strengthen the demographic evidence base in low and middle income settings. He will show how collaborations around geospatial demographic data with governments, UN agencies and others across a range of low income settings are strengthening national statistics, improving health intervention delivery, feeding into disaster response efforts and supporting disease elimination initiatives.
People retrieve episodic memories about specific earlier events that happened to them. Accordingly, researchers have sought to evaluate the hypothesis that nonhumans retrieve episodic memories. The central hypothesis of an animal model of episodic memory is that, at the moment of a memory assessment, the animal retrieves a memory of a specific earlier event. We tested this hypothesis by ruling out non-episodic memory hypotheses. We developed a range of approaches, so that we have working models to evaluate elements of episodic memory in animals. These approaches include: what-where-when memory (Zhou & Crystal 2009, PNAS); source memory (Crystal, Alford, Zhou, & Hohmann 2013, Current Biology); binding of episodic memories (Crystal & Smith 2014, Current Biology); multiple item-in-context memories (Panoz-Brown et al., 2016, Current Biology); replay of episodic memories (Panoz-Brown et al., 2018, Current Biology); and answering unexpected questions after incidental encoding (Zhou, Hohmann, & Crystal 2012, Current Biology). In each approach, evidence for episodic memory comes from studies in which judgments of familiarity cannot produce accurate choices in memory assessments. These approaches may be used to explore the evolution of memory.
2.30 – 3.00 pm Update on enhanced electronic vision Iain Wilson Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology & Oxford Eye Hospital 3.00 – 3.30 pm Genome engineering for inherited retinal degeneration Lewis Fry Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences 3.30 – 3.45 pm Coffee/Tea 3.45 – 4.15 pm Adaptive Optics and the retina Mital Shah Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology & Oxford Eye Hospital 4.15 – 5.00 pm Seeing double: twin studies and the genetic epidemiology of common eye diseases Chris Hammond Kings College London 5.00 – 5.30 pm Wine reception OxVis is sponsored by Oxford Foundation for Theoretical Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, http://www.oftnai.org
Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests/Oxford Biodiversity Network lecture followed by drinks - all welcome We are living in the most explosive era of infrastructure expansion in human history. The most ambitious scheme is China’s Belt & Road Initiative, which will involve over 7,000 planned infrastructure and extractive-industry projects that span much of the planet. Chinese President Xi Jinping promises the Belt & Road will be “green”, “low-carbon” and “sustainable”, but Prof Laurance argues that this is blatantly misleading. He will illustrate the harsh realities of the Belt & Road by describing the plight of the Tapanuli Orangutan, the world’s rarest great ape. He will then identify strategies to lessen the most urgent environmental and societal hazards of the global infrastructure tsunami. Bill Laurance is a Distinguished Research Professor and Australian Laureate at James Cook University. He has written eight books and more than 600 scientific and popular articles. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and former President of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation. His professional honours include the Heineken Environment Prize, the BBVA Frontiers in Conservation Biology Award, a Distinguished Service Award from the Society for Conservation Biology, and the Zoological Society of London’s Outstanding Conservation Achievement Prize. He founded and directs ALERT—the Alliance of Leading Environmental Researchers & Thinkers—a science-advocacy group that reaches 1-2 million readers weekly. He is a four-time winner of Australia’s Best Science Writing Award.
The WIN Mood Disorders Focus Day will take place on the 26th of March between 9am and 5pm in the Richard Doll building (note venue change). Lunch and refreshments will be provided. Registration for the day is still open: https://oxfordxpsy.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a4ZukVf3CJG9Y0t. The day will involve data talks, short oral presentations, posters and a discussion session on how best to facilitate the translation of pre-clinical work so that we can ask clinically interesting questions. Theme1: Physiology, big data and neural dynamics. Chair: Matthew Rushworth Stephen McHugh Serotonergic influences on emotional learning The serotonin transporter regulates synaptic serotonin availability and drugs targeting the transporter (e.g. SSRIs) remain the first line treatment for anxiety and depression. Perhaps surprisingly, recent human genetic studies have failed to find convincing evidence implicating serotonin transporter-related genes on the aetiology of anxiety or depression. In contrast, studies in rodents have reliably demonstrated increased anxiety / depression-like phenotypes arising from genetic knock-out of the serotonin transporter, and reduced anxiety / depression-like phenotypes when the serotonin transporter is over-expressed. Here I will describe some of this animal research, focusing on how genetically-altering serotonin transporter expression or blocking the transporter with drugs influences emotional learning as well as activity in brain structures such as the amygdala and hippocampus. Collectively, these data support the idea that increasing serotonin availability enhances learning for emotionally-relevant events. Miriam Klein-Flügge Relating markers of mental well-being to specific amygdala connections in humans There has been increasing interest in using neuroimaging measures to predict psychiatric disorders. However, predictions usually rely on large numbers of brain connections, thus lacking anatomical specificity and limiting possibilities for targeted interventions, and there is large disorder heterogeneity. We addressed both challenges using resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) and behavioural measures from the Human Connectome Project. First, we parcellated the amygdala, a key region implicated in mood disorders, into seven nuclei using rs-fMRI. Next a factor analysis on a large number of questionnaire scores provided four latent behaviours that captured, at sub-clinical levels, sub-problems frequently found in anxious-depressive individuals, such as negative emotions and sleep problems. Finally, for each latent behaviour, we identified the most predictive connections between individual amygdala nuclei and regions of interest e.g. in brainstem and medial prefrontal cortex. A small number of connections (<8) was in each case sufficient to predict the latent behaviour, providing unprecedented levels of specificity, in humans, for relating mental well-being to precise anatomical connections. Theme 2: Dopamine, apathy, anhedonia and motivation. Chair: Susannah Murphy Laura Grima Action and reward interactions in mesolimbic dopamine There is broad consensus that the activity of midbrain dopaminergic neurons and downstream dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc core) correlate with a reward prediction error. Yet there is also evidence that mesolimbic dopamine release and the activation of dopaminergic receptors on ventral striatal medium spiny neurons may play a causal role in the initiation of goal-directed action. To understand how action and reward interacts in the mesolimbic dopamine system, I have used fast-scan cyclic voltammetry and targeted pharmacological manipulations in conjunction with a novel behavioural task that varies both action requirements and reward size on offer. I will discuss findings that demonstrate a role for action initiation in canonical prediction error signalling, as well as the importance of dopamine D1-receptor activation in the NAc core for in cue-driven action. Youssuf Saleh Apathy in Small Vessel Disease: a multimodal investigation. Clinical apathy is a common, debilitating syndrome that occurs across a multitude of conditions, including cerebrovascular small vessel disease (SVD), where it affects more than a third of patients. Despite its high prevalence, little is known about the mechanisms underlying apathy in SVD. Here we used an approach that combines relatively novel effort-based decision making tasks, that allow better behavioural phenotyping of the syndrome, with multimodal neuroimaging . Our preliminary findings suggest a decrease in reward sensitivity in SVD patients with clinical apathy compared to those without apathy. They were less inclined to invest effort for low rewards. Importantly, this effect was independent of depression, despite a significant correlation between apathy and depression in this group. Interestingly, when apathetic patients did choose to exert effort they took a significantly longer to make decisions that involve cost-benefit evaluation than their motivated counterparts. These findings in SVD are consistent with findings from investigations of apathy in other conditions, such as Parkinson's disease, lending support to common underlying brain mechanisms across clinical conditions with different pathologies. Keno Juchems Constructing value in the medial prefrontal cortex How do we know what is valuable and what is not? In most standard models, value is simply emitted by the environment and can be learned by a decision-maker through reinforcement. However, in many real-world scenarios value needs to be actively constructed from both this environmental feedback and one’s internal state, a process that is impaired in many psychiatric disorders. I will first show in two experiments how an area in the medial prefrontal cortex may support active value construction by tracking the accumulation of behaviourally relevant assets (the internal state) over time. This tracking may provide a simple proxy for reward: Value is encoded as the amount by which a choice rebalances the internal state. Finally, I will argue that a framework of active value construction may provide a better description of the specific impairments of patients with mood disorders. Theme 3: Computational approaches to mood disorders. Chair: Jacinta O’Shea Alon Baram Generalisation of structural knowledge in the entorhinal cortex Several mental conditions can be characterised in terms of faults of inference processes underlying the construction of mental models of the world. An important component of such models is the statistical structure of the world: the relationships between the different entities in the environment. Representing these relationships explicitly, i.e. in a manner that is divorced from the sensory particularities of the entities, is useful for generalising previous knowledge to new environments with the same relational structure – a key component of flexible behaviour. Theoretical and experimental work suggest that “grid cells”, originally discovered in the entorhinal cortex, might encode such an explicit representation of the structure of spatial tasks. In this talk, I will present results from an fMRI study showing that the entorhinal cortex also encodes an explicit representation of the relational structure of a very different task: a stimulus-outcome decision making task with two possible correlation structures between the reward probabilities associated with stimuli. This suggests a common coding framework for task structure across a wide variety of domains. Neil Garrett Keeping track: environmental evaluation in human decision making Many real-world choices such as whether to accept a job or an invitation to dinner involve weighing up the merits of an option against an expectation about whether any better options are likely to materialise any time soon. Making such a decision requires having an estimate as to how prosperous our environment is. A process of belief updating allows us to integrate new evidence about our environment as it gets better or worse and adapt choices accordingly. I will show some unpublished behavioural data collected using an online gamified version of a classic problem from foraging theory: the prey selection task. Human participants were asked to decide whether to accept or reject sequentially encountered stimuli. Choice data was best described by a computational model in which global reward rate estimates were scaled up and down according to separate learning rates. This caused estimates to update sluggishly when the environment deteriorated (causing preferences for options to perseverate) but quickly when it improved (causing preferences to change). Autonomic systems recruited under threat are believed to index the overall quality of one’s environment. In the second part of the talk, I will present findings from a recently published study conducted under controlled conditions (participants in the lab) and in the real world (firefighters on call) revealing that sensitivity to negative information is enhanced under threat. This flexibility in how beliefs are updated may provide a mechanism via which individuals are able to adapt their behaviour in response to the level of global threat present in their environment. Jacqueline Scholl Large behavioural data and psychiatry research online – developing and using novel paradigms In experimental psychiatric research in the lab, we often want to understand behavioural and neural differences between patients and controls or the effects of treatments. Ideally, we would like to use the most sensitive paradigms. However, how do we establish what is the promising paradigm before running the lab study? In this talk, I will propose the use of behavioural data collected over the internet to address this question. I will use a recent example to illustrate our pipeline where I collected a large online data set (n=400) with a wide array of psychiatric disorders and personality measures. Using such online data and a computational model I was able to measure different aspects relating to distinct features of real-life behaviour: planning for long-term goals, working towards these goals while adaptively checking that they are still worthwhile, pre-emptively avoiding situations in which one knows that ones biases will hinder achieving one’s goals. I could then relate distinct aspects of behaviour to distinct psychiatric symptoms, controlling for comorbidities. Theme 4: Inflammation and mood. Chair: Mark Walton Daniel C. Anthony The behavioural consequences of inflammation in the brain. In animal models, peripheral inflammatory disease induces the expression of proinflammatory cytokines in the brain, and is associated with stereotypical sickness behaviours that are similar to the behaviours exhibited by individuals suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD). For example, aggression, hyperactivity, impulsivity, helplessness and anhedonia are all signs of depressive-like disorders in humans and are often reported to be present in animal models of depression induced by inflammatory challenges. Chronically stressed mice display increased levels of anxiety, an increased propensity to float in the forced swim test, and demonstrate hyperactivity under stressful lighting conditions. These changes are associated with elevated expression of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF) and the 5-HT transporter (SERT) in the pre-frontal cortex and further supports the view that sickness behaviours and mood disorders may be closely related at a molecular level. Interestingly, other atypical stressors such as a high-fat diet also induce the same behaviours as chronic stress and provoke cytokine expression in the brain. However, the relationship is not as simple as it seems; it has become clear that both stress and inflammatory challenges induce distinct molecular and behavioural changes in the brains of rodents and the behaviours do not summate. The combination of a sub clinical inflammatory response with chronic mild stress exacerbates depressive behaviours, but inhibits aggressive behaviours. Understanding the interplay between stress, infection, and diet on the production of cytokines in the brain is essential if inflammation-targeted therapy is to become part of the therapeutic repertoire to treat MDD. Riccardo De Giorgi Fantastic treatments and where to find them: exploring the links between resistant depression and inflammation Are depression and inflammation interconnected conditions? If so, what treatment strategies could be developed to break this vicious circle? This talk will briefly cover the neurobiological underpinnings of the links between resistant depression and inflammation, consider their clinical implications, and discuss potential research avenues in this area. Beata Godlewska Changes in emotional processing as a putative biomarker of antidepressant response Among the most important research topics in depression is identification of treatment response biomarkers. Currently, often many attempts are necessary to find an effective treatment, which translates into delays in response and an increased burden of depression. If response biomarkers are available, an informed decision could be made about treatment most likely to lead to a symptomatic improvement in an individual patient in the shortest possible time. Functional neuroimaging has played a key role in elucidating neural substrates of treatment response and has been a useful tool in the search for biomarkers of antidepressant response. One of the key features of depression is negative affective bias. Antidepressant treatments have been shown to modulate its behavioural and neural correlates early in the course of treatment, before improvement in symptoms is noticeable. It was hypothesised that these early changes in emotional processing may play a crucial role in symptomatic improvement seen later in the course of treatment. This talk will focus on the data exploring early changes in processing of emotional information at the neural level as a putative biomarker of clinical response to antidepressant treatments, and will explore the link between mechanisms of action of antidepressant drugs and response prediction.
The Diatchenko lab investigates the psychological, molecular, cellular, and genetic pathways that mediate both acute and persistent pain. A primary goal of her laboratory is to identify the critical elements of human genetic variability contributing to pain sensitivity and pathological pain states. In this talk Professor Diatchenko will discuss how genome-wide genetic and transcriptomic data analysis lead to understanding of molecular pathophysiology of pain states and enable individualized treatments and therapies. The analysis of both human clinical samples and animal pain models will be discussed.
Computational neuroscientists often describe synapses by a single number: the synaptic weight. Learning is then implemented by shifting this number. In contrast, biological synapses are complex systems with their own internal dynamics. This structure has profound consequences for their ability to learn and store memories. We analyse the entirety of a broad class of models of synaptic plasticity. We find trade-offs between rapid learning and slow forgetting and the models that navigate them optimally. This yields predictions for the different synaptic structures found in different brain regions. We also investigate genetic/pharmacological manipulations intended to speed up learning. We uncover the rules by which such interventions succeed or fail. The outcome is determined by both neural activity and synaptic structure. This provides an explanation for the mixed results of experiments with enhanced plasticity.
Judith will share how Walmart is transforming to make life easier for its customers and associates, and taking steps to strengthen the communities it serves around the world. McKenna is president and chief executive officer of Walmart International, a growing segment of Walmart’s overall operations that is focused on making life easier for its customers and associates. She leads more than 5,900 retail units and 700,000 associates across 26 countries.
Julia Gillard was the prime minister of Australia from 2010-2013. She was the first woman to serve as Australia’s prime minister. In October 2012 she received worldwide attention for her speech in Parliament on the treatment of women in professional and public life. Julia Gillard has a longstanding commitment to expanding access and quality to education worldwide and to supporting girls and women fulfil their potential. Some of her current activities include serving as a patron of CAMFED, the Campaign for Female Education and chairing the Global Partnership for Education. She will be talking at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, on Tuesday 26 March, at 5.30-6.30pm on “Women and Leadership - Fighting for an equal world“.
https://www.thesgc.org/news/oxford/life-sciences-entrepreneur-seminar-2
Level: Targeted three-day systematic review course covering elements of systematic review protocol design, searching for studies and study eligibility, methods of assessing risk of bias, meta-analysis using different types of data (eg. dichotomous, continuous, etc), and methodological and statistical considerations in systematic reviews. The course emphasis is on systematic reviews of interventions, but special sessions on other types of reviews (diagnostic, prognostic, individual patient data) tailored to the needs of the attendees can be included. Target audience: Ideally attendees would be at the early stages of working on a systematic review or planning to start soon and have a title in mind. Cost: This course is free but you must register in advance to reserve your place. Certification: This is a course approved by Cochrane, and attendees will receive a Cochrane Review Author Training Course certificate. There are only limited places available for this course. If you are interested please contact the course organiser as soon as possible for queries on the course content and to discuss your eligibility to attend.
Improved understanding of water risks, of the drivers of poverty, and of institutional constraints is central to the development of policies and practices that aim to achieve and maintain water security for the poor. In an increasingly complex landscape of demographic, climatic, environmental, political and economic change, this requires moving beyond sectoral and disciplinary silos and traditional approaches which isolate drinking water from water resources. Since 2015, the DFID-funded REACH programme has been collaborating with government, practitioner and enterprise stakeholders to improve water security for millions of poor people in Africa and South Asia by delivering world-class science that influences policy and practice. On 27-29 March, REACH’s international conference on Water Security and Poverty will convene leading practitioners and scientists in Oxford to discuss key results to date from REACH in Bangladesh, Kenya and Ethiopia, and continue to shape major academic, policy and practice debates around water security and poverty.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) assesses the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of new medical technologies on behalf of the English National Health Service (NHS) to support efficient allocation of health care resources. The 2015 seminal paper by Claxton et al. estimated an average cost effectiveness threshold for the English NHS measuring the marginal effect of changes in healthcare budget on mortality reduction across different clinical areas or programme budget categories (PBCs). The aim of this study is to provide further empirical evidence on the relationship between health outcomes and health expenditures in England by (1) extending the analysis to include different health outcomes, and (2) examining the relationship between mortality and health expenditures along the mortality distribution. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is applied to multiple health outcomes and health expenditure data from 151 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in England across seven PBCs. Quantile Regression (QR) is applied to analysing mortality outcomes and health expenditure data for six PBCs. Comparisons are made between results from our study and the preferred outcome specification models estimated by Lomas, Martin and Claxton (2018). Finally, we compare the ranking of PCTs according to the DEA efficiency scores and outcome elasticities estimated in the QR approach. The results provide evidence of heterogeneity across PCTs and PBCs as to how health resources are used to improve outcomes. Efficient PCTs tend to have lower absolute levels of mortality elasticity to health expenditure than inefficient PCTs. This study provides empirical evidence suggesting that (1) estimates of the opportunity cost of introducing new technologies based on average performance of efficient and less efficient commissioners are biased downwards and subject to great variation, and (2) different PCTs have different production functions. There is not a common production function for providers underlying a common threshold.
Leaders have an important role to play, but often the synchronicity of teams is the real secret of high performance. What role do leaders play in achieving and maintaining this? How do leaders help teams get in sync and stay there? Musical ensembles understand the importance of this innately. In this talk, Dr Harrison will explore how musicians work with each other, acknowledging a conductor’s “lead” but also deploying other mechanisms to get and stay in sync. The audience will also be invited to participate in some interactive exercises to experience for themselves how synchronicity emerges. The seminar is open for anyone to attend, registration is essential so please use the register button to confirm your attendance. Schedule: 12:00 - On-site registration & buffet lunch 12.15 - Talk commences 13:30 - Event close About the Engaging with the Humanities series: Saïd Business School works with a number of Oxford's leading Humanities scholar in a series of activities to which we give the broad title 'Engaging with the Humanities'. This series of events is a part of that, and open to all member of the Business School and local Oxford community. We are delighted to welcome Dr Pegram Harrison to deliver a session at the School on Wednesday 27 March. About the speaker: Pegram Harrison is a Senior Fellow in Entrepreneurship at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. He is a member of the Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and of Brasenose College, Oxford. He also conducts research at the intersection of business and social issues, and on projects relating to business education, particularly for women entrepreneurs in Muslim communities. Pegram received a BA in Literature from Yale University, a PhD in English Literature and Indian History from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from the London Business School. Before joining Saїd Business School in 2008 he taught entrepreneurship and strategy at the European Business School, London, and was Director of the Emerging Leaders Programme at the London Business School. He has also taught literature and history at New York University and Birkbeck College at the University of London.
Lunch is provided. • Briefings include insights provided by Professor David Pyle (Department of Earth Sciences), a member of the sift panel for Round 1. • Briefings are open to those considering applying for the fellowship in round 3 or round 4 and departmental research support colleagues. • Both sessions will cover the aims of the scheme, eligibility criteria, applicant and department commitment, the application and assessment process, timelines and facilitation support offered by the divisional team.
A training session for those wishing to hone their communication skills and develop a pitch to take part in the Three Minute Thesis Competition, for DPhil students only. This specialist training is designed for those taking part in the Three Minute Thesis Competition. This session will help you develop your pitch. Read more about the Three Minute Thesis competition here: www.mpls.ox.ac.uk/training/training-and-development-blog/three-minute-thesis-competition-launched-deadline-25-may-training-sessions-available-in-march DPhil students from any academic divisional are eligible to take part. In this session you will be taken through the key ingredients to craft a compelling three minute presentation, and have the chance to get feedback on your presentations. Register for the 3MT Oxford heat Thurs 30 May, 3-4pm, Manor Road Building – register: cosy.ox.ac.uk/accessplan/clientinput/course/coursebooker.aspx?coursedateid=95409 The final will take place 19 June, 5-6pm at the Manor Road Building. Note that an alternative date for this training is available: 25 March, 9.30am – 12.30pm, Manor Road Building – register: https://cosy.ox.ac.uk/accessplan/clientinput/course/coursebooker.aspx?coursedateid=95410
This presentation will focus on some key medical device technologies in neuromodulation. Particularly, medical technologies for CNS (Central Nervous System) stimulation targeting conditions like chronic pain and epilepsy. Special emphasis will be placed in the description of Spinal Cord Stimulators and Brain Neurostimulators how this novel medical platforms work, the science and technology underlying these, and the advances of each of these.
My research has focused on two main aspects of neurobiology, the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s and trapping and accumulation of inhibitory receptors at synapses. In my laboratory, we employ cell biological, biochemistry and proteomic techniques in an effort to: i) discover how pathogenic mutations in PARK genes lead to neuronal death, ii) uncover new leads for genetic analysis, and iii) identify new therapeutic targets for disease modifying treatment. My current research focus is on the physiological and pathological role of the Parkinson’s protein LRRK2 in Wnt signalling and cytoskeletal function. In addition, I continue to research the role of proteins important for receptor clustering such as gephyrin and collybistin in inhibitory receptor clustering and intellectual disability.
The fourth annual collaboration between the Structural Genomics Consortium and the Arts University of Bournemouth presents a new exhibition featuring work from 18 artists inspired by the research into drug discovery undertaken at the SGC reflecting the broad scientific interest of the SGC and the unique interpretation by the AUB. The event marks the opening of the exhibition and is a chance to speak to the artists about their pieces. The work will be on display throughout trinity term until the 15th June
Transportation stands out as a key sector when striving to decarbonize our societies. In this workshop, we will explore key issues within research on transport towards 2050, seeking to enlighten where current research is leading us, what is missing and what should be our future agenda of inquiry. A special focus will be given to the role of new technologies in transforming modes of mobility and practices of transport. Digitalization, electrification, sharing and automation are three trends that are considered important. Rather than consider these technologies as unambiguously representing progress, this workshop will investiagte them as elements that can be part of transforming societies, and life on future roads. Such technologies might entail substantial benefits to society, but history also illustrates that new technologies often bring unforeseen social consequences. Are for instance autonomous vehicles a way of extending a non-sustainable car-based society, or will they herald a society with far fewer vehicles that are mostly shared? Will such technology democratize mobility, providing universal and instant access, or will they mainly work in highly gentrified areas, reinforcing patterns of social stratification in access to transport? Will big data from millions of vehicles primarily be used to help optimize transportation patterns and increase road safety, or will we see the emergence of new information ecologies, which will largely serve the interest of tech-giant corporations? The answers to such questions are highly contingent on contemporary practices of innovation, planning and technology development, and the degree to which such processes reflexively engage with societal questions. Further, they depend on perceived public needs and aspirations produced in contemporary mobility culture, and the many practices that today leads people to drive, cycle, walk, and take the bus and train, and which leads companies to transport goods in the ways that they do. Hence, this workshop featuring international and national transport, mobility and innovations studies renowned scholars, will combine a future oriented gaze on expectations and imaginaries, with a contemporary focus on activities that either re-enforces or destabilizes how we as societies are mobile. This workshop is hosted by the DRIVERS-project, funded by the Norwegian Research Councils program Transport 2025. Seewww.driversproject.org for more
This one day course will serve as an introduction to the concepts and principles in the economics of health and health care. It will provide an in-depth understanding of the tools used by health economists to address the most pressing issues of health policy. Econometric techniques to evaluate public health interventions and policy will be used. Aimed at PhD, MPhil and MD students, researchers, public health trainees and professionals, practitioners, managers, CEOs interested in pursuing a high-stake career in the field, this programme provides an introduction to the central issues in health economics and health policy. Course content: basic health policy and economic principles and distinction between health and health care. Nature of health care as an economic commodity. Incentive mechanisms and principal-agent relationships in health care. Hospital competition. Economic analysis evaluation. Prices: Students - £250 Others - £550
The British Council and the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford, University are proud to present the launch of new research and a panel discussion on: Corporations, Business and Social Trust. 'At a time when nationalism is rising and support for democratic values is declining, it is vital to re-assess the forces that shape social trust globally. This event will shed light on what is often missed and the potentially significant role that private sector institutions play in influencing social trust. This event will feature the launch of new research on this topic from the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University. The findings of this research, which will be debated at this dialogue, suggest that while corporations and businesses more generally are increasingly influential in determining how much citizens trust one another, they appear to be largely overlooked in literature and studies of social trust.' Expert Panel: Peter Holbrook CBE, Chief Executive at Social Enterprise UK Nikolas Kirby, Research Fellow in Philosophy and Public Policy at The Blavatnik School of Government Kate Raworth, Senior Visiting Research Associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and Senior Associate at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership Harvey Koh, Managing Director at FSG Global Impact Consultancy
The “taxation of the digital economy” is currently at the top of the global international tax policymaking agenda. A core claim some governments are advancing is that user data or user participation in the digital economy justifies a gross tax on digital receipts, new profit attribution criteria, or a special formulary apportionment factor in a future formulary regime targeted specifically at the “digital economy.” Just a couple years ago the OECD undertook an evaluation of whether the digital economy can (or should) be “ring-fenced,” and concluded that it neither can be nor should be. That conclusion is consistent with the findings of the European Commission High Level Expert Group on Taxation of the Digital Economy. Importantly, concluding that there should be no special rules for the digital economy does not resolve the broader question of whether the international tax system requires reform. The practical reality appears to be that all the largest economies have come to agree either that a) there is something wrong with the taxation of the “digital economy,” or b) there is something more fundamentally wrong with the structure of the current international tax system given globalization and technological trends. The IMF also strongly endorses the idea that fundamental reform of the international tax system is necessary. Currently four proposals for reforming the international tax system are being discussed at the OECD. My paper (which predates the OECD consultation paper) is intended as a ‘second best’ exploration of some of these ideas. First, I consider whether “user participation” justifies changing profit allocation results in the digital economy alone. I conclude that applying the user participation concept in a manner that is limited to the digital economy is intellectually indefensible; at most it amounts to mercantilist ring-fencing. Moreover, at the technical level user participation faces all the same challenges as more comprehensive and principled proposals for reallocating excess returns among jurisdictions. Second, I consider one such comprehensive international tax reform idea, loosely referred to by the moniker “marketing intangibles.” This idea represents a compromise between the present transfer pricing system and sales or destination-based reforms to the transfer pricing regime. I conclude that splitting taxing rights over “excess” returns between the present transfer pricing system and a destination-based approach is complex, creates new sources of potential conflict, and requires relatively extensive tax harmonization. This conclusion applies equally to user participation and marketing intangibles. If such a mechanism were nevertheless pursued, I suggest that a formulary system for splitting the excess return is the most manageable approach. Third, I consider “minimum effective taxation” ideas. I conclude that, as compared to the other two policy options discussed herein, minimum effective taxation provides a preferable path for multilateral cooperation.
Migrant workers face significant barriers of knowledge, language, cost, and status in accessing adequate healthcare in their host countries. Hospitals routinely encounter migrant workers whose need for long-term medical care may trigger the prospect of work termination and repatriation. These workers often lack the knowledge and power to determine, on their own, whether to stay for treatment or how to be sent home safely. While employment contracts and country-specific employment policies offer some guidance, they are not clear on the conditions under which hospitals can support or endorse such medical repatriation. In this paper, I will extend the ethical framework on medical repatriation in Kuczewski (AJOB 2012), by analysing challenging cases in Singapore that involve transient migrant workers with non-work-related health conditions. My analysis will draw on recent research into migrant vulnerability in multicultural contexts and the ethics of just repatriation. First, I will outline Kuczewski’s ethical framework, which focuses on the medical repatriation of undocumented migrants. Based on the mission and values of hospitals, it specifies three necessary conditions under which repatriation is ethical. These conditions relate to the patient’s best interest, the hospital’s due diligence, and the patient’s informed consent. Second, I will examine the challenges of applying these three conditions to transient migrant workers. The challenges arise partly from the distinctive migration projects and employment conditions of such workers, who are unusually dependent on others and disempowered in host countries. Hospitals also face potential conflicts between their organisational norms, employer practices, and state policies. Through an analysis of a series of difficult cases, I seek to clarify the ethical role of hospitals in repatriating transient migrant workers and propose some practical guidelines.
The Sheldon Tapestry Maps for Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire are woven in wool and silk, and are fine examples of cartography and decorative art dating from the 1590s. Commissioned by Ralph Sheldon for his home at Weston, Warwickshire, the series illustrates these four midland counties of England, the tapestries’ geographical extent covering the country from the Bristol Channel to London. The tapestries are of major significance for cartographic history, forming a unique representation of the landscape, at a period when modern cartography was still in its infancy. Since 2012, a team of conservators from the Bodleian and the National Trust have worked together to undertake conservation work on all three of the Bodleian’s tapestry maps, plus on a small set of accompanying fragments. The conservation treatment work is now close to completion, and the Sheldon Tapestry Map of Worcestershire (currently on display in Blackwell Hall, Weston Library, since 2014) will soon be rotated with the Sheldon Tapestry Map of Oxfordshire, coinciding with our upcoming major exhibition “Talking Maps” (5 July 2019 - 1 March 2020). The project has also included the scientific analysis of the colours used to make the maps, in collaboration with the Department of Scientific Research of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, National Museums of Scotland, the University of Edinburgh, and the Bodleian’s Heritage Science section. Additionally, we are currently working with University College London to develop a micro-fading system that is suitable for this kind of collection. This project was made possible thanks to generous donations from The JP Getty Jnr Charitable Trust, the Clothworkers Company, and a number of private donors.
Stuart's research focuses on how the light environment regulates physiology and behaviour. The vertebrate retina contains photoreceptors that mediate the dual tasks of vision and monitoring environmental irradiance (brightness). Environmental light modulates numerous different processes in our bodies, including the circadian clock, sleep/wake timing, pupil constriction, hormone synthesis, heart rate and cognitive performance. The central aims of our work are to understand how light information is transmitted from eye to the brain and the neural and molecular signalling pathways involved. Understanding how light affects our bodies is critical to appreciate how the modern artificial lighting environment may impact upon our health and to determine how we can optimise lighting to the demands of the 24/7 society.
Syntenic arrays of extremely conserved non-coding elements (CNEs) regulate key developmental genes in multiple diverse Metazoan lineages. Due to a lack of sequence conservation between CNEs across distant lineages, it has been proposed that this form of long-range gene regulation has been acquired independently in multiple lineages. Our alternative hypothesis is that while these sequences are extremely conserved within a lineage, no sequence is totally indispensable and therefore given enough time, sequence turnover within CNEs would make their identification between lineages impossible. By analysing deeply and shallowly conserved arrays of CNEs, known as genomic regulatory blocks (GRBs), in three metazoan lineages, and find that in all three, deeply and shallowly conserved GRBs target distinct subsets of genes: the most conserved GRBs regulate mostly developmental transcription factors, and the least conserved regulating cell adhesion molecules and neural developmental genes. Even shallowly conserved GRBs often have CNEs in all three lineages, arguing in favour of their ancient origin and divergence by turnover rather than lineage-specific emergence. Deeply and shallowly conserved GRBs also differ in the timing of their expression during development, their chromatin state and their repeat content. This suggest that GRB-like gene regulation of animal development has an ancient origin, and that the rate of regulatory region turnover within GRBs is influenced by the pleiotropy of the gene under regulation.
The Creative Power of Metaphor https://www.creativeml.ox.ac.uk/about/events/creative-power-metaphor #creativemetaphor 29th – 30th March 2019 at Worcester College, Oxford, UK Join us for a 2-day conference on the nexus between Metaphor, Linguistic Diversity, and Creativity. The conference will be structured around four themes. Each theme will be introduced in a keynote lecture, and developed in a plenary round-table discussion featuring selected panelists. Panelists will address general questions as well as questions raised by the audience. Moreover, 4 extensive Poster sessions will be dedicated to present specific studies related to the four themes. The output of the conference will consist of a series of edited videoclips featuring the debates, which will be broadcasted on the Creative Multilingualism website and disseminated on relevant video channels and social media. For queries and clarifications please contact the organisers. Themes: 1. Metaphor and Linguistic Diversity Keynote speaker: Lera Boroditsky 2. Metaphor and Emotion Keynote speaker: Zoltán Kövecses 3. Metaphor and Communication Keynote speaker: Gerard Steen 4. Metaphor and Creativity Keynote speaker: Rachel Giora Registration Conference fee: £90 Reduced fee for students: £50 Registration will open in early December. The Organisers Professor Katrin Kohl Dr Marianna Bolognesi Dr Ana Werkmann Horvat The conference is part of the multi-institutional research programme Creative Multilingualism (www.creativeml.ox.ac.uk), funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Our research group is a large cross-disciplinary team of academics working on the nexus between linguistic diversity and creativity. The conference is being organised by Strand 1 of Creative Multilingualism: Embodying Ideas – the Creative Power of Metaphor: https://www.creativeml.ox.ac.uk/research/metaphor. The event is also endorsed by RaAM, the international Network for Researching and Applying Metaphor. We look forward to welcoming you in Oxford!
We and our collaborators seek to understand molecular mechanisms of long-term memory in identified elements of a memory-encoding circuit in vivo. Our work on the Drosophila olfactory system has a) outlined a simple neural circuit that encodes habituation memory; b) identified likely components and assembly mechanisms for neuronal ribonucleoprotein (RNP) granules; and c) shown how translational control mechanisms and RNP granules participate in mnemonic processes. Our studies indicate that olfactory habituation arises from the potentiation of inhibitory synapses from a sparse group of local interneurons onto excitatory output neurons in the antennal lobe. The underlying synaptic plasticity mechanism, scaled up from small to large circuits, can create negative images (or inhibitory engrams) of object-encoding cell assemblies and so potentially account for habituation across systems and species. This “negative-image model,” recently supported by observations in the mammalian auditory cortex, explains the key behavioral features of habituation (“gating” and “override”) better than any other current model. I will end by discussing arguments developed in collaboration with colleagues in Oxford, which suggest that inhibitory memory engrams, similar to those involved in habituation, can convert recently encoded memories into latent remote memories that remain accessible to recall, and speculate on possible implications for the function and physiology of sleep, atypical psychiatric states, and dreaming.
Almost all healthcare interventions involve groups of people with different roles and skills working together, whether or not these groups are called teams. Learning to work in teams is thus essential to achieving change. In this workshop, participants will explore their own personalities, how different personalities interact when working together and how teams can achieve better outcomes by working together more effectively. Designed for present and past medical students, doctors in training and other healthcare professionals, this workshop will be interactive and involve small group discussions and exercises. The workshop will be led by Maire and Paul Brankin, both members of Green Templeton College, who work with Chairmen, Chief Executives, senior managers and medical leaders in the NHS, helping them to develop their leadership and management skills.
Almost all healthcare interventions involve groups of people with different roles and skills working together, whether or not these groups are called teams. Learning to work in teams is thus essential to achieving change. In this workshop, participants will explore their own personalities, how different personalities interact when working together and how teams can achieve better outcomes by working together more effectively. Designed for present and past medical students, doctors in training and other healthcare professionals, this workshop will be interactive and involve small group discussions and exercises.
OUCAGS event for clinical DPhil students, comprising: overview of clinical academic paths; talks by post-doctoral academic doctors; careers surgeries; and a networking lunch. Programme: https://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/x/B4cBwM Registration required via: https://oxford.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/dphils-event-2019
Mean-field theory is commonly used to analyze the dynamics of large neural network models. In this approach, the interactions of the original network are replaced by appropriately structured noise driving uncoupled units in a self-consistent manner. This allows properties of the network dynamics to be predicted and the behavior of the network to be understood as a whole. Results in random matrix theory have been used to relate the structure of the connectivity of neural networks to their mean-field dynamics. In my talk I will explain the mean-field approach, discuss its relation to random matrix theory, and analyze how the dynamics of neural network models are related to their connectivity structure. I will provide examples of networks that the mean-field theory describes accurately as well as examples, analyzed with the use of matrix theory, in which small modifications in the connectivity matrix can result in large deviations from mean-field predictions.
Epidemiological studies have shown a strong association between perinatal infection / inflammation and brain damage in the newborn and/or neurological handicap in survivors. Experimental studies have allowed to show a causal effect of infection / inflammation on perinatal brain damage. Infection / inflammatory factors can induce brain damage by themselves. Accordingly, injection of E Coli to pregnant rabbits induces periventricular white matter cysts and widespread white matter cell death, mimicking brain damage observed in preterm infants. In addition, injection of Ureaplasma Parvum to pregnant mice induces myelin defects and loss of interneurons in the offspring. Similarly, injection of LPS to pregnant rats induces transient central inflammation and myelination defects in the offspring. Alternatively, in the so-called multiple hit hypothesis, infection / inflammation can act as predisposing factors making the brain more susceptible to a second stress (sensitization process). Indeed, injection of low doses LPS to developing rats makes the newborn brain significantly more susceptible to hypoxic-ischemic insult. Similarly, injection of interleukin-1-beta to newborn mice or rats makes the brain much more sensitive to an excitotoxic insult. Current studies are evaluating the time window during which sensitization of the brain will persist after exposure to inflammatory factors in the perinatal period. In addition, the mechanisms by which sensitization is working are not yet fully undertsood but could include changes in gene transcription and modifications of glutamate receptor activity. Epidemiological data also suggest that perinatal exposure to inflammatory factors could predispose to long term diseases including psychiatric disorders. This could be particularly the case for preterm infants whose brain could be more sensitive to environmental factors when compared to full term infants. In this context, exposure of newborn mice to low doses of interleukin-1-beta during the neonatal period has been recently shown to disrupt oligodendrocyte maturation, myelin formation and axonal development. These white matetr abnormalities are moderate during the developmental period but do persist until adulthood. They lead to permanent deficiencies in behavioral tests without detectable effects on motor functions. The underlying molecular mechanisms include alterations of the transcription of genes implicated in oligodendrogenesis, myelin formation and axonal maturation. Altogether, these clinical and experimental data strongly support the hypothesis that exposure to infection / inflammation during pregnancy or the eprinatal period is deleterious for the brain. This can lead to the appearance of perinatal brain damage that can lead to long term neurological and cognitive disabilities. In addition, some data also suggest that the perinatal exposure to inflammatory factors can alter the programs of brain development.
Coming soon
Dung beetles in the British Isles are a vital part of their associated ecosystems but have been historically rather overlooked probably due to their chosen habitat. Now our native dung beetles are finally beginning to get some of the invertebrate limelight due to an emphasis on ecosystem services and a much more environmentally friendly farming future. However we are lacking on a great deal of base data about these vitally important species and surveying is the one of the best ways to get information. This means getting into dung and discovering these unsung heroes. Sally-Ann Spence, a farmer, educator and researcher, co-founded the Dung Beetle UK Mapping Project (DUMP) to survey, record, conserve and research our native dung beetles. Please see http://www.anhso.org.uk for more information about the Society.
An Academic Industry Meeting Day (AIMday) is an innovative networking event that allows external organisations to set the agenda and gain academic perspective into industry challenges. This AIMday will focus on Advanced Therapies and Regenerative Medicine. Registration for academic scientists will open December 21st 2018, and the deadline for registration is March 27th 2019. For more information about AIMdays @ Oxford visit: https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/support-services/teams/business-development/networking-events/aimdays
Digital games are already part of everyday life for about 2 billion people worldwide, and their popularity has been increasing steadily in recent years. Games are emotionally engaging, interactive, and allow for a myriad of scenarios and ramifications. Despite these advantages, bioethics has yet to embrace this exceptional resource. This talk presents a theoretical rationale to motivate empirical bioethicists to use games as an empirical tool. I will discuss how games fit into the current methodological landscape in the field, and what advantages they offer in comparison to traditional methods, including their potential for high scalability and greater emotional and contextual grounding. I will close with an example of a digital role-playing scenario, developed in collaboration with the Neuroscience, Ethics and Society Young People’s Advisory Group, to investigate young people’s values and preferences in relation to predictive testing in mental health.
Free drop-in clinic for advice on Human Tissue Act matters, open to all University staff; no booking required
Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests seminar followed by drinks - all welcome, booking required Tree mortality is rising in the tropics and throughout the globe, with implications on the carbon cycle and climate forcing. However, we do not yet understand the causes of this rising mortality, precluding us from mechanistic prediction under future climate. In this presentation Nate will review our state-of-the-knowledge regarding the drivers and mechanisms of tree mortality with a focus on the tropics, while also extending our inference to the globe. Changes in atmospheric conditions such as rising CO2, temperature, and VPD are plausible explanations for the global mortality rise. Mitigation mechanisms exist by which mortality may be buffered by increasing growth, but the number of mortality drivers outweighs those driving increased growth, casting doubt on the strength of the future forest carbon sink. The path forward to better understanding and simulation is highlighted. Nate McDowell received his BSc at the University of Michigan, MSc at the University of Idaho, and PhD at Oregon State University. He worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory for 14 years and is now a staff scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Nate studies the carbon and water balance of plants and their impacts on plant growth and survival.
For many good reasons, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, thematic analysis, and realist tales have become key tools within the qualitative researcher’s methodological toolkit. In this presentation, Dr Cassandra Phoenix invites the audience to consider the extent to which they may have (inadvertently) become the only tools within their toolkit. Drawing on examples from across the social sciences, she considers how else we might collect, analyse and represent qualitative data within health research, asking what it means and involves to truly advance qualitative research methods in this field. Dr Cassandra Phoenix is a Reader in the Department for Health at the University of Bath. Her research examines ageing, health and wellbeing from a critical/socio-cultural perspective. She has authored numerous publications on topics including the social and cultural dimensions of: physical activity in mid and later life; the lived experiences of chronic conditions (e.g. late onset visual impairment, vestibular disorders); and engagement with nature. Cassandra’s work is supported by a range of funders including ESRC, Wellcome Trust, Leverhulme Trust, WHO and the NIHR. This talk is being held as part of the Advanced Qualitative Research Methods course which is part of the Evidence-Based Health Care Programme. This is a free event and members of the public are welcome to attend.
In this presentation I will reflect on the conduct of Transport Geography research in the current era in which the earth system, the 'geo', has become an active participant in public life. Building on the work of thinkers such as Bruno Latour, I will argue for an expansion of substantive concerns, theory, and methodology for geographical research about transport configurations. As an important part of this expanded agenda, geographers should contribute to a shift in the logics that help to organize and shape (transformations in) transport configurations, from a preoccupation with acceleration and efficient, reliable and normal movement to ongoing and just adaptation of such configurations to a variety of pressures and more sudden events. The concept of place-based infrastructuring will be introduced, which needs to be accompanied by specific methodological orientations and practices revolving around concreteness, singularities, provincialization and description. In this way it becomes easier to study the necessarily context-dependent geo-social politics of transport. Some of those politics will be illustrated using empirical examples from various ongoing research projects in which I am involved.
So-called ‘real world’ experimentation is an important part of the innovation process, particularly as new technologies, practices, policies or combinations of these emerge as niches. Such ‘real-world’ or in vivo testing of products, technologies and/or processes is thought to generate alternative types of knowledge and data from that produced by way of traditional in vitro laboratory experiments. It is often suggested that in vivo experiments occur in uncontained settings, are less controllable, and present opportunities for unintended experiences or surprises, thereby providing opportunities for second-order learning – changing underlying values and norms. Such real world experiments are increasingly occurring in partnership with public sector actors, including councils and policymakers. In this paper, we use the example of ongoing experimentation with connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) in two English urban settings, Oxford and Greenwich, to show how the experimental ‘real-world’ is constructed and decided upon by key experimental actors, including some groups (e.g. selected innovators, investors, selected publics) while excluding others (e.g. community groups). We show how public sector interest in these experiments tends to relate to economic development opportunities, identity formation, and regional provenance claims, and is often used to attract inward investment often by way of public-private partnerships. As a result, the spaces of experimentation are often limited to new, high-income neighbourhoods. In this presentation, we consider the types of data and knowledge produced by these urban experiments, and the opportunities and limitations of using these data for decision making.
Walking infrastructure in most places in São Paulo is suboptimal, particularly given omnipresent and unyielding automobility, the undulating landscape, and an ambient sense of personal insecurity. The apparent apathy of the complex of authorities responsible for pedestrian infrastructure has driven some citizens and citizen-led organizations to intervene with creative projects, frugally employing materials such as paint, pallets, and capes to create more inviting urban spaces for walkers. For example, some re-appropriate the raison d’etre of more durable infrastructures through transitory physical occupation, such as self-styled superheroes who take back the space of existing zebra crossings for pedestrians. Others render the bleak and interpersonally risky city staircases in marginalized neighbourhoods welcoming for more vulnerable residents. This paper explores these citizen-led pedestrian infrastructure initiatives in São Paulo. We discover that the supplementation of existing infrastructure is not the only purpose of these interventions. Rather, their broader symbolic purchase is seen by the citizen-leaders as equally important, particularly in the way they make rights and (ir)responsibilities visible and communicate a narrative of empowerment through do-it-yourself and do-it-together community action. In addition to these representational dimensions, and following on recent work calling for more relational understanding of infrastructures, we also characterize these as ‘actuating’ infrastructures, in the way they revive, or call for the revival, of neglected pre-existing infrastructures. We argue that ignoring the important role played by these ‘civigenic infrastructures’ in achieving just and sustainable infrastructures, on account of their smaller scale or ephemerality, is folly, as their symbolic impact may be significant.
Care and caring practices are fundamental to the social infrastructures of communities, cities and nations. In the UK, policies of austerity have placed disproportionate budgetary pressure onto cities. Faced with difficult decisions as to which services to maintain, local authorities have narrowed the remit, whilst encouraging communities to become service providers themselves. As such, care is reconfigured on multiple fronts, where newly emergent social infrastructures of care are frequently laden with value-judgments as to what (adequate) care entails, and who counts as a subject of care. Research on parenting shows that the experience of becoming a parent is rarely something new parents can anticipate. Social ideals of parenthood, personal expectations and biographical trajectories often emerge in tension with the unfolding, messy experiences of parenting. New parents find themselves having to navigate a city whose geography is marked by dramatic shifts between different social infrastructures of care. As such, the practice of caring for young children requires increasing negotiation not only with a range of diverse actors, but across a range of different spaces including, but not limited to, health centres, cafes/restaurants, nurseries, church groups, public spaces, and libraries. This paper draws upon research examining the everyday caring practices of new parents under austerity urbanism. In particular, we look at how experiences of different spaces in the austere city shape new parents’ sense of what it means to be a parent, as well as the multiple ways in which they navigate the ruptures and continuities of diverse social infrastructures of care.
A workshop to introduce you to the principles underpinning the conduct of literature searches for systematic reviews and evidence syntheses: Formulating a search strategy to address research questions – Applying methodological search filters to restrict by study type – Choosing appropriate databases and search engines – Searching for grey literature and ongoing studies – Documenting and reporting your search – Storing and managing references. Intended Audience: DPhils and Researchers in the Medical Sciences Division
#10X #NeuronalDevelopment #Cell-hashing
For the 10th year, St Hilda's is the only College to hold its own day of lectures at the Oxford Literary Festival, at which all authors are College members or alumnae. CLAIRE HARMAN - Murder By The Book: A Sensational Chapter In Victorian Crime Chair: Claire Armitstead (The Guardian and the Observer) 12pm, Worcester College Lecture Theatre When the accused murderer of Lord William Russell blamed the crime on his reading, he fuelled an ongoing debate about the appalling damage 'low' books could do. This fascinating study details the controversy around William Harrison Ainsworth's Jack Sheppard, the murder of Russell and the way it affected many of the leading writers of the day, including Dickens and Thackeray. Harman unpacks the evidence, reveals the gossip and the surprisingly literary background to this gory crime. VAL MCDERMID - A Life Of Crime Chair: Nicolette Jones (The Sunday Times) 2pm, Sheldonian Theatre Dubbed the 'Queen of Crime', Val McDermid has sold over 15 million books to date across the globe and is translated into over 40 languages. She is perhaps best known for her 'Wire in the Blood' series, featuring clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan, which was adapted for television starring Robson Green. She has written three other series: private detective Kate Brannigan, journalist Lindsay Gordon and, most recently, cold case detective Karen Pirie. She has also published in several award-winning standalone novels, two books of non-fiction, two short story collections and a children’s picture book, 'My Granny is a Pirate'. KIRSTY GUNN – Action Writing Chair: Claire Armitstead (The Guardian and the Observer) 4pm, Worcester College Lecture Theatre Kirsty Gunn is an internationally awarded writer who published her first novel with Faber in 1994 and since then eight works of fiction, including short stories, as well as a collection of fragments and meditations, and essays. Her latest novel is the acclaimed 'Caroline’s Bikini'. She is Professor of Writing Practice and Study at the University of Dundee and lives in London and Scotland with her husband and two daughters. TESS STIMSON – From Adultery to Murder: A Shorter Journey Than You Think Chair: Nicolette Jones (The Sunday Times) 6pm, Worcester College Lecture Theatre Tess Stimson is the British author of ten novels, including top-ten bestseller 'The Adultery Club'. After graduating from St Hilda’s College, Oxford she went to ITN where she reported and produced regional and world stories, travelling to hotspots and war-zones all over the globe. In 2002, she was appointed Professor of Creative Writing at the University of South Florida and moved to the US. She now lives and works in Vermont and is transitioning into writing psychological suspense fiction, writing as TJ Stimson. Her first novel in this genre, 'Picture of Innocence', is to be published by Avon in Spring 2019. Book soon to avoid disappointment! The code OUOXLIT19 will secure a 20% discount on all events except dinners and can be quoted online or at any of the Festival’s sales channels.
St Hilda's College Writers' Day 2019 marks its 10th year as the only College to hold its own day of lectures at the Oxford Literary Festival. All authors are College members or alumnae. CLAIRE HARMAN - Murder By The Book: A Sensational Chapter In Victorian Crime When the accused murderer of Lord William Russell blamed the crime on his reading, he fueled an ongoing debate about the appalling damage 'low' books could do. This fascinating study details the controversy around William Harrison Ainsworth's Jack Sheppard, the murder of Russell and the way it affected many of the leading writers of the day, including Dickens and Thackeray. Harman unpacks the evidence, reveals the gossip and the surprisingly literary background to this gory crime. 12pm, Worcester College Lecture Theatre Chair: Claire Armitstead (The Guardian and the Observer) VAL MCDERMID - A Life Of Crime Dubbed the Queen of Crime, Val McDermid has sold over 15 million books to date across the globe and is translated into over 40 languages. She is perhaps best known for her 'Wire in the Blood' series, featuring clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan, which was adapted for television starring Robson Green. She has written three other series: private detective Kate Brannigan, journalist Lindsay Gordon and, most recently, cold case detective Karen Pirie. She has also published in several award-winning standalone novels, two books of non-fiction, two short story collections and a children’s picture book, 'My Granny is a Pirate'. 2pm, Sheldonian Theatre Chair: Nicolette Jones (The Sunday Times) KIRSTY GUNN – Action Writing Kirsty Gunn is an internationally awarded writer who published her first novel with Faber in 1994 and since then eight works of fiction, including short stories, as well as a collection of fragments and meditations, and essays. Her latest novel is the acclaimed 'Caroline’s Bikini'. She is Professor of Writing Practice and Study at the University of Dundee and lives in London and Scotland with her husband and two daughters. 4pm, Worcester College Lecture Theatre Chair: Claire Armitstead (The Guardian and the Observer) TESS STIMSON – From Adultery to Murder: A Shorter Journey Than You Think Tess Stimson is the British author of ten novels, including top-ten bestseller 'The Adultery Club'. After graduating from St Hilda’s College, Oxford she went to ITN where she reported and produced regional and world stories, travelling to hotspots and war-zones all over the globe. In 2002, she was appointed Professor of Creative Writing at the University of South Florida and moved to the US. She now lives and works in Vermont and is transitioning into writing psychological suspense fiction, writing as TJ Stimson. Her first novel in this genre, 'Picture of Innocence', is to be published by Avon in Spring 2019. 6pm, Worcester College Lecture Theatre Chair: Nicolette Jones (The Sunday Times)
Join us for this year’s Oxford 3Rs Day! This is your chance to promote and disseminate your latest advancements in the 3Rs and hear from others about the work going on across the University and beyond! This year we will also have poster sessions and a prize from the NC3Rs for the for the best and most informative posters. To register and find out more, please email oxhoadmin@bms.ox.ac.uk You can also see the full programme "here":http://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/biomedical-training-courses/oxford-3rs-research-day-2019
The Oxford Spring School offers graduate students and researchers from universities across the UK and abroad a unique venue to learn cutting-edge methods in Social Science. The programme consists of a variety of advanced courses, which place different data analysis techniques within broader disciplinary trends towards mixed-methods research designs. Working with our world leading teachers and researchers in quantitative and qualitative methods, you will have the opportunity to choose the course subject options which suit you best. Oxford Spring School 2019 will take place Monday 8 April to Friday 12 April. Applications are open until 28 January. Apply now: https://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/spring-school/spring-school-applications.html?schoolid=517
Steady-state production of naïve T-cells depends upon T-cell development in the thymus. Multiple scenarios can influence thymus function, including ‘natural’ (pregnancy, ageing) and ‘pathological’ processes (infection, stress, -irradiation). While the thymus is very sensitive to these stimuli, it possesses effective endogenous regenerative properties that restore T-cell production. In the absence of such recovery, T-cell development and the incorporation of new naïve T-cells into the peripheral pool is slow. Thus, thymus regeneration represents an important process in restoring homeostasis in the immune system. Here, we identify eosinophils as new regulators of thymus regeneration, and present data on the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which they influence thymus function. ---- Graham gained a BSc in Anatomical Studies from the University of Birmingham in 1990. He studied for a PhD in Immunology as a Wellcome Prize PhD student, supervised by Eric Jenkinson and John Owen. His PhD studies developed the reaggregate thymus organ culture system. Since then he has continued his career in Birmingham, firstly as a Wellcome Prize Fellow until 1994, and since then as member of academic staff. He was appointed to a Chair in T-Lymphocyte Biology in 1995, and then Professor of Experimental Immunology in 2016. Throughout his career he has been been interested in how thymic stromal cells guide the development and selection of self-tolerant T-cells in the thymus. Graham is currently a member of the Wellcome Trust Expert Review Group ‘Immune System In Health and Disease’, and a Scientific Advisory Board member for activities in The Universities of Glasgow and Oxford, and the KG Jebsen Centre for Autoimmune Disorders, in Norway.
The session will cover importing references from PubMed or directly from a database such as Ovid Embase; importing references from Google Scholar; managing PDFs; deduplicating references in an Endnote Library; creating a bibliography and citing references in Word documents. Intended Audience: Postgraduate students, researchers and university staff based on the Old Road Campus or in Medical Sciences Division departments elsewhere in Headington.
What role does the imagination play in science? Do our notions of scientific genius rest on ideas about the creative imagination? How do we know when the imagination has overreached itself and entered the realm of fanciful speculation — of science fiction? Professor Rob Iliffe explores these questions, and how ideas about imagination have shaped science and scientists. Rob will be available to sign copies of his book 'Newton: a very short introduction' after the talk. The Museum's shop will stock copies of the book.
Following the discovery of the first bacterial pathogens in the late 19th century, knowledge about microbes and viruses, pathways of transmission, and possible clinical and chemotherapeutic interventions has grown exponentially. Across the globe, researchers, medical practitioners, and patients alike routinely refer to a canon of ideal-type disease definitions and organisms. What is less well known is how these ideal types were created. Far from being ‘out there’ in nature, the pathogens causing diseases like typhoid, cholera, yellow fever, or malaria had to be brought into the laboratory for isolation and culturing, their taxonomies had to be agreed on by the wider research community, a set of standardised organisms had to be archived in type collections across the world. In order to be useful in the field, new diagnostic tests moreover had to guarantee the reliable identification of discovered disease agents, and global infrastructure had to revamped to guarantee the replicability of laboratory conditions across space. Creating international disease standards was not only time and resource consuming but often resulted in prolonged struggles over disease definitions and scientific prestige. In April of 2019, the workshop “Standards and Their Containers” will bring together researchers from across the medical humanities to explore the power struggles, technologies, collections, and organisms used to standardise disease in the modern era. Presentations are expected to examine not only the pathogens themselves, but the laboratory networks and animal containers used to culture, transport, and standardise disease. By taking as a starting point the premise that diseases are not stable identities but are constantly redefined and standardised to fit the needs of the societies affected by them, this workshop encourages participants to see how conventional histories of modernization change when seen from the perspective of microbial, rather than human infrastructure invention. All are welcome. This event is free to attend and no booking is required. For programe and poster please visit: https://www.hsmt.ox.ac.uk/event/standards-and-their-containers-global-history-pathogen-and-vector-standardisation
In this practical workshop you will explore how to formulate search strategies to address research questions; choose appropriate databases and search engines; store and manage references; and keep up to date with new research over the life cycle of your DPhil.
#SingleCellChemicalDemultiplexing
The Labour in History & Economics Conference is an interdisciplinary meeting of labour historians, economic historians, and labour economists focused on discussions of migration, labour markets, and the work environment. Recent developments in all three disciplines have brought issues of work and labour to the forefront of scholarship. The empirical turn in economics has led to new research related to labour and work including the use of historical case studies. At the same time, the high-wage economy interpretation of the Industrial Revolution has put workers and wages at the forefront of economic history, and historians of capitalism have advanced the importance of labour repression, especially slavery, as a cause of modern economic growth. This conference will bring together scholars from these disciplines to share research, perspectives, and methodologies. We will also provide a platform for research that will stimulate public engagement on contemporary debates about migration and the impacts of technology on jobs. Registration for the conference is now open. For more information and a provisional programme visit: https://oxfordlabourconference.wordpress.com/
Led by Professor Andrea Cipriani, the course is designed to enhance understanding and expertise in carrying out systematic reviews and meta-analysis. It is aimed at psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health professionals, pharmacists and researchers in neuroscience and related disciplines. The course content will include lectures, group work, hands-on tutorials and supervised statistical sessions. Course participants will have plenty of opportunity to network and interact with speakers, as well as, to present their own work and receive feedback from a panel of experts. Programme overview: Day 1: How to write a protocol, conduct the search strategy & statistical analysis Day 2: How to carry out a systematic review & meta-analysis of RCTs (focus on Cochrane & GRADE) Day 3: How to conduct a meta-analysis of observational studies & individual patient data
"UK Spine Knowledge Exchange and Affordable Medicines Conference" at the British Library on 16th – 17th April 2019 Engaging thought leaders, researchers, clinicians, key opinion leaders, patient groups, funding bodies, knowledge exchange teams, technology transfer offices and industrialisation teams, working, and interested in healthy ageing and affordable medicines. Healthcare is prohibitively expensive. We cannot sustain this model as populations increase and people live longer. How do we revolutionise the pathways for new medicines to make healthcare affordable for our future? Day 1 (16th April): The Healthy Ageing KE programme: The ageing population is growing in size and along with it the potential resource burden on our health and social care system. With advancing age there is an increased risk of disease, with co-morbidities and multi-morbidities making treatment and care challenging. Developing therapeutics aimed at the ageing process, diseases associated with ageing and the prevention of disease, is extremely complex, with the additional pressure of tight timeframes for drug discovery because the world’s population is changing too rapidly. The UK Spine KE and associated initiatives are setting out models for open science, open innovation and now open knowledge exchange as a way to navigate this complexity. The vision is to demonstrate that truly open knowledge exchange and collaboration has the potential to lower the barriers of entry to this challenging space, through the creation of a distributed critical mass of expertise and resource focused on co-creating a shared body of knowledge to enable translation of research in to treatment. The sessions will include: Session 1: The creation of frictionless knowledge exchange Session 2: An interactive panel session on achieving frictionless knowledge exchange Session 3: An interactive panel session ‘Open Science in Drug Discovery and translational projects’ Session 4: Breakout session Session 5: Intelligent clinical trial design & perspectives on healthy ageing/multi-morbidities Session 6: Lightening talks and introduction of Proof of Concept call Session 7: Closing address The day will finish with an evening meal at the British Library, offering an opportunity to network with all involved. Day 2 (17th April): The Affordable Medicines Initiative: Day 2 will provide the foundation for an Affordable Medicines Initiative to examine all aspects of drug discovery. You are invited to contribute to the development of ideas integral to this ambitious collaboration, to learn from existing success stories, scrutinise barriers and develop innovative solutions to lead the world in making medicine affordable for all. Discussion will touch on issues ranging from intellectual property models, health economics, the use of AI and big data, policy and process to develop novel approaches to discovery and development. We will bring together as many interested parties as possible across multiple sectors to help address this challenge. In this first conversation, we will address a broad spectrum of aspects of medicines discovery leaving aside the issue of healthcare systems themselves. The focus will be on how the we can transform the approach to drug discovery and development to improve its efficiency and efficacy to reduce costs through novel approaches and through learning from other sectors. Why attend: We are inviting those interested in engaging with these field to be part of this exciting two day programme. We want to ensure we capture the opportunities and challenges currently faced, engage current and future stakeholders and disseminate what the UKSPINE and related initiatives plan to deliver over the next 12 months. We want to hear from those driving the regulation, innovation and knowledge exchange, those engaged in innovative research, industrial organisations, patient focus groups, charities and clinicians based in these areas. Logistics: Tuesday 16th April 09.30 - 17.00, with an evening meal at 18.30 Wednesday 17th April 09.00 - 17.00 British Library, Euston Road, London Attendance is free, but registration is mandatory, it is possible to register for each day separately. *About the UK SPINE: The UK Spine is a national network of research and clinical collaborators focussed on developing new medicines to support healthy ageing and currently includes Oxford, Birmingham, Dundee, the Crick and the Medicines Discovery Catapult, funded by the Research England Connecting Capability Fund. In alignment with the UK Life Sciences Industrial Strategy the UK SPINE will contribute to developing the UK as a global hub for clinical research and medical innovation through efficient and effective partnerships between academia, industry and the charitable sectors. April marks the completion of our first year of activities, and the first annual conference. The event will be hosted at the British Library on the 16th and 17th April, with the first day focussed on the UKSPINE and Knowledge Exchange for healthy ageing and the second around the Affordable Medicines Initiatives.
Since the advent of YouTube, video has gained in significance as a medium of instruction. It has become an invaluable resource for informal learning and teaching, professional development, and formal instruction. In higher education, the growth of MOOCs has seen an explosion of available instructional resources in the video format. Questions remain about their pedagogic effectiveness. While video is a technological innovation when it comes to broadening access, it also serves to entrench traditional pedagogies. Yet, it is hard to deny that millions find learning from video preferable to other approaches. This one-day-symposium is intended to be a gathering of researchers and practitioners to learn from each other, discuss their experiences and set out an agenda for further research and informed practice. The symposium will organised along a hybrid unconference / workshop model developed by the Collabor8 4 Change workshops. We will have open space, table talks and lightning talks as well as plenary Topics for discussion and presentations are welcome on any topic with special emphasis on: Video as a medium for learning; Incorporating video into instruction at Higher Education; Institutional practices and policies; Use of video in the higher education classroom; Instructional video production methods; Video and the changing pedagogies; Typology of video in education; MOOCs, lecture capture and other; Effectiveness of video as a medium of instruction; Accessibility and inclusion benefits and challenges
Do you need help managing your references? Do you need help citing references in your documents? This workshop will introduce you to Mendeley (www.mendeley.com) – a free programme which can help you to store, organise and retrieve your references and PDFs; as well as cite references in documents and create bibliographies quickly and easily. The session is specifically for postgraduate students, researchers and university staff based on the Old Road Campus or in Medical Sciences Division departments elsewhere in Headington, and will focus on importing references from databases relevant to Medical Sciences such as PubMed and Ovid Embase.
The Moore Laboratory investigates the molecular pathophysiology of Parkinson’s. The majority of Parkinson’s cases occur in a sporadic manner although 5 to 10 percent of cases are inherited, with causative mutations identified in at least eight genes. The Moore Laboratory studies the normal biology and pathobiology of gene products that cause inherited Parkinson’s, including the common leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2, PARK8), the retromer component VPS35 (PARK17), the E3 ubiquitin ligase parkin (PARK2), and the lysosomal P5-type ATPase ATP13A2 (PARK9).
Optics involving extremely long, thin sheets of light and a vastly increased Rayleigh range (achieved by breaking the diffraction limit of light sheets of low numerical aperture) allow an elegant application of ultramicroscopy to large samples, such as whole mouse brains or Drosophila. Due to the extremely low divergence of the light sheets, brains can be reconstructed from a single stack of optical sections with nearly isotropic resolution that reaches the single-spine level at higher magnification. Ultramicroscopy can be applied to samples of ever-increasing size. Large pieces of human tumors that have been cleared and stained by a new superfast clearing procedure can be imaged intraoperatively in three dimensions. Optically identified malignancies were subsequently confirmed by standard histological sectioning. We predict that ultramicroscopy of cleared tumors will play an increasingly important role in pathological diagnostics.
Understanding information flows and their changes in the brain requires a comprehensive map of neural structures at all levels, similar to those of Google Earth for continents, countries, cities, and streets. By integrating multiscale imaging technologies, I propose a practical approach aiming for mapping individual neurons, cellular organelles, synapses and single molecules in the entire Drosophila brain. I will discuss how the generated connectome map helps us to classify cell types, predict information flows, and manipulate target neurons that orchestrate complex behaviors. Our long-term goal is to construct the Drosophila engram and understand how learning and memory change the decision.
More details to follow
A briefing on open access publishing and Oxford's position including guidance on how to comply with the Open Access requirements for the REF and mandates from key funding bodies whilst respecting your publisher's rights and policies. Topics to include: What is open access?; Key terms – Gold, Green, Article Processing Charges; How to find out about research council or funder requirements; How to find out what your publisher will allow; Green route – how to deposit in ORA; Gold route and how to claim for APCs; Where to get more information & help; Act on Acceptance and OA policy for REF 2021; New University policy for the RCUK Open Access block grant.
Carlos Lopes will deliver an overview of the critical development issues facing the African continent today. He will talk about a blueprint of policies to address issues, and an intense, heartfelt meditation on the meaning of economic development in the age of democratic doubts, identity crises, global fears and threatening issues of sustainability. This talk will be followed by a book signing and drinks reception, all welcome
The Echéa Quartet will perform at this year’s Diana Wood Memorial Concert. Finalists and prizewinners of the International Anton Rubinstein Chamber Music Competition, 2018 and semi-finalists in the Royal Overseas-League Music Competition, the Echéa Quartet was formed in 2017 at the Royal Academy of Music, London. They were recently selected for the prestigious Frost Trust/Advanced Specialist Strings Ensemble Training Scheme at the Academy, where they study with John Myerscough. The quartet also receive tutelage from Christoph Richter, Levon Chilingirian and Garfield Jackson. The quartet are 2019 Concordia Foundation Artists. The programme will be: Joseph Haydn – String Quartet Op 20, No 4 in D major Ludwig van Beethoven – String Quartet Op 18 No 1 in F major Interval (10 mins) Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn – String Quartet in Eb major Giacomo Puccini – ‘Crisantemi’ BOOKING Tickets are £10 and all are welcome, including members of the public. Booking is essential. There is no dress code.
Day 1 of the course meets the requirements for the HEE TV Train the Trainer (Educational Supervisor) certification for consultants. Once you have completed this day, you will have the opportunity to go on to compile a portfolio, which with successful grading by OLI, will qualify you for the "fast-track" membership of the Academy of Medical Educators and gain the SEDA PDF Supporting Learning (accredited university/higher education level teaching award).
Not all research is subject to clinical trials regulations, but the same standards of conduct apply. This course in good research practice covers the legislation that applies to ‘non-CTIMP’ research,(e.g. research not involving a clinical trial of an investigational medicinal product) along with the detailed principles of good practice in clinical research studies. This four-hour course comprises didactic teaching, woven into interactive exercises and videos of those experienced in the conduct of clinical research. • An introduction to GRP • Legislation • Protocol and associated documents • Documentation and study files • Applications, approvals and amendments • Confidentiality • Consent and conducting the study • Web resources
Infection/Microbiology: -- Acute General Medicine Firm D: -- Chair: TBA
How are connections wired up during brain development? Wiring occurs sequentially, first by forming a basic scaffold of connectivity according to strict molecular guidance cues and then the exact details of each circuit emerge by pruning and sculpting synapses. The process determining which synaptic connections remain and which are pruned is also genetically specified but in this case requires brain function. Prenatally, the brain generates its own internal neural activity patterns to jump-start the sculpting process. After birth as sensory systems such as vision mature, experience of the external world takes over to influence brain wiring during developmental critical periods. Neural activity and sensory experience regulate expression of sets of genes including several previously thought to act only in the immune system. These activity-regulated genes- including Major Histocompatibility Class I family members and Paired immunoglobulin-like receptor B- are required in neurons for synapse pruning and plasticity. Unexpectedly, they may also contribute to excessive synapse pruning in Alzheimer’s disease. Thus, the baby's brain is not a miniature of the adult, but rather is a dynamically changing structure in which neural activity and experience ultimately select and stabilize essential details of neural circuitry that make each of us different from one another.
Research into pain and pain management is vital to improving the lives of those with a variety of conditions, but this work comes with its own ethical concerns. In particular, insights gained from animal models have been difficult to translate into new pain therapies. There is therefore a need to replace, reduce and refine the use of animal experiments in pain research. Huge advances have been made in this area using non-invasive techniques ranging from cell culture to computational modelling. Part of the pain research community in Oxford? This mini-symposium is your chance to hear some of the local experts talk about their experiences with these methods and join in during discussion sessions to share best practice with others around the university. This is one of the first of these workshops to be run in Oxford with the involvement of the NC3Rs, so to register or find out more information, please email RegionalEvents@nc3rs.org.uk or contact our Regional Programme Manager, chris.barkus@nc3rs.org.uk. REGISTER BY 15 APRIL TO BE SURE OF A PLACE.
13:45 – Greetings 14:00 – Annelien de Dijn (Utrecht), Natural rights and liberty Mark Philp (Warwick), Thomas Paine and the limits of equal rights 15:00 – Refreshments 15:30 – Céline Spector (Sorbonne, Paris), The post-colonial critique of human rights Dan Edelstein (Stanford), Response/comments
Forthcoming
The 5th Lorna Casselton Memorial Lecture, given by Professor Pavel Kabat, Chief Scientist and Research Director of the World Meteorological Organization, and entitled "Climate, Extreme Weather and Adaptation: Do We Know Enough to Act and to Invest?" will be at 5 pm on Monday 29th April 2019 in the Lecture Theatre at the Mathematical Institute, Woodstock Road, Oxford. Booking is required at https://www.stx.ox.ac.uk/lorna-casselton-memorial-lecture-booking-form
The Nuffield Department of Women's & Reproductive Health invites you to this one day meeting - ideal for researchers with an interest in mitochondria from academia and pharma. It will include a range of short talks and posters on cancer metabolism, neuroscience, diabetes, mitochondrial disorders and general mitochondrial biology. We are normally full and this year our famous Indian wraps and fancy cakes will again be on offer at lunch time. The deadline for abstracts for short talks and posters is the 1st April with registration if places available. Registration is open until the 21st April. Abstracts should be emailed to: Jamie.strong@wrh.ox.ac.uk Please be aware it is highly likely we will be full before the closing date. The cost is £35 for researchers and £20 for students and retired individuals. Lunch and refreshments are included. Speakers: Francesca Buffa "Genomic drivers of cancer's metabolic shift" (Oxford). Margaret Ashcroft ' The mitochondrial disulphide relay system (DRS) in physiology and disease" (Cambridge). Amy Chadwick "Using in vitro models and primary tissue to investigate the importance of individual mitochondrial variation in susceptibility to drug-induced liver injury" (Liverpool). Gyorgy Szabadkai,“Mitochondrial adaptation defines metabolic subtypes of breast cancer” (UCL). Julian Prudent “New roles for PI(4)P in mitochondrial division” (Cambridge). Ian Ganley “Delineating mitophagy in vivo” (Dundee). Fran Platt “The complexity of cellular pathologenesis in single gene disorders: insights from Niemann-Pick type C" (Oxford). Iain Johnson “MtDNA heteroplasmy dynamics through lifetimes and generations: understanding and exploiting variability in biology and disease" (Birmingham). Hansong Ma “Nuclear supervision of mtDNA transmission and competition” (Cambridge). Keiran Clarke “The how, when and why of an exogenous ketone ester”. (Oxford). Carl Fratter “FBXL4 related mitochondrial disease is associated with pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency” (Oxford). Yaomeng Lui “Exercise and exosomes” (Oxford).
Details found here: http://www.davidronayne.net/lgn-seminar
Please sign up for meetings below: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VlYCMDiX7Aur0VuXTUqPft33vg4v28g6pXZ0yADm9Z8/edit#gid=0
Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures Julia Wolf - The Power of Randomness 30 April 2019 Far from taking us down the road of unpredictability and chaos, randomness has the power to help us solve a fascinating range of problems. Join Julia Wolf on a mathematical journey from penalty shoot-outs to internet security and patterns in the primes. Julia Wolf is University Lecturer in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics at the University of Cambridge. 5--6pm Mathematical Institute Oxford Please email external-relations@maths.ox.ac.uk to register. Watch live: https://facebook.com/OxfordMathematics https://livestream.com/oxuni/wolf The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
The Careers Service are offering the below career 1:1 appointments to DPhil students and contract research staff (grade 6 and above), including postdocs. The below appointments at the JR and ORC are bookable by calling the Careers Service reception on 01865 274646. There appointments are in addition to those offered throughout the year at The Careers Service office based at 56 Banbury Road every week and can be booked using your CareerConnect account (accessed via www.careers.ox.ac.uk). These sessions will help you identify some achievable next steps and to understand how the Careers Service can support you as you proceed. These include a huge variety of events to help you meet people working in sectors where research skills are valued, hands-on programmes to develop your core employability skills and workshops to help you hone your written application skills and interview techniques. Time slots available: 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:30 11:00 11:30
Mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) are frequently customized to meet specific patient and population groups, but little is known about frameworks and methods for MBP customization that could be consistently utilized in the field across a variety of health conditions and demographic populations. This presentation will provide an overview of frameworks used for customization in specific health conditions (e.g. hypertension in the Mindfulness-Based Blood Pressure Reduction study) and demographics (e.g. emerging adults aged 18-29 years in the Mindfulness-Based College study). Discussion will focus on these and other customization frameworks, such as for Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy.
Ancient DNA recovered from sediments (sedaDNA) in the Arctic and Subarctic has proved a useful new tool for studying change in terrestrial ecosystems over time. The cold and relatively dry conditions of the Arctic and Subarctic appear to be ideal for the preservation of extra-cellular (i.e. “environmental”) DNA, particularly within permafrost and/or lake sediments. Here, I provide an overview of the sedaDNA metabarcoding method and evaluate its potential for reconstructing plant community dynamics and changes in floristic diversity, based on late Quaternary sediments from the Eurasian Arctic. In particular, I present two sedaDNA records from lakes in northern Norway and the Polar Ural Mtns. in northern Russia, which differ greatly in terms of their catchment size, sedimentary characteristics and glacial histories. The floristically rich sedaDNA signal at both lakes includes representatives from all important plant functional groups and provides insights into species persistence and/or floristic diversity changes over the past 24,000 years. Both records demonstrate how reconstructions of vegetation history and floristic richness based on pollen can be improved by using sedaDNA, with sedaDNA being less sensitive to “swamping” by woody anemophilous taxa. Moreover, the sedaDNA record from the Polar Urals shows several features that the pollen stratigraphy failed to detect, including a turnover in grass genera at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, an individualistic response of arctic-alpine plants to Holocene warming and a diverse and variable bryophyte flora through time.
Sensing Colonial Ports and Global History is an interdisciplinary two-day conference organised by the Colonial Ports and Global History (CPAGH) Network in Oxford. Its aim is to cross-examine three key concepts – agency, affect and temporality – that are increasingly central to anthropological, historical, musicological and sociological thought about colonial port cities. In doing so, it also explores anew the implications of the ‘colonial port city’ for global history, both in and beyond the academy. Questions of interest include but are not limited to the following: how did people in port cities variously experience, navigate, negotiate as well as express in local vocabularies what ‘global’ connections and the ‘colonial port city’ were and meant in their everyday lives? What does it mean to not only tune but also ‘sense’ into an extended, yet uneven geography of colonial ports? How might these cities – when ‘sensed’ as nodal cultures – more broadly inform the re/writing of global history with their particular affective registers? How did the emerging rhythms of work and civic life in port cities come into contact with the existing ideas and practices of time? To what extent did multiple understandings of time create a virtual spatio-temporal dissociation between port cities and their hinterland? We are delighted to have two distinguished keynote speakers: Leila Fawaz, Issam M. Fares Chair of Lebanese & Eastern Mediterranean Studies at Tufts University, whose broad expertise encompasses migration, trade and war in the modern Middle East; and Benjamin Walton, Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Cambridge, whose rich expertise extends from touring opera troupes beyond Europe to the globalisation of opera in and beyond the nineteenth century. Scholars working in Anthropology, History, Musicology, Sociology and other related disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences, who are interested in presenting at the conference, are asked to send an abstract of 250–400 words and a brief (1–2 page) CV to cpagh@torch.ox.ac.uk by Monday, 4 February 2019. We strongly encourage submissions from researchers from underrepresented backgrounds. Co-authored papers (with no more than two speakers) are also welcome.
The Translational Research Office (TRO) delivers support to translational research projects ensuring the progression of basic, biomedical and clinical research towards therapies, techniques and medical products with therapeutic value. The TRO works closely with the Division’s Business Development and Partnering team, Oxford University Innovations, the Biomedical Research Centre and NHS partners. To launch the new TRO as well as the new round of Medical and Life Sciences Translational Fund, we are hosting three roadshows around Oxford. Join us at the BioEscalator on 2 May 2019 where we will showcase what support the TRO can give to researchers and discuss translational success stories. Refreshments will be provided.
TBA
Clinical Immunology: -- Dermatology: Dr Dhruvkumar Laheru and Dr Rachel Fisher -- Chair: TBA
You hear it all the time: “the wars of the 21st century will be fought over water.” But in reality, few if any countries have actually gone to war over water – ever. At the same time, though, water has played a clear role in many forms of conflict within nations, including skirmishes between Guatemalan villages, inter-group riots in India, and inter-state legal disputes in the U.S. In this talk, Dr Scott Moore will draw on his recent 2018 book, Subnational Hydropolitics, published by Oxford University Press, to explain how water wars can arise within countries – as well as to prevent and contain them. There will be a chance for informal Q&A and refreshments till 14.30. Further details at https://www.water.ox.ac.uk/water-wars/
TBC
These surgeries are a technical workshop meant to accompany the students in the quantitative aspect of their research. There are no prerequisites: all ESH graduate students are welcome (Mphil, MSC, DPhil). This is not a mandatory workshop, and it will not marked. The goal is to be there to answer questions that students may have regarding statistics, software, data colelction, data analysis, or research design. These questions can be addressed to the instructor or to any other person in the room. The students just need to drop in with their laptop, do their own research, and ask questions when needed. Students can also use this time as a commitment to work on their own research. Among others, this course can be helpful with: • Technical/programming questions about: Stata, R, Python, GIS (ArcGis, QGis, RGdal, etc.), arcPy, LaTeX, OCR. • Questions about research design: o Statistic and interpretation of results o Identification strategies o Data collection and data merging o Archival sampling
The Translational Research Office (TRO) delivers support to translational research projects ensuring the progression of basic, biomedical and clinical research towards therapies, techniques and medical products with therapeutic value. The TRO works closely with the Division’s Business Development and Partnering team, Oxford University Innovations, the Biomedical Research Centre and NHS partners. To launch the new TRO as well as the new round of Medical and Life Sciences Translational Fund, we are hosting three roadshows around Oxford. Join us at the WIMM on 3 May 2019 where we will showcase what support the TRO can give to researchers and discuss translational success stories. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.
Please sign up for meetings below: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r32GYl_eL8bInJ04hTBz1ezVGXB8YitXA3om1Yjoh5I/edit#gid=0
Anna Plassart (Open University): ‘Ecosse’ Marisa Forcina (Université de Salento): ‘Fatalisme’ Thibault Debail (EHESS, Paris): ‘Sommeil’
Please sign up for meetings below: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RBr5EMgpvCT6RlT5YyJJrUrc1cDe2fkIHmM7FsnbogY/edit#gid=0
coming soon
Please sign up for meetings below: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15qI0Ad4ZT1UoZmxvXuGqX_5Dy2f1cELTd0gxynVSX-s/edit#gid=0
The liberal state is founded on the rule of law, whose core meaning elicits broad agreement and support across the political spectrum. But bitter experience reminds us that the rule of law is most endangered precisely when it is most essential—when the state feels itself threatened: the Miners’ Strike and IRA bombings in the UK and during the two World Wars, Cold War and civil rights and anti-war movements in the US.The “war on terror,” which George Bush declared in response to the 9/11 attack and Barack Obama continued, has committed numerous violations of the rule of law. In this lecture I analyze the fate of the rule of law in the US during those two administrations because those who defend it must maximize their limited resources and political capital in what I fear will be an endless “war on terror.”I begin by examining five principal terrains on which the rule of law has been contested: Abu Ghraib, whose expose by Seymour Hersh and CBS forced the US to confront the sexualized abuse of prisoners; Guantanamo Bay, where hundreds detained indefinitely without charge resisted with the only means available—by interposing their bodies; the tortures that government lawyers authorized for detainees in secret prisons, on the battlefield, and in Guantanamo; the global web of electronic surveillance revealed by the media and Edward Snowden; and crimes committed on the battlefield: extraordinary rendition, secret prisons, targeted killing, and civilian casualties. Then I turn to courts—the institution uniquely responsible for identifying and correcting rule-of-law violations. Here I examine six legal processes: civilian prosecutions of alleged terrorists, military commissions of so-called High Value Detainees in Guantanamo, courts martial of military personnel for war crimes, habeas corpus petitions by Guantanamo detainees, civil damages actions by victims of both the “war on terror” and terrorism, and violations of the civil liberties of Muslims, travelers, demonstrators, and others.This broad canvas allows me to draw comparisons across all these domains, identifying the individuals, institutions, and processes that most and least effectively protected the rule of law. I conclude by offering historical comparisons with other campaigns to redress major social wrongs.
The ecology and history of one of the largest atolls in the world. Aldabra, situated in the South West Indian Ocean, supports the largest population of giant tortoises worldwide. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is a stronghold for wildlife in a region that is besieged by threats. April Jasmine Burt is a member of The Queen's College and associate of the Seychelles Islands Foundation. Please see http://www.anhso.org.uk for more information about the Society.
Speakers to include: Anne Rowe (University of Chichester) Paul Fiddes (University of Oxford) Miles Leeson (University of Chichester) Scott Moore (Baylor University, USA) Priscilla Martin (University of Oxford)
Oncology: -- Gastroenterology: Dr Tom Thomas, Dr Holm Uhlig and Dr Simon Travis -- Chair: TBA
TBC
This paper investigates whether scarcity of female instructors (as present in economics) affects students' demand thereof. In an incentivized instructor-choice experiment on MTurk, we experimentally vary the existing pool of instructor gender, and let the subject choose one additional instructor among one male and one female. Strikingly, in the gender unbalanced treatment (pool of six male instructors), significantly more subjects choose the female instructor compared to the gender balanced treatment (pool of three female and three male instructors). However, this demand increase is entirely driven by female subjects. Observational data (teaching evaluation data from three different faculties at Lugano University) support the view that female teachers are especially appreciated by female students, when they are numerically scarce. We find that female students evaluate female professors more favorably (compared to male students and the gender differences in evaluating male professors), but only in faculties with a high degree of gender imbalance among the professors (Economics and Informatics, but not Communication Science) Please sign up for meetings below: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1k1tKJWgy8BjChwQiYJmdtDHnAfoynwLohx6uBtXSBCQ/edit#gid=0
These surgeries are a technical workshop meant to accompany the students in the quantitative aspect of their research. There are no prerequisites: all ESH graduate students are welcome (Mphil, MSC, DPhil). This is not a mandatory workshop, and it will not marked. The goal is to be there to answer questions that students may have regarding statistics, software, data colelction, data analysis, or research design. These questions can be addressed to the instructor or to any other person in the room. The students just need to drop in with their laptop, do their own research, and ask questions when needed. Students can also use this time as a commitment to work on their own research. Among others, this course can be helpful with: • Technical/programming questions about: Stata, R, Python, GIS (ArcGis, QGis, RGdal, etc.), arcPy, LaTeX, OCR. • Questions about research design: o Statistic and interpretation of results o Identification strategies o Data collection and data merging o Archival sampling
Economics is in crisis. On one hand, behavioural economics is now well-established, but on the other hand, most economics models are still based on rational expectations with constraints, called “frictions”. The standard program adds more and more constraints to rationality in hopes that this will approximate real behaviour, but this may never work. It is increasingly clear that heterogeneity (the fact that people and institutions are diverse) is essential to understand problems such as inequality. There is a major effort to address this challenge, but the models that do this are technically complicated and rapidly become intractable as they become more realistic. Finally, there is a fundamental challenge due to the fact that we have very little historical data available to fit models for a complicated and evolving economy. Complexity economics offers solutions to these problems. It advocates modelling behaviour in terms of heuristics and myopic reasoning, as observed in behavioural experiments. It advocates the use of simulations, making it much easier to incorporate heterogeneity in a tractable manner. Finally, it advocates using highly granular data, that accurately captures heterogeneity, to fit the models. Professor Doyne Farmer will present examples where this approach has had success, including applications to technology forecasting, economic growth and climate change, and present a vision of what it can do in the future.
Saïd Business School is pleased to welcome Freya Stewart, Fine Art Group’s in house lawyer on Art and Law – provenance, title and all various things that come with that.
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A one-day conference to mark the four-hundredth anniversary of Anna of Denmark’s death Recent research on the nature of early modern queens consort suggests they could utilise their international dynastic networks and play a significant role in transnational politics. Moving to a new kingdom also facilitated the transfer of ideas and materials from their natal courts to the court that received them, and from their new homes to the place of their birth. The key claim of any transnational approach is its central concern with ‘movements, flows and circulation’. In the context of dynastic marriages, when female consorts often moved from one territory to another, transnationalism encourages us to think about the impact of their migration both at the point of departure and that of arrival. To mark the 400th anniversary of Anna of Denmark’s death, this one day-conference will take a fresh look at Anna’s contribution to transnational politics and cultural transfer in the context of her dynastic connections in Denmark and other European powers, and her residence in Scotland and England. Download a programme of the day here: https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/history/documents/media/crossing_the_north_sea_-_conference_programme.pdf?time=1551370128408 For queries please contact Julie Farguson: julie.farguson@history.ox.ac.uk
Mathematical models are used to enhance our theoretical understanding of how population and community dynamics might behave under various ecological contexts, and statistical models are used every day to draw conclusions from empirical data. But the vast majority of our inference is based on the long-term, asymptotic properties of our models or static statistical relationships. Approaches for studying non-stationary ecological dynamics are needed now more than ever for predicting and forecasting how global change will affect the dynamics of wild organisms in decades to come. I will present small steps colleagues and I have taken to improve our ability to study the dynamics of wild populations in non-stationary environments created by global change.
During the thirty-five years of almost constant warfare between the start of the American Revolution and the end of the Napoleonic War, naval medicine relied on the labour of thousands of women as nurses and washerwomen to care for sick and wounded seamen in hospitals and on hospital ships. This paper will use pay list records from Haslar and Plymouth Naval Hospitals, as well as hospital ship musters and log books, to illustrate the role of women at these medical institutions. I highlight the important and omnipresent role of women in naval medical care while also considering the impact of female civilian labour in supporting eighteenth-century British imperial and naval ascendency.
This interactive seminar, aimed at a broad audience of social, environmental and public health scholars and practitioners, will provide an introduction to environmental justice followed by a selection of insightful case studies, such as the Chernobyl nuclear contamination and Louisiana’s ‘cancer alley’ as well as cases of resistance and resignation to pollution from contemporary China. These examples will reveal some of the patterns of unequal distribution of environmental health burdens, the diverse reactions among communities and the challenges communities may face in seeking redress. Between sections the audience will have the opportunity to pose questions and make contributions. Professor Anna Lora-Wainwright joined the School of Geography and the Environment in September 2009, jointly appointed by the School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies (SIAS). She has a PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology from Oxford University; an MA in Chinese Studies and a BA in Anthropology, both from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Anna’s work embodies a particular synergy between human geography and the study of China and focuses on environmental pollution, development and health in the Chinese countryside. She is a keen supporter of long-term ethnographic field research and since 2004 she has carried out long periods of fieldwork in rural China. Her work offers a new type of bottom-up political ecology, which does not assume local communities are passive and isolated victims of development and capitalist oppression, nor that they are inherently ‘nature-friendly’ but focuses on the agency of farmers or workers in polluting industries, potential conflicts of interests and attitudes to ‘clean nature’ versus ‘pollution’. The Green Templeton College Social Sciences Seminar Series aims to increase dialogue between the social science disciplines at Green Templeton and beyond. The social sciences represent a diverse spectrum of disciplines ranging through population and demography, public health, anthropology, human geography, criminology and more. ‘Environment’ provides a common theme for debate, acting as a locus for inter- and transdisciplinary dialogue.
The Oxford Academic Health Science Network and Health Education England are bringing together strategic influencers from care, research and education to focus on innovation in person-centred approaches. National and local experts will lead a series of interactive sessions looking at best practice in planning, delivering and sustaining person-centred activities. The aim is to develop a cross-sector network to support improvements in the delivery of person-centred care, workforce planning, research and education. This event is an interactive conference for practitioners, patients, educators, researchers and managers from health and social care. Further information: sian.rees@oxfordahsn.org
We analyze economic underrepresentation as a product of identity-dependent norms. The larger a group's representation in an economic activity (e.g. education, high-status occupation), the more the activity is deemed 'appropriate' for its members. The dynamic feedback between a group's representation and its norms of economic participation produces more severe and robust forms of inequality than previously found. Equality of opportunity almost never results in equal outcomes, even when groups have the same productivity. Minorities and historically discriminated groups tend to be underrepresented. Glass ceilings emerge endogenously, as identity concerns cause underrepresentation to escalate at senior levels. These problems are not easily solved using standard policy tools. Identity-based quotas reduce economic output and temporary interventions are insufficient. When identities are multidimensional (e.g. race and gender), reducing underrepresentation along one identity dimension can increase underrepresentation along another. Hence the common reductionist approach of addressing inequality dimension by dimension often fails. Our results suggest that underrepresentation may be an intractable outcome of group identity. Details found here: http://www.davidronayne.net/lgn-seminar
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Mart Saarma's work has focused on the in vivo roles, therapeutic effects and receptors of the neurotrophic factors including GDNF and the novel neurotrophic factor CDNF discovered by his research group. They have shown that CDNF very efficiently protects and repairs dopamine neurons in vivo. Prof. Saarma’s work has been instrumental in understanding the therapeutic potential of these neurotrophic factors for neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Parkinson’s disease. He has published more than 200 scientific articles. His group has characterized several new GDNF family receptors and demonstrated that RET receptor tyrosine kinase is the signaling receptor for GDNF. Mart Saarma's research group is investigating the signalling and biological functions of GDNF family ligands and endoplasmic reticulum located CDNF/MANF neurotrophic factor families, both within and outside of the nervous system. They are also interested in the therapeutic potential of these proteins in various diseases, so they are testing their efficacy in animal models of Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, stroke and diabetes mellitus. One of the highlights of their research has been, in 2017, the initiation of phase I-II clinical trials of CDNF protein in Parkinson’s disease patients by the Finnish company Herantis Pharma Plc.
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The Translational Research Office (TRO) delivers support to translational research projects ensuring the progression of basic, biomedical and clinical research towards therapies, techniques and medical products with therapeutic value. The TRO works closely with the Division’s Business Development and Partnering team, Oxford University Innovations, the Biomedical Research Centre and NHS partners. To launch the new TRO as well as the new round of Medical and Life Sciences Translational Fund, we are hosting three roadshows around Oxford. Join us at the Sherrington Building on 15 May 2019 where we will showcase what support the TRO can give to researchers and discuss translational success stories. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.
Bats are notorious reservoirs of diverse, potentially zoonotic viruses, exemplified by the evolutionarily distinct, influenza A-like viruses H17N10 and H18N11 (BatIVs). The surface glycoproteins [haemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N)] of BatIVs neither bind nor cleave sialic acid receptors, which suggests that these viruses employ cell attachment and entry mechanisms that differ from those of classical influenza A viruses (IAVs). Identifying the cellular factors that mediate entry and determine susceptibility to infection will help assess the host range of BatIVs. Here, we investigated a range of cell lines from different species for their susceptibility to infection by pseudotyped viruses (PV) bearing bat H17 and/or N10 envelope glycoproteins. We show that a number of human haematopoietic cancer cell lines and the canine kidney MDCK II (but not MDCK I) cells are susceptible to H17-pseudotypes (H17-PV). We observed with microarrays and qRT-PCR that the dog leukocyte antigen DLA-DRA mRNA is over expressed in late passaged parental MDCK and commercial MDCK II cells, compared to early passaged parental MDCK and MDCK I cells, respectively. The human orthologue HLA-DRA encodes the alpha subunit of the MHC class II HLA-DR antigen-binding heterodimer. Small interfering RNA- or neutralizing antibody-targeting HLA-DRA, drastically reduced the susceptibility of Raji B cells to H17-PV. Conversely, over expression of HLA-DRA and its paralogue HLA-DRB1 on the surface of the unsusceptible HEK293T/17 cells conferred susceptibility to H17-PV. The identification of HLA-DR as an H17N10 entry mediator will contribute to a better understanding of the tropism of the virus and will elucidate its zoonotic transmission.
TBA
Clinical Genetics: -- Clinical Ethics: -- Chair: TBA
TBC
Professor Adam Komisarof will share his latest research findings about social markers of acculturation (SMA) in Japan (and beyond). SMA constitute culturally-constructed criteria, in this case among Japanese people, for accepting immigrants in society to the same extent that they do native-born Japanese. SMA include specific types of knowledge and skills (such as “Japanese common sense” or language proficiency), attitudes, attributes, and adherence to behavioral norms. Prof. Komisarof will not only identify the SMA most important to Japanese participants in his study, but also explain the predictors (such as perceived threat or intercultural contact) that most prominently influenced which markers they deemed important. Finally, he will present SMA in a broader context, comparing his findings in Japan to those in 5 other countries: Germany, Singapore, Finland, Canada, and Australia.
We provide a systematic analysis of the properties of individual returns to wealth using twelve years of population data from Norway's administrative tax records. We document a number of novel results. First, during our sample period individuals earn markedly different average returns on their net worth and on their financial assets. Second, heterogeneity in returns does not arise merely from differences in the allocation of wealth between safe and risky assets: returns are heterogeneous even within asset classes. Third, returns are positively correlated with wealth. Fourth, individual wealth returns exhibit substantial persistence over time. We argue that while this persistence partly reflects stable differences in risk exposure and assets scale, it also reflects persistent heterogeneity in sophistication and financial information, as well as entrepreneurial talent. Finally, wealth returns are (mildly) correlated across generations and there is evidence for assortative mating in wealth and returns to it. We discuss the implications of these findings for several strands of the wealth inequality debate. Please sign up for meetings below: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1k1tKJWgy8BjChwQiYJmdtDHnAfoynwLohx6uBtXSBCQ/edit#gid=0
These surgeries are a technical workshop meant to accompany the students in the quantitative aspect of their research. There are no prerequisites: all ESH graduate students are welcome (Mphil, MSC, DPhil). This is not a mandatory workshop, and it will not marked. The goal is to be there to answer questions that students may have regarding statistics, software, data colelction, data analysis, or research design. These questions can be addressed to the instructor or to any other person in the room. The students just need to drop in with their laptop, do their own research, and ask questions when needed. Students can also use this time as a commitment to work on their own research. Among others, this course can be helpful with: • Technical/programming questions about: Stata, R, Python, GIS (ArcGis, QGis, RGdal, etc.), arcPy, LaTeX, OCR. • Questions about research design: o Statistic and interpretation of results o Identification strategies o Data collection and data merging o Archival sampling
Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures: Graham Farmelo - The Universe Speaks in Numbers 16 May 2019 The supreme task of the physicist, Einstein believed, was to understand the 'miraculous' underlying order of the universe, in terms of the most basic laws of nature, written in mathematical language. Most physicists believe that it's best to seek these laws by trying to understand surprising new experimental findings. Einstein and his peer Paul Dirac disagreed and controversially argued that new laws are best sought by developing the underlying mathematics. Graham will describe how this mathematical approach has led to insights into both fundamental physics and advanced mathematics, which appear to be inextricably intertwined. Some physicists and mathematicians believe they are working towards a giant mathematical structure that encompasses all the fundamental laws of nature. But might this be an illusion? Might mathematics be leading physics astray? Graham Farmelo is a Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge and the author of 'The Strangest Man,' a biography of Paul Dirac. 5.00pm-6.00pm Mathematical Institute Oxford Please email external-relations@maths.ox.ac.uk to register. Or watch live: https://www.facebook.com/OxfordMathematics/ https://livestream.com/oxuni/farmelo The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
The new world of RNA biology John Mattick Green Templeton College, Oxford The genomic programming of complex organisms appears to have been misunderstood. The human genome contains just ~20,000 protein-coding genes, similar in number and with largely orthologous functions as those in other animals, including simple nematodes. By contrast, the extent of non-protein-coding DNA increases with increasing developmental complexity, reaching 98.5% in humans, presumably due to an expanded regulatory architecture. Moreover, it is now clear that the majority of the genome is differentially and dynamically transcribed to produce not only mRNAs but also tens if not hundreds of thousands of short and long non-protein-coding RNAs that show highly specific expression patterns and subcellular locations, with many shown to play important aetiological roles in development, brain function, cancer and other diseases. These ‘noncoding’ RNAs function at many different levels of gene expression and cell biology, including translational control, subcellular domain formation, and guidance of the epigenetic processes that underpin development, brain function and physiological adaptation, augmented by the superimposition of plasticity by RNA editing, RNA modification and retrotransposon mobilization. The evidence is now overwhelming that there is a massive hidden layer of RNA-mediated regulatory and architectural functions in humans and other complex organisms and that the current model of gene regulation is incomplete. The challenge now is to determine the structure-function relationships of these RNAs and their mechanisms of action, as well as their place in the decisional hierarchy that controls human development, physiology, cognitive function and susceptibility to disorders.
Kotlarski's identity has been widely used in applied economic research. However, how to conduct inference based on this popular identification approach has been an open question for two decades. This paper addresses this open problem by constructing a novel confidence band for the density function of a latent variable in repeated measurement error model. The confidence band builds on our finding that we can rewrite Kotlarski's identity as a system of linear moment restrictions. The confidence band controls the asymptotic size uniformly over a class of data generating processes, and it is consistent against all fixed alternatives. Simulation studies support our theoretical results. Please sign up for meetings below: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B5eDfd-p_oFWK5FiVvLebyit0ZQTQ6lkjUzbAFYDhUw/edit#gid=0
Please sign up for meetings below: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r32GYl_eL8bInJ04hTBz1ezVGXB8YitXA3om1Yjoh5I/edit#gid=0
Conference Dinner on Friday 17 May, with speaker Dr Jeremy Leggett. Drinks will be served from 19.00 and dinner at 19.30. The main programme on ‘Peace and the Anthropocene: Humanity, Environment, Sustainability’ continues on Saturday 18 May, 09.00 to 17.30 at St John's College.
OxPeace suggests as a working definition of ‘peace’: ‘Human security and human flourishing, in a sustainable environment, with the constructive management of conflict.’ The 2019 Conference aims to explore the challenges to peace, and responses to those challenges, that arise from the ascendancy of human beings on planet Earth and the consequent impacts on our environment. The programme is under construction, but could range from climate change and its many consequences including migration and human rights issues, loss of biodiversity, scarcity of basic resources (water, food), to fossil fuels, energy policy including nuclear energy, the problem of plastics, the roles of IT and social media, conservation, re-forestation, innovative technological solutions, and the roles of women. What level of human population can this planet peacefully sustain? What answers are there to this question, and what ethical, political and practical issues arise? Confirmed speakers include Professor Franz Baumann, New York University (former UN Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Environment and Peace Operations) on global heating; Prof Charles Godfray (Oxford) on food security, Prof Mark Maslin (UCL) on plastics, Dr Jeremy Leggett (British social entrepreneur and writer, founder of Solarcentury and SolarAid), Marcel Smits (IEP) on systems approaches to environmental problems, Dr Heather Baumann (Oxford) on the Arctic and Antarctic, Prof Henry Shue (Oxford) on climate justice. More to come. Conference Dinner on Friday 17 May at 19:00, with speaker Dr Jeremy Leggett. The main programme continues on Saturday 18 May, 09.00 to 17.30. Dinner tickets £40 (some tickets will be subsidised at £20 for students), pay in advance. Conference fee: Students £5, non-students £10, pay on arrival.
It is widely accepted in recent literature that 1.7 million died in GULAG in 1930-1955, a 10% out of 18-20 million people (Zemskov, Getty, Rittersporn (1993)). But critical appraisal of the data has largely been neglected by scholars since declassification of the central GULAG archive in 1989, from where these numbers were derived. General consensus among historians (with a few exceptions) is that camp medical reports convey the scale of mortality and that 90% of the GULAG population survived their incarceration. Absence of constructive criticism for more than 25 years has created a pervasive notion that no serious reassessment of the central data is possible (Pohl (1997), Morukov (2000), Wheatcroft (2009), Werth (2010), Zemskov (2014)) and that this problem is closed as a field of study. My project seeks to challenge this entrenched consensus on the central data veracity with a potential revision. I intend to achieve it through a detailed analysis of a specific procedure: early release of invalid prisoners on medical grounds during 1930-1955. I am particularly concentrating on interconnection of medical releases with death indexes. A few scholars hypothesized (Alexopoulos (2017)) that this ‘compassionate release’ of the most emaciated prisoners was deliberately employed by camp administration to artificially reduce death rates. However, it still remains unclear how seriously this interrelation affected registered mortality or if it even existed at all. The majority of the scholarship largely ignores or discards this supposition as a speculation. This scepticism is partly explained by the fact that this idea was derived from prisoner memoirs and is not yet supported with representative archival statistical evidence. Consequently, my research seeks to prove the mendacious nature of medical releases using mass original archival materials.
This is a joint event with the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food Dr Mike Hamm will explore the opportunity for regional food systems in-and-around cities for mutual benefit. He will approach a number of issues - including vertical farming, bio-geochemical cycles, water use, new entry farmers, and healthy food provisioning - embedded in the notion of city region food systems with reference to supply/demand dynamics. This talk will be followed by a drinks reception, all welcome
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Coming soon
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Professor Marie Lindquist Director of the Uppsala Monitoring Centre, will give this year’s Anne McLaren Lecture. Too many patients are harmed by their therapy; too many patients fail to get full benefit from their treatment; too many of those in need of medical care do not have access to it. In a world often influenced as much by fake news, superstition and conspiracy theories as by evidence and fact, where expert opinion may be doubted or rejected, how can we reach the aspirational vision of improved patient safety? What is the nature of the relationships and communications that might help us recover lost ground and make progress? SPEAKER Marie Lindquist is the Director and CEO of Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC), a self-funded non-profit foundation based in Sweden. UMC is a Collaborating Centre to the World Health Organization (WHO), managing the technical and operational activities of the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring – a global network of national pharmacovigilance centres in more than 130 countries. Marie has a Masters in Pharmacy and a Doctorate in Medical Sciences, and has published research in many areas of pharmacovigilance. She also has extensive hands-on experience in signal detection methodology, data management, classifications and terminologies, and is actively involved in international standardisation efforts and global pharmacovigilance development initiatives. THE ANNE MCLAREN LECTURE The OIBC Anne McLaren Lecture is held in conjunction with Kellogg College and the Trustees of the Oxford International Biomedical Centre. Dr Anne McLaren, DBE, Hon DSc, FRS (1927-2007) was a Trustee of the Oxford International Biomedical Centre. Her distinction as an experimental scientist in the field of mammalian embryology was matched by her concern for the ethical and legal consequences of in vivo fertilisation (IVF) and other clinical advances in human embryology. She is commemorated in Anne McLaren House at Kellogg College.
The aim of this two-day course is to develop core statistical skills for interpreting clinical and epidemiological data. It will provide knowledge of statistical methods and study design used in medical research. The course will enable participants to develop the skills needed to analyse data for their own research projects. No prior statistical knowledge is assumed for this course. The course is designed for anyone who requires a basic understanding of clinical research and data analysis. It will enable non-statisticians to interpret medical research and undertake their own research studies. https://www.ndorms.ox.ac.uk/graduate-courses/courses/statistics-designing-clinical-research-and-biostatistics
Renal: -- Respiratory: Dr Rachel Hoyles -- Chair: TBA
TBC
These surgeries are a technical workshop meant to accompany the students in the quantitative aspect of their research. There are no prerequisites: all ESH graduate students are welcome (Mphil, MSC, DPhil). This is not a mandatory workshop, and it will not marked. The goal is to be there to answer questions that students may have regarding statistics, software, data colelction, data analysis, or research design. These questions can be addressed to the instructor or to any other person in the room. The students just need to drop in with their laptop, do their own research, and ask questions when needed. Students can also use this time as a commitment to work on their own research. Among others, this course can be helpful with: • Technical/programming questions about: Stata, R, Python, GIS (ArcGis, QGis, RGdal, etc.), arcPy, LaTeX, OCR. • Questions about research design: o Statistic and interpretation of results o Identification strategies o Data collection and data merging o Archival sampling
Please sign up for meetings below: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1k1tKJWgy8BjChwQiYJmdtDHnAfoynwLohx6uBtXSBCQ/edit#gid=0
Like the wind, knowledge can be difficult to see or grasp, but if well-harnessed, it can help us do extraordinary things. In this talk, Dr Penny Mealy will discuss how novel analytical tools are providing new insights into the use of knowledge in society, and highlight implications for economic development, inequality and the transition to the green economy.
This workshop will focus on ‘religion’ as a changing category in modern Muslim practice. Participants are invited to share case studies from their research as a basis for discussion of the possible insights to be gained by bringing critical approaches to the category ‘religion’ to bear on our study of Islam. The aim of the meeting is to support and encourage such fledgling studies, sharing both methods and findings in order to identify: effective methodologies; a useful conceptual vocabulary; common patterns among diverse case studies; degrees of variation across contexts; and potential new avenues for research. To this end, participation will be open both to researchers already focusing on these themes and those interested in exploring these aspects of their empirical work further. Deadline for proposals: 28th February 2019 The event is an initiative of the "Categories of Religion and the Secular" Research Network, and in sponsored by the British Association for Islamic Studies and Pembroke College.
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“We have no right, in the present state of our knowledge, to assert that the worship of gods preceded that of kings.” Almost a century ago, A. M. Hocart made this striking observation about the common origin of religion and politics. Our conference aims to revisit this question in our present state of knowledge from across the fields of Anthropology, History and Religious Studies. We take inspiration from several developments in scholarship: the return to kingship as a matter of serious anthropological enquiry with the publication of Sahlins and Graeber’s On Kings; the growing appreciation of kings as sacred figures among historians and scholars of religion, particularly of Islam; the re-emergence of comparative methods and global history; and the burgeoning scholarship on political theology and sovereignty across the disciplines. In light of these trends, our goal is to explore a new framework for understanding such issues at a global level and over the very long term.
As an increasing number of funding bodies demand evermore-specific open access publishing models, research assessment exercises shift away from their reliance on impact factors, and open science and open peer review become more prevalent, do traditional scientific journals still have any relevance? Zoë Mullan is Editor-in-Chief of the open access journal, The Lancet Global Health. She is an Ex-Officio Board Member of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health and an International Advisory Board member of Sun-Yat Sen Global Health Institute, Guangzhou, China. Between 2013 and 2017 she was a Council Member and Trustee of the Committee on Publication Ethics. She trained in Biochemistry at the University of Bath, UK, before joining the publishing industry in 1997 as a Scientific Information Officer with CABI. She moved to The Lancet in 1999, where she has worked since, variously as a technical editor, section editor, and founding editor of The Lancet Global Health.
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The 5th Annual Oxford Business and Poverty Conference will feature a diverse range of speakers addressing the Paradoxes of Prosperity and the role of innovation in development. Hosted at the historic Sheldonian Theatre, the conference will feature keynotes by: Lant Pritchett, a development economist, worked with the World Bank from 1988 to 2007, living in Indonesia and India for much of that time. Overlapping for part of the time, he taught at the Harvard Kennedy School from 2000 to 2018. He has published over a hundred books, journal articles, working papers with over fifty different co-authors and has over 38,000 citations on development topics from education to economic growth to state capability to labour mobility. He is currently affiliated with Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. Efosa Ojomo is the Global Prosperity Lead and Senior Researcher at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation. He recently co-authored The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty with Clayton Christensen and Karen Dillon. Prior to his current role, he was a researcher under Professor Christensen at Harvard Business School where he graduated with an MBA. He also co-founded Poverty Stops Here, a nonprofit organization that provides Nigerian communicates with access to wells, small business microloans, and primary education. John Hoffmire is Chair of the Center on Business and Poverty, Senior Fellow at Peking University’s HSBC Business School, Chair of Cadence Innova Ltd, Chair of Oxford Pharmaceuticals, Research Associate at the Centre for Mutual and Employee-owned Business at the University of Oxford, Chair of the Personal Finance Employee Education Fund, and Publisher of ProgressDaily.com. Ananth Pai is Executive Director Bharath Beedi Works Pvt. Ltd. and Director Bharath Auto Cars Pvt. He received his B.B.M from Sri. Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Management, Mangalore. He is a Trustee Shri Bhuvanendra College, Karkala; and Vice President, Chinmaya Education Institution, Mangalore. Laurel Steinfield is Assistant Professor of Marketing at Bentley College in Massachusetts. She has a PhD from Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. Laurel’s research focuses on women in developing countries and how corporate programmes can assist in helping individuals and families. Grace Cheng is Greater China’s Country Manager for Russell Reynolds Associates. As a member of the firm’s CEO/Board Practice and Financial Services Sector, Grace focuses on senior-level assignments. She has conducted CEO assignments, board searches, succession planning and executive assessment projects for international companies, some of which are headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong. She also serves on the firm’s Executive Committee. Grace has a DPhil in Sociology from the University of Oxford. Madhusudan Jagadish: 2016 Graduate MBA, Said Business School, University of Oxford Tentative Schedule: 2:15-2:20 Welcome 2:20-2:50 Efosa Ojomo, co-author of The Prosperity Paradox, sets the stage for the need for innovation in development 2:50-3:20 John Hoffmire, Ananth Pai and Mudhusudan Jagadish explain how the Prosperity Paradox can be used in India as a model to create good jobs for poor women 3:20-3:40 Break 3:40-4:10 Laurel Steinfeld speaks to issues of gender, development and business – addressing paradoxes related to prosperity 4:10-4:40 Grace Cheng, speaks about the history of China’s use of disruptive innovations to develop its economy 4:40-5:15 Break 5:15-6 Lant Pritchett talks on Pushing Past Poverty: Paths to Prosperity 6:30-8 Dinner at the Rhodes House - Purchase tickets after signing up for the conference: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dinner-for-5th-annual-business-and-poverty-conference-oxford-tickets-58859187414 Sponsors of the conference include Russell Reynolds, the Employee Ownership Foundation, the Ananth Pai Foundation and others. We are grateful to our sponsors.
Actress Joy Richardson swaps the stage for the interview chair to discuss her career and experience of the film industry with Kellogg Alumna JC Niala (MSt Creative Writing). Joy will focus on her recent role as Miss Rose in the BBC’s adaptation of Andrea Levy’s award-winning, best-selling novel The Long Song. We will be showing the first episode of The Long Song, followed by the ‘in conversation’ and a Q & A session.
Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures together with the Simonyi Science Show Marcus du Sautoy - The Creativity Code: How AI is learning to write, paint and think 29 May 2019 Will a computer ever compose a symphony, write a prize-winning novel, or paint a masterpiece? And if so, would we be able to tell the difference? In The Creativity Code, Marcus du Sautoy examines the nature of creativity, as well as providing an essential guide into how algorithms work, and the mathematical rules underpinning them. He asks how much of our emotional response to art is a product of our brains reacting to pattern and structure. And might machines one day jolt us in to being more imaginative ourselves? Marcus du Sautoy is Simonyi Professor for the Public understanding of Science in Oxford. 6--7pm Mathematical Institute Oxford Please email external-relations@maths.ox.ac.uk to register. Watch live: facebook.com/OxfordMathematics https://livestream.com/oxuni/du-Sautoy2 The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
Science is difficult. To do good science researchers need to know about philosophy of science, learn how to develop theories, become experts in experimental design, study measurement theory, and understand the statistics they use to analyze their data. I used to rely on norms when I made choices when I did research. From the way I phrase my research question, to how I determine the sample size for a study, to the statistical tests I performed, my justifications were typically ‘this is how we do it’. In this talk I will explain that, regrettably, almost all the norms we rely on are wrong. I will provide present some ways to justify aspects of the research cycle, such as sample sizes and choices for statistical tests, and discuss the (im)possibility of individually accumulating sufficient knowledge to be able to justify all important decisions in the research you do, and the possible benefits of a more collaborative science.
The OUCAGS Forum is a space for sharing research findings, ideas and know-how. It is organised by the Oxford University Clinical Academic Graduate School (www.oucags.ox.ac.uk). It currently consists of half-day events, usually with a lunchtime seminar and short presentations from a range of clinical academic trainees and DPhil students from different specialties. The Forum is an excellent networking opportunity, as well as a chance to find out about current research which is ongoing around Oxford.
Haematology: -- Psychological Medicine: -- Chair: TBA
TBC
An 80,000 word thesis would take 9 hours to present; how about in just 3 minutes with the aid of a single slide? We are inviting DPhil students to do just that. The 3 Minute Thesis competition challenges doctoral candidates to present a compelling spoken presentation on their research topic and its significance in just three minutes to a non-specialist audience. The competition will help you to develop your communication skills, vital to raise awareness of your work, seek support and obtain funding. You will be able to develop ways of explaining complex ideas in a way that is accessible and engaging for a non-specialist audience, raise the profile of your work, enhance your CV, and network with like-minded researchers. Oxford will run a two-stage competition, first the heat to select four finalists. Next the final to find the overall winner. The winner of the Oxford final will be entered into the national semi-finals, and if they are successful they will go on to the national final in Birmingham, with their expenses paid to attend. Up to 4 finalists will all be awarded a prize: 1st prize: £200 Runner-up prizes: £100 There are also prizes for winners in the national final: last year’s winner was awarded a £3,000 grant to spend on public engagement activity, sponsored by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to promote their research and to enhance their professional development. At the heat you will deliver your Three Minute Thesis to a panel of judges. See rules below. Finalists will then be selected to present at the final on 19 June, 5-6pm at the Manor Road Building. By registering for the heat you confirm that you are available to attend the final on 19 June and are eligible: https://www.mpls.ox.ac.uk/public-engagement/latest/three-minute-thesis-competition-launched-deadline-25-may-training-sessions-available-in-march/#eligibility If you don’t want to compete or want to invite your colleagues, please just show up. Specialist training is available for all to help you develop your pitch. You will be taken through the key ingredients to craft a compelling three minute presentation, and have the chance to get feedback on your presentations. Simply register for a session to suit: 25 March, 09.30am-12.30pm Manor Road Building – register: https://cosy.ox.ac.uk/accessplan/clientinput/course/coursebooker.aspx?coursedateid=95410 OR 27 March, 1.30pm – 4.30pm, Manor Road Building – register: https://cosy.ox.ac.uk/accessplan/clientinput/course/coursebooker.aspx?coursedateid=95411
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In Origin of Species, Charles Darwin described how a population explosion occurs and called the time of population explosion “ favourable seasons", he was not to know it, but such circumstances arose for his own species at around the time of his own birth. However, the favourable seasons for human population growth were not experienced favourably, with times of great social dislocation from small scale enclosure to global colonisation. Now those seasons are over, we have experienced the first ever sustained slowdown in the rate of global human population growth. This has been the case for at least one human generation. However, we are not just slowing down in terms of how many children we have, but in almost everything else we do, other than in the rise in global temperatures that we are recording and that we have to live with. It can be argued that there is even a slowdown in such unexpected areas as debt, publishing, and in the total amount useful information being produced. If this is true - that humanity is slowing down in almost everything that we do – what does this mean? What measurements suggest that slowdown is true? And if so much is still rising, albeit at slower and slower rates - is that such a great change? Finally how might the slowdown impact on economic thought. In many ways economics was the science of the great acceleration; a science that makes most sense when markets are expanding and demand is rising. What kind of an economics is needed in a world where enormous and accelerating growth has stopped being the normality?
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Forthcoming
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coming soon
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Our wild bees and other pollinators are so important, but they are still the unsung heroes of the environment, gardens and countryside and continue to decline in number and range. The talk will identify what we can all do to help wild bees. Many of the actions we take to protect one pollinator species, such as flower rich habitat creation and reduction in pesticide use, will assist biodiversity as a whole. Roselle Chapman joined Wild Oxfordshire in 2017 as Community Ecologist. Roselle's fascination for wildlife was developed whilst growing up on a farm in Norfolk and rock pooling on holiday in Jersey. She has a BSc Hons in Marine Biology and studied bumble bee ecology and genetics for her Ph.D. Roselle has worked in field biology and conservation biology for over twenty years in the Indian Ocean and the UK. Please see http://www.anhso.org.uk for more information about the Society.
This is a two-day international meeting held at St Anne's College, Oxford for clinicians and scientists looking to appreciate the breadth of translational Autoimmune Neurology. It will cover the clinical features of CNS and PNS diseases, methodological aspects of immunological assays, applied T and B cell pathophysiology, and questions relating to immunological tolerance. By being both contemporary and highly-translational, we intend the programme will appeal to consultant and trainee neurologists plus PhD or postdoctoral level researchers who have an interest in the field of Autoimmune Neurology
Radiology: -- Cardiology: -- Chair: TBA
TBC
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Digital technologies are changing economics in two ways. The characteristics of an increasingly digital economy raise questions about economic analysis in domains ranging from competition policy to corporate finance, while new data sources and methodologies challenge economists to develop new empirical approaches.
TBA
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This paper investigates the interaction between firm price competition and the information consumers have to evaluate products. In particular, it explores the information structure which maximizes industry profit or consumer surplus. Please sign up for meetings below: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r32GYl_eL8bInJ04hTBz1ezVGXB8YitXA3om1Yjoh5I/edit#gid=0
Andrea Lanza (University of Toronto): ‘Centralisation’ Michael Drolet (Worcester College, Oxford): ‘Société’ Vincent Bourdeau (Université de Franche-Comté): ‘Encyclopédie’
This event will be a one-day conference on Saturday 8th June 2019 on Paradigm Shifts Across the Ages. The history of physics can be viewed as consisting of major paradigm shifts followed by decades and even centuries working through the consequences of the dominating paradigm. As examples, the Copernican revolution overtook the millennium-old Ptolemaic system of astronomy, and likewise Newton's mechanics replaced the ancient Aristotelian system. More recently, the advent of special relativity and quantum mechanics superceded the classical ideas of time, space and matter. This conference will examine how physics has developed from antiquity to the present day through Kuhn's concept of paradigm shifts. Registration and attendance at the conference are FREE. Details of the conference and how to register are at: https://www.stx.ox.ac.uk/happ/events/paradigm-shifts-across-ages-one-day-conference
Forthcoming
The Careers Service are offering the below career 1:1 appointments to DPhil students and contract research staff (grade 6 and above), including postdocs. The below appointments at the JR and ORC are bookable by calling the Careers Service reception on 01865 274646. There appointments are in addition to those offered throughout the year at The Careers Service office based at 56 Banbury Road every week and can be booked using your CareerConnect account (accessed via www.careers.ox.ac.uk). These sessions will help you identify some achievable next steps and to understand how the Careers Service can support you as you proceed. These include a huge variety of events to help you meet people working in sectors where research skills are valued, hands-on programmes to develop your core employability skills and workshops to help you hone your written application skills and interview techniques. Time slots available: 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:30 15:00 15:30
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Leptin is an adipose tissue hormone that maintains homeostatic control of adipose tissue mass. This endocrine system thus serves a critical evolutionary function by protecting individuals from the risks associated with being too thin (starvation) or too obese (predation). Mutations in leptin or its receptor cause massive obesity in mice and humans, and leptin can effectively treat obesity in leptin deficient patients. The identification of leptin has thus provided a framework for studying the regulation of feeding behavior and the pathogenesis of obesity. While most obese patients have high endogenous levels of leptin indicating that they are leptin resistant , obese patients with low endogenous levels show robust weight loss with leptin treatment. Leptin also links changes in nutrition to adaptive responses in other physiologic systems with effects on insulin sensitivity, fertility, immune function and neuroendocrine function (among others). Leptin is an approved treatment for generalized lipodystrophy, a condition associated with severe diabetes, and has also shown promise for the treatment of other types of diabetes and for hypothalamic amenorrhea, an infertility syndrome in females. Studies of leptin gene regulation also suggest that leptin should be an effective treatment for the subset of obese patients with low endogenous levels of the hormone. The identification of leptin has also advanced our understanding of the neural mechanisms that control feeding. Current research focuses on the function of specific neural populations in the hypothalamus and other brain regions to control feeding behavior and energy balance. The role of these neural populations is being evaluated by identifying molecular markers for specific subpopulations, and evaluating the effect of modulating their activity. In other studies , we are studying the transcriptional mechanisms that regulate leptin gene expression as well as the leptin regulated neural circuits that regulate metabolism.
Group Leader Sonia Gandhi has expertise in the process of protein misfolding, in which smaller proteins, monomers, joining together to form larger proteins, oligomers, and how this process may drive organellar dysfunction and cell toxicity in neurodegeneration.
Medical Director's Office: -- Stroke Medicine: -- Chair: TBA
TBC
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Professor Sir Paul Collier and Professor Colin Mayer CBE will share the latest thinking and research into the future of capitalism and the corporation to understand how business might be changed to make it work better for society. The speakers will bring together their new books, The Future of Capitalism: Facing The New Anxieties and Prosperity: Better Business Makes the Greater Good, alongside the British Academy's Future of the Corporation programme research to pose serious questions of our economic system. This talk will be followed by a drinks reception, book sale and signing, all welcome
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Forthcoming
This paper documents and theoretically explains a nexus between globalization and wage inequality within plants through internal labor market organization. We document that the dominant component of overall and residual wage inequality is within plant-occupations and, combining within-occupation task information from labor force surveys with linked plant--worker data for Germany, establish three interrelated facts: (1) larger plants and exporters organize production into more occupations, (2) workers at larger plants and exporters perform fewer tasks within occupations, and (3) overall and residual wages are more dispersed at larger plants. To explain these facts, we build a model in which the plant endogenously bundles tasks into occupations and workers match to occupations. By splitting the task range into more occupations, the plant assigns workers to a narrower task range per occupation, reducing worker mismatch while typically raising the within-plant dispersion of wages. Embedding this rationale into a Melitz model, where fixed span-of-control costs increase with occupation counts, we show that inherently more productive plants exhibit higher worker efficiency and wider wage dispersion and that economy-wide wage inequality is higher in the open economy for an empirically confirmed parametrization. Reduced-form tests confirm crucial assumptions and predictions of the model. Please sign up for meetings below: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RBr5EMgpvCT6RlT5YyJJrUrc1cDe2fkIHmM7FsnbogY/edit#gid=0
coming soon
An 80,000 word thesis would take 9 hours to present; how about in just 3 minutes with the aid of a single slide? We are inviting DPhil students to do just that. The 3 Minute Thesis competition challenges doctoral candidates to present a compelling spoken presentation on their research topic and its significance in just three minutes to a non-specialist audience. Come along to watch the finalist's of Oxford's 3MT competition battle it out to be crowned the Oxford Winner. Oxford will run a two-stage competition, first the heat to select four finalists. Next the final to find the overall winner. The winner of the Oxford final will be entered into the national semi-finals, and if they are successful they will go on to the national final in Birmingham, with their expenses paid to attend. Up to 4 finalists will all be awarded a prize: 1st prize: £200 Runner-up prizes: £100 There are also prizes for winners in the national final: last year’s winner was awarded a £3,000 grant to spend on public engagement activity, sponsored by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to promote their research and to enhance their professional development. More information about the competition: https://www.mpls.ox.ac.uk/public-engagement/latest/three-minute-thesis-competition-launched-deadline-25-may-training-sessions-available-in-march
Neurology: Prof David Beeson -- Acute General Medicine Firm C: -- Chair: TBA
TBC
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Programme: 08.45 - 09.00 Registration and Welcome 09.00 - 10.00 Professor Eibert Tigchelaar (Leuven): The Cave 1 Hoyadot Scroll Materially and Spiritually 10.00 - 10.15 Break 10.15 - 11.15 Sarah Wisialowski: Leaders as Exemplars in the Community at Qumran 11.15 - 11.30 Break 11.30 - 12.30 Elizabeth Stell: "Tell Me Your Dream so I May Understand" : Dream as Interpretation in the Genesis Apocryphon / Annie Calderbank: Divine Presence Over and Within: Temple Discourse in the Dead Sea Scrolls 12.30 - 13.30 Lunch 13.30 - 14.30 Rebekah Van Sant-Clark: Isaiah's Poetics of Exile and Wilderness: The Afterlife of Isaiah 40:1-11 / Anna Krauss: How to Make Sense of a Gap? The omission of Psalms 104-111 in 4Q84 14.30 - 14.45 Break 14.45 - 15.45 Alexander McCarron: "Enoch, a Righteous Man"; Genesis 6:9 as Intertext in 4QEn (1 Enoch 1:2) / Daniel Schumann: The Eschatologization of the Gift of the Promised Land in 1 En. 1-5 15.45 - 16.00 Break 16.00 - 17.00 Kenny Chi Kin Lei: Friends or Strangers? A Comparison between Pesher Interpretation in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Matthew's use of Hosea 11:1 / Yael Fisch: Midrash-Pesher in Qumran, Paul and the Tannaim 17.00 - 17.15 Break 17.15 - 18.15 Professor George Brooke (Manchester): Dead Sea Scrolls Scholarship in Oxford: Past, Present and Future 18.15 - 18.30 Concluding remarks
A one-day public study day about Oxford in the First World War, to accompany the mini-exhibition 'Oxford: The War and the World, 1914-1919'. Confirmed speakers: Clara Abrahams (Granddaughter of May Wedderburn Cannan and keeper or her literary estate); Dr Malcolm Graham (Local historian and author of Oxford in the Great War); Caroline Roaf (Editor of Pleasance Walker’s Letters from the Front, 1915-1919); Peter Smith (Chair of the Wolvercote WW1 Aerodrome Memorial Project); Stephen Barker (Heritage Advisor to the Oxford, the War & the World 1914-19 exhibition); Symon Hill (Workers' Educational Association); Dr Rob Johnson (The Changing Character of War Centre, Pembroke College, Oxford) The full programme can be found here: https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/event/oxford-in-wwi-study-day
Led by Professor Andrea Cipriani the 3-day interactive course will give participants knowledge and practical skills on how to understand, critically appraise and publish a network meta-analysis. This course will include lectures, group work, hands-on tutorials and supervised statistical sessions. It is aimed at clinicians, researchers and policy makers. An international team of experts will lead participants through a series of focused sessions including: ◾An introduction to meta-analysis, indirect comparisons and mixed-treatment comparisons (theory, practice) ◾Protocol for Network Meta-Analysis ◾Understanding statistical analyses in Network Meta-Analysis ◾Performing Network Meta-Analysis with Research and how to present the results ◾Evaluating the confidence in Network Meta-Analysis: the CINeMA framework ◾How to write the Network Meta-Analysis manuscript and reply to peer reviewers’ comments ◾Combining RCTs and observational studies in Network Meta-Analysis ◾Network Meta-Analysis for timely decision making ◾Individual Patient Data Network Meta-Analysis and component Network Meta-Analysis
Registration Fee for Delegates - £10.00 for early-bird registrations up to 30 April 2019, increasing to £12.50 from 1 May 2019. Limited places available - early booking is recommended to avoid disappointment.
Combined Medical-Surgical Grand Round OCDEM Chair: TBA
We are pleased to announce that the 4th UK Dementia MRI Conference will take place at St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford on 1st July 2019. This conference will build on three successful prior meetings, which have provided a much-needed platform for clinicians and researchers to discuss the latest advances and challenges in dementia neuroimaging. This year, we have chosen to focus the conference on leading multi-site and big data dementia imaging initiatives in the UK and Europe. The meeting will feature four sessions centred around ‘Multi-site Neuroimaging’, ‘Big Data and Population Imaging Markers’, ‘Multi-site MR Harmonisation’ and ‘Multi-modal Neuroimaging Targets’ in dementia, for which we have assembled an expert line-up of speakers from the UK and Europe. There will be three poster sessions, an interactive panel discussion and a keynote lecture by Professor Frederik Barkhof from VU University Amsterdam. The conference will be followed by a drinks reception at the college. This conference is generously supported by Alzheimer’s Research UK (the UK’s leading dementia research charity), the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, and the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre.
The Oxford Neurology Course was successfully launched in 2010 and is now an annual event aimed at neurology trainees and consultants. The course covers a wide range of neurological topics. Talks will cover practical issues as well as cutting-edge neuroscience, and include the popular 'Best of Oxford's Grand Round Archives'. Speakers are invited who are established experts in their field and always with the aim of promoting lively discussion. Attendees get to soak up the atmosphere of Oxford in Summer, living and dining formally one evening in College.
The University of Oxford, together with the NIHR Community Healthcare MIC, will be hosting an AIMday in Antimicrobial Resistance on Thursday 4 July 2019. The AIMday will bring together academic excellence from across the University of Oxford together with industry to help answer the most pressing challenges in this area, as identified by UK bioscience companies. An Academic Industry Meeting Day (AIMday) is an innovative networking event that allows external organisations to set the agenda and gain academic perspective into industry challenges. The idea is simple: each AIMday has a specific theme and is centred around small group discussions based on a question posed by the external participant. This gives industry partners and researchers the assurance that the topics addressed will be of genuine interest, while also providing the opportunity to gain fresh insights, meet potential collaborators, and grow a network.
Green Templeton College is delighted to be running the second Oxford University Summer School for Medical Humanities from 14 to 20 July 2019. This is a residential summer school for 20 talented undergraduate university and sixth form students. Oxford's top academics will introduce students to the interface between medicine and a wide array of arts, social science and humanities subjects, including anthropology, philosophy, literature, law and art history. We hope to attract medical students who are interested in how humanities subjects can help them to develop their skills, and who want to think in a more integrated, inter-disciplinary way. This interdisciplinary course is taught thematically. Each day or half-day is devoted to a specific topic on the connection between the art and the science of medicine: e.g. observation; illness narratives; language and communication; medical ethics; law; ageing; diversity, gender. Teaching is a mixture of lecture-discussion and interactive workshops. Participants are required to do preparatory reading or viewing from poems, short stories, films, and articles from journals in relevant disciplines. Applications close on 20 March 2019. Please visit this website for more information on how to apply: https://www.gtc.ox.ac.uk/academic/health-care/medical-humanities/summer-school-2019/
The OUCAGS Forum is a space for sharing research findings, ideas and know-how. It is organised by the Oxford University Clinical Academic Graduate School (www.oucags.ox.ac.uk). It currently consists of half-day events, usually with a lunchtime seminar and short presentations from a range of clinical academic trainees and DPhil students from different specialties. The Forum is an excellent networking opportunity, as well as a chance to find out about current research which is ongoing around Oxford.
The Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme is hosting the 2nd Annual Conference of the Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance and Investment (GRASFI). GRASFI was founded in 2017 to promote multi-disciplinary academic research on sustainable finance and investment. The Alliance consists of 22 global research universities, each with expertise in this emerging field. Registration for the GRASFI 2019 Conference is now open, and the Conference Committee are seeking 40 high quality papers for the conference with each paper having a 30-minute speaking slot. Within each session papers are likely to come from different disciplines to foster inter-disciplinary collaboration and learning. More details and the Call for Papers can be found at the conference website.
Please see http://www.anhso.org.uk for more information about the Society.
Celebrating 25 years of ECM. SoGE and Somerville College, Oxford. Booking will open in July 2019.
The OUCAGS Forum is a space for sharing research findings, ideas and know-how. It is organised by the Oxford University Clinical Academic Graduate School (www.oucags.ox.ac.uk). It currently consists of half-day events, usually with a lunchtime seminar and short presentations from a range of clinical academic trainees and DPhil students from different specialties. The Forum is an excellent networking opportunity, as well as a chance to find out about current research which is ongoing around Oxford.
An evening to celebrate 15 years of our MSc course in Water Science, Policy and Management, and the publication of a book written by WSPM faculty and alumni. Booking will open in May 2019.
Our departmental programme, including our annual Herbertson Lunch. Speakers TBC. Booking will open in late June 2019.
Celebrating 50 years since matriculation. Booking will open in May 2019.
The ability to accurately identify and interpret Track and Sign rests on a body of traditional knowledge that previous generations of naturalists would have regarded as fundamental. Sadly, now it is largely unknown and untaught, but with the upsurge of Citizen Science, it is perhaps more relevant than ever. A long-time resident of Oxford and Chair of Oxfordshire Mammal Group, Bob's curiosity to understand the natural world has led him to an enthusiastic study of Track and Sign. In 2018, Bob was evaluated at Level 3 by the International Tracker Certification scheme. In the UK, only one person has achieved a higher grading. Please see http://www.anhso.org.uk for more information about the Society.
Please see http://www.anhso.org.uk for more information about the Society.
Descent of the Dove: Knowing and Loving in Spirit and Truth Pusey House Theological Conference Monday, 6 July to Wednesday, 8 July, 2020 The focus of the conference will be the person and work of the Holy Spirit, and the inevitable transformation which any knowledge of, faith in, or encounter with, the Holy Spirit both invites and enables. The 2020 conference will be, DV, the third of a series following conferences in 2016 and 2018, ‘A Transforming Vision: Knowing and Loving the Triune God’ (2016), and ‘Totus Christus: Knowing and Loving the Son of Man’ (2018). Speakers for 2020 Lewis Ayres, Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology, Durham University. Markus Bockmuehl, Dean Ireland's Professor in the Exegesis of Holy Scripture, Fellow of Keble College, Oxford. Richard Conrad, Director of the Aquinas Institute, Blackfriars, Oxford. Jonathan Goodall, The Bishop of Ebbsfleet and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the Orthodox Churches. Malcolm Guite, Chaplain, Girton College, Cambridge. Carol Harrison, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford. Matthew Levering, James N. and Mary D. Perry Jr. Chair of Theology at Mundelein Seminary, University of Saint Mary of the Lake, and Co-Director of the Chicago Theological Initiative. John R. (Jack) Levison, W. J. A. Power Professor of Old Testament Interpretation and Biblical Hebrew, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. Andrew Louth, Professor Emeritus of Patristic and Byzantine Studies in the Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University, and Rector of the Orthodox Parish of St Cuthbert and St Bede, Durham. Oliver O’Donovan, Professor Emeritus in Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at the School of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh, and sometime Regius Professor of Moral & Pastoral Theology and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford. Marcus Plested, Professor of Greek Patristic and Byzantine Theology, Marquette University Ephraim Radner, Professor of Historical Theology, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto. Graham Tomlin, Bishop of Kensington and President of St. Mellitus College, London. Robin Ward, Principal of St Stephen’s House, Oxford. Kallistos Ware, Assistant Bishop in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain, sometime Spalding Lecturer of Eastern Orthodox Studies at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford. George Westhaver, The Principal of Pusey House, Oxford. Rowan Williams, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, sometime Archbishop of Canterbury and Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, Oxford. Judith Wolfe, Professor of Philosophical Theology, St. Mary’s College, University of St. Andrews. N T Wright, Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity , University of St Andrews, sometime Bishop of Durham. Simeon Zahl, University Lecturer in Christian Theology, Cambridge.
