Communication skills are fundamental to a researcher’s day-to-day work. This panel session features speakers who have built on these skills to go into healthcare and medical communications, careers that aim to raise awareness of therapies and medical devices that could transform lives. *Dr Beatrice Tyrrell, Principal Medical Writer, Aspire Scientific*: As a Principal Medical Writer at Aspire Scientific, I am part of a team committed to delivering high-quality medical writing services for our pharmaceutical and biotech clients, ranging from supporting our clients with scientific strategy, to developing training materials and pivotal clinical trial publications. I completed an MA in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, specialising in Pathology, and a DPhil in Infection, Immunology, and Translational Medicine at the University of Oxford, investigating the antiviral and immunomodulatory effects of iminosugar compounds, particularly in dengue virus infection. During my DPhil, I gained science communication experience outside the lab, including as Features Section Editor for Phenotype and Founder of Oxford Hands-On Science. As I neared the end of my DPhil, I was drawn to a career in medical communications (MedComms). Taking part in Aspire Scientific’s Aspirations scheme allowed me to gain paid medical writing experience alongside my DPhil, and cemented my belief that MedComms would be a good fit for me. I joined the company as a Medical Writer in 2019, and now help to run the Aspirations scheme. *Shelley Goodwin, Head of Strategy, ConcentricLife (part of Accenture Song)*: Running out of her burning chemistry building in ‘an orderly fashion’ brought an unexpected end to her PhD in Chemistry at the Australian National University. With a smoke-soaked lab coat put to rest nearly 20 years ago, Shelley dove straight into the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry as the principal medical writer for clinical trials at DebioClinic in Paris. Over these 20 years, Shelley has led medical, creative, and strategic teams to connect the right medicine with the right patient, at the right time. Currently based in London, Shelley works directly with pharmaceutical clients to launch new medical innovations across the globe. Now being part of one of the biggest technology-powered companies in the world, Accenture, the timely impact of communication and education is even more relevant and meaningful for prescribers and the patients. Shelley has combined her scientific background with her creative flair to build a fruitful career at both a local and global level.
This two-day workshop aims to highlight approaches from the Global South in the field of Internet, Data and AI Studies. It will gather Global South authors to present their countries and regions’ theoretical and methodological contributions. It will also be an opportunity to enrich the dialogue among Global South scholars and between those and Global North researchers. This workshop is supported by the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies. On the first day, at Wadham College, sessions will discuss the Global South scholarship in the fields, with panels specifically focused on Asian, African, and Latin American contributions to these topics. Speakers and programme are below. The second day, 26th March, 11:15-5pm, will be dedicated to presentations and discussions. Attendance for day 2 is online only. Organising Committee Jonas C. L. Valente (Oxford Internet Institute, UK, Universities of Brasilia and of Ceara, Brazil, chair) Ekaterina Hertog (Oxford Internet Institute, UK) Janaki Srinivasan (Oxford Internet Institute and Oxford School of Global and Area Studies UK) Cheryll Soriano (De La Salle University, the Philippines) Rafael Grohmann (University of Toronto, Canada, Brazilian Institute on Science and Technology/ Informational Sovereignty, Brazil) Helena Martins (Federal University of Ceara, Brazil) Rutendo Chabikwa (Oxford Internet Institute, UK, African Digital Rights Network) Ana Valdivia (Oxford Internet Institute, UK and UCL Institute of Advanced Studies, UK, Tierracomún Network) Anjali Krishan (Oxford Internet Institute, UK) Schedule Day 1- workshop – Wadham College Time Session 10:00-10:20 Arrival 10:20-10:30 Opening Remarks 10:30-11:30 Roundtable 1 – “Global Southing” critical Internet and data studies: empowering approaches from the margins Chair: Jonas Valente – Oxford Internet Institute (UK) Andrea Medrado – University of Exeter and IAMCR (UK) Cheryll Soriano – La Sale University (the Philippines) 11:30-11:45 Break 11:45-12:45 Roundtable 2 – Critical Internet and data studies from Asian perspectives Janaki Srinivasan – Oxford Internet Institute and Oxford School of Global and Area Studies (UK) Jian Xiao – Zhejiang University (China) Fadi Salem – Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government (United Arab Emirates) 12:45-14:00 Lunch 14:00-15:00 Roundtable 3 – Critical Internet and data studies from African perspectives Chair: Rebekah Lee – Oxford School of Global and Area Studies (UK) Rutendo Chabikwa – Oxford Internet Institute (UK) Mohammad Amir Anwar – University of Edinburgh (UK) Tanja Bosch – University of Cape Town (South Africa) 15:00-15:20 Break 15:30-16:30 Roundtable 4 – Critical Internet and data studies from Latin American perspectives Patricia Peña – Universidad de Chile (Chile) César Bolaño – University of Sergipe (Brazil) and Social Sciences Latin American Council (Clacso) political economy working group. Andrés Domínguez Hernández – The Alan Turning Institute (UK) 16:30-17:00 Closing Remarks Day 2 – Research approaches conversations – OII, 1 St Giles On the second day, researchers will have informal sessions to discuss their research, and the approaches adopted from Global South regions. The aim is to promote an exchange among OII, Oxford and Global South students and researchers. Online Time Name Topic 11:15-12:30 Ashish Makanadar Digital Coup d’État: How AI Threatens Political Sovereignty in the Global South June Wang Accumulated Affect and the Deep Interface: Rethinking Intellectual Property in China’s Digital Creator Economy Theshaya Naidoo African philosophical traditions and contemporary AI ethics scholarship Pradipa P. RASIDI Becoming a “Real Gen Z”: AI Imaginaries and Youth Politics in Indonesia 12:30-13:00 Break 13:00-14:15 Wouter Grove Emerging Digital Platform Design in the Global South: Insights from a Failure Case. Kefala Christina Ana Silicon Dreams, National Schemes: AI and the Rise of Digital Nationalism in China’s Cultural Industries Cenk Arslan The Techno-Politics of AI Governance in the Global South: A Critical Perspective from Syria, Egypt, and Jordan Pablo Nabarrete Bastos Marxist critique of platformization and AI processes based on José Carlos Mariátegui and the Brazilian tradition of Political Economy of Communication (PEC) 14:15-15:45 Break 15:45-17:00 Benjamin Akinmoyeje Exploring AI Algorithms Behind Social Media Platforms and Their Effects on African Cultural Identities Hiu-Fung Chung De-Westernizing Critical AI Studies: Tinkering, Translation and Transmutation of AI from an East Asian Perspective Luisa Ochoa Artificial Intelligence from the Global South: Mediations, Artifacts, and Content Pía Garavaglia Global South Perspectives on Internet, Data, and AI Governance In Person Time Name Topic 10:00-11:10 Nandana Sengupta Public vs Private provisioning of AI tools in high-stakes contexts: experimental evidence from technology and law students in India Rafael Grohmann Platform Dependency: Towards a Marxist Theory of Dependency Approach Ralph Schroeder UK AI, China, and the Global South Emma Davies Digital Public History and Generative AI in Nigeria 11:10-11:20 Break 11:20-12:30 Ashwin Varghese Algorithmic Governance and Postcoloniality: Perspectives on E-Governance from India Govand Khalid Azeez The Political Economy of AI Development: Global South Perspectives on Digital Infrastructure and Knowledge Inequalities Helena Martins Analyzing competition in digital markets: a contribution from the Political Economy of Communication developed in Brazil Joanna Wiaterek, Jonas Kgomo, Jared Perlo African AI Safety: A Strategic Approach 12:30-13:00 Break 13:00-14:15 Reham Hosny Grassroots Algorithmic Resistance: Challenging Inequalities in Digital Governance from the Global South Ellen Agnew When you Tweet your heart, bandage Twitter: Aestheticising algorithmic violence as a strategy for decoloniality in contemporary South Africa Shuxian Liu and Edgar Gómez-Cruz Vernacular theories: Building technocultures from the South Pranav Dwivedi AI and Dalit Social Mobility in India: Towards Asian-Informed Theories and Methods for Equitable Digital Development 14:15-14:20 Break 14:20-15:35 Stephanie Dimatulac Santos ICTs and Infostructures of Feeling: Notes from the Philippines Shiva Kanwar and Isha Suri Auditing AI: Reconciling Global North AI Practices with Global South Digital Realities Laure Gnassou Problems in Adopting Global North Concepts to Global South Digital Practices Geopolitics of Tin: The DR Congo in the Age of AI” Jean Garcia Periche Addressing the ‘AI divide’ between the Global North and the Global South 15:35-15:45 Break 15:45-17:00 Ding, N The Social-cultural Roots of Platformisation: Urban Middle-Class Struggles in China Alli Spring Problems in adopting Global North concepts to Global South digital practices Tugce Vidav and Smith Mehta Global South Global South Creator Cultures Ramsha Ashraf Politics and International Relations with a focus on Cyber Security, Governance and Post-conflict, State-building Registration is open in person or online for day 1 and online only for day 2. Only those who have papers accepted for day 2 will be invited to join in person.
Next generation applications including energy generation and storage systems, medical devices, functional lightweight composites, autonomous vehicles, packaging, and multi- functional materials such as conducting glasses, fibres, and smart polymers critically depend on the design and controlled, sustainable manufacturing of materials. Input from across different departments will be essential to create real innovation in these areas. Advanced computational methods have reached a stage that allows the rapid theoretical design of new materials and accurate prediction of their physical properties, thereby allowing experimental synthesis and characterisation to be focused on the most promising sub-set of materials. The Network for Advanced Materials takes an interdisciplinary approach to tackling materials challenges by designing materials across the length scale with end-user applications in mind whereby high-speed computing, rational modelling, experimentalists and participating industry partners mutually inform each other. The combination of fundamental concepts, new designs, applied science, and classical research and development plays a pivotal role in attracting industry partners to the Oxford Advanced Materials Network. Core to the network is our systems approach and the regular exchange with policymakers and society.
In this session, with the help of our panel of publishing professionals, we will explore the options for researchers in publishing – the roles, the skills, the areas of publishing where a doctorate is essential and the areas where it is a ‘nice to have’; how a doctorate degree is viewed and how best you can promote the skills you have developed on your DPhil. The panel includes: *Dr Jane Potter, Reader in Arts, Oxford International Centre for Publishing, Oxford Brookes University* Jane lectures on the MA in Publishing Media and the BA in Media, Journalism and Publishing, specialising in the history and culture of Publishing and the book trade. She is also Postgraduate Research Tutor for Publishing, supervising PhDs and serving on Faculty and University Research Degrees Committees. Her research focuses on the literature of the First World War; her recent publications include A Cambridge History of World War One Poetry (Cambridge University Press, 2023) and The Selected Letters of Wilfred Owen (Oxford University Press, 2023). She holds a Bachelor’s degree in English (Occidental College, Los Angeles), an MA in Women’s Studies (York), and an MPhil in Scottish Literature (St. Andrews). She completed her DPhil in English at the University of Oxford. Before joining Oxford Brookes, she was a Research Editor for Literature (1780-2000) at the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Assistant to the Archivist at Wolfson College, Oxford. *Dr Claire Dobson, Commissioning Editor, Oxford University Press (OUP)* Claire came to publishing at the end of her DPhil in Palaeontology, after gradually coming to terms with the fact that a career in academia wasn’t the career she really wanted. She wanted to keep to her academic and STEM routes, and she is passionate about science communication, so moving into the Secondary Science team at as an Editor, and then a Development Editor, OUP ticked a lot of boxes. Later, she worked as an Editorial Project Manager at a packager, who work as a supplier for publishing clients. In 2023, she ended up returning to OUP and rejoining the science team as a Commissioning Editor. As of March 2025, she is joining the Academic Division at OUP as a Publisher for OUP’s owned journals, which will draw on both her experiences from her PhD and from her career so far in publishing and project management. *Dr Patrik Flammer, Senior Editor, BioMedCentral (part of SpringerNature)* As a Senior Editor at BMC, Patrik primarily handles scientific literature from submission through peer-review to publication. The role also involves engagement with academics during visits to research institutions and conferences. He did a BSc and MSc in Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Zurich and a DPhil at the University of Oxford, where he researched the use of genomics of infections in archaeological contexts to trace human activities. He continued this research as a postdoc at Oxford. He was an active member of the Graduate Common Room in college, and later he lectured part-time at Oxford Brookes. *Dr Jeffrey Poon, Senior Scientific Editor, Elsevier* Jeffrey works as a Senior Scientific Editor at Elsevier since 2021. His primary work involves handling transfers of rejected manuscripts, advising authors on the necessary amendments to maximise their publishing potential. Jeffrey also handles manuscripts from submission through peer review to publication as an Editor. He leads a team of Scientific Editors. He read MChem in Chemistry at the University of Oxford and then a PhD in Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. After a Croucher Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin, he transitioned to a career in publishing.
Are you wanting to apply for job roles beyond academic research? Creating a strong CV and Cover letter is vital to unlocking the next stage of the job application process. However, there can be many differences in the format and content of application materials focused towards a role beyond academia compared to one for university research positions. This presentation will share the building blocks of creating effective CVs and Cover Letters, including how to best translate our research and wider experience into language employers want to see.
A career in research is not just within academia. Speakers who have PhDs from disciplines across the physical and life sciences and from different industry contexts share how they continued their research beyond academia. This panel session features speakers who have taken their research expertise and curiosity into industry. *Dr Vanessa Restrepo Schild, Scientific Support Team Leader and Lab Program Manager at Bio-Techne*: Vanessa Restrepo Schild has a background in bioengineering (undergraduate Biology degree, with a focus on biotech research, particularly bioreactor cultures and molecular biology). She earned her DPhil in Chemical Biology and has since focused on developing new technologies at the intersection of biology and engineering. Currently working in Biotech, Vanessa is passionate about translating scientific discoveries into real-world applications.. *Dr Sejeong Lee, Senior Scientist at Apoha*: I have always been interested in how our knowledge in life sciences can contribute to early-phase drug development and disease diagnosis. Hence, I did a BSc and a MSc in Chemistry at KAIST, a DPhil in Biomolecules at University of Goettingen/Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, and then postdoctoral research activities at University of Oxford and at King’s College London. During my postdoc years at University of Oxford, I adapted a novel technique ‘single molecule detection for membrane translocation’ to study the cellular translocation process of bacterial toxins between the department of Biochemistry and Chemistry. At King’s College London, I continued to explorer the cellular internalization process of fungal toxins using various biophysical assays, including single molecule analysis. Based on my experience and knowledge, I am currently working at the start-up company ‘Apoha’, which develops the Liquid Brain technology. Using this platform, I’ve been investigating the developability features of clinical drug candidates when interacting with sensing surface. The high-dimensional natural data feeds into AI-driven research, ultimately enabling an early-phase drug screening. *Dr Nirmal Sampathkumar, Senior Scientist at Samsara Therapeutics* *Abdalrhaman Koko, Higher Scientist, National Physics Laboratory*: Abdalrhaman (Abdo) Mohamed Koko is a Higher scientist working on the nano, micro and meso scale measurement and characterisation of material within the advanced engineering materials group, National Physical Laboratory (NPL). Abdo joined NPL in 2022 after completing his DPhil at the Department of Materials, University of Oxford, on the topic of micro-stress concentrators. Before his DPhil, he graduated with distinction from the University of Manchester with an MSc in corrosion engineering. Since his graduation, Abdo won the International Science Partnership grants (2024) and the Royal Society Industrial Fellowship (2025). Abdo serves on the Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, and the BSI committees for Toughness testing (ISE/101/4) and Fatigue testing (ISE/101/6). Beyond his academic pursuits, Abdo is a member of the UK Young Academy. He is also an outreach volunteer, student mentor, and an avid Wikipedia editor. Abdo’s main research interests focus on the microstructural characterisation and micromechanics of materials with an emphasis on developing new testing capabilities and new analysis routes to understanding deformation mechanisms and the complex microstructural effect on the materials’ net behaviour at room and high temperatures. Stefanie Zekoll R&D Manager NOVO Energy: Stefanie Zekoll is an R&D Manager at NOVO Energy, a battery manufacturing company owned by Volvo Cars and based in Gothenburg, Sweden. She leads an R&D engineering team developing next-generation battery cells to power the future of purely electric Volvo cars. Stefanie earned her undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the University of Bath in 2014 and a DPhil in Materials Science from the University of Oxford in 2018. Driven by an early passion for green technologies and a desire to contribute to a more sustainable planet, her research focused on battery materials research throughout most of her academic journey. While exploring an academic career through a PhD and postdoc, internships at chemical companies in Belgium and the Netherlands also gave her insight into R&D in industry. These experiences helped her decide to transition from academia, leading her to join Northvolt—Europe’s first battery manufacturing start-up—in Sweden in 2020 as an engineer in the quality department. She quickly discovered a passion for leadership and took over as head of the battery cell analysis laboratory at the companies R&D site, leading a team of 30–40 chemists, engineers, and technicians. Stefanie continues to enjoy leading technical teams in her current role and looks forward to sharing insights and guidance from her career transition to those considering a similar path.
This webinar examines the complexities of irregular migration governance in the Netherlands through a qualitative analysis of 25 years of policy trends supplemented with expert interviews. The study involves the policy areas of work, healthcare, housing, juridical assistance, and financial services. It shows how the Dutch welfare state has become a tool for migration control, normalizing exclusionary practices to such an extent that the exclusion of irregular migrants has now become the default. While diving deeper into this normalization of exclusion, it is shown that additional layers of exclusion are created for irregular migrants in the Netherlands. The exclusionary trend in the Netherlands towards irregular migrants namely reflects broader neoliberal shifts in welfare policies, marginalizing irregular migrants and complicating their access to essential services and legal protections, ultimately increasing their vulnerability.
This study examines quality assurance mechanisms within Sino-UK collaborative universities, focusing on students in the 2+2 articulation programme. Following China’s economic reforms in the late 1970s, transnational higher education (TNHE) emerged as a key model to meet the surging demand for higher education. Using a qualitative research design grounded in Biggs’ 3P model and the prospective approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 students from Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University (XJTLU) and the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC). The findings reveal both successes and challenges in educational quality, shaped by infrastructure, academic support, and teaching consistency. While students expressed satisfaction with physical facilities and resources, concerns were raised about the impact of expanding enrolment and faculty turnover on teaching quality. The study concludes that quality assurance in TNHE should be dynamic and prioritize student perspectives, addressing discrepancies between expectations and educational experiences. Recommendations are made to improve both internal and external quality assurance mechanisms to ensure sustained educational standards in transnational higher education.
The ability to utilise research skills - critical thinking, project management, communication - mean that consulting careers are rewarding and engaging for many researchers moving beyond academia. In addition, consultants are sought from a broad range of disciplines and backgrounds. Whether it's social enterprises or finance, technology or research, having impact in an area that interests you is possible through a career in consulting. This panel session will feature PhD holders who are now working in consultancy across a range of sectors. Confirmed Panellists: *Dr Gloria Lam - Managing Consultant, PA Consulting* Gloria is part of PA Consulting’s team of Healthcare and Life Sciences Consultants. She has a strong academic background in bioprocessing and 8+ years of international industry experience in life sciences covering Europe, US and China developing manufacturing network strategies and capabilities. She has experience working with and commercialising complex medical devices such as tissue-engineered products in China. Gloria has published 25 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in areas including cell and gene therapies, regenerative medicine and digital health. Specifically, she has published articles on impact of fast-track designations, decision lifecycle, supply chains and capacity planning decisions on commercialisation of novel therapies. Gloria holds a DPhil in biomedical engineering from the University of Oxford. *Dr Pascal Förster - Management Consultant, d-fine Ltd*. Born in Düsseldorf, Germany, Pascal did his Bachelor and Master of Physics in Munich, where he worked on computational astrophysics with a focus cosmological hydrodynamical simulations (Klaus Dolag). He moved to the UK for his PhD in Astrophysics at UCL, trying to bridge the gap between simulations and observations in reionisation and galaxy evolution (Richard Ellis & Amélie Saintonge). After completing his PhD early last year, Pascal joined d-fine Ltd. His current project is at a mid-sized Dutch bank, where he is embedded in a DevOps team and helps the client scope, refine and develop requirements and coordinates implementation and testing together with stakeholders across the bank *Dr Karan Bali - BioPharma Strategy Consultant, Scitaris* Karan is a consultant at Scitaris, a consulting form focused on R&D strategy support for pharma and biotech companies. His work focuses on delivering deep scientific and clinical understanding to drive business strategies for clients developing drugs across a wide range of therapeutic areas. Prior to joining Scitaris, Karan completed a PhD in Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge where his thesis focused on creating a bioelectronic screening platform for the development of next generation antibiotics. Whilst at Cambridge, he also became involved in the thriving biopharma eco-system in the city, working closely with an early-stage start-up aiming to create wearable metabolite biosensors. Karan holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford (New College), where his Master’s thesis centred around uncovering the mechanism of action of nerve agent antidotes using molecular dynamics simulations.
Would you like to shape policy in a particular sector? Working in Policy can be exciting, influential and very fulfilling for those seeking to have impact through their work. Utilising research exoerience is hugely valuable in the policy world when generating novel ideas, influencing policies, fostering innovation, and contribute to global discourse across broad topics from agriculture and technology to social care and economics. This session will explore the function and diversity of policy-focused roles and organisations, including Think Tanks, charities, and government, discuss how to research routes into careers within these sectors, and highlight key skills and experience required for pursuing employment. We will be joined by 2 panelists that too their HE experience into these sectors. Panelists: *Dr George Watts, Policy Adviser, Department for Business and Trade, Civil Service* George spent five years at Oxford, as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the English Faculty, Research Associate at St John’s, and College Lecturer at St Edmund Hall. His teaching and research focused on modern poetry and film. Before joining Oxford, George taught at Queen Mary and UCL, at the latter of which he also completed his PhD. In 2024, George began a new career in the Civil Service and is now a policy adviser in the Department for Business and Trade. *Dr Shaun Holmes, Senior Policy Manager, NCUB Think Tank* Dr Shaun Holmes is a policy professional with nearly ten years’ experience influencing public policy on education and research. This has included policy work on international research partnerships and mobility during Brexit, international development, innovation, STEM education, skills, and industry-academic relationships. After an early career in industry, he has worked for the British Council, KTN, Institute of Physics and the Royal Academy of Engineering. He is currently senior policy manager at the National Centre for Universities and Business where he manages a team of three policy leads respond to the various policy challenges associated with university-business collaboration. Shaun started his career after completing a Masters of Engineering, material science at Oxford and a PhD in Materials Science at Cambridge.
In our March event, Professor Elizabeth (Elle) Leane (South Australia & Magdalen 1995) in conversation with Dr Charne Lavery (South Africa-at-Large & Balliol 2008) will discuss her book South Pole: Nature and Culture. Elizabeth (Elle) Leane is Professor of Antarctic Studies in the School of Humanities, University of Tasmania. With degrees in physics and literary studies, she began her academic life working on topics related to science communication; her early research focussed on the popular science book market. Since moving to the polar ‘gateway’ of Hobart, she has used textual, archival and qualitative methods to examine how people form understandings of Antarctica through both cultural texts and lived experience of the environment, and how these two ways of knowing the region interact. Elle first travelled to Antarctica as a writer in residence with the Australian Antarctic program in 2004, and has returned five times, with the Chilean and New Zealand national programs and with tour operators. She is the author or co-editor of nine books, including South Pole: Nature and Culture (2016), which was shortlisted for two awards. Her current work focusses particularly on the Antarctic tourism industry. Elle remains active in the Rhodes community and is a Deputy National Secretary for Australia. Charne Lavery is an associate professor in the Department of English at the University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa. She is the author of Writing Ocean Worlds: Indian Ocean Fiction in English (Palgrave 2021), and co-founder, with Isabel Hofmeyr, of the Oceanic Humanities for the Global South research project and platform (www.oceanichumanities.com). She has also published three co-edited books: Maritime Mobilities in Anglophone Literature and Culture (Palgrave 2023), Reading from the South: African Print Cultures and Oceanic Turns in Isabel Hofmeyr’s Work (Wits University Press 2023), and Reading for Water: Materiality and Method (Routledge 2024).
Are you interested in investigating other roles within the university that are available to researchers? Higher Education Institutions support the good conduct of research and are key drivers of research excellence within the university. Chaired by "Research-Careers.Org":https://research-careers.org/ lead editor "Dr Linus Milinski":https://research-careers.org/about-us/ this session features individuals who have utilised their experience as researchers to successfully pursue diverse career paths within the Higher Education sector. *Dr Danielle Fairbrass, NDS Bioresource Programme Manager, University of Oxford* As NDS Bioresource Programme Manager I am responsible for managing the formation of the NDS Bioresource, bringing multiple biobanks within the department under one roof and delivering a single route for researchers to access the essential collections and biobanking services available therein. I did a BSc in Biochemistry followed by a MSc(Eng) in Biological and Bioprocess Engineering, before obtaining my PhD in Biological Engineering, all at the University of Sheffield. My doctoral studies focussed on engineering the metabolic resilience of Chinese Hamster Ovary cells during advanced therapeutic production. I then held a short post-doctoral position at the Institut de Génétique & Développement de Rennes interrogating the biomechanic underpinnings of asymmetric cell division. Following my time in France I returned to the world of advanced therapeutics and took a position in the Cell Line Development Team at Oxford Biomedica, where I worked for 5 years developing producer cell lines for cell and gene therapy. I then took up a position as Senior Scientist, and then Group Lead at the CAR-T focussed Techbio start-up, Coding Bio. Throughout my career I have been an active member of many professional networks, including ESACT-UK, the CGT Circle and BIA Women in Biotech. *Dr Sonja Pawelczyk, Head of Operations, Botnar Institute for Musculoskeletal Sciences* Dr. Sonja Pawelczyk began her career as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Oxford, working in the Wadhams and Armitage Groups within the Department of Biochemistry from 2007 to 2012. She then transitioned to a role as a Research Contracts Specialist in the Medical Science Division at Oxford, where she negotiated research agreements and advised academic staff on funder terms. She then became the Institute Administrator for the Botnar Research Centre, managing administrative support and restructuring teams to enhance efficiency. Her leadership and strategic planning skills led to her promotion to the Head of Operations at the Botnar Research Centre. In this role, she oversees administrative functions, supports grant applications, and coordinates with funding bodies. *Dr Lexi Earl, Programme Manager: The Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food* Lexi Earl is the Programme Manager of the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food. As well as running the Future of Food network, Lexi manages a number of different projects on dietary change and planetary health. Prior to joining the Oxford Martin School, Lexi was a Communications and Outreach Manager at the University of Nottingham, and a Research Fellow on the Tracking Arts Learning and Engagement project. She is the author of Schools and Food Education in the 21st century (Routledge, 2018) and, with Pat Thomson, Why garden in schools? (Routledge, 2021). She writes a Substack on her intersecting interests of motherhood, feeding, and gardening. *Dr Simon Guillaumé - Regional Engagement & Innovation Manager, Innovation & Engagement, University of Oxford* I completed my PhD in Chemistry at UCL in 2021 (over Brexit and a pandemic – it took 1 year longer than planned), during which I also undertook a mandatory three-month placement with the Grand Challenges team at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. This experience broadened my perspective on my transferable skills, beyond academia. After completing my viva, I spent a year at UCL Public Policy, facilitating collaborations between academics and policymakers—primarily within the London Borough of Camden, Parliament, and government departments. In 2022, I joined Oxford University's Innovation & Engagement team, supporting a range of strategic projects related to the development of Oxford's Innovation Ecosystem, fostering strategic business partnerships, and helping academics collaborate with external partners. Earlier this year, my focus shifted toward regional engagement, where I support relationships with organisations such as Oxfordshire County Council, Culham, Harwell, and other organisations, to create opportunities for closer collaboration, in both research and innovation. *Dr Louise Pankhurst, Laboratory Manager, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford* I have been the Laboratory Manager for the Foster Lab since 2019. Before this I completed a BSc in Environmental Science with Biology, a PhD in Microbiology, and 9 years’ Postdoctoral Scientist roles, most of which were in a single research group here at the University of Oxford. As well as performing research, during my Postdoctoral career I was involved in several large-scale collaborations and enjoyed liaising with researchers from across the world, providing the training and help they needed to ensure the smooth running of the project. As a Laboratory Manager I am responsible for ensuring our team of researchers have the resources, equipment, and environment needed to produce world-class work. I liaise with colleagues across the Department and University to manage projects, troubleshoot, and improve how our laboratory operates. I still enjoy time at the laboratory bench researching and developing methods, with a particular focus on next-generation sequencing. Alongside my main role, I contribute to the wider Department. I have sat on committees aimed at improving working conditions for research staff, performed outreach, enacted projects to improve biodiversity on Departmental property, and am passionate about improving the sustainability of science.
Many researchers seeking to have a real-world impact through their quantitative mathematical and computational skills find fulfilling careers in sectors beyond academic research. This combined presentation and panel session will share the experience of researchers transitioning into roles utilising their quantitative skills. We will discuss developing skills, and how to effectively demonstrate quantitative abilities during application processes so research experience is communicated in a way that appeals to recruiters in broad sectors. *Dr Tim Watson, Energy Modelling Analyst, Aurora Energy*: Tim has a background in engineering research. He earned his master’s degree with a specialization in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cambridge before completing a PhD in the Advanced Structures Group, also at Cambridge, where he investigated the mechanics of lightweight folding structures. Following his PhD, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate on a UKRI-funded industrial collaboration, investigating the design and analysis of shape-changing composite structures for aerospace applications. During this time, he developed a strong interest in sustainable engineering — particularly energy systems — and joined Aurora Energy Research as an energy modelling analyst in June 2024. In this role, he works in the Central European modelling team, developing and maintaining their in-house power market model and working alongside their Belgium and Netherlands research and advisory teams. *Dr Hannah Pullen, Senior Software Engineer, Mathworks*: As a Senior Software Engineer at MathWorks, I design, code and test new features to help MATLAB users scale up their MATLAB code in parallel, particularly on cloud platforms like AWS and Kubernetes. I did a MSci in Physical Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, then a DPhil in Particle Physics at Balliol College, Oxford. During my DPhil I was part of the LHCb collaboration at CERN and spent time between Oxford and Geneva. My research focussed on measuring the asymmetry between matter and antimatter in the decay of rare B mesons produced at the Large Hadron Collider. Prior to MathWorks, I spent 1.5 years as a postdoc at the University of Cambridge, working with the RadNet collaboration to apply data science to cancer research, focussing particularly on developing general-purpose Python tools for analysing medical imaging data.
We are excited to announce Antevorta Foundation’s upcoming webinar on the impact of digital health, regulation, and evidence-based decision-making on healthcare access and equity. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore how healthcare innovations shape global health equity.
Panel discussion featuring panellists who have successfully transitioned from academic research to thriving careers in the Arts, Museums, and Heritage industry. *Dr Kate Keohane Affiliate Researcher, Sir Frank Bowling Studio* Dr Kate Keohane is a Career Development Fellow in Art and Wellbeing at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford. She is a specialist in contemporary art, small island spaces and storytelling. Her teaching takes place primarily through the Ruskin School of Art, as well as through transnational community engagement initiatives. Kate has recently been appointed as a director of Art Hx, a research platform run through the University of Princeton for the study of the remedial potential of art. Throughout her career, Kate has prioritised working closely with living artists and is currently an affiliate researcher with the studio of Sir Frank Bowling OBE. *Carmen Denia, Audiences & Content Assistant at the Ashmolean Museum* Carmen works as an Audiences & Content Assistant at the Ashmolean Museum. In 2022, she read for an MSc in Digital Scholarship, having previously helmed a small seminary library and pursued graduate studies in religion and the arts. Outside of work, her interests span dance, birdwatching with her family, and helping small charities with collections management and digital design. *Dr Gemma Plumpton, Executive Assistant to the Director, Chatsworth House Trust* Gemma is the Executive Assistant to the Director of Chatsworth House Trust, the charity that cares for and shares Chatsworth house, garden, parkland, and much of the Devonshire Collections. In this role she supports the Director to implement and achieve the charity’s strategic ambitions for the coming years, including both supporting and leading a variety of projects. Gemma completed her doctoral research in February 2024, supported by the AHRC through a collaborative doctoral partnership between the National Gallery, London, and the University of Leeds. Her thesis was entitled ‘Collecting Continental Old Masters for Harewood House, Yorkshire: British cultural heritage and aristocratic survival, 1916-1947’. Prior to this she completed a Masters thesis on the scholar-dealer James Byam Shaw (1903-1992) and his support for institutional collection. Gemma previously worked at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and Harewood House Trust, Leeds. Her current role at Chatsworth House Trust builds on her interest in country houses and their future, and the compatibility of private ownership and public benefit.
International commerce has always relied on the ability to transfer funds across space and time but the evolution of the mechanics and strategies of cross-border payments remains somewhat murky. The main route for global payments in modern times has been through inter-bank relationships through which bank customers order and settle payments across borders. This framework of correspondent banking has survived the move in technology from paper to telegraph to electronic payments systems and persists into the digital era. Since 2008 the extent of the correspondent banking network has shrunk due to a variety of factors including costs of Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering/Anti-Finance of Terrorism regulations. This changing pattern has prompted recent research on the dynamics of the global correspondent banking network at the Financial Stability Board and the Bank for International Settlements, but to date the historical research on this critical infrastructure is limited. This workshop/conference seeks to bring together research on cross-border payments systems in a range of historical contexts. Please see website for the programme: https://tinyurl.com/3zc39umu
Why is science communication important and how can you do it well? Hear from members of DPAG's Outreach & Public Engagement Working Group about what it means to them.
We will have a plenary session with a talk by Professor Jane Armitage, Professor of Clinical Trials and Epidemiology, and Honorary Consultant in Public Health Medicine, University of Oxford
When exploring new careers options beyond academic research, connecting with people in sectors that interest you can be hugely insightful. Whilst networking might make us feel uncomfortable, it is a powerful tool for building understanding of different options, confidence in our next steps, and can even uncover opportunities. This interactive online session will outline the tools needed to feel confident finding and approaching new connections to research career options beyond academia in detail.
This presentation explores the dynamic post-pandemic terrain of clinical translation in biodegradable and bioactive materials research at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). By addressing challenges and seizing opportunities in this evolving field, KIST aims to lead innovations crucial for shaping the future of healthcare. In the wake of the pandemic, the significance of biodegradable and bioactive materials has been magnified, given their critical role in areas such as tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and implantable medical devices. At KIST, researchers have been at the forefront, leveraging innovative methodologies to engineer materials poised to meet the evolving demands of healthcare. Other speakers: Dr. Hyeok Kim - ‘Nanovesicles Derived from Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Loaded with Prussian Blue for Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury’ Dr. Yuna Jung - ‘Harnessing Plant-Derived Nanovesicles for Diabetic Foot Ulcers: A Promising Approach to Chronic Wound Therapy’
Sharing good practice, increasing diversity. Discussing reference templates, algorithms and AI.
Uncover strategies to identify supportive employers, cultivate resilience, and strike a balance between professional and personal life. Through interactive discussions and resource-sharing, the aim of the session is to foster a culture of mental health awareness and resilience as researchers step into the next chapter of your professional life.
Researchers with strong analytical and quantitative skills are sought after in the Finance sector, with roles in quantitative research, software development, and strategic analysis all directly utilising experience built in academia. Our panellists share insights into the day-to-day realities of careers in finance, and share how they have built and utilised their research skills to ensure a successful career transition beyond academia. *Dr Mark Van Loon, Senior Quantitative Researcher, G-Research*: My work as a quant at G-Research focuses on forecasting financial markets by analyzing large datasets using statistical and machine learning models. Before working at G-Research, I did an undergraduate Master of Mathematics degree, followed by a DPhil in Mathematics, both here in Oxford. My DPhil research was in the Mathematical Physics group and focused on conformal field theories, showing properties of several such theories by analyzing the conformal bootstrap equation in appropriate limits. I joined G-Research after my DPhil, having spent ten weeks as an intern before joining in a permanent role. *Emile Jacquard, Quantitative Researcher, Susquehanna*: As quantitative researcher at Susquehanna, my role is to apply mixtures of mathematics, statistics and programming to find solutions to complex problems occurring in financial markets. I work closely with both traders and developers to improve, identify and implement trading strategies. I did a BSc in Mathematics at EPFL, then a MASt in Mathematics at Cambridge and finally a DPhil in the Topologic Data Analysis group here in Oxford. My research was mainly on classifying quiver representations. I interned at Susquehanna in the summer of 2023 being joining full time in March 20224. *Lawrence Barrott, Quantitative Researcher, Optiver* Our panellists share insights into the day-to-day realities of careers in finance, and share how they have built and utilised their research skills to ensure a successful career transition beyond academia.
What is the relationship between liberalism and conservatism in Chile, and how does this compare to other countries in Latin America and around the world? Chilean historian Professor Lucia Santa Cruz joins Professor Tom Simpson as part of the series International Perspectives on Conservatism to discuss the meaning and history of Chilean conservatism and how this might be affected by the 'new right'. Professor Lucia Santa Cruz is a distinguished historian from Chile. Formerly Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Adolfo Ibáñez University, she is a member of the Board of the Liberty and Development Institute and of the Chilean Academy of Social, Political, and Moral Sciences. Between 1973 and 1982 she was a professor of Modern Universal History at the Institute of History of the Catholic University of Chile. She received an MPhil in History from St Anthony's College, Oxford, and a PhD (Honoris causa) from King's College, University of London. She is the author of several books and publications, including La Igualdad Liberal (2018), a columnist for EL Mercurio, and has made frequent television and talk show appearances.
In this two-part careers-adviser led session, we will first provide an overview of careers in International Development, discussing how the sector is structured, different types of roles and how to find jobs and work experience opportunities. In the second part, we will provide an overview of the varied and rewarding careers in diplomacy, and share methods you can use for identifying the relevant routes into diplomatic roles and how to find out more about your chosen career path.
This one-day workshop will bring together an international group of historians, literary scholars and theologians to explore the influence of England's reformations (both Protestant and Catholic) on religious change throughout early modern Europe. Confirmed speakers include: *Anthony Milton* (University of Sheffield) *Dorothea Wendebourg* (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) *Mirosława Hanusiewicz-Lavallee* (Catholic University of Lublin, Poland) *Ana Saez-Hidalgo* (University of Valladolid, Spain) *Tadhg Ó Hannracháin* (University College Dublin) *Charlotte Metheun* (University of Glasgow) Attendance is free, but please register your interest in attending via the following link: https://forms.gle/TuLqN3twMdRrFt5CA _This event is funded by Balliol College, the Oxford Centre for Early Modern Studies, and the Oxford Centre for European History._
Join us to celebrate QUOD’s 10 year anniversary with scientific updates, collaborative discussions, upcoming developments and more!
International commerce has always relied on the ability to transfer funds across space and time but the evolution of the mechanics and strategies of cross-border payments remains somewhat murky. The main route for global payments in modern times has been through inter-bank relationships through which bank customers order and settle payments across borders. This framework of correspondent banking has survived the move in technology from paper to telegraph to electronic payments systems and persists into the digital era. Since 2008 the extent of the correspondent banking network has shrunk due to a variety of factors including costs of Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering/Anti-Finance of Terrorism regulations. This changing pattern has prompted recent research on the dynamics of the global correspondent banking network at the Financial Stability Board and the Bank for International Settlements, but to date the historical research on this critical infrastructure is limited. This workshop/conference seeks to bring together research on cross-border payments systems in a range of historical contexts. Please see website for the programme: https://tinyurl.com/28r3uk9v
The second in a duo of courses (attendees should attend the Fundamentals course prior to Logistics) that will cover the logistics of researching, publishing, and locating open scholarship resources and tools at the University of Oxford. Subjects include: what is the Oxford University Research Archive; depositing work into ORA via Symplectic Elements; depositing data into ORA-data; applying for one of Oxford’s APC block grants; registering or connecting your ORCID; how to be included in the rights retention pilot; and locating and checking funder policies. Ideally the 'Fundamentals of Open Access' course will have been attended. If you’re not in a position to attend this course you can find similar information in our e-learning package to work through prior to attending Logistics. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers and other staff.
In this session we will introduce the Charity/ Non-Profit Sector to you and provide information on the types of roles available, the skills needed and ideas on how you can build experience. We will also hear from researchers who are working in this sector. *Dr Mia Harris, User Researcher, Citizens Advice* Dr Mia Harris is a User Researcher at Citizens Advice, a charity offering free, confidential advice on money, work, consumer, housing and other topics. Mia explores how people interact with Citizens Advice’s products and services, to support design solutions that meet users’ needs. Previously, Mia conducted academic, social and policy research focussed on prisons. They completed a PhD in Criminology, before becoming a Research Officer at Prison Reform Trust, an independent UK charity working to create a just, humane and effective penal system. Mia’s PhD was entitled ‘Queer in the prison?: What does it mean to be ‘Out’ inside?’ They’ve continued to work on LGBT+ issues, co-chairing Citizens Advice’s Trans and Non-binary equity group. During Mia’s PhD, they taught Qualitative Methods at City, University of London. Mia also acted as a research assistant for projects on courts and policing. *Dr Lucy Van Essen-Fishman, Policy and Research Manger, Jisc* Lucy Van Essen-Fishman completed a DPhil in Classics in 2014, focusing on the construction of character in the tragedies of Sophocles. She then spent several years as a Stipendiary or Departmental Lecturer in Classics, teaching modules from across the classics curriculum. In 2019, she joined the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA, now part of Jisc) as a Lead Policy and Research Analyst. Her work at HESA focuses on policy needs for higher education data; she has worked on projects around widening access to higher education, graduate mobility and career satisfaction, and the impact of the pandemic on higher education data. Now a Policy and Research Manager, she is currently leading on the policy aspects of a review of HESA's data on higher education staff. *Dr Daven Vasishtan, Budding conservationist and entomologist, Former Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, Dept. Biochemistry, University of Oxford* Daven spent 15 years sitting at a computer working on structural biology projects before deciding he should spend some time outdoors. He has since been wandering around Hertfordshire volunteering for Butterfly Conservation and the Wildlife Trust, looking for ancient woodlands, identifying butterflies, kicking up river mud and building little wooden bridges. He is currently having too much fun to actually find a job. *Dr Mirjam Hazenbosch, Interdisciplinary conservationist, Sustainable Business Programme Manager, ZSL London Zoo* Mirjam is a passionate leader in sustainable business, dedicated to bridging the gap between nature conservation and the corporate world. As the Sustainable Business Programme Manager at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) - a world-renowned science-driven conservation charity & owner of London and Whipsnade Zoos - she works to restore wildlife across the UK and globally. Together with her team, she empowers businesses to step up for nature, forging partnerships that drive real impact for biodiversity. Her career journey began in academia, where she researched tropical rainforest conservation and smallholder agriculture in Papua New Guinea. Eager to turn research into action, she transitioned to the corporate world, advising companies on how to integrate nature into their business. As a Senior Project Manager at Proforest and later a Principal Consultant at Biodiversify, she built expertise in biodiversity risk assessments, strategy development, and nature-positive business solutions. Mirjam’s work has taken her across the world - from The Netherlands and New Zealand to the USA, Papua New Guinea, India, and England - giving her a truly global perspective on nature conservation and sustainability. She speaks Dutch, English, and Tok Pisin fluently and holds a BSc in Liberal Arts & Sciences from University College Utrecht and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Bioscience from the University of Oxford. *Dr Lampros Bisdounis, Research Manager in Mental Health, Wellcome* Lampros is a Research Manager in the Mental Health team at Wellcome, focusing on developing and delivering funding investments to support scientific discovery in mental health. His work focuses on understanding the mechanisms of how mental health problems develop, persist and resolve. Prior to his role at Wellcome, Lampros completed a DPhil in Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford, researching the role of sleep and circadian rhythms in bipolar disorder. In the meantime, he also worked as a POST fellow in the House of Lords and as a visiting researcher at Queen's University in Canada. He has also worked as a consultant for the Health Division of the OECD and maintains an honorary research contract and some teaching responsibilities with the University of Oxford. Lampros completed his BSc at the University of Glasgow and MSc at the University of Amsterdam.
Life is colourful, and a good work/life balance isn’t only defined by your work day. In this session, we will discuss challenges of working while having a family and what practical steps working parents can take to manage these. This session is NOT only tailored to mothers or even those who already have a child, but is also aimed at anyone who thinks they may at one point have a family while also pursuing a career. Researchers are welcome to submit questions/concerns in advance, which will be treated anonymously.
Paul Huang is Professor of Translational Cancer Research at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London, UK. He received his PhD in Biological Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His laboratory focuses on understanding the molecular pathology of sarcomas, with the goal of developing biomarkers and new therapies for these rare diseases. Paul is Deputy Director of the Royal Marsden-ICR Sarcoma Research Centre and Co-Director of the CRUK Sarcoma Accelerator Consortium
What do recruiters and employers look for in an outstanding applicant? For many roles employers actively seek PhD-holders for their technical expertise and skills, whilst others may see research career experience as a unique benefit that makes you stand out from the crowd of usual applicants. This in-person panel session will answer your questions to senior managers and recruiters about what they look for when hiring researchers applying for roles beyond academia, from networking approaches to CVs and interviews. *Rory Robinson, Head of UK Sustainability, d-fine*: As the Head of UK Sustainability at d-fine, my role is to support financial and corporate clients to formulate and operationalize their sustainability strategies. I have an MMath in Mathematics from Oxford, and took courses including mathematical finance, numerical linear algebra and finite different methods. During my time at Oxford, I participated in The Student Consultancy and was President of the Oxford University Jazz Orchestra. I am a member of the recruitment team of the d-fine London office and participate in the reviewing of CVs and cover letters and the conducting of interviews. *David Hawes, Quantitative Recruiter, Susquehanna*: As a Quantitative Recruiter at Susquehanna, my role is to hire Quantitative Researchers and Quantitative Systematic Traders for our summer internship and graduate programmes. I did a BA in Theoretical Physics at Trinity College Dublin, before joining Susquehanna’s European HQ in Dublin in 2022. A large focus of my role is to conduct interviews (both technical and non-technical) for PhD, Postdoc and Masters candidates, as well as meeting candidates on campus to advise on the transition from academia to industry. Additionally, I work with our Quant Research and Trading teams in designing mathematical puzzles for both our interview processes and campus events. *George Mecklenburgh, Talent Acquisition, G-Research*: George is a talent acquisition and recruitment specialist with approximately 7 years’ experience recruiting Quant Researchers, ML Researchers, Data Scientists and Engineers. Currently working at G-Research, he specializes in identifying and attracting top-tier talent from across the UK, Europe, and the U.S, hiring both academics and experienced candidates. George holds a bachelors and master’s degree in International Relations and International Law from the University of Leeds. With experience in both in-house and agency recruitment, he has an understanding of candidate management, CV writing, Quant and ML interview processes, employer branding, and talent pipeline development. At G-Research, George guides candidates through the entire application process from submitting a CV, through technical interviews, and on to offer management. *Julia Sadler, Careers Adviser, Oxford University Careers Service and former Editorial Manager in Publishing*: Julia Sadler worked in publishing for 20 years before becoming a careers adviser in 2018. For much of that time she was an editorial manager, which involved recruiting editors and interns into an editorial team. This involved setting job descriptions, sifting applications and creating recruitment tests and interview questions. She loves using that experience when advising individuals who want to go into publishing, creative careers and law among other areas. Fun fact: one of the best editors she ever worked with was a nuclear physics PhD. *Chaired by Dr Chris Jeffs, Careers Adviser, Oxford University Careers Service*
Lesson of the week, clinical cases and research. All clinical and academic staff and students welcome. Coffee, Tea and Cake will be served.
Sleep disruption is a common, but typically overlooked, problem after brain injury such as stroke. My research focuses on understanding changes in sleep and the potential impact on neurorehabilitation and recovery. In this talk I will highlight some of our research assessing sleep and motor recovery in brain injury, and our initial efforts to improve sleep after stroke using digital cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia.
We are delighted to host Andrés Colubri, Assistant Professor in the Program of Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School for our next talk, in the Digital Phenotyping seminar series on 27 March 2025, 2:00 pm, BDI seminar room 0. Title: Studying the Effect of Human Behaviour on Pathogen Transmission Dynamics with a Novel Platform for Experimental Epidemic Games Date: 27 March 2025 Time: 14:00 – 15:00 Mode: Hybrid Inperson: BDI/OxPop seminar room 0 Online MS teams Meeting ID: 390 320 918 027 Passcode: tB7JU7xn Chair: Jasmina Panovska-Griffiths Dr Jasmina Panovska-Griffiths is a Lecturer in Applied Probability and Statistics at The Queen’s College, a co-director of the EPSRC Healthcare Data Science CDT at the Big Data Institute and a Senior Research Fellow at the Pandemic Sciences Institute at University of Oxford. She has mathematics and statistics background and a track record in modelling infectious diseases including HIV, measles, seasonal and pandemic influenza and more recently COVID-19. Her multidisciplinary group, across the Pandemic Sciences Institute at University of Oxford and the UK Health Security Agency, uses mathematical and statistical modelling to inform policy with a focus on outbreak analyses, pandemic preparedness and evaluation of different immunisation policies Abstract Effective infectious disease control requires understanding transmission dynamics and behavioral factors influencing non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as social distancing and quarantining. We conducted a two-week gamified epidemic experiment at an international university campus, with nearly 1,000 students using a Bluetooth-enabled app to track the spread of a digital pathogen. The app captured real-time behavioral and epidemiological data. We used this data to parametrize a Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Recovered (SEIR) model with time-varying transmission rates to incorporate behavioral feedback and assess intervention efficacy. Results show that NPIs alone may not reduce transmission without increased risk perception and compliance. High adherence and awareness lowered infections, highlighting the interplay between behavior and transmission. Our findings align with real-life outbreaks, emphasizing the role of super-spreaders. This study demonstrates the necessity of integrating behavioral dynamics into epidemiological models to improve predictions and public health strategies, and how experimental games could provide a proxy for observing epidemics in human populations. Speaker Biography Andrés Colubri is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Genomics and Computational Biology at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. He holds a PhD in Mathematics from the Universidad Nacional del Sur in Argentina and an MFA from the Design Media Arts Department at UCLA. He has collaborated with scientists from diverse fields and contributed to projects in bioinformatics, data visualization, code-based art, and education. Building on this multidisciplinary background, his lab brings together computational scientists, software engineers, and visual designers to develop new methods and tools for infectious disease research. The lab is currently implementing the novel platform Epidemica for open world “experimental epidemic simulations”, built on the Operation Outbreak (OO) proximity-sensing app that Andrés created with collaborators from the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT in 2018. OO has been deployed in over 100 educational and research simulations involving nearly 10,000 participants through 2025. Epidemica will extend the OO technology to allow researchers to empirically study how human behavior affects infectious disease transmission across various cultural contexts and transmission modes. Experts have recognized these simulations as the closest proxy for observing actual pathogen spread in human populations. Please register to attend this event - https://forms.office.com/e/kzHC6Yxn57?origin=lprLink
This is a unique opportunity to meet representatives from a variety of organisations that are looking to hire researchers. Join the fair for details about the jobs and programmes they have available and discuss the careers paths you could follow in their sector.
The Celtic Seminar is held jointly by Oxford and the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies (CAWCS), Aberystwyth. All Oxford seminars will be at 5.15 pm on Thursdays either hybrid (online and in person) or online-only via Microsoft Teams. When in person, they are in Jesus College (Memorial Room). Please contact david.willis@ling-phil.ox.ac.uk if you need a link to join online. All CAWCS seminars will be held online at 5.00 pm on Thursdays via Zoom, and, for hybrid seminars, in person at the National Library of Wales. Please contact a.elias@wales.ac.uk for the link.
We are delighted to welcome the Honourable Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, in conversation with our College President, Prof Jonathan Michie, and Bynum Tudor Fellow at Kellogg, Lord Karan Bilimoria. The discussion will be focused on the topic of Social Development – Girl, Child and Women Empowerment. It will provide a rare opportunity to talk with one of India’s most influential leaders about her remarkable journey in politics, literature, and cultural advocacy. Mamata Banerjee is the first female Chief Minister of West Bengal, having held the office since 2011. She is the founder and leader of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), a major political party in the state. As Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee has focused on improving infrastructure, healthcare, education, and rural development. Her government introduced several welfare programs aimed at empowering marginalised communities and women. Under her leadership, West Bengal has seen substantial growth in various sectors, with her administration receiving praise for promoting inclusive development. In addition to her political career, Mamata Banerjee is an accomplished writer and poet, having authored numerous books in Bengali, which include collections of poems, political essays, and works reflecting her political philosophy and social views. Through her literary works, cultural initiatives, and artistic contributions, Mamata Banerjee has solidified her role as not only a political leader but also a cultural ambassador, furthering the reach and recognition of Bengali culture while inspiring new generations to engage with their roots. Mamata Banerjee will be joined in conversation with: · Lord Karan Bilimoria, is a Bynum Tudor Fellow at Kellogg College. He is a British Indian entrepreneur, politician, and philanthropist, who is known for his contributions to the business and political landscape of the UK, for being the former President of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) from 2020-2022, as well as the current Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce UK (ICC UK). He is also known for his advocacy for higher education including as former Chancellor of the University of Birmingham and President of the UK Council of International Students Affairs (UKCISA). · Jonathan Michie is President of Kellogg College and Professor of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange at the University of Oxford. Refreshments will be served from 5pm; the event will begin at 5.30pm. Post-event drinks will be served in the Hub immediately after the event, at approximately 6.45pm.
Born in Penang, Malaysia, multi-award-winning author, Tan Twan Eng draws on his rich heritage in his historical fiction. In this conversation with Dr Kate Kennedy, Twan will discuss the inspiration behind his third novel, The House of Doors, and the challenges of fictionalising ‘real lives’. About The House of Doors: ‘A story, like a bird of the mountain, can carry a name beyond the clouds, beyond even time itself.’ Willie Somerset Maugham is one of the greatest writers of the early 20th century, but in 1921 he is at the lowest point of his life: his marriage is falling apart, he is in ill-health, and an unwise investment has lost nearly all his money. He is also struggling to write. When his friend Robert Hamlyn offers an escape at his home in the Straits Settlement of Penang, Willie accepts. Willie is intrigued by Robert’s steely wife, Lesley. How did she come to know the charismatic Dr Sun Yat Sen, a revolutionary fighting to overthrow the imperial dynasty of China? And what was her connection to the trial of Ethel Proudlock, the first Englishwoman to be charged with murder in Malaya, a trial which subsequently inspired one of Maugham’s most famous stories, The Letter? At its heart, The House of Doors is about the act of creation: how stories are made, and how they are passed from person to person, from one place to another, and even across time. How do writers turn fact into fiction? And how do they transform fiction into fact? Speaker Details: Tan Twan Eng is a multi-award-winning author from Penang, Malaysia. His debut novel, The Gift of Rain (2007), set in WWII-era Penang, explores themes of betrayal, courage, and love, was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Tan’s second novel, The Garden of Evening Mists (2011) intertwines art, war, and memory. It has received accolades including the Man Asian Literary Prize and Walter Scott Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker and the 2014 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. The House of Doors—his third novel—examines public morality and private truth through the lens of English writer, Somerset Maugham’s visit to Penang, and the short story that was the product of his visit, ‘The Letter’. The House of Doors (2023) was longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023, shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize 2024, and chosen by Queen Camilla for The Queen’s Reading Room. Tan divides his time between Kuala Lumpur and Cape Town. Dr Kate Kennedy is a writer, cellist, and BBC broadcaster. Her work combines words and music, in performance, on the radio and on the page. She is a Research Fellow in Life-Writing at Wolfson College, Oxford, and Director of the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing. Her most recent book, Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound (2024) is part memoir, part biography, and her previous biography Dweller in Shadows (2021) explored the life of British poet-composer Ivor Gurney. She is a regular presenter for BBC Radio. Further Details and Contacts: After the event, join us for a complimentary wine reception and purchase a copy of Lifescapes from the Caper (@caperoxford) pop-up bookshop. This event is free and open to all. Registration is recommended. This event will not be live-streamed but will be recorded and made available on the OCLW website soon after. Any queries regarding this event should be addressed to OCLW Events Manager, Dr Eleri Anona Watson.
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses have become influential and popular. Papers describing aspects of the systematic review and meta-analysis toolkit have become some of the most highly cited papers. I will review those that appear at the top of the most-cited list and explain why I believe the methods described are routinely misunderstood or misused. These include a test for asymmetry in a funnel plot, the I-squared statistic for measuring inconsistency across studies, the random-effects meta-analysis model and the PRIMSA reporting guideline.
The event is free to attend but the places are limited so those who would like to attend must reserve their spots by sending an email to "$":mailto:oxford@ilcorno.co.uk.
The focus of this half-day workshop, hosted by the Oxford Education Deanery at the Department of Education, University of Oxford and led by Professor Iram Siraj OBE will be on evidence informed understandings of the role of relational pedagogy to children’s learning and how to develop strong relationships that foster learning. It will clarify the role of the adult in supporting intentional pedagogy too, in leading to desirable learning outcomes using a play based, experiential approach. The course will help participants to increase their knowledge of the critical role of the adult in supporting high quality interactions, developing children’s self-regulation and supporting excellent play routines and in developing a climate in which all children feel valued and learn using the curriculum and an appropriate pedagogy. Participants will see many clips of excellent practice to supplement the research evidence. For: EY practitioners who wish to develop their knowledge of relational pedagogy and incorporate into their practice
The period after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) was characterized by a considerable risk migration within global liquidity flows, away from cross-border bank lending towards international bond issuance. We show that the post-GFC shifts in the risk sensitivities of global liquidity flows are related to the tightness of the (capital and liquidity) constraints faced by international (bank and non-bank) lenders and to the migration of borrowers across type of funding. The post-GFC tightening of global bank regulatory standards led to significant increases in banks' capitalization levels and decreased the global risk sensitivity of cross-border bank loans. By contrast, the respective risk sensitivities of international bond flows remained elevated during the post-GFC period, associated with a combination of changes in leverage in participating institutions and migration of borrowers across funding sources. *Linda S Goldberg* is Financial Research Adviser at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, following roles that include Senior Vice President, head of Global Economic Analysis, and head of the International Research function. Linda's main areas of expertise are global banking, international capital flows, and the international roles of currencies. Linda represents the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Committee on the Global Financial System. Linda chairs the International Banking Research Network (IBRN), is a BIS Technical Advisor, a CEPR Distinguished Fellow, and an NBER Research Associate.
Sign up for a networking event and pizza lunch with the Radcliffe Science Library! We know it can be tough being a new postdoc and there is a lot of information to learn. We’ll give a brief overview of some useful services for MPLS and MSD available to postdocs and provide plenty of time for you to meet and talk to your colleagues from various Departments. This event is aimed at new postdocs who have been in Oxford for less than two years. The talk will take place in the Reuben College Lecture Theatre followed by lunch in the Radcliffe Science Library.
William (Billy) McGuinness Wade-Martins Group Therapeutically targeting lysosomal biogenesis in iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons Susann Bruche De Val Group Shear stress-induced gene regulation via the KLF family of transcription factors Schan Dissanayake-Perera Stevens Group Engineering nanomaterials to bridge the gap towards accessible CRISPR based diagnostics
Ross began worked at the MRC Genome Damage and Stability Centre (University of Sussex, UK) from 2002-2005, before moving to pursue a PhD in DNA double-strand break repair biology with Professor Sir Stephen Jackson at the Gurdon Institute (University of Cambridge, UK). There his research used human and fission yeast cellular models to investigates how DNA damage signalling and repair proteins assemble at sites of DNA damage, and the role played by chromatin and histone modifications. Ross furthered these investigations as a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow in 2010, working at Cancer Research UK’s Clare Hall Laboratories with Prof. Simon Boulton. There, his research helped define a 53BP1-dependent DNA repair pathway that mediates adaptive immune system diversification in mammals, yet that promotes genome mutagenesis and chromosomal rearrangement in BRCA1-mutant breast and ovarian cancers. In 2013, Ross established his team at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford, investigating DNA damage signalling and repair biology with a focus on advancing the understanding of genomic instability-driven human diseases including cancer. Their work has also pursued an understanding of the tumour suppressive activities of the BRCA1, ATM and p53 genome-maintenance proteins, and the contribution of DNA repair to haematopoietic health, longevity, and adaptive immunity. In 2020, Ross and his team moved to the Medical Research Council (MRC) Molecular Haematology Unit at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine (University of Oxford) where he was promoted to Professor of Genome Maintenance Biology in 2022. He currently holds a Cancer Research UK Senior Fellowship, is a Medical Research Council (UKRI) Programme Leader, was a recipient of a 2019 Lister Prize, and is an elected member of the EMBO Young Investigator Programme. His group receives funding from Cancer Research UK, MRC/UKRI, the Lister Institute, and Breast Cancer Now.
*Programme:* 09:30 Coffee 10:00 *Frank James* (UCL) Opening remarks 10:15 *Laurence Chen* (UCL) Mercurial self-fashioning: mythological (auto)biographies in Elias Ashmole’s _Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum_ 10:45 *Sergei Zotov* (Warwick) Visual Biographies: Portraits and Monuments in Early Modern Alchemical Manuscripts 11:15 *Charlotte Abney Salomon* (SHI) J.G. Gahn, in the Words of Others 11:45 *Anna Simmons* (UCL) “The perspicuity of style, and the proprietary of expression”: Lectures, Laboratories and William Thomas Brande (1788-1866) 12:15 Lunch break (NB: lunch is not provided, but some will be heading to the Wellcome café) 14:00 *Jenny Wilson* (UCL) Campaigning for peace: The work of Dame Kathleen Lonsdale FRS (1903-1971) 14:30 *Annette Lykknes* (NTNU, Trondheim) Clusters of women in laboratories or institutes of technology: Reflections on prosopographical approaches to the history of (women in) chemistry 15:00 Tea 15:30 *Carsten Reinhardt* (Bielefeld) Autobiographies of Chemists: The Lives in Chemistry Series 16:00 *Judith Kaplan* (SHI) Who are the Biographers? Reflections on Problem Choice and Personal Investment 16:30 Roundtable for reminiscences to mark the 90th anniversary of SHAC with a glass of wine Participants will include *Gerrylynn Roberts*, *John Brooke* and *Peter Morris* 17:30 End of meeting
The Oxford Spring School 2025 is organised by the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford and consists of nine courses in quantitative and qualitative methods, both in-person and online. The course runs from Monday 31st March to Friday 4 April This includes new courses for 2025 on Time Series Analysis and Large Language Models. Those selecting courses on Causal Inference, Qualitative Methods, Text Analysis and Large Language Models will have the option to select a second course, related to their first course choice. All participants will also be given access to additional pre-recorded video tutorials on how to use R and Python. There will be social and networking opportunities throughout the week, including, for in-person attendees, a formal three-course dinner at Brasenose College on Thursday 3 April (included in the course fee). Online participants will have their own virtual welcome reception and networking opportunities. In-person attendees will have the option to book accommodation for the week at Brasenose College. Submit your application before 12 noon GMT on Friday 31 January 2025 to qualify for our ‘Early Bird’ Discount. This discount applies to both in-person and online applications that are submitted before the deadline on 31 January, offering a £50 reduction in the course fee. Successful candidates meeting our course criteria will then receive a booking link to pay for their course(s) and confirm their place. Note that for the Oxford Spring School 2025, bursaries will NOT be available except for DPIR DPhil students, who have a separate bursary scheme and application process. If you are a DPIR DPhil student, please email springschool@politics.ox.ac.uk for more information. Applications to Oxford Spring School will continue to be accepted after the ‘Early Bird’ deadline on a rolling basis, subject to availability, until 12 noon GMT on Monday 3 March 2025, or until all places are reserved.
Cardiac autonomic neurons control cardiac contractility. Dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system can lead to sympathetic overdrive resulting in heart failure and an increased incidence of fatal arrhythmias. Here, we introduce innervated engineered human myocardium (iEHM), a novel model of neuro-cardiac junctions, constructed by fusion of a bioengineered neural organoid (BENO) patterned to autonomic nervous system and engineered human myocardium (EHM). Projections of sympathetic neurons into engineered human myocardium formed presynaptic terminals in close proximity to cardiomyocytes and an extensive vascular network co-developing in the tissues. Contractile responses to optogenetic stimulation of the accordingly engineered neuronal component demonstrated functionality of neuro-cardiac junctions in iEHM. This model serves currently as a human surrogate system to delineate neuron and cardiac cell contribution to brain and heart diseases as sudden cardiac death in epilepsy and progression to heart failure. SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY Dr. Zafeiriou is a Group leader at the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Medical Center Goettingen. She completed her PhD degree at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and trained as a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin. Her lab investigates three-dimensional electrically excitable cell networks generated from human induced pluripotent stem cells. With a special focus in brain and heart, they aim to understand how genetic alterations lead to network imbalance. Employing human tissue engineering, genome editing and induced pluripotent stem cell technologies they aim to uncover the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying infantile epilepsies and their connection to sudden cardiac death.
When European missionaries arrived in India in the sixteenth century, they entered a world both fascinating and bewildering. Hinduism, as they saw it, was a pagan mess: a worship of devils and monsters by a people who burned women alive, performed outlandish rites and fed children to crocodiles. But it quickly became clear that Hindu ‘idolatry’ was far more layered and complex than European stereotypes allowed, surprisingly even sharing certain impulses with Christianity. Nonetheless, missionaries became a threatening force as European power grew in India. Western ways of thinking gained further ascendancy during the British Raj: while interest in Hindu thought influenced Enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire in Europe, Orientalism and colonial rule pressed Hindus to reimagine their religion. In fact, in resisting foreign authority, they often adopted the missionaries’ own tools and strategies. It is this encounter, Manu S. Pillai argues, that has given Hinduism its present shape, also contributing to the birth of an aggressive Hindu nationalism. Gods, Guns and Missionaries surveys these remarkable dynamics with an arresting cast of characters – maharajahs, poets, gun-wielding revolutionaries, politicians, polemicists, philosophers and clergymen. Lucid, ambitious, and provocative, it is at once a political history, an examination of the mutual impact of Hindu culture and Christianity upon each other, and a study of the forces that have prepared the ground for politics in India today. Turning away from simplistic ideas on religious evolution and European imperialism, the past as it appears here is more complicated – and infinitely richer – than previous narratives allow.
The new Oxford Academic Kidney Network invites you to their first symposium. Aims: • To raise awareness of the breadth of kidney associated academic and clinical expertise in Oxford • To encourage collaboration within and across university and clinical departments • To provide opportunities for junior colleagues to present their work Group leaders: Express an interest in presenting your work using the registration link below Student, post-doctoral researcher, clinician in training, early career researcher or clinical team members: Abstract submission for a short oral presentation or poster 250 words maximum emailed to: OAK.network@ndm.ox.ac.uk
For our next talk, in the BDI/CHG (gen)omics Seminar series, we will be hearing from Dr Julie Aspden, Associate Professor in RNA Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds and Dr Owen Rackham, University of Southampton. We’re delighted to host Julie and Owen in what promises to be a great talk! Date: Tuesday 1 April Time: 9:30 am – 10:30 am Talk 1 title: Unlocking the Hidden Code: How Ribosome Profiling Reveals the Operating Principles of the Genome Talk 2 title: Discovery and functional characterisation of non-canonical translation events during neuronal differentiation Location: Big Data Institute, Seminar Room 0 Abstract: The human genome operates with far more complexity than previously understood. Advances in ribosome profiling (Ribo-seq) and computational techniques have uncovered new layers of gene regulation, including the translation of small open reading frames (smORFs) that encode microproteins with potential functional significance. In this talk, I will explore how integrating Ribo-seq with computational approaches provides a high-resolution view of translation across different human cell types and tissues, revealing new aspects of genome function, regulatory elements, and translational dynamics. By leveraging these tools, we can refine our understanding of how the genome operates, uncovering hidden regulatory mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets. Bios: Owen completed his PhD in complexity sciences at the University of Bristol in 2012, after which he became an MRC career development fellow at Imperial College London. In 2015, he moved to Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore as a senior research fellow and subsequently started his group there in 2016. In 2022 he returned full-time to the UK and he is now an Associate Professor at the University of Southampton, leading the data-driven biology group. His group’s primary interest is in what defines human cells and how their phenotype emerges from the complex interplay between the genome, transcriptome and environment. His team combines data generation with computational methods to develop predictions about how specific perturbations or conditions can influence a cell's fate. He has used these techniques to deepen our understanding of cell fate reprogramming and to broaden the scope of cell and gene therapies both academically and commercially. ------------- Julie is an Associate Professor in RNA Biology in the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of Leeds, UK. She read Biochemistry at the University of Oxford before undertaking a PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge on the initiation of mRNA translation. During her first postdoc at the University of California, Berkeley, her work focused on alternative mRNA splicing in Drosophila, using genomic approaches. Her second postdoc was at the University of Sussex, where she became interested in long non-coding RNAs and their potential translation. She discovered the translations of 100s novel ORFs, many of which in lncRNAs in Drosophila tissues culture cells. In 2015 Julie established her independent research group at Leeds. Her group addresses questions on the regulation of mRNA translation, ribosome heterogeneity, non-coding RNA function and the role of specific RNA-protein complexes. They combine biochemistry, genomics, molecular biology and genetics to study RNAs in Drosophila melanogaster and mammalian tissue culture, including human neuronal cells. Julie has 19 years of experience and expertise in RNA biology, and an active member of the RNA Society. Julie is academic co-lead of LeedsOmics, the virtual omics institute at the University of Leeds. She has previously led gender equality initiatives in her faculty and is passionate about creating a supportive and inclusive research culture. Julie now leads a large interdisciplinary team “RiboCode” to understand how changes in ribosome composition impact translation and how this occurs across different organisms. Her group’s work has been funded by both MRC and BBSRC. ———————————————————————————————————————— All members of the University are welcome to join, please let reception at BDI know you’re here for the seminar and sign-in. We hope you can join us! We also now have a mailing list – To be added, ping genomics_bdi_whg-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk (with any message), you should get a bounce-back with three options to confirm your subscription. Follow any of those options, and with a bit of luck you should be signed up! As a reminder, the (gen)omics seminar series runs every other Tuesday morning and is intended to increase interaction between individuals working in genomics across Oxford. We encourage in-person attendance where possible. There is time for discussion over, tea, coffee and pastries after the talks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hybrid Option: Please note that these meetings are closed meetings and only open to members of the University of Oxford to encourage sharing of new and unpublished data. Please respect our speakers and do not share the link with anyone outside of the university. Microsoft Teams meeting – Join the meeting now Meeting ID: 363 788 491 159 Passcode: VG28S9MA ——————————————————————————————————— If you wish to know more or receive information related to trainings and events at BDI, please subscribe by emailing bdi-announce-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk. You’ll then receive an email from SYMPA and once you reply you’ll be on the list!
Matt’s research team are based in the Department of Biochemistry in Oxford, where they use structural and molecular tools to understand the interactions that human-infective parasites make with their human host. For more information, see higginslab.web.ox.ac.uk
So, you’ve got a great idea for a research study – but what approvals do you need before you can start? Who do you apply to? And how do you go about doing this? Join an online presentation through Microsoft Teams for an overview of: • how research is governed in the UK • which approval bodies are involved • a step-by-step guide on how to apply for approval • handling amendments to your study
Abstract: The repair path of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) is determined by nuclear process context and the DNA Damage Response (DDR) to suppress chromosome translocations. Although primary DSB repair mechanisms like nonhomologous end joining and homologous recombination are well established, their disrepair and the contribution from alternative DSB repair mechanisms remain to be elucidated, limiting our ability to develop specific and potent cell-based therapies. In this seminar, I will discuss primary and secondary DNA end joining mechanisms, influenced by the DDR, in cycling and quiescent cells from the perspective of genome-wide junction capture studies of physiologic and engineered DSBs. Additionally, from parallel joint capture screens, I will describe several inhibitor classes and gene deficiencies with distinct roles in suppressing V(D)J recombination while separately promoting translocations between Cas9 DSBs. This latter part will highlight a speculative model for how the DDR promotes efficient single DSB rejoining. Biography: Dr Richard L. Frock is an Assistant Professor of Radiation and Cancer Biology in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Stanford University. He received his B.A. in Biochemistry at Vassar College and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Washington studying A-type nuclear laminopathies in striated muscle and lymphocyte development. Richard then completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital where he made seminal contributions to the development (HTGTS) and improvement (LAM-HTGTS) of a high-throughput chromosome translocation sequencing technology, which has been used extensively to locate recurrent and widespread DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) genome-wide in developing lymphocytes and cancer cells and to reveal the collateral damage associated with using engineered endonucleases for genome editing. His group is continuing to evolve this technology, most recently described as reJoin and Translocation sequencing (HTGTS-JoinT-seq), to aid in developing novel therapeutics and to further reveal the underlying biological responses to various sources of DNA damage. Dr Frock is a member of the Stanford Cancer Institute (SCI), Maternal and Childhood Health Research Institute (MCHRI), and the Stanford Bio-X Initiative. He is the recipient of the 1st Annual Career Development Award from the Radiation Research Foundation, a V Scholar for the V Foundation for Cancer Research, and is an American Cancer Society Research Scholar.
Gender equality in the workplace and society is receiving heightened media attention at the same time as work-life pressures and job demands are increasing for nearly all demographic groups. According to the World Economic Forum, it will be over one hundred years before women have the same career prospects as men, and no country in the world has closed its gender pay gap. Women represent about 31% of the faculty in the U.K. 1and U.S., but are far less represented in more masculine disciplines such as in STEM and business. The gender gap also becomes larger as one goes up academic ranks as women are under-represented in the most prestigious senior roles, and also are more likely to have career breaks. In this talk, Dr Kossek will share highlights of often-siloed research narratives why women are not advancing to the same extent as men gender discrimination, to career interests and values, and to work-family views. Also relevant is newer research arguing that how virtual work and flexible working may be a double-edged sword for women’s career experiences within and across occupations, as well as cross-national macro-pressures on how the corporatisation of the university has intensified faculty careerism, overwork and boundary control pressures with DEI backlash. This event is organised by the Oxford Saïd's Faculty Women’s Network.
Why does involving young people in decision-making lead to better social outcomes? In today’s complex geopolitical landscape, how can we continue empowering young people and supporting local organizations to ensure their voices are heard on issues that matter most? Our panel will explore the why, what, and how of meaningful youth engagement sharing data, best practices, and methodologies for fostering youth-led decision-making in philanthropy.
Join Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times for a wide-ranging conversation with Pepper Culpepper, Blavantik Professor of Government and Public Policy. Kristof will reflect on the role of the journalist in the current political moment, speaking from his own experiences as well as to broader issues such as the challenge posed by post-truth politics to the role of journalism in speaking truth to power. Nicholas Kristof is the author, most recently, of Chasing Hope: A Reporter’s Life. He will be talking about journalism, hope, and the possibility of good government in polarized times. Kristof has been described as the “conscience of international journalism” and has won multiple awards for his work, including Pulitzer Prizes for both his reporting (on Tiananmen Square, with Sheryl WuDunn) and for his commentary on genocide in Darfur. He graduated from Harvard College and studied at Magdalen College as a Rhodes Scholar. Please note, this event takes place in person only.
Cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors (CVMs) pose a significant threat to brain health, contributing to a substantial portion of dementia cases. What if we could detect early signs of brain alterations caused by common health conditions like hypertension and diabetes in midlife, well before cognitive symptoms appear? In this talk, I will describe how leveraged large, harmonized MRI datasets and machine learning to create in-silico severity markers to quantify the impact of CVMs on individual brain MRIs. With these personalized markers, we can potentially identify individuals who are vulnerable to the cognitive effects of CVMs much earlier than current methods allow, opening a critical window for early intervention. These data-driven tools offer critical insights into the link between heart health and brain health, enabling us to identify at-risk individuals and pave the way for precision medicine approaches to dementia prevention. Teams link: https://www.win.ox.ac.uk/events/win_seminar_apr_2025
In this session, DPAG Professors will share their insights into publishing your work in high impact journals.
This panel discussion will delve into the challenges and opportunities of measuring green jobs—jobs that contribute to environmental sustainability—as economies undergo a shift toward greener practices that complement Net Zero commitments. Accurately defining and tracking the creation of green jobs is essential for guiding effective policy, supporting workforce development, and advancing corporate environmental goals. This event will bring together experts from academia, the private sector, and policymaking institutions to share insights on green job metrics and to discuss collaborative, cross-sector approaches for measuring the economic and environmental impacts of these roles. Held as a side event during the Skoll World Forum in Oxford , this panel will capitalize on the Forum’s dynamic platform and convening of stakeholders to foster an urgent dialogue on social innovation and sustainability. By connecting with the Skoll World Forum’s mission to tackle the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges, this panel will provide attendees with actionable perspectives on defining and measuring green jobs within an evolving global workforce.
Paloma Miravet Llorens of Jaume I University, Paloma Miravel Llorens, Jaume I University, Castelló will present this seminar based on her research into Spanish Colonialism in Fernando Po (now known as Bioko, Equatorial Guinea.
We are thrilled to announce that registration is now open for OGOS 2025, taking place on 03 April 2025! Building on the success of the last two years, another exceptional program has been curated - this time delving into cutting-edge management strategies, the transformative role of technology, and ground breaking clinical trials, as well as the return of the popular MDT session! The 2025 faculty line up brings together world-class experts who will share cutting-edge insights and foster dynamic, thought-provoking discussions, promising unparalleled opportunities to learn, engage and get inspired. We are delighted to host the Symposium at the modern Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre, one of the landmark features of Worcester College, Oxford, with the Symposium Dinner taking place in the historic Pembroke College Hall—two remarkable venues that provide the perfect setting for the symposium's 3rd year! On the OGOS Website, you’ll find the link to register as well as the full agenda, faculty bios, and further information about the event. We encourage you to register early to secure your place! And we look forward to welcoming you to Oxford in April!
MitOX is our annual meeting packed with short talks and posters on cancer metabolism, neuroscience, diabetes, mitochondrial disorders and general mitochondrial biology. This one day hybrid conference is ideal for researchers with an interest in mitochondria from both academia and pharma. For more info, please see webpage: https://www.wrh.ox.ac.uk/news/mitox-2025 9.25 Karl Morten (Oxford) Welcome Session 1. Mitochondrial Biology 9.30 Luis Tabara Rodriguez (University of Cambridge): Mitochondrial fusion selectivity controls mitochondrial recycling to maintain mtDNA levels 9.55 Gautam Wali (University of Melbourne): Single-Cell Image Analysis Uncovers Mitochondrial and Lysosomal Defects in Parkinson’s Diseas 10.20 Robbie Baldock (University of Portsmouth) Investigating the mechanisms of mitochondrial DNA mutagenesis and repair: ST1 10.35 Jan Willem Taanman (UCL): Inhibition of mitochondrial protein synthesis induces biosynthesis of oxidative phosphorylation Complex V and reverses its activity: ST2 10.50 Coffee Session 2. Novel Approaches to Investigate mitochondrial Dysfunction 11.20 Ryan Carter (University of Oxford): Integrative Radiogenomics with 18F-Fluciclovine PET Highlights Reprogramming of Pyrimidine Metabolism in Primary Breast Cancer 11.45 Ladislav Valkovic (University of Oxford): Using Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy to non-invasively detect mitochondrial dysfunction in Long Covid and ME/CFS 12.10 Sheeza Mughal (IBEC, Barcelona). Developing artificial 3-D skeletal muscle tissues to investigate altered metabolic and functional dynamics in ME/CFS and Long COVID-19. 12.35 James Sleigh (UCL): In vivo imaging of axonal mitochondrion transport and morphology in genetic peripheral neuropathy. 13.00 Lunch & Poster session Session 3. Mitochondrial Therapies 14.15 Pollard Lecture Jan Renwinkel (University of Oxford): Induction of innate immunity by mitochondrial RNA. 14.40 Millie Fullerton (University of Newcastle): Mitochondrial dysfunction in a model of dilated cardiomyopathy is rescued by vitamin supplementation 15.05 Mara Artibani (University of Oxford): Targeting the metabolic vulnerabilities of chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer 15.30 Ana Victoria Lechuga-Vieco (IRB Barcelona): Metabolic Remodeling Through Mitochondrial Transfer: A Key to Enhanced Immune Responses: ST3 15.45 Tea Session 4. Mitochondria in Physiology and Disease 16.15 Enrique Rodriguez (UCL): Anaesthetics disrupt complex I-linked respiration and reverse the ATP synthase: insights into the mechanism of consciousness 16.40 Brent Ryan (University of Oxford): Novel methods to understand the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in neurodegeneration. 17.05 Hanmin Lee (City St George’s, University of London): Characterising MRPL44(L156R) Transgenic Mouse Model: Insights into Mitochondrial Disorder Pathogenesis and Sex-Dependent Responses.ST4 17.20 Micol Falabella (UCL): Biallelic PTPMT1 variants disrupt cardiolipin metabolism and lead to a neurodevelopmental syndrome. ST5 17.35 Poster Prizes and wrap up 17.45 Drinks
Despite tremendous progress over the last two decades, nearly ninety women and children die in India every hour. Most of these deaths are preventable, and occur in pockets of populations characterised by remoteness, marginalisation, and poverty. What stops progress at the last mile? What works at scale? What lessons can we draw for public health more broadly? In this talk, Chandrika Bahadur, CEO of the Antara Foundation, will join Professor Alan Stein, Senior Research Fellow in Global Health and Public Policy, to explore these questions. Chandrika Bahadur will bring the lessons of ten years of work from the Antara Foundation, a remarkable organisation that uses data to train community health workers and young mothers to identify and manage risk at the right time, in some of central India's most difficult regions.
Part of the Oxford Shorts 2025: Film Festival _The Commandant’s Shadow_ tells the story of the aftermath of atrocity. It follows the son and grandson of the Commandant of Auschwitz as well as a survivor and her daughter as they seek to come to terms with the past, and with each other… an exploration of how events that happened eight decades ago can produce shockwaves that ripple down the generations. Set in the present, it follows the protagonists as they deal with trauma, guilt and moral ambiguity. Join the director Daniela Völker, executive producers Gloria Abramoff and Wendy Robins and Production Manager Laura Jones for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at this eye-opening film. The main festival runs from Friday 4 April to Sunday 6 April. All films will be screened in the Auditorium at St John's, many of which will be followed by Q&As.
Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection presents a significant global health challenge, characterized by substantial morbidity and mortality rates worldwide. Despite the existence of a preventive vaccine, current treatment options offer limited efficacy in clearing the virus, necessitating lifelong management. The diagnosis and prognosis of HBV heavily rely on its surface antigen (HBsAg). However, despite extensive research efforts, detailed high-resolution structures of HBsAg and its assembly on the virus envelope have remained elusive. We have employed sophisticated strategies and advanced computational tools to uncover the near-atomic resolution structure of HBsAg and its assembly.
Dr. Dirk Görlich studied biochemistry at the Martin Luther University in Halle (Germany). For his Ph.D., he joined Tom Rapoport's lab in Berlin, where he identified the heterotrimeric Sec61αβγ complex as a receptor for translating ribosomes and the protein-conducting channel of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). He also succeeded in reconstituting a fully functional "translocon" from purified components and demonstrated its capacity to transport secretory proteins across the ER membrane and to integrate type I and type II membrane proteins into the lipid bilayer. 1994, he joined Ron Laskey's lab in Cambridge, where he discovered the first importins as mediators of protein import into the cell nucleus. In 1996, he became an independent group leader and later a professor for molecular biology at the ZMBH (University of Heidelberg). During this time, he put forward the RanGTP-gradient model to explain the directionality and energetics of nuclear transport, and his group was instrumental in discovering and characterising exportins, which mediate export from the cell nucleus. He is now a director at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen and focused on the question of how nuclear pore complexes function as highly efficient transport machines. His team discovered that intrinsically disordered FG domains assemble into a condensed (selective) phase that functions as a highly selective permeability barrier of extreme transport capacity. His group also develops nanobodies as cell biological tools and as therapeutics for treating viral infections, bacterial sepsis, and autoimmune conditions. He received the EMBO Gold Medal, the WLA prize as well as the Louis-Jeantet Prize.
The relationship between the United States and China is one of the most consequential for global stability and prosperity. As tensions continue to shape international politics, questions remain about whether the two great powers can find a path toward sustainable and cooperative relations. Join the Oxford University International Relations Society for a fireside chat with Professor Jeffrey Sachs as he explores the future of US-China relations, the economic and geopolitical forces at play, and the possibilities for peaceful coexistence in an era of great-power competition. This event is open to all members of the University of Oxford. Speaker Bio: Jeffrey D. Sachs is a world-renowned economist, professor, and global leader in sustainable development. He is a University Professor at Columbia University, where he also serves as the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development. Sachs has advised multiple UN Secretaries-General on sustainable development and has authored numerous influential books on economics, global cooperation, and development, including The End of Poverty (2005), Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (2008), and The Price of Civilization (2011).
Dr. Kevin Chalut is a Principal Investigator at the Altos Labs Cambridge Institute of Science. Prior to joining Altos Labs, Kevin was a group leader at the Wellcome Trust-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute at the University of Cambridge. During his time there, his lab performed seminal work understanding how the mechanical environment and mechanical properties of cells affect stem cell fate choices across the lifespan, and how the mechanical environment and extracellular matrix can lead to loss of function in stem cells. Kevin's work at Altos focuses on using the tools and concepts of physics to study tissue function and its loss with ageing. He primarily investigates how external and internal mechanical inputs regulate biological function, and exactly how cells process mechanical information whilst performing their function. His primary objective is to bring together physics, engineering and biology to better understand the maintenance of tissue fate and function, and how to control that function for extending healthy lifespan. Kevin is a physical biologist with a PhD in Physics from Duke University.
This course is designed for undergraduates aiming for postgraduate study, graduate students who want to strengthen their skills, and professionals seeking to advance their expertise. Participants will delve into key areas such as economic theory, applied mathematics, and econometrics, equipping themselves with essential quantitative skills and analytical tools. Join us online for a fully live and interactive experience, accessible globally. Engage in real-time discussions, connect with Oxford professors, and gain the same high-quality academic insights from anywhere in the world. Visit the website for more information and registration: https://ouess.web.ox.ac.uk/event/fundamentals-of-graduate-economics
Synovial joints harbour a protective lining layer that consists of macrophages and fibroblasts. is disrupted in inflamed joints. It is currently unclear exactly when lining macrophages are established during development, and from which progenitor sources. Here, we delineated the development of synovial lining macrophages using a combination of genetic models, confocal imaging and single-cell transcriptomics. We report that the synovial lining is immature at birth and is established within the first three weeks of life. Lining macrophages develop and maintain themselves with minimal monocyte contribution. Instead, the lining gradually incorporates pre-existing foetal-derived macrophages, which acquire the characteristic transcriptional identity of the lining population. Lining macrophage development critically depends on CSF1 signalling and further integrates e.g. TGFb signalling. This work provides a detailed understanding of how lining macrophages develop and forms the basis of addressing how they may be changed by adverse environments in early life, which are increasingly recognised as contributing factors to susceptibility to immune-mediated pathology, including arthritis.
Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC molecules) are a cornerstone of the adaptive immune system. They present antigens to T-cells for surveillance. While we have a reasonably large number of experimentally determined three-dimensional structures of MHC molecules, there is low diversity in the dataset and it represents a very small fraction of the universe of potential complexes. Despite this caveat, we can discern patterns within antigen presentation/recognition in the bulk data. If we benchmark these methods robustly, we can potentially extend using synthetic data from machine learning prediction methods such as AlphaFold.
This meeting brings together experts from various academic disciplines and institutions to discuss the growing threat of research fraud. Sessions will explore methods of detecting fraudulent research, the responsibilities of institutions and funders in responding to research fraud, and the challenges faced by whistleblowers. For the full programme and other details, visit https://www.sjcfairsmeeting.com/ (switch off VPN if it fails to load).
This seminar will focus on using theory in research. PhD students and early career researchers are exhorted to find their theoretical paradigm, world view, or theoretical framework to underpin their research. And, to complicate matters, only rarely will only one theory do all the necessary work in a research undertaking. The seminar will explore how to use theory in research, including defining one’s paradigm, selecting complementary theories, and aligning research methods with one’s theoretical framework. The seminar will be led by Leesa Wheelahan, who will use the example of the philosophy critical realism to demonstrate how this ‘under-labours’ all her research and guides the selection of complementary modes of theorising. Suggested reading: Wheelahan, Leesa (2023). Realism and theorizing curriculum—the role of knowledge. In R. J. Tierney, F. Rizvi, & K. Ercikan (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Education (Fourth Edition) (pp. 85-95). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818630-5.03012-8 Leesa is a SKOPE Honorary Research Fellow. She edited the Journal of Vocational Education and Training and is a member of its editorial management committee. She is a member of a number of editorial boards, and reviews for numerous journals. She has published over 80 books, monographs, journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries as well as hundreds of newspaper and practitioner articles, technical papers, government submissions, and other major publications.
Explore the importance of medical anatomy terminology and its fascinating roots in Ancient Greek with our expert guest speakers. They will share historical facts and stories behind the language that shapes the medical world. On the same day, enjoy a Show and Tell exhibition featuring medieval manuscripts from the Bodleian Special Exhibitions Team at the Weston Library.
In recent years, escalating geopolitical tensions and the rise of neo-nationalism have posed significant obstacles to international research collaboration between China and the West (Marginson, 2022a; Rizvi, 2022). As China’s advancements in science and technology are increasingly perceived as a strategic threat, newly coined and redefined concepts—such as knowledge security, trusted research, containment, and foreign interference in research and innovation—have become prevalent in Western policy discourse (European Commission, 2019; White House, 2025; Shih et al., 2025). The challenges are particularly pronounced in STEM disciplines, where barriers to cooperation are significantly higher than in the humanities and social sciences. Shifting geopolitical dynamics, coupled with the emergence of state-driven research policies such as “organized science,” have inevitably prompted Chinese STEM scientists to modify their collaboration partners, research focus, modes of cooperation, and strategic approaches. This study investigates how Chinese STEM scientists navigate geopolitical challenges in their international scientific collaborations. Specifically, it addresses the following research questions: How do geopolitical influences affect Chinese scientists’ international research collaborations? What strategies have Chinese universities and scientists adopted to mitigate geopolitical constraints? What resources, cultural factors, and organizational conditions are necessary to facilitate these strategies?
Imagine if you could find out if you were likely to have a heart attack in ten years’ time. Some 2.3 million people in the UK are living with coronary heart disease. Computed tomography (CT) heart scans are the recommended test for people with cardiac chest pain. These images assess narrowing and obstruction in the heart and blood vessels. But they fail to pick up half of the heart attacks that occur. In this talk, Clinical Research Fellow Kenneth Chan will explain how a new device developed in Oxford combines the CT scan with artificial intelligence to detect these biological processes –invisible to the human eye – that precede the narrowing of the arteries and cause heart attacks. This CaRi-Heart device, now successfully trialled in NHS hospitals, promises to be a game-changer in our efforts to prevent cardiovascular disease. FREE entry, no booking required. Refreshments at 5.40pm for a 6pm start.
Join us for this in-person workshop to explore how digital resources can be effectively implemented to facilitate and enhance flexible and inclusive teaching and learning practice at Oxford. During the workshop, we will: Explore the features of the Centre for Teaching and Learning’s Digitally Supported Inclusive Teaching Toolkit (see https://www.ctl.ox.ac.uk/digitally-supported-inclusive-teaching-toolkit), and discuss how you might apply them in your teaching Discuss the Canvas ecosystem of digital tools, including Panopto and ORLO Discuss Canvas tools for: communication, providing learning materials, encouraging interactivity and creative thinking, and encouraging formative assessment and feedback. Please note this is an overview, and doesn’t include ‘how-to’ activities which are covered in our Canvas Fundamentals online session Facilitate discussions with fellow attendees and our digital education advisers, and ensure that you know where to find help and support Develop personal strategies to identify where and how digital tools can benefit you and your students. We will model the ‘flipped classroom’ approach, by enrolling you in a bespoke Canvas course for ‘before’ and ‘after’ activities, and access to examples such as case studies of existing practice. Throughout the workshop, participants will reflect on their own teaching practice and build an action plan to implement the use of digital tools, where appropriate.
Our work is focused on malformations of the face and cranium, particularly the premature fusion of the joints ("sutures") between the bones of the skull vault (this is called craniosynostosis). A web of developmental mechanisms is involved in organising this complex system of bones, and a variety of genetic mutations can affect these processes to cause serious skull malformations. The talk will move from the identification of new genetic causes of craniosynostosis, through modelling in mice and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines to establish causality and investigate pathogenic mechanisms, to a discussion of what the human and mouse genetics tell us about normal cranial suture and skull development.
Please join us to celebrate the publication of Sam Rutherford's book, _Teaching Gender: The British University and the Rise of Heterosexuality, 1860–1939_, published by Oxford University Press. Sam will be in conversation with Professor William Whyte, followed by audience Q&A and a drinks reception. *Sam Rutherford* is an historian of gender and sexuality, education, ideas, and the politics, society, and culture of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain. Prior to coming to Glasgow, he received his PhD in History from Columbia University in 2020, and then spent 3.5 years as a Junior Research Fellow and tutor in History at Merton and Corpus Christi Colleges, Oxford. Read more about _Teaching Gender_ here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/teaching-gender-9780198937494
After the seminar, we will be hosting an informal chat with Prof Dong over tea/coffee and pastries. This would be an ideal opportunity to ask Prof Dong about science, her career and experience in academic research. Please use this link to sign up for the informal chat: https://forms.office.com/e/9SSTqxNu15
In this talk, Dr Adam Handel will provide an overview of available single-cell sequencing methods. There will be a brief description of standard bioinformatic approaches that might be used to process and analyse datasets produced by these methods. Finally, there will be an illustration of future trends in single-cell sequencing. Teams link: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/531ee025-0f2e-4717-bb0c-deaa1b07597a@cc95de1b-97f5-4f93-b4ba-fe68b852cf91 Program 14:00-14:30 Pre-seminar Networking. Coffee and pastries will be provided during the session 14:30-15:30 Single-cell Sequencing approaches by Dr Adam Handel
Are you baffled by open, confused by embargoes? Does the mention of the colour gold or green catapult you into a realm of perplexed irritation? Come to this session, where we’ll break down open access and all its many jargon terms, confusing publishing structures and hint at the advantages you can reap by publishing open. We’ll cover: what is open access? key terms – Gold, Green, Article Processing Charges; where to get more information and help; where to look for open access material; and useful tools to assist you in publishing open access. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers and other staff.
Self-control is the ability to inhibit self-defeating behavior in the face of temptation. The neural basis of self-control remains elusive, due to the difficulty of disentangling the processes of self-control and choice based on cost-benefit evaluations. We designed a novel task in monkeys that can distinguish different self-control levels from subjective preference. We found that Supplementary Eye Field neurons encode self-control, some even before choice options were presented. This neuronal activity predicted whether and when monkeys would give in to temptation. Our findings suggest that Supplementary Eye Field is part of a neuronal circuit underlying the capacity for self-control, which is crucial for selecting and maintaining the pursuit of costly goals that are beneficial in the long run.
A book talk by Dr. Amina Tawasil, lecturer from Teachers College, Columbia University. The talk will be chaired by Zhongyu (Krystal) Wang.
Suicidal behaviour and, in particular, death by suicide are the result of a complex interplay of several risk factors. It has long been known that interpersonal factors have an influence on the suicide rate: for example, the rate is higher among people who are single, widowed or living alone. Nevertheless, living alone is a life-condition, while the feeling of loneliness is more related to the subjective perception of the quality and quantity of the social network. It is therefore questionable whether these are individual or interpersonal risk factors. There are ongoing debates about the definitions of loneliness and related concepts and thus also about their measurement in research data. Regardless, studies have shown that the role of loneliness and living alone in the development of suicidality depends on demographic, psychological, mental health, cultural and economic factors, among others. A study from England showed that age influences the level of risk and that the age group of 15 to 34-year-olds who are lonely or live alone have the highest (16-fold increased) risk. Another study found that men living alone had a higher risk of dying by suicide, regardless of loneliness. Studies from Slovenia indicated a change in social and emotional loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic, but at the same time suicide rates did not change as dramatically as loneliness. The presentation will explore the results from different countries and perspectives. This seminar is hosted in person at the Department of Psychiatry, OX3 7JX (Seminar Room) & online: https://zoom.us/j/96085135630?pwd=E0WycEcOWfN1VyCa0iuSNbbk46aKVR.1 Meeting ID: 960 8513 5630 Passcode: 919009
This study introduces a novel theoretical framework for understanding peer review and academic evaluation. Drawing from the works of Michèle Lamont, Randall Collins, and Pierre Bourdieu, the research develops a logics of judgment theory to explain how different evaluative cultures shape academic assessments. Three key logics are distinguished: Logic of Truth – Evaluation based on methodological, theoretical, and logical correctness. Logic of the Scholarly Community Game (game-S) – Consideration of disciplinary conventions, scientific biographies, and markers of prestige. Logic of the Evaluation Game (game-E) – Alignment with national and international metricization policies and bibliometric indicators. By analyzing 195 Polish habilitation proceedings and 474 peer reviews using a mixed-methods approach, the study explores how these logics function in academic decision-making, particularly in cases with conflicting assessments. The findings contribute to broader discussions on the transformation of evaluative cultures in semi-peripheral academic systems under pressures of internationalization and economization. The following research questions will be addressed in the presentation: How do different academic systems balance traditional disciplinary norms with emerging metric-driven evaluation criteria? To what extent does the increasing reliance on bibliometric indicators shape peer review cultures? How do scholars navigate conflicting evaluation logics in promotion decisions? What lessons can be drawn from semi-peripheral academic systems for understanding global trends in research assessment?
Join us for the in-person only PSI guest seminar on Thursday, 17 April 2025, from 11:00 to 12:00 at Seminar Room 0, BDI. We are delighted to welcome two distinguished speakers to share insights on healthcare initiatives in the Global South. Our first speaker, Datuk Dr Muhammad Radzi bin Abu Hassan, Director General of the Ministry of Health Malaysia, will take us through the inspiring journey of Malaysia's Hepatitis C success story. In his talk, "Affordable Therapeutics Development in the Global South: Malaysia's Hepatitis C Success Story," Dr Radzi will share how Malaysia overcame the challenge of exorbitant treatment costs for Hepatitis C, ultimately bringing treatment from an unaffordable USD 80,000 down to less than USD 500. His presentation will focus on the collaborative efforts that led to the development of the antiviral Savidsvir, which has revolutionised the treatment landscape for Hepatitis C. Our second speaker, Jean-Michel Piedagnel from the South-South Diagnostic Alliance, will discuss the importance of empowering endemic countries through initiatives like the South-South Diagnostic Alliance for neglected diseases and pandemic preparedness. In his talk, "Turning the Tables Around & Empowering Endemic Countries," Jean-Michel will explore how cross-border partnerships within the Global South can strengthen diagnostics and improve preparedness for pandemics and neglected diseases. Speakers biographies: Datuk Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan, Director General Ministry of Health Malaysia. YBhg. Datuk Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan is a clinical gastroenterologist and the Director General of the Ministry of Health, Malaysia. Prior to this, he was the Head of Service of Internal Medicine in MOH, as well as Head of Department of Medicine and Clinical Research Centre at Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah. He has a special interest in hepatitis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), preventive medicine and treatment access. He graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons (Ireland) in 1990, MRCP UK (1997), Master of Medicine (USM 1998), and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and Fellow of the Academy of Medicine of Malaysia. Jean-Michel Piedagnel, Director of the secretariat for the South-South Diagnostic Alliance. Jean-Michel has 25+ years of leadership in the not-for-profit sector, notably with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). He served as Director - South-East Asia for the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) from 2016 to 2024. He champions south-south collaboration and spearheaded the Dengue Alliance, a global partnership accelerating treatment development for this neglected disease. A key focus of his work has been scaling up access to Hepatitis C (HCV) treatments. Through strategic partnerships with governments, civil society, and pharmaceutical companies, Jean-Michel has facilitated significant progress in HCV treatment accessibility in the region. He now leads the South-South Diagnostic Alliance, a new initiative incubated by CRM since January 2025.
In the current discussion about Open Access (OA) in science policy, Diamond OA journals are often hyped as the new saviors: They offer free access to research and come without financial barriers for authors, who might otherwise be excluded. Moreover, they place the responsibility for journals in the hands of those where many observers agree it belongs—the scientific community. This talk takes the science policy debate as its starting point and presents empirical findings from a study of the German Diamond OA landscape. The quantitative analysis will show that the landscape consists mainly of small- to mid-sized journals, with a focus on the social sciences and humanities. Qualitative interviews with editors of Diamond OA journals will shed light on their operating methods. The conclusion is mixed: While some journals have managed to find a sustainable operating model that ensures long-term stability, others remain unstable due to a lack of resources. This position sharply contrasts with expectations regarding their potential for driving the OA transformation.
The biodiversity crisis, driven by human activity, is one of the most pressing challenges of our time. Addressing this crisis requires urgent, effective solutions informed by diverse perspectives. But can academia, a community concerned with the pursuit of research, education, and scholarship meaningfully contribute to the protection of biodiversity? Conservation science—spanning both natural and social sciences—is argued by its advocates to play a central role in delivering applied solutions to slow and prevent biodiversity loss.
Kenneth S. Kosik is a physician scientist who completed an M.A. in English literature, an M.D., and residency in neurology. He achieved full professor in 1996 at Harvard Medical School. In 2004, Kosik became the Co-Director of the Neuroscience Research Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His was one of several groups that discovered Tau protein in the Alzheimer neurofibrillary tangle. Over three decades, Kosik has researched familial Alzheimer’s disease in Colombia. He received a Whitaker Health Sciences Award from MIT, a Milton Foundation Award from Harvard Medical School, the Moore Award, American Association of Neuropathologists, the Metropolitan Life Foundation Medical Award, the Derek Denny-Brown Neurological Scholar Award, the Zenith Award and Temple Award from the Alzheimer’s Association, the Ranwell Caputo Medal from the Argentine Society of Neurochemistry, the NASA Group Achievement Award to Neurolab Science Team, the Premio Aventis from Academia Nacional de Medicina, Colombia, the Potamkin Prize, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
For our next talk, in the Digital Phenotyping seminar series, we will hear from Dr Anya Skatova, Director, Digital Footprints Lab, University of Bristol on 23 April, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm, at the Big Data Institute (BDI). Title: What can your shopping basket say about your health? Date: Wednesday 23 April Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm Venue: BDI/OxPop, Seminar Room 0; followed by refreshments in the atrium Abstract: Novel sources of population data, especially administrative and medical records, as well as the digital footprints generated through interactions with online services, present a considerable opportunity for advancing health research and policymaking. An illustrative example is shopping history records that can illuminate aspects of population health by scrutinizing extensive sets of everyday choices made in the real world. In this talk I will cover my work with ALSPAC on integrating shopping history records into databanks of longitudinal population studies, as well as potential that these linked datasets bring for population health. Bio: Dr Anya Skatova is Director of Digital Footprints Lab at the University of Bristol and Turing Fellow. She is a behavioural scientist, and she studies how novel digital footprint data can be used to understand human behaviour and real-life outcomes, such as health. You can find more information about Digital Footprints Lab and group's research here: https://digifootprints.co.uk/ Hybrid Option: Please note that these meetings are closed meetings and only open to members of the University of Oxford. Please respect our speakers and do not share the link with anyone outside of the University. The purpose of these seminars is to foster more communication among employees throughout the University, so we strongly advise in-person attendance whenever feasible. Microsoft Teams meeting: Join the meeting now Meeting ID: 368 626 206 396 Passcode: W8r6sN2C If you wish to know more or receive information related to trainings and events at BDI, please subscribe by emailing bdi-announce-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk. You'll then receive an email from SYMPA and once you reply you'll be on the list!
Complimentary refreshments from 3:30pm in the Hume-Rothery Meeting Room. Composites with intricate microstructures are ubiquitous in the natural world where they fulfil the specific functional demands imposed by the environment. For instance, nacre presents a fracture toughness 40 times higher than its main constituent, a crystalline form of calcium carbonate. This relative increase in toughness value is obtained as a crack propagating within this natural brick-and-mortar structure must interact with multiple reinforcing mechanisms, leading to a millimetre-sized process zone. The boost in performance obtained has pushed scientists for a few decades to use nacre as a blueprint to increase the toughness of synthetic ceramics and composites. Our ability to reproduce accurately the structure of nacre from the nanometre to the millimetre scale has improved with the introduction of Magnetically-Assisted Slip Casting (M.A.S.C.), a technique that combines an aqueous-based slip casting process with magnetically-directed anisotropic particle assembly. Using this technique, we can now fine-tune the structural properties of nacre-inspired alumina-based composites to reach strengths up to 670 MPa, KIC up to 7 MPa.m1/2 with subsequent stable crack propagation and this even at temperature up to 1200°C. While these materials already present interesting properties for engineering applications, we fail to see the large process zones that are acting in natural nacre. This led us to work on a new composite system, using this time monodisperse silica rods that can self-assemble into bulk colloidal crystals to finally test the effect of order in the microstructure on the toughness. The presence of this regularity in the microstructure proved crucial in enabling a large process zone. We obtained a 40-fold increase in toughness compared with the polymer use as a matrix in a composite made of 80% in volume of ceramic, all of which is processed at room temperature. From these two studies, we can extract the role of the interface and grain morphology in tough bioinspired composites and what will be the next steps for these materials. Brief biography Florian Bouville is a senior lecturer in the Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics in the Department of Materials of the Imperial College London. His group is researching both colloidal processing and fracture mechanics, to design more robust and durable materials based on their microstructure and not composition, with applications ranging from high temperature structural components for aerospace to energy storage devices. These studies are supported by various funding sources, including an ERC Starting Grant and the European Space Agency. He obtained his Master's degree in Material Sciences at the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon (INSA de Lyon, France) in 2010. He then moved to the South of France for his PhD between three partners: the company Saint-Gobain, the Laboratory of Synthesis and Functionalization of Ceramics and the MATEIS laboratory (INSA de Lyon). From 2014 to 2018, he was a postdoctoral researcher and then scientist in the Complex Materials group at the Department of Materials at the ETH Zürich.
1. The conference mentioned above is an international event that gathers scholars who work on European art created during the Byzantine Empire/the Middle Ages in Europe. My own paper is about Roman mosaics in the UK. 2. One of the rationales of the book 'Byzantine and Medieval Cappadocia' (2024) is to show works of art from that Anatolian region produced during the periods mentioned. It also indicates that the preoccupation for preserving the environment has always been on the mind of people, wherever they lived. Plato spoke on this issue, as did the citizens of Cappadocia, who also took action towards that purpose. The focus of my book is a particular region of the Byzantine Empire, Cappadocia, within Anatolia, in the centre of what is now Turkey. Its history as a part of this confederation of territories coincides with the medieval period in Europe. The monograph deals with various aspects of the province; it begins with its environment and climate, goes to some of its institutions and buildings, and ends with the paintings which the artists employed to decorate the latter, as well as with a particular type of inscriptions (those along the frontiers). It also considers education in Cappadocia during the Byzantines. The study is a scholarly/professional work that draws on my current research as well as on the material which I developed in the last four years while teaching for the University of Oxford. Despite the fact that it employs original sources and is read firstly by specialists the book can also appeal to the general educated public. There are no substantial recent publications dedicated exclusively to this area, so my book is very timely. 3. My book 'Memories of Journeying through Life: Encounters and Happenings', vol. 1 (2025) is the translation of a revised edition of my book 'Amintiri de călătorie prin viață: întâlniri și întâmplări' (prima parte), Oxford (2023).
The book is about academic happenings that took me around the world on a journey I never dreamed of and I am not sure I wanted; almost everything that happened was and still is a surprise to me. I write it as a kind of activity report. This not a journal since I have not written regularly in its pages. It is a publication about what I remember mostly from my professional life and what I usually do as a professor at the University of Oxford; of course, some of my thoughts pop up here from time to time. I do not think there are many people who have studied and taught in Toronto, Ottawa, Sydney and Oxford, met and had discussions with Jacques Derrida, Umberto Eco, Noam Chomsky, Yehudi Menuhin, Roger Penrose (Nobel Prize Laureate), Richard Swinburne, and David Chalmers for example, and are still part of the conversations taking place in the intellectual world today. I have often been asked what it is like in Oxford and the institution where I have worked for 26 years and where I still work, so what I say may be of interest. Besides, I feel a kind of duty to do this because I have had the chance to find myself in extraordinary situations in the good sense of the word, and it seems only right to express my gratitude by recounting some of them.
One of the rationales of this book is to show that the preoccupation for preserving the environment has always been on the mind of people, wherever they lived. Plato spoke on this issue, as did the citizens of Byzantine and Medieval Cappadocia, who also took action towards that purpose. The focus of my book is a particular region of the Byzantine Empire, Cappadocia, within Anatolia, in the centre of what is now Turkey. Its history as a part of this confederation of territories coincides with the medieval period in Europe. The monograph deals with various aspects of the province; it begins with its environment and climate, goes to some of its institutions and buildings, and ends with the paintings which the artists employed to decorate the latter, as well as with a particular type of inscriptions (those along the frontiers). It also considers education in Cappadocia during the Byzantines. The study is a scholarly/professional work that draws on my current research as well as on the material which I developed in the last four years while teaching for the University of Oxford. Despite the fact that it employs original sources and is read firstly by specialists the book can also appeal to the general educated public. There are no substantial recent publications dedicated exclusively to this area – certainly not in the United Kingdom, where I work.
Many political philosophers theorise not only for the sake of pure theory, but also because they want to convince citizens and policymakers to bring about changes in the real world. Such policy-oriented research often draws on interdisciplinary methods, integrating empirical insights and normative and conceptual arguments. This, however, raises methodological challenges of its own. For example, how to deal with the fact that the social sciences are fragmented and different disciplines work with different paradigms and methodologies? How can philosophers, who bring their own normative assumptions openly to the table, deal with the - sometimes implicit - normativity that is also inherent in many other lines of research? What level of abstraction of normative arguments, eg basic normative theories or mid-level overlapping principles, should philosophers draw on when discussing with policymakers? And how to deal with the fact that in the current political climate in many countries, distrust towards "experts" also extends to philosophers?
China Centre Book Talk: Governing Digital China by Daniela Stockmann and Ting Luo China’s approach to digital governance has gained global influence, often evoking Orwellian 'Big Brother' comparisons. Governing Digital China challenges this perception, arguing that China's approach is radically different in practice. This book explores the logic of popular corporatism, highlighting the bottom-up influences of China’s largest platform firms and its citizens. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and nationally representative surveys, the authors track governance of social media and commercial social credit ratings during both the Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping eras. Their findings reveal how Chinese tech companies such as Tencent, Sina, Baidu and Alibaba, have become consultants and insiders to the state, thus forming a state-company partnership. Meanwhile, citizens voluntarily produce data, incentivizing platform firms to cater to their needs and motivating resistance by platforms. Daniela Stockmann and Ting Luo unveil the intricate mechanisms linking the state, platform firms and citizens in the digital governance of authoritarian states. Daniela (Danie) Stockmann is Professor of Digital Governance at the Hertie School in Berlin, Germany. Her current research focuses on platform regulation in the United States, China and Europe. She received a PhD in Political Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2007) and an MA in Chinese Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London (2001). Before joining the Hertie School faculty, she was Associate Professor of Political Science at Leiden University. Her book, Media Commercialization and Authoritarian Rule in China (Cambridge University Press, 2013), received the 2015 Goldsmith Book Prize awarded by the Harvard Kennedy School Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. Beyond her academic work, she has served as advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands and to German President Steinmeier during his 2018 visit to China and on platform regulation in 2021.
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. This course helps you prepare for the competition and ensure that you have the best chance possible to represent Oxford nationally.
Dr Meghan Morrissey’s research uses cell and synthetic biology to uncover basic principles of macrophage signalling with an eye toward designing new therapeutics. Macrophages, key effectors of the innate immune system, protect the body by phagocytosing harmful targets while robustly ignoring healthy cells. Macrophages measure and integrate the signals they encounter to decide what to eat. These signals also tell macrophages if they should adjust their appetite, and what information to relay other immune cells. The mechanistic insight from our studies is critical for immunoengineering, or controlled activation of the immune system. We are particularly interested in how to control macrophage signalling during cancer therapy. Dr Morrissey is an Assistant Professor at the University of California Santa Barbara. Prior to joining UCSB in 2020, Dr Morrissey was a postdoctoral fellow at University of California San Francisco in Ron Vale’s lab. She obtained her PhD from Duke University in 2015 and her BS from the University of Notre Dame in 2009.
This interdisciplinary conversation will address the theme of early modern migrations. How did objects, images, ideas, people, and texts migrate across the early modern globe? To what extent were these migrations productive and destructive? How were cities sites of cosmopolitanism, exchange, and encounter? How did texts migrate through prints and translation and in turn relay stories of migration? How did objects circulate, bringing with them new technologies and artisanal knowledge? Speakers will address these questions, shedding light on our understanding of encounters and entanglements in the early modern world. A collaboration between Kellogg College and the Centre for Early Modern Studies, University of Oxford. Speakers will include Nandini Das (Exeter), Leah R. Clark (Kellogg), Viviana Tagliaferri (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) and Imogen Choi (Exeter). The talks will run from 4.30-6pm (including a Q&A), followed by a drinks reception at 6.00-6.30pm. This event is free and open to all. If you have any questions please email events@kellogg.ox.ac.uk
Join one of the world’s foremost observers on the global economy, Professor Kenneth Rogoff, as he discusses his new book Our Dollar, Your Problem, with Professor of Economics Andrea Ferrero from Oxford’s Department of Economics. The event is moderated by the School’s Professor of Economics and Public Policy Clare Leaver. In Our Dollar, Your Problem, Professor Rogoff, the Maurits C. Boas Professor of Economics at Harvard University and former International Monetary Fund chief economist, explores the global rise of the U.S. dollar and shows why its future stability is far from assured, animating the remarkable postwar run of the dollar—how it beat out the Japanese yen, the Soviet ruble, and the euro—and the challenges it faces today from crypto and the Chinese yuan, the end of reliably low inflation and interest rates, political instability, and the fracturing of the dollar bloc. The discussion is followed by a drinks reception.
Join us for an insightful roundtable discussion featuring Emily Owens from Brown University and Kaisha Esty from Wesleyan University. These two historians focus on the experiences of enslaved and free women, examining narratives of sexual violence, resistance, legal redress, and survival through meticulous archival excavation. The scholars will explore the complex and precarious meaning of consent for Black women in the nineteenth-century as well as its lingering afterlives in the present day.
This talk presents findings from a project that is studying the relationship between student socioeconomic status (SES)/ethnicity/gender and discrepancies between teacher and student perceptions of the student’s effort, enjoyment, misbehaviour and abilities in school. Academic attitudes have been shown to be important determinants of children’s school attainment and teachers’ perceptions of such attitudes influence how teachers judge their students’ academic abilities. We conducted three studies, each focusing on different student characteristics and attitudes, and asked whether discrepancies (or ‘inaccuracies’) in teachers’ perceptions of students are systematically putting children from certain social groups at disadvantage. In study 1 we examined whether teachers systematically over- or under-estimate the effort and enjoyment of students depending on the student’s SES. We found that, indeed, teachers tend to rate the enjoyment and effort of lower SES-students more negatively and the attitudes of higher SES-students more positively than students own reports would suggest. Study 2 focused on student gender and academic self-concept (‘I am good at math/English’) in different subjects. We studied how discrepancies between teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the student’s academic abilities at the end of primary school predict student’s academic self-concept in later years, and how student gender interacts with these processes. It appears that for English teachers’ ‘over-estimation’ of both boys’ and girls’ abilities at age 11 leads to higher English self-concept at age 14. In contrast, for math, ‘under-estimation’ of students’ abilities at age 11 leads to lowered self-concept at age 14, with a particularly strong effect for girls. The aim of Study 3 was to analyse whether student ethnicity is related to discrepancies between teachers’ and students’ perceptions of students’ misbehaviour. Preliminary results are that the behaviour in class of students of Black Caribbean and Black African heritage is perceived more negatively by teachers than students’ own perceptions, while this discrepancy is weaker or reversed for other ethnic groups. We focused on children at the end of primary school and used data on England from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) and – for Study 1 – also on Scotland from the Growing Up in Scotland Study (GUS). Join on Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_OTNiZGM1MzItOTcwOS00YThjLWJmYTAtZGFjZGM1YzkyNjQw%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22cc95de1b-97f5-4f93-b4ba-fe68b852cf91%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2275f39f15-fefd-45cf-b904-2e2174db4aa1%22%7d
Our guts are home to a complex, dense and dynamic consortia of microbes, which can have a profound impact on our health. In this presentation, we will discuss how the mucosal immune system has evolved to minimize the risk from opportunistic bacterial pathogens such as Salmonella and E.coli. This requires us to explore secretory antibody function, intestinal physiology, bacterial glycobiology, within-host evolution and microbial ecology of the gut. A functional understanding of these systems reveals the potential for oral vaccine-based interventions that allow elimination of pathogen carriage (3, 4), with potential to expand into rational microbiota engineering. 1. High-avidity IgA protects the intestine by enchaining growing bacteria. Moor K, et al. 2017. Nature 544:498–502 doi:10.1038/nature22058 2. Inflammation boosts bacteriophage transfer between Salmonella. Diard M, et al. 2017. Science 355:1211-1215, doi:10.1126/science.aaf8451 3. A rationally designed oral vaccine induces immunoglobulin A in the murine gut that directs the evolution of attenuated Salmonella variants.Diard M, et al. Nat Microbiol. 2021 May 27. doi:10.1038/s41564-021-00911-1. 4. Vaccine-enhanced competition permits rational bacterial strain replacement in the gut. Lentsch V. et al. Accepted in Science 2025. bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.07.20.498444
HDRUK Oxford Monthly Meetup, Monday 28th April 2025, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Speaker(s): Associate Professor Sara Khalid, Dr. Marta Pineda-Moncusi and Dr. Qingze Gu Time: 14:00 – 15:00 Mode: Hybrid o In-person – Richard Doll Building, Lecture theatre o Online – please register (link below) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Opening Remarks: Associate Professor Sara Khalid, NDORMS, University of Oxford Short Bio: Professor Sara Khalid is an Associate Professor of Health Informatics and Biomedical Data Sciences. She is Head of the Planetary Health Informatics Lab and Machine Learning Lead at the Centre for Statistics in Medicine, NDORMS. Sara’s research applies artificial intelligence to international real-world health and environment data, in order to further our understanding of disease and fills the gaps in global health, leveraging common data models and federated network analytics. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speakers: 1. Dr. Marta Pineda-Moncusi, NDORMS, University of Oxford Title: ‘The purpose and value of capturing ethnicity data in research’. Abstract: The lack of representation in research data results in biased outcomes that predominantly reflect the health behaviours of the majoritarian population. This absence of diversity in datasets leads to inaccurate estimates for minority or less prevalent groups, which can have detrimental effects on their health outcomes. Ethnicity, as a multifaceted concept, encompasses many elements that are often not captured in electronic health records, such as culture, language or identity. Ethnicity can serve as important health determinants, enabling a more accurate representation of population diversity and fostering more inclusive and equitable research practices. In this presentation, we will examine the completeness, coverage and granularity of ethnicity data available the Secure Data Environment of England, the NHS England, and show the impact of using different levels of granularity on the outcomes of health studies. Short Bio: Dr Pineda-Moncusi is a Biotechnologist by background and an Epidemiologist by training. She conducted her PhD in the University of Barcelona and has been a Postdoc at Oxford for the last 4 years, where she been involved in multiple projects including musculoskeletal conditions, as well as inequities in COVID-19 outcomes across different ethnic groups in the UK, characterising heavy menstrual bleeding and drugs shortages, among others. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Dr. Qingze Gu, NDORMS, University of Oxford Title: Unveiling Ethnic Disparities in Rare Cardiometabolic Diseases: Insights from 58 Million Electronic Health Records Abstract: Rare cardiometabolic diseases (CVD/MBD) pose significant diagnostic and management challenges, compounded by intersectional disparities in healthcare access and outcomes. Leveraging anonymised electronic health records (EHRs) from over 58 million individuals in England, this study characterises the prevalence, phenotypic diversity, and ethnic disparities of rare CVD/MBD across 250+ granular ethnicities. Initial results reveal over 1 million individuals with 406 rare disease phenotypes, categorised into cardiovascular, metabolic, mixed, and "other" subtypes. Ethnicity mapping demonstrated stark variations: while 80% of the cohort identified as White, granular analysis of 19 NHS primary care categories and 489 SNOMED-CT codes uncovered distinct patterns. For example, South Asian and Black African subgroups exhibited higher cardiovascular rare disease burdens, whereas polymyalgia rheumatica disproportionately affected White British populations. These findings underscore the critical role of granular ethnicity data in identifying health disparities and tailoring care for marginalised groups. Short Bio: Qingze Gu completed his DPhil in Clinical Medicine at the Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, in October 2024. He is a postdoctoral researcher working in the Planetary Health Informatics group. With a multidisciplinary background in biomedical data science and pharmacology, his research interest is in using routinely collected healthcare data to inform clinical decision-making.
Are you planning to present a poster at an upcoming conference, meeting or symposium? This introductory session will provide you with some top tips on how to create a poster presentation which will help you to communicate your research project and data effectively. There will be guidance on formatting, layout, content, use of text, references and images, as well as advice on printing and presenting your poster. This session will also provide help with locating resources such as templates, free-to-use images and poster guidelines. Intended audience: Students, staff and researchers from MSD and OUH.
The Oxford Ministry for the Future presents: 'Art, nature and science: Imagining other worlds' | Brian Eno and Kim Stanley Robinson in conversation with Laline Paull , J. M. Ledgard and Oxford academics. Join us for a thought-provoking performance and discussion on culture, science, and environmental responsibility. Renowned artist Brian Eno and acclaimed science-fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson will be joined by novelist Laline Paull, writer J. M. Ledgard and a number of Oxford academics to explore the challenges facing our planet and the role of art, literature, and technology in shaping the future. This event will explore the intersection of culture, science, and environmental responsibility, offering diverse perspectives on the challenges facing our planet and the role of art, literature, and technology in shaping our future. The conversation will provide a unique opportunity to hear from leading voices in their respective fields as they share insights into the ways storytelling, music, and technological innovation can contribute to a more sustainable world. From the transformative potential of speculative fiction to the artistic exploration of ecological themes, this panel will examine the critical role of creative expression in fostering environmental awareness and action. This event co-hosted by Saïd Business School and Hertford College, is organised in partnership with Global Canopy, a data-driven non-profit that delivers transparency and accountability around the market forces driving deforestation and nature loss. 📅 Monday, 28 April 2025 🕓2 - 4 pm 📍 Sheldonian Theatre
Pediatric anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric conditions and result in substantial personal, familial, social, and economic burden. Identifying effective interventions that reduce this burden is a global public health priority. In this lecture, Professor Ginsburg will review extant knowledge in this field on prevention and treatment efforts and present her own clinical research addressing these issues. To join the seminar on zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82038090687?pwd=bCosw1qaWUfmt7IE4bYrm5cA0AKqcZ.1 Meeting ID :502 408 7307 Passcode: 670557
We analyze the employment and environmental effects of US firms' exposure to green and digital technologies between 2010 and 2023. Using establishment-level data on online job postings, we construct a new measure of technological adoption by linking job skill requirements to advances in green and digital patents. We address endogeneity concerns using a shift-share instrumental variables design based on technological progress outside the US, yielding four main findings. First, increases in green technology adoption lead to job creation, with an elasticity of employment to green exposure of 0.4-0.5, though this effect weakened from 2015. Second, the employment impact of green innovation varies across sectors - innovation in information technology and buildings complements labor, while advances in transportation and smart grids substitute for workers. Third, both green and digital innovations raise relative demand for high-skill workers. Fourth, we find no evidence of negative environmental impacts of digital technology at the firm level.
In the early 1960s, Soviet researchers attempted to assist the WHO’s Global Malaria Eradication Programme (GMEP) by offering training in the Polovodova method—an infamously exacting dissection method used to determine the physiological age of a female mosquito by examining structural changes in its ovary, and by extension, their disease carrying capacity. The efforts to deploy this technique to assess the success of pilot indoor DDT-spraying schemes in Africa provides a compelling case of the trade-offs between what is knowable and what is doable in large-scale disease control. I suggest that the staggered circulation of the Polovodova technique provides a lens onto the shifting epidemiological conjugations of entomological knowledge across the long durée of malaria control programmes and, more broadly, the ways in which logics of contagion come to demarcate the field of scientific vision. *Anne H Kelly* is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Oxford. She has led multiple transdisciplinary collaborations at the intersections of infectious disease control, health systems strengthening, and emergency R&D, and serves as a member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) for Ebola Vaccines and Vaccination. Her ethnographic engagement in those projects has been driven by an abiding concern with the socio-material conditions that structure the production of biomedical knowledge, the local ecologies of labour that circumscribe its circulation and use and the ethical imaginaries that animate collective responses to health crises. She is currently leading a collaboration with scientists, designers, architects and masons in Tanzania, the United States, and Brazil to unsettle entrenched models of ‘equitable access’ for mosquito control technologies.
In the UK election, one domestic policy issue loomed large above everything else: the NHS. But when finances are tough, NHS improvement will prove a challenge unless we can improve NHS productivity. And despite new investment, the new government must avoid the peril of its last term in office when rising personal satisfaction with the NHS failed to translate into an appreciation that the system was on the mend. This seminar will go to the heart of one of the biggest domestic policy reforms, and debate where the role of the state should begin and end and where the limitations of the NHS may lie. Find out more and register: https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/research/visiting-parliamentary-fellowship/register-to-attend-6/ This seminar will take place in the Nissan Institute Lecture Theatre at St Antony’s College: 62 Woodstock Rd, Oxford, OX2 6JF
This session will draw on a small research study that interviewed leaders from across many sectors about what were the main challenges faced and what did they think leaders needed to get better at. In short there were two strong themes in relation to what they needed to get better at: getting used to being accountable but not in control and shaping the context of which they are a part. In this interactive session we will explore the relevance of these findings for health care organisations and leadership roles in the NHS.
TBA
Are you looking to learn about the ways in which to transmit scientific ideas and make your research accessible to a non-specialist audience through a variety of mediums? This session will serve as an introduction to science communication and how it can be successfully incorporated into our roles. By the end of this session you will be able to: define science communication and provide a list of examples; explain why science communication is important for both our CPD and the public; and list ways in which we can all get involved in science communication. Intended audience: Students, staff and researchers from MSD and OUH.
There is increasing evidence of the importance of tailoring development interventions to the local context. We implement an RCT in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where there is variation in the presence of age sets, a mode of social organization that creates cohesive groups of young men who provide a check on the power of the older political elite. We provide villages chiefs with cash to purchase health products and form oversight committees. Some villages are randomly assigned to form a diverse committee and other villages are randomly assigned to form a young male committee. We ask whether young male committees in villages with age sets are more effective due to the match between the structure of the intervention and the social structure in the village. We find that young male committees in villages with age set are more cohesive, participate in more oversight tasks, and generated a more equitable distribution of products. In particular, we find that the chiefs and those within their network received fewer products. We find no effects on graft – project funds that are not spent on health products.
Although hardly known, Georg Rasch had an approach to studying growth based on the principle of invariant comparisons, the same principle for which he is well known with his models for measurement. The approach identifies a non-linear function of time, called a meta-metre, which governs the growth of all individuals of a population. Then within the meta-metre, each individual’s rate of growth is linear and invariant, thus permitting ready comparisons of rates of growth among individuals using standard statistical procedures. This presentation illustrates the approach with the educationally important variables of reading and mathematics attainment tests from two longitudinal studies. Each of the meta-metres show early rapid, decelerating growth, with noticeably different rates of growth among sub-populations. Decelerating growth is also related to the common grade scale, showing that any grade difference between groups in the early years invariably increases in later years. This increase has implications for interventions for groups at risk in their attainments. Join on Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_OTNiZGM1MzItOTcwOS00YThjLWJmYTAtZGFjZGM1YzkyNjQw%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22cc95de1b-97f5-4f93-b4ba-fe68b852cf91%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2275f39f15-fefd-45cf-b904-2e2174db4aa1%22%7d
If you are new to the University of Oxford and want to find out more about the University’s network of libraries or have been at the University a while and would like a refresher, join us for this online introduction to understanding and accessing the libraries, their services and resources. By the end of the session, you will: be familiar with the network of Oxford libraries; know the logins needed to access Bodleian Libraries services; be able to conduct a search in SOLO (the University’s resource discovery tool), filter results and access online and print resources; and know how to manage your library account including loans and requests. Intended audience: All Oxford library users.
Formatting your in text citations, footnotes and bibliography correctly for your thesis or publication is crucial. Reference management tools make this easier and save you time. This classroom-based session comprises a 30-minute presentation, which gives an overview of reference management tools. The rest of the session is dedicated to practical exercises at the computers, giving you the opportunity to try out four tools (RefWorks, EndNote, Zotero and Mendeley), so that you can work out which one is best for you. Library staff will be there to help and guide you, and answer any questions you might have. You can leave at any point once you have tried out the tools you want, and do not have to stay until the end. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers and other staff.
Python Drop in session with Thomas Kiley, Senior Research Software Engineer, NDPH, University of Oxford Bring your software development problems and questions - can fix bugs, workout solutions and share tips. • Bugs in the code • Software architecture questions • How do I do X in Python • What tools or libraries would help with this problem Date: Tuesday 29 April Time: 14:00 - 15:00 Venue: BDI/OxPop Seminar room 0 Register: https://forms.office.com/e/ijnehdJM8n?origin=lprLink Bio: Thomas is a senior research software engineer working with Deidre Hollingsworth on neglected tropical disease modelling. His background is in software engineering (working in a range of areas, including games, a tech start up and a company making a medical device for Parkinsons). He was drawn to research software engineering after talking to scientists and realising a knowledge gap in software best practises. He want to share the expertise he has gained from being a software developer with people whose expertise lies in the research they are doing. Prerequisite: Be familiar with Python and please bring your own device Audience: Anyone looking to improve their Python skills Software required: Python
Kerala has been widely regarded, throughout the latter part of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, as one of the most progressive and egalitarian states of India. Its transformation, from one of the most oppressively hierarchical regions in the nineteenth century, has been facilitated by both radical politics and campaigning religious reform movements. The movement led by Trivandrum-born spiritual leader and social activist Sri Narayana Guru (1854-1928) has been especially influential. It has been prominent in countering caste-related and other discriminations, in encouraging education, inter-religious dialogue and wider social engagement. Each year, it is galvanized by a new year pilgrimage to the Guru's final resting place. He foresaw that this could be an occasion for education, 'enlightenment' and taking stock. The concerns of participants and of wider society are addressed. Some pilgrims arrive following long, symbolically elaborated walking journeys; others simply travel by the most convenient means eg car or train. It frequently attracts commendation but also controversy. Its influence is increasingly apparent outside of Kerala, for instance within the South Indian diaspora. As the pilgrimage approaches its centenary, it is instructive to consider its contemporary significance, how far it fulfils its initial aims, and its relevance both for twenty-first century India and further afield. Alex Gath has carried out fieldwork over three decades in the sociocultural anthropology of religion, especially concerning pilgrimage. This has been within South India, mostly Kerala, and Western Europe, mainly the so-called 'Celtic' nations. He has worked widely on the religious culture of the South Indian diaspora, in the UK, US and Europe. Beginning his career working on clinical issues within psychology, he has maintained an involvement with the fields of neuropsychology, affective disorders and eating disorders - both applied and methodological/philosophical aspects. He has degrees from Oxford, Sussex and Edinburgh Universities; he has published in anthropological and psychotherapy journals and divides his time between Oxford and London.
The idea of common good in education has become topical. In 2015, UNESCO suggested to consider education as a “common good” in order to differentiate knowledge from a mere commodity. According to UNESCO, education can be understood as more than just a “public good”. This conceptual shift arises important questions about how knowledge is created and, ultimately, how it is distributed fairly (see Marginson, 2024). According to the seminal work of Elinor Ostrom (1990), common goods are primarily created and governed by communities. This prompts the question: How can markets and states in both developed and developing countries promote knowledge as a common good? A way to address this question could be twofold. First, it is necessary to engage in an empirical analysis to understand how specific communities generate knowledge as a common good. Second, it is crucial to explore, both nationally and globally, how these communities organize themselves within specific institutional settings to create and distribute “common goods”. This research project addressed the first question. As the concept of the common good is “relational”, according to Mazzucato (cited in Marginson, 2024:25), two relations were identified within nine higher educations of Mexico: (1) Teaching Relationship (TR) and (2) Research Relationship (RR). These relationships describe how students, teachers and administrative staff collaborate to educate young people academically and how they act collectively to create knowledge. These two dimensions then were operationalized by defining five key dimensions of university life: agency, institutional stability, governance, fairness and human flourishing (ASGFH). Empirical data were gathered via a survey sent to probabilistic samples of students, teachers and administrative staff across the nine selected universities in Mexico. The questionnaire included questions about each of the ASGFH dimensions, using a Likert scale. This project highlighted the importance of viewing higher education as a common good by focusing on the “quality” of institutional processes, rather than merely on output indicators. Central concerns for promoting institutional quality, thus, may lie in how members of a university community act, relate and organize themselves daily—not just in how much they produce by the end of the academic year. As anticipated, the aggregate measure of common good across universities varied significantly. However, it was interesting that the most prestigious and productive universities did not necessarily register the highest value of common good. Processes matter. In this regard, human agency emerged as a central factor for the formation of the common good within universities. The “freedom to advance whatever goals and values a person has reason to advance” (Sen, 2009:289) was positively and significantly related to the other four dimensions of the ASGFH model. Focusing on human agency as a key component of the common good in the university allows a more imaginative way to discuss and promote institutional changes within the university. Since processes matter, teaching and research relations between the members of a university community do so too. If these relationships are altered, so too may the quality of the university. To forge such changes, governments can intervene, but only once the common good is observed empirically and better understood globally: “the more people who share useful knowledge, the greater the common good” (Hess & Ostrom, 2007:5). References Hess, C. y Ostrom, E. (2007). Understanding knowledge as a commons. From theory to practice. London, Cambridge: MIT. Marginson, S. (2024). Higher Education and Public and Common Good. Working paper no. 114, April 2024. Oxford: Centre for Global Higher Education. Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the commons: The evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Sen, A. (2009). The idea of justice. England: Allen Lane. UNESCO (2015). Replantear la educación. ¿Hacia un bien común global? Paris: Unesco.
Faculty Presentations
The seminar explores the discursive mapping of far-right constituents within the most right-wing coalition in Israel’s history, formed under Benjamin Netanyahu's premiership after the five elections held between 2019 and 2022. The Religious Zionism Party and Jewish Power have consistently been at the centre of heated debate—not only because their leaders hold critical ministerial positions, including finance and national security, which gained heightened relevance in the aftermath of October 7th, but also due to their self-positioning within Israel’s shifting political landscape and their anti-establishment push for political and legal changes, even before these events. The seminar examines their shared and divergent motivations during the 2021 and 2022 elections, with a focus on the division of labour between these two factions. Drawing on campaign data from X (formerly Twitter) by key leaders Betzalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, it offers a comparative analysis of their articulation of the key issues such as legitimacy, sovereignty, and the judiciary. Dr Ferit Belder is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations at Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey. He earned his MSc from SOAS, University of London, in 2016, and completed his PhD at Istanbul University in 2019. His doctoral research analyzed the political behavior of ultra-Orthodox political parties in Israel through the framework of societal security. During his PhD studies, he was a visiting researcher at Bar-Ilan University from November 2017 to July 2018. His academic expertise focuses on Israeli politics, including elections and political parties; the identity-security relationship; Israel-Palestine relations; and Jewish settlements. He is currently conducting his postdoctoral research, titled Identifying Multiple Frames of the Israeli “Settlements”, at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies. His work has been published in journals such as Middle Eastern Studies, International Affairs, and the Contemporary Review of the Middle East, among others. Dr Belder has also presented his research at various academic conferences.
Dual resident companies in tax treaties Double tax treaties rely on the distinction between residence countries and source countries to allocate taxing rights. Determining residence is therefore crucial, and dual resident companies in particular pose significant challenges in this context. To address these challenges, tie-breaker rules are employed. Prior to 2017, Article 4(3) of the OECD Model Tax Convention (OECD-MC) relied on the Place of Effective Management (POEM) to decide dual residency cases. However, concerns over the definition of POEM and the potential for treaty abuse and tax avoidance led to the 2017 OECD-MC revision. The new rule employs a Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP), allowing competent authorities to resolve dual residency case-by-case while denying treaty benefits. We examine dual residency under the lenses of state double tax treaty practice after the OECD reform, and critically evaluate the impact of the 2017 amendments to Article4(3) OECD-MC. We conduct a normative legal analysis of the POEM concept and the case-by-case MAP approach, alongside other potential tie-breakers, which is informed by a new empirical inventory of how the tie-breaker rules for dual resident companies have been negotiated and implemented in practice, considering the added perspective of the passage of several years since the amendment of Article 4(3) OECD-MC.
Anhedonia and suicidal ideation are symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD) that are not regularly captured in structured scales but may be captured in unstructured clinical notes. Natural language processing (NLP) techniques may be used to extract longitudinal data on suicidal behaviors and anhedonia within unstructured clinical notes. This study assessed the accuracy of using NLP techniques on electronic health records (EHRs) to identify these symptoms among patients with MDD. EHR-derived, de-identified data were used from the NeuroBlu Database (version 23R1), a longitudinal behavioral health real-world database. Mental health clinicians annotated instances of anhedonia and suicidal symptoms in clinical notes creating a ground truth. Interrater reliability (IRR) was calculated using Krippendorff’s alpha. A novel transformer architecture-based NLP model was trained on clinical notes to recognize linguistic patterns and contextual cues. Each sentence was categorized into one of four labels: (1) anhedonia; (2) suicidal ideation without intent or plan; (3) suicidal ideation with intent or plan; (4) absence of suicidal ideation or anhedonia. The model was assessed using positive predictive values (PPV), negative predictive values, sensitivity, specificity, F1-score, and AUROC.
Join us for a free in-person twilight (after school) workshop on Tuesday 29 April 2025, 4:30-6:30pm @ the Cherwell School for practitioners and educators engaged or interested in organising biology field trips, making use of their own school grounds. There are so many good reasons to take your students outside - gaining a different perspective on the subject, building their enthusiasm for it, improving manual dexterity, developing practical problem solving skills, supporting their mental health and wellbeing, and enhancing your relationship with them. But biology field trips can be expensive, and time consuming. So what if you could gain some of the same benefits in your own school grounds - however "grey" they might seem? This in-person workshop at The Cherwell School in Oxford, led by nature education practitioner and researcher Dr Kim Polgreen, and colleagues from Oxford University and local schools, will discuss biology field trips to your own school grounds. We will look at opportunities, risks, techniques, and equipment. It will give biology teachers the opportunity to learn some new skills, share their own tips and techniques with others, and have a fun couple of hours in Cherwell's new ecology garden with a cup of tea and biscuits.
Defending Dignity: Black Women, Family, and Crafting Testimonies in Colonial Mexico Since the 1500s, free Black women navigated life while confronting the landscape of slavery in Mexico. Demonstrating their prowess as business owners, matriarchs, and patrons, the histories of Black women in the 17th century underscore the complexity of a gendered history of freedom. The talk will highlight what mattered to them most when they engaged with a state apparatus: the dignity of their families, the paths to economic solvency, and the realities of living in a world where slavery economically enriched or doomed others.
This event brings together key people involved in the discovery of ReNU syndrome, a condition affecting development and learning which was first identified last year yet potentially impacts tens of thousands of families across the world. Hearing from experts involved in the discovery, this event will reflect on the importance of genomic diagnosis for rare conditions and the factors necessary both to identify new conditions, and to learn about what they might mean for patients and families. Please be aware the focus of the evening will be around the discovery process and the broader implications of receiving a genetic diagnosis, rather than specific practical implications of a ReNU syndrome diagnosis. Where speakers give permission, talks will be available on our website shortly after the event. This is an in-person event, please only sign up if you are able to attend the event at St Anne's College. Agenda 17:30 The discovery of ReNU syndrome: an overview Dr Nicola Whiffin, Associate Professor and Group Leader at the Big Data Institute and Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford 17:45 Discovering RNU4-2 variants Yuyang Chen, DPhil student, Computational Rare Disease Genomics Group, University of Oxford 17:55 Clarifying the clinical picture of ReNU syndrome and looking to the future Professor Stephan Sanders, Professor of Paediatric Neurogenetics, Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford 18:05 The clinical – research interface: returning results to families Dr Susan Walker, Director of Translational Genomics, Genomics England 18:15 How the discovery of ReNU syndrome is impacting patients and families Dr Sarah Wynn, Chief Executive Officer, Unique 18:30 Questions/discussion The questions will be followed by a drinks reception until 19:30.
The sense of defeat of the old West European left during the late twentieth century tends to be explained as the inevitable result of de-industrialisation or, more precisely, the transition to a globalised world that abolished class as a great historical actor. This book suggests that choices that were made during a concentrated but pivotal transition during the 1970s also mattered. It offers a bold reinterpretation of contemporary European history and a feel for the culture of three leading states using 27 archives, primary and secondary literature from multiple countries, and a transnational and comparative approach. It explores how British, French, and Italian social democratic and Communist parties helped to stabilise their societies during a moment of crisis and manage the shift to a new era. It also analyses why the left encountered the dissolution of the idea of a community of fate amongst a diverse new generation of workers. The book concludes that the denouement of a certain kind of industrial politics had a lasting impact on European society. More about the book can be found here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-halted-march-of-the-european-left-9780198944614?cc=gb&lang=en& If you cannot make the launch in person and would like to join online, please email "$":mailto:matt.myers@history.ox.ac.uk
Last updated:2024/10/03 15:38 This session throws out the textbook and replaces it with blocks and pixels! Explore the pedagogical potential of Minecraft Education's immersive and engaging environment, how this can develop computational thinking, and how students can creatively apply programming concepts to solve real-world challenges, demonstrating that Minecraft Education is not just a theoretical concept, but a practical and effective learning tool. Participants will discover how Minecraft Education can serve as a catalyst for developing problem-solving abilities, logical reasoning, and a growth mindset. Kate Whyles is a driving force in exploring innovative educational learning technologies. Her creative approach as a digital innovation and development coach at Nottingham College, UK, has successfully integrated Minecraft Education and "The Hour of Code" into further education, underscoring the transformative power of game-based learning and the imperative of digital literacy. Her recent publication in the English Association Newsletter further highlights her expertise in the field. Driven by her passion for promoting inclusivity, Kate is a STEM Ambassador. She actively mentors young women in tech through the Technovation and TechUp programs and advocates for accessible computer science education.
Our work has recently shown that cholera outbreaks in Yemen are closely linked to reported air raids. Governorates experiencing severe air strikes had more than double the cholera incidence compared to those without air strikes. However, traditional conflict measures rely on incomplete reporting and often fail to capture infrastructure destruction and rebuilding, or population displacement. Using nighttime lights (NTL) data, we analyse conflict-related disruptions in Yemen and Ukraine, demonstrating their potential as a scalable alternative for measuring conflict intensity. By incorporating NTL into models of cholera incidence, we address biases in conflict reporting and provide an objective method for assessing the health impacts of conflict in real time. Dr. Daniel Parker is a medical geographer and spatial epidemiologist specializing in infectious disease dynamics, human movement, and spatial interventions, particularly in under-resourced and conflict-affected regions. His research integrates geographic information systems (GIS), Earth observation data, molecular epidemiology, and advanced statistical modelling to examine disease transmission and barriers to healthcare. He has led large-scale geographic reconnaissance efforts for malaria interventions in Eastern Myanmar; worked on vector-borne disease ecology in Asia, East Africa, and the U.S.A.; and conducted research on displaced populations’ access to healthcare. Through collaborations with NGOs, governments, and academic institutions, his work directly informs scalable public health interventions, using geospatial technologies to analyse mobility patterns and model disease distributions across space and time, and to enhance healthcare delivery in vulnerable populations.
Alberto Kornblihtt is Emeritus Professor at the University of Buenos Aires, and Investigator of the National Research Council (CONICET) of Argentina. He is a foreign member of the US National Academy of Sciences, EMBO, the French Academy of Sciencies, and other Latin American academies. He obtaied his PhD in Argentina and did a postdoc at the Dunn School of Pathology of Oxford with Tito Baralle in the early 80s. His work focuses on the coupling of RNA polymerase II transcription with alternative splicing and how this mechanism is regulated by chromatin changes. Webpage: http://ark.fbmc.fcen.uba.ar/home_eng.php
Are you an early career researcher, fixed-term lecturer, or doctoral student trying to get some writing done? Do you research on a topic related to health, medicine, the body, or mind using Humanities or Social Sciences approaches? The Medical Humanities Writing Group is an inclusive, interdisciplinary and casual gathering, encouraging writing as well as meeting others: all are welcome. We have timed writing blocks and coffee/tea/light refreshments, and are focused on setting writing goals and getting work done in a positive and supportive environment. Attendance is free and you are welcome to join us for anything from a single session, to a few, or even the whole term.
In our April event, Professor Sara Bronin (Texas & Magdalen 2001) in conversation with Jennifer Bradley (Texas & Balliol 1992) will discuss her book Key to the City. Sara is a Mexican-American architect, attorney, Cornell University professor, and policymaker whose interdisciplinary work focuses on how law and policy can foster more equitable, sustainable, well-designed, and connected places. She wrote Key to the City: How Zoning Shapes Our World, and she founded and leads the National Zoning Atlas, which is digitizing, demystifying, and democratizing information about zoning in the United States. She also served in a Presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed role chairing the federal historic preservation agency. Jennifer Bradley is a senior fellow at The Kresge Foundation. Jennifer supports the American Cities Program at Kresge through convenings and thought leadership. She joined the foundation in 2021. Previously, Jennifer served as the director of the Center for Urban Innovation at the Aspen Institute, where she focused on inclusive innovation and equitable economic development strategies in cities. Jennifer has also held positions with the Brookings Institution, where she co-authored The Metropolitan Revolution and developed state-level strategies to support metropolitan economic growth, and with the Constitutional Accountability Center, where she co-authored amicus briefs in major appellate cases that supported environmental protections and community development. A native of Austin, Texas, Jennifer earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas, a Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford and a JD from Georgetown University Law Center. She serves on the boards of the Edlavitch D.C. Jewish Community Center and the Open Contracting Partnership.
What happens if a person who rejects all rules and conventions finds himself in the position of the ruler? The Prussian ‘Soldier King’ Frederick William I (1688-1740), father of Frederick the Great, is a legendary figure of German history. He is known for state reforms, the vast expansion of his army, and for almost sentencing his son to death. Frederick William I demonstratively challenged almost all political, legal, moral, and aesthetic norms of the time: he humiliated the elites, distrusted his officials, avoided the company of women, and traumatized his son. Contemporaries such as Montesquieu regarded him as a ridiculous outsider and a pathological despot. Later historians, however, transformed him into the ‘educator of the German people.’ This bizarre case can serve as an example of the social logic of autocracy and the power of retrospective rationalization. *Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger* was, from 1997 to 2021, Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Münster, where she led collaborative research groups on ‘Symbolic Communication and Social Value Systems’ and ‘Religion and Politics.’ Since 2018 she is Rector of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin/Institute of Advanced Study. She is a member of various academies and a Fellow of the British Academy. Her field of research is the constitutional, political and cultural history of Europe from the 16th century to the 18th, especially the Holy Roman Empire. Her main research focus is on political rituals and procedures, metaphors and symbols.
Oliver Harrison, Royal Society EIR in Oxford will share his thoughts on the current challenges and opportunities in digital healthcare and where the sector is moving in terms of AI from an entrepreneurial perspective
Please contact "$":mailto:sarah.apetrei@campion.ox.ac.uk for the Teams link to join remotely.
The aim of the seminar is to foster a dynamic and interdisciplinary postcolonial research culture supportive of individual scholarship. Finalists, M.St. and D.Phil. students, lecturers, fellows, scholars from across the university community – all are welcome. If you’d like to appear on the seminar mailing list, please email zana.mody@kellogg.ox.ac.uk, riley.faulds@worc.ox.ac.uk OR hannah.fagan@mansfield.ox.ac.uk
The Chief Medical Officer has confirmed that attendance at the Surgical Grand Rounds can count toward internal CPD, with 1 point awarded per hour. Please note that in-person attendance is required, and you will need to sign the attendance register. Please email Louise King (louise.king@nds.ox.ac.uk) if you would like to attend online.
A workshop for all early career scholars working on any field of early modern global intellectual history. We will discuss methodological and practical challenges of studying global intellectual history at a post-graduate and post-doctoral level. We encourage any early career scholar with an interest in global intellectual history to participate. *Programme* 14:00 Welcome 14:10 Presentations 15:10 Coffee break 15:30 Discussion 17:00 Drinks
A crucial input into causal inference is the imputed counterfactual outcome. Imputation error can arise because of sampling uncertainty from estimating the prediction model using the untreated observations, or from out-of-sample information not captured by the model. While the literature has focused on sampling uncertainty, it vanishes with the sample size. Often overlooked is the possibility that the out-of-sample error can be informative about the missing counterfactual outcome if it is mutually or serially correlated. Motivated by the best linear unbiased predictor (\blup) of \citet{goldberger:62} in a time series setting, we propose an improved predictor of potential outcome when the errors are correlated. The proposed \pup\; is practical as it is not restricted to linear models, can be used with consistent estimators already developed, and improves mean-squared error for a large class of strong mixing error processes. Ignoring predictability in the errors can distort conditional inference. However, the precise impact will depend on the choice of estimator as well as the realized values of the residuals.
Primary: William Morris, News from Nowhere (1890): Chapters 1-3 Supplementary: William Morris, Review of Bellamy’s Looking Backward (1889); ‘Why I am a Communist’ (1894); ‘How Shall We Live Then?’ (1889)
We are pleased to welcome you to our latest in the series of ‘In Conversation…’ events with renowned journalist and broadcaster, Mishal Husain. Mishal Husain is a journalist, broadcaster and author who was a presenter of BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme for 11 years and will launch a new global interview show for Bloomberg in 2025. She will be joined by historian, writer and Kellogg vice-president, Prof Yasmin Khan. Yasmin and Mishal will discuss Mishal's latest book, her family history, and wider links to Asian history. You can read more about the book here. Refreshments will be served from 5pm; the event will begin at 5.30pm. Post-event drinks will be served in the Hub immediately after the event, at approximately 6.45pm. Please register to attend in person by clicking the red button on the right. If you cannot attend in person and would like to attend the livestream of the event, please register via https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1262826591329?aff=oddtdtcreator This event will be photographed and filmed. If you do not wish to appear in the photographs/footage, please let the photographer/videographer know. Should you have any further queries, or be unable to attend after booking, please contact events@kellogg.ox.ac.uk
Possession of individuals by a God/ Goddess, a ghost, or the spirit of a late ancestor or neighbour is a commonly reported phenomenon in India. Women have a very specific experience of the ritual of possession often reflecting unequal power relations within family or society. The power relation analysis can be extended to understand possession among not just women but any vulnerable group, caste or class. Anthropologists have explained potential causes, effects and the functions that possession plays in the lives of the people and some ethnographic studies have also produced broadly functionalist understandings of possession in frameworks of power, resistance, or as cathartic release. Sometimes these stories of possession where death has occurred trickle into courts as cases of murder. Spirit possession, here, could be attributed to the killer or the killed. This paper will demonstrate that cultural explanations are often given psychological or practical foundations in courts – insanity, incapacity, madness or mental breakdown, or illiteracy and superstition. The presence of the supernatural in courts carries a particular and peculiar invocation of the trope of tradition versus modernity where the ‘rational’ law is being administered against ‘believing’ citizens. The presentation of incidents of spirit possession as ‘unconscious crimes’ where motives are harder to establish affects both conviction and sentencing. This article analyses cases where evidence of the supernatural is presented before Indian courts to understand attitudes of the administration and the judiciary in dealing with ghosts, gods and spirits.
This course covers methods of managing and controlling the process of thesis and report writing, as well as meeting deadlines. It also discusses the principles and practice of high-quality scholarly writing. It includes: The production of reports, papers and theses from a time and project management point of view. The writing task itself: this includes logical argument construction, the importance of structure in a document, appropriate style to be used in academic writing, and how to make the actual writing process as pain-free and effective as possible. An opportunity for you to critique a short paper with your group.
TBA
So, you’ve got a great idea for a research study – but what approvals do you need before you can start? Who do you apply to? And how do you go about doing this? Join an online presentation through Microsoft Teams for an overview of: • how research is governed in the UK • which approval bodies are involved • a step-by-step guide on how to apply for approval • handling amendments to your study
Are you baffled by open, confused by embargoes? Does the mention of the colour gold or green catapult you into a realm of perplexed irritation? Come to this session, where we’ll break down open access and all its many jargon terms, confusing publishing structures and hint at the advantages you can reap by publishing open. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers, other staff.
Join us for a digital scholarship coffee gathering - tea and coffee will be provided. If you'd like to get an email reminder of these coffee mornings please sign up for that here: https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/oxford/digital-scholarship-coffee-morning-keep-in-touch
Student Presentations
SeedWISE is a dynamic enterprise programme for women* DPhil students in STEM, running from April 29th to June 9th, 2025. Through a blend of in-person and online sessions, participants will explore industrial and enterprise career paths, build connections, and gain practical skills to enhance their career development. *We also welcome non-binary people who are comfortable in a space that will discuss women focused experiences.
Choreographer William Forsythe (2024 Kyoto Prize Laureate in Arts and Philosophy), who opened a new horizon of performing arts by radically renewing methodologies and aesthetics of ballet and dance, delivers a lecture as part of the Kyoto Prize at Oxford 2025. He radically questions and deconstructs the structure and style of traditional ballet to create new methodologies and aesthetics of theatrical dance. He continues to go beyond the conventional concept of choreography and to extend the potential of the art form using human bodies through various innovative works. Mr Forsythe’s lecture will be introduced by Dean of the Blavatnik School Professor Ngaire Woods. The lecture will be followed by a Q&S session moderated by former professional ballet dancer, choreographer, and teacher, Dr Meindert Peters, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford. "Hard to say, not knowin..." Considerations of an Autodidact Choreography not just as a discipline, but as an entire system of inquiry, transformation, and expertise - a way of thinking, making and being.
One of the modern disciplines where Sanskrit finds fertile ground is psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis gets established in India by the early 1920s, thanks to Girindrasekhar Bose and Romain Rolland, both of whom are closely connected to Freud in the final years of his life, and try to get him interested in Indian philosophy, psychology and spirituality. While Freudian psychoanalysis as a clinical practice peters out for the most part after independence, it enjoys a renaissance in Indology, through the work of A.K. Ramanujan, Robert Goldman and Wendy Doniger, among others. I try to understand why certain genres of Sanskrit texts lend themselves to psychoanalytic reading, and what the limits are of psychoanalysis as a text-critical practice in Indology. I focus particularly on the role of the maverick scholar Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (b. 1941), a student of Daniel Ingalls and collaborator of D.D. Kosambi, almost the keeper of the Freud Archive, who for a time appears to bridge the Indological and Freudian worlds, before breaking decisively with both. Ananya Vajpeyi is a Fellow and Associate Professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi, working at the intersection of intellectual history, political theory and critical philology. She is also a Research Consultant with the Nilgiri Archaeological Project at the University of Ghent, Belgium, and a Visiting Professor at Ashoka University, where she teaches a Foundation Course on Great Books.
The UN Refugee Agency aims to double refugee enrollment in postsecondary education to 15% by 2030. In the U.S., this goal intersects with refugee resettlement and higher education policies. Examining the nexus of higher education, NGOs, and student experiences provides insight into the various policy structures influencing postsecondary access and success. This mixed-methods project draws on longitudinal data from displaced learners enrolled in higher education. It explores how individuals leverage distinct forms of capital to persist despite policy barriers that hinder their postsecondary pathways. The findings offer valuable insights for policymakers seeking to support increasing refugee participation in postsecondary education.
Childhood maltreatment is the world’s costliest and least discussed public health problem. It is perhaps the principal preventable cause of mental illness, addiction, criminality and violence and a major risk factor for worse life outcomes in health, education and human relationships. At a conservative estimate, violence against children costs 8% of Global GDP, though probably much more. We are the first generation in history to know the causes and the costs of child trauma, but also to have clear solutions that are scale-able for a fraction of the cost of inaction. In the 1980s The Child Survival Revolution increased global vaccine coverage from 15% to 80% of the world’s children which, along with other focussed interventions led to a 61% reduction in child mortality. Millions of children live each year, who otherwise wouldn’t. Has the time come for a Child Development/Protection Revolution to eradicate child maltreatment. How we can generate more attention and belief that change is possible and what should be the priority interventions to take to scale?
Traditional theory demonstrates how firms can sustain high prices and profits through repeated game strategies but abstracts from the bounded rationality of human managers. Behavioral models posit that cognitive constraints lead to biased mental models, which underestimate competitor sophistication and thus result in overestimating the profitability of price cuts. We study a firm with over 20,000 gas stations where managers have significant discretion over fuel prices. Managers with lower cognitive skills tend to underestimate competitor sophistication in a lab-in-the-field beauty-contest game. Cognitive skills also explain divergent beliefs about optimal pricing: high-skill managers favor maintaining high prices at the market price ceiling, while low-skill managers prefer cutting prices. Turning to actual pricing, lower-skill managers set lower prices and engage more frequently in price wars, leading to reduced profits. Additional survey measures confirm the key underlying mechanism, showing that managers with low cognitive skills are less likely to think that price cuts trigger retaliatory price cuts by competitors. An implication is that cognitive constraints among firm managers may increase consumer surplus and market efficiency in markets with market power by inducing lower prices.
What emotional traits are essential for building a nation? More broadly, are there such things as 'national emotions,' and if so, what are they? In this lecture, I will explore these questions by analysing the Zionist case through the lens of the history of emotions. I will examine emotions where the national dimension is evident, such as honour and love of the homeland, alongside emotions that may seem less directly national, like fear and happiness. Yair completed his PhD through the Program for Hermeneutics and Cultural Studies at Bar-Ilan University, focusing on religious emotions in the Lithuanian Haredi community. He is currently a British Academy Newton International Fellow at the University of Cambridge and a Research Associate at Sidney Sussex College. His research focuses on the emotional dimensions of the Zionist 'negation of the diaspora.'
Are you planning to present a poster at an upcoming conference, meeting or symposium? This introductory session will provide you with some top tips on how to create a poster presentation which will help you to communicate your research project and data effectively. There will be guidance on formatting, layout, content, use of text, references and images, as well as advice on printing and presenting your poster. This session will also provide help with locating resources such as templates, free-to-use images and poster guidelines. Intended audience: Students, staff and researchers from MSD and OUH.
Causal machine learning (ML) offers flexible, data-driven methods for predicting treatment outcomes including efficacy and toxicity, thereby supporting the assessment and safety of drugs. A key benefit of causal ML is that it allows for estimating individualized treatment effects, so that clinical decision-making can be personalized to individual patient profiles. Causal ML can be used in combination with both clinical trial data and real-world data, such as clinical registries and electronic health records, but caution is needed to avoid biased or incorrect predictions. In this Perspective, we discuss the benefits of causal ML (relative to traditional statistical or ML approaches) and outline the key components and steps. Finally, we provide recommendations for the reliable use of causal ML and effective translation into the clinic.
For many years, scholars, politicians and activists have drawn comparisons between the partitions of India-Pakistan and Israel-Palestine, two seismic events which took place mere months apart. Yet they were far more than comparable: the two partitions were in fact deeply interconnected, and share origins in the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. In East of Empire, Erin O’Halloran reveals how the crisis in British Mandate Palestine created a crucial bridge between the Indian Khilafat movement of the early 1920s and Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s demand, from March 1940 onward, that Muslims of the subcontinent be given a state of their own.
For a long time, the concentration has been on attitudes to vaccination by those who are in opposition (the ‘anti-vax’), neglecting the majority who are supportive. In this talk, Samantha Vanderslott, author of Pro-vax Supporting Vaccines through Activism, Petitions, and Trials, aims to reconsider vaccination as a phenomenon from the perspective of those who are ‘pro-vax’, who actively support and vocally promote vaccines. Using historical research, qualitative analysis, and accessible storytelling to explore how these vaccine advocates influence public attitudes, shape health policies, and inspire community action, Professor Vanderslott will not only highlight their underappreciated efforts but also provide practical insights for healthcare professionals, public health advocates, and academics striving to build vaccine confidence.
Have you ever felt nervous about public speaking? Have you wondered what makes a speaker capture an audience? This interactive lecture explores what makes someone an inspirational speaker, and will help you develop your presentation skills. It will also introduce some key tips on how to develop skills that increase confidence in public speaking whilst feeling relaxed and authentic. Whether you’re an experienced speaker or a nervous novice, join Artist in Residence Joy Richardson and be inspired! Joy Richardson is Artist in Residence at Kellogg College, and alumna of Kellogg’s MSt Creative Writing Course. She trained at Webber Douglas Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. As a workshop leader and communication coach, Joy has worked with numerous companies, including Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, The Royal National Theatre and Olivier Mythodrama Management Consultants. As an actor, Joy has been in productions in theatre, film, television and radio and worked with a wide range of directors including Sir Peter Hall, Sir Richard Eyre and Katie Mitchell. She is currently appearing in the BBC TV series Death in Paradise. This lecture is free, and open to all. Refreshments will be served from 5 pm in the Kellogg Hub. If you are unable to attend after booking to attend in person, please email events@kellogg.ox.ac.uk.
Systems thinking has the power to reshape how we approach strategy, leadership and decision-making. In this final Clarendon lecture, Tima Bansal showcases the role of systems thinking in addressing global challenges such as sustainability, innovation and equity. She calls on leaders to adopt a systems lens in their work and equips them with the tools to do so.
In this panel discussion as part of the Kyoto Prize at Oxford, Laureates Sir John Pendry, Paul F Hoffman and William Forsythe engage in a conversation with Professor Ngaire Woods, Dean of the Blavatnik School, discussing insights from their careers, future challenges and which skill each Laureates wished they had outside of their professional field. The Kyoto Prize is an international award founded by the Inamori Foundation to honour those who have contributed significantly to the scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of humankind. The Blavatnik School of Government is honoured to bring the Kyoto Prize Laureates to Oxford each May. In 2024, the Kyoto Prize was awarded to Sir John Pendry, the 2024 Kyoto Prize Laureate in Advanced Technology, a theoretical physicist who contributed the theoretical construction of metamaterials to the field of materials science; to William Forsythe, the 2024 Kyoto Prize Laureate for Arts and Philosophy, a choreographer who opened a new horizon of performing arts by radically renewing methodologies and aesthetics of ballet and dance; and to Paul F Hoffman, the 2024 Kyoto Prize Laureate in Basic Sciences, a geologist who worked on proving Snowball Earth accelerating life evolution and plate tectonics dating back to the first half of Earth’s history. Please note this event is online only.
Join the Health Economics and Policy Evaluation ONLINE Course 2025, delivered by the University of Oxford. This intensive 2-day online course offers a comprehensive overview of health economics and policy assessment. Key topics: Health economics and policy evaluation, Advanced evaluation techniques (interrupted time series, panel data, instrumental variables, DIFF-DIFF), Agency problems and incentive structures in healthcare, Hospital competition and payment scheme impacts, Economic evaluation methods
LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this session you will understand more about: What experience and characteristics you need to have to gain a fellowship. The application process. How to work with University’s systems and procedures to optimise your application and its chance of success. You will have an opportunity to practice interviewing/being interviewed for fellowship applications.
Sir John Pendry (2024 Kyoto Prize Laureate in Advanced Technology), a theoretical physicist who contributed the theoretical construction of metamaterials to the field of materials science, delivers a lecture as part of the Kyoto Prize at Oxford 2025. Sir John theoretically demonstrated that materials with electromagnetic properties not found in nature, such as negative-refractive-index materials (metamaterials) can be realised by designing microstructures smaller than the wavelength of the target electromagnetic waves, thereby laying the groundwork for creating innovative materials such as ‘superlenses’ with subwavelength resolution and ‘invisibility cloaks’. Sir John’s lecture will be followed by a Q&A. Metamaterials, invisibility, & perfect lenses: a new world for electromagnetism: In the last few years, a new area of research has emerged as a result of our ability to produce materials with entirely novel electromagnetic properties. Known as metamaterials because they take us beyond the properties of conventional materials, they display remarkable effects not found in nature, such as negative refraction. Spurred on by these new opportunities, theorists have produced exotic concepts that exploit the new materials: we can now specify how to make a lens whose resolution is limited not by the laws of nature but only by our ability to build to the stated specifications; we can guide radiation along a trajectory, avoiding objects and causing them to appear invisible; we can design and manufacture materials that are active magnetically in the optical range. I shall conclude my lecture discussing the latest developments which aim to structure materials in time as well as space - space/time crystals. These materials violate time reversal symmetry and offer possibilities for new devices. Theorists find them intriguing as they offer possibilities for creating Hawking radiation in the laboratory. There has been a truly amazing amount of innovation but more is yet to come. The field of metamaterials is developing into a highly disruptive technology for a plethora of applications where control over light (or more generally electromagnetic radiation) is crucial, amongst them 5G/6G technology, satellite communications, solar energy harvesting, stealth, biological imaging and sensing, and enhanced MRI scanners.
In the reform period of China’s 1980s, more women directors emerged and created images at odds with the stereotypical representation of 'Chinese women'. As Lidan Hu contends, these women directors provide alternative visions of the modernisation of Chinese cinema and call attention to the fundamental issues concerning modern female subjectivity. Lu Xiaoya (陆小雅1941-), a former actress, transitioned into directing with her debut film In and Out of Court (法庭内外Fating neiwai, 1980), a social drama that explores the profound societal challenges faced during the early years of China’s reform and opening-up. Throughout her career, her focus on social issues has remained steadfast, with women often taking centre stage in her work. By analysing Lu’s films The Girl in Red (红衣少女 Hongyi shaonü, 1985) and Unrequited Love (热恋Relian, 1989), Lidan Hu's research investigates the experiences of the female protagonists as they pursue independence both spiritually and materially, which reflect the changed conception of womanhood amid the rising individual consciousness, traditional cultural forces, and the burgeoning marketisation of China’s reform era. Unrequited Love, specifically, shows the predicament of women who were once the ardent participators in socialism but now find no space to practice their agency in the time of massive marketisation. Lidan Hu is an Associate Professor in the College of Foreign Languages and Cultures at Sichuan University, China. She earned her PhD from the University of Edinburgh and is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on film, literature, and gender studies. Her work has been published in leading international peer-reviewed journals, including Feminist Media Studies, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, Critical Arts: South-North Cultural and Media Studies, and the Asian Journal of Women’s Studies.
TBA Teams link: https://www.win.ox.ac.uk/events/win-seminar-7may
This paper examines the link between financial security and social cohesion, in a low-income setting where cohesion and prosociality play a crucial role in the integration of refugees into ultra-poor host communities. We first generate an exogenous shock to the financial security of both hosts and refugees, by implementing a field experiment of a large cash transfer and employment support program. Increasing the financial security of both refugees and hosts leads to higher levels of trust, new friendships with out-groups, a greater willingness to share resources with out-groups and a stronger sense of belonging for refugees. This increased our overall social cohesion index by 0.73 standard deviations relative to the control group. We then exploit a climate shock that negatively affected the financial security of some of the participants in our study. Consistent with a causal interpretation of the relationship between financial security and social cohesion, participants who experienced even a moderate reduction in financial security reported a disproportionately large weakening of prosociality of 0.53 standard deviations. Taken together, these findings suggest that individuals can shift between cooperative and competitive mindsets in response to changes in their economic circumstances. On the one hand, providing income and employment support to both refugees and low-income host community members led to more cooperative attitudes and behaviours, thus promoting gains in social cohesion. However, these gains were fragile and easily undone when individuals were exposed to a negative climate shock that made scarcity top of mind again. Written with Theresa Beltramo (UN High Commissioner for Refugees), Florence Nimoh ((UN High Commissioner for Refugees), and Matthew O'Brien (Harvard University)
TORCH Talks: a new series debating some of the most urgent and topical issues of our time from a cross-disciplinary perspective. Practitioners from radically different disciplines and fields share their views and insights on major global challenges. Everyone is welcome and lunch will be provided. Climate Hope/Climate Despair: A cross-disciplinary perspective
Are you an early career researcher, fixed-term lecturer, or doctoral student trying to get some writing done? Do you research on a topic related to health, medicine, the body, or mind using Humanities or Social Sciences approaches? The Medical Humanities Writing Group is an inclusive, interdisciplinary and casual gathering, encouraging writing as well as meeting others: all are welcome. We have timed writing blocks and coffee/tea/light refreshments, and are focused on setting writing goals and getting work done in a positive and supportive environment. Attendance is free and you are welcome to join us for anything from a single session, to a few, or even the whole term.
Dr Paul F Hoffman (2024 Kyoto Prize Laureate in Basic Sciences), a geologist who worked on proving Snowball Earth accelerating life evolution and plate tectonics dating back to the first half of Earth’s history, delivers a lecture as part of the Kyoto Prize at Oxford 2025. Based on geological evidence obtained over 50 years of extensive and precise field research in Arctic Canada and Africa, Dr Paul F Hoffman has accomplished landmark achievements regarding snowball Earth and plate tectonics in Earth’s early history that led to the present surface environment teeming with diverse life. Paul F Hoffman’s lecture will be followed by a Q&A moderated by Professor Ros Rickaby, Chair of Geology, Oxford Earth Sciences, University of Oxford. A drinks reception will be held after the event. Dancing continents and frozen oceans: reading Earth’s diary in natural stone tablets: The plate tectonics revolution in Earth Sciences took place while I was in school. It explained how the Atlantic, Indian and Southern oceans have grown at the expense of the Pacific, resulting in the fragmentation of an ancestral supercontinent (Pangea) into the six continents we see today. Eurasia, the largest, is itself an aggregate of six formerly independent continents, their mutual boundaries being the sites where lost oceans closed. Over the past two billion years, a succession of three supercontinents have come and gone, empires dispersed by self-induced uprisings from below. Since the Pacific is now closing while the other oceans are opening, the next supercontinent will be centred on East Asia. We have 200 million years with which to prepare. A Conservative majority government ended my mapping of Precambrian continental margins in northern Canada. At 52, I moved my tent to subtropical Africa and shifted my focus from dancing continents to ancient climates. For decades geologists had puzzled over evidence of glacial action, not long before the Cambrian, at the coastlines of tropical oceans. Climate scientists inadvertently came up with an explanation—oceans capped by kilometre-thick ice shelves for millions of years. Could such an idea be reconciled with fossil and sedimentary records? Having convinced myself in Africa that the paradox is real, I was drawn to the climatic explanation—a self-reversing ‘Snowball Earth’—because it made testable predictions regarding ice-age longevity, synchroneity and postglacial conditions. Two decades on, those predictions have been shown to be true—the world ocean was ice-covered for 60 million years. My lecture will conclude by explaining how diverse life forms endured, with testable predictions regarding the particular ancestry of their living descendants.
The ultra-fast release of neurotransmitters sets the pace of cognition. Synchronous release has now been reconstituted from pure proteins. The results are surprising mechanistic insights into the extraordinary speed of the process and the structures underpinning it.
*_Every Monument Will Fall_* offers an urgent reappraisal of how we think about culture, and how to find hope in the fragments of the past. Tracing the origins of contemporary conflicts over art, heritage, memory, and colonialism, _Every Monument Will Fall_ joins the dots between the building of statues, the founding of academic disciplines like archaeology and anthropology, and the warehousing of stolen art and human skulls in museums — including the one in which he is a curator. Part history, part biography, part excavation, the story runs from the Yorkshire wolds to the Crimean War, from southern Ireland to the frontline of the American Civil War, from the City of London to the University of Oxford — revealing enduring legacies of militarism, slavery, racism and white supremacy hardwired into the heart of our cultural institutions. _Every Monument Will Fall_ offers an urgent reappraisal of how we think about culture, and how to find hope, remembrance and reconciliation in the fragments of an unfinished violent past. Refusing to choose between pulling down every statue, or living in a past that we can never change, the book makes the case for allowing monuments of all kinds to fall once in a while, even those that are hard to see as monuments, rebuilding a memory culture that is in step with our times. *Dan Hicks* is Curator and Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at the University of Oxford. His new book _Every Monument Will Fall_ has been called by Professor Paul Gilroy as "an extraordinary intervention — this bold, provocative book is an indispensable resource" *Panellists:* *Nandini Chatterjee* (Professor of Indian History at Oxford University) *Simukai Chigudu* (Associate Professor of African Politics at Oxford University) *Christopher Morton* (Deputy Director and Head of Curatorial, Research and Teaching at the Pitt Rivers Museum) *Corinne Fowler* (Professor of Colonialism and Heritage in the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester) The event will be chaired by: *John Schofield* (Professor of Archaeology and Director Of Studies in Cultural Heritage Management at the University of York). He was formerly an Inspector and Head of Military Programmes at English Heritage. His most recent book is _Wicked Problems for Archaeologists: Heritage as Transformative Practice_.
A discussion between Brasenose alumnae Narmada Thiranagama and Diana Holland, Former Assistant General Secretary of Unite the Union
Uncover the art of facilitating interactive science demonstrations that captivate and educate. Learn the pivotal elements of event design and planning specifically tailored for public engagement activities. By the end of this course, you'll not only have a repertoire of engaging activities at your disposal, but you'll also possess the skills to thoughtfully design, execute, and adapt events that leave lasting impressions.
A general online introduction to the vast range of electronic resources which are available for all historical periods of British and Western European history. Learning outcomes are to: gain an overview of some of the key online resources for medieval, early modern and modern British and Western European history; know how to access subscription resources; and gain awareness of key examples of useful resources: bibliographic databases; reference sources; primary sources; maps; audio-visual resources; and data sources. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers and other staff.
This workshop will cover the basics of copyright as they apply to lecturers and tutors at the University of Oxford. It will explain the different types of copyright work that are used or generated in teaching and the rights and responsibilities for teaching staff and students. By attending this session you will have the opportunity to: identify copyright works and usages in teaching contexts; compare different types of licence available for teaching – proprietary and open; follow the requirements of the CLA licence; and apply risk management principles to the use of copyright exceptions for teaching. Intended audience: Oxford students, academics and other staff.
Please contact "$":mailto:sarah.apetrei@campion.ox.ac.uk for the Teams link to join remotely.
Over the past 50 years, the Cyril Foster Lecture series has delivered engaging lectures from some of the world's most influential policymakers and academics. This year's lecture will be given by Christine Ahn and Lt Gen (Ret) Dan Leaf, US Air Force, bringing together two leading, internationally renowned speakers on peace activism and peacekeeping. The lecture will be introduced by Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lord Tarassenko, and chaired by Cyril Foster Lecture Chair, Professor Neta Crawford. The Cyril Foster Lecture 2025: Many fear that the next big interstate war will begin in Asia, whether as an escalation of pre-existing but unresolved conflicts or by accident and miscalculation. Christine Ahn and and Lt Gen (Ret) Dan Leaf, US Air Force have decades of experience working in conflict zones. They have found working together to bring peace and reconciliation in the Asia Pacific region valuable. They will share insights from their individual work in Korea and Vietnam, their collaborations and will talk about the politics and process of ending wars. More about Christine Ahn and Lt Gen (Ret) Dan Leaf, US Air Force: Christine Ahn is an Fellow from the Institute for Policy Studies and Founder, Women Cross DMZ. Christine is a Korean-American peace activist who served as the Executive Director of Women Cross DMZ, an organization of women advocating for an end to the Korean War. In 2015, she led 30 international women peacemakers across the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) from North Korea to South Korea. She is also the 2020 winner of The US Peace Prize for her work for peace on the Korean peninsula and her advocacy for women's leadership in peace-building efforts. Lt Gen (Ret) Dan Leaf, US Air Force, is the Managing Director of Phase Minus 1, LLC (PM1), a company he formed in 2017. His focus areas include peace on the Korean Peninsula, the US-Viet Nam relationship, conflict resolution, effective governance, and strategic leadership. He provides independent consulting services on cyber security solutions, adaptive learning systems, and AI-enabled planning tools. A decorated combat fighter pilot, Dan Leaf has more than 3,600 flight hours, including F-15 and F-16 combat missions during a 33-year USAF career that culminated in duties as the Deputy Commander of U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) 2005-2008. Event Schedule: 4.30pm - 4.55pm: Registration 5pm prompt: The Cyril Foster Lecture 2025 will start; - Opening remarks from Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lord Tarassenko CBE FREng FMedSci, President of Reuben College - Introduction to Christine Ahn and Lt Gen (Ret) Dan Leaf, US Air Force by Professor Neta Crawford - Cyril Foster Lecture 2025: ‘How to End Wars: Pragmatic Approaches to Peacebuilding' by Christine Ahn and Dan Leaf - Q&A chaired by Professor Neta Crawford - Closing remarks by Head of Department of Politics and International Relations, Professor David Doyle 6.30pm - 7.30pm: Drinks Reception About the Cyril Foster Lecture Series: This lecture series is the legacy of Cyril A Foster. We know very little about him. Mr Foster owned several small sweet shops in and around London and lived alone in Essex. On his death, he left a bequest to the University, asking us to create an annual lecture series on the ‘elimination of war and the better understanding of the nations of the world’. This wish is particularly unusual, as he had no previous connection to the University. His kind and generous gift continues to promote international cooperation. Previous speakers include prominent figures from the world of politics and policy, from prime ministers and foreign ministers, to secretary-generals of the United Nations and heads of major international organisations, as well as prominent academics. See the full list of past lectures at https://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/cyril-foster-lecture-series
The aim of the seminar is to foster a dynamic and interdisciplinary postcolonial research culture supportive of individual scholarship. Finalists, M.St. and D.Phil. students, lecturers, fellows, scholars from across the university community – all are welcome. If you’d like to appear on the seminar mailing list, please email zana.mody@kellogg.ox.ac.uk, riley.faulds@worc.ox.ac.uk OR hannah.fagan@mansfield.ox.ac.uk
The Chief Medical Officer has confirmed that attendance at the Surgical Grand Rounds can count toward internal CPD, with 1 point awarded per hour. Please note that in-person attendance is required, and you will need to sign the attendance register. Please email Louise King (louise.king@nds.ox.ac.uk) if you would like to attend online.
About the book: This book explores the profound and multifaceted impact of stigma on individuals with Tourette’s syndrome. It critically examines how stigma, rooted in historical misconceptions continues to shape societal perceptions and attitudes, and marginalises those with the condition across education, employment, media, and interpersonal relationships. Drawing on personal narratives, Tourette’s Syndrome, Stigma, and Society’s Jests investigates how humour and media representations both reinforce and challenge societal stigma. It evaluates systemic barriers that maintain inequality and exclusion and confronts traditional medicalised views of Tourette’s syndrome. Significantly, it advocates for an intersectional approach that emphasises inclusivity, empowerment, and society’s accountability in addressing stigma and fostering change. By weaving together lived experiences with scholarly insights, the book challenges readers to rethink preconceived notions about Tourette’s syndrome and to consider the societal structures that impact the lives of those with the condition. Accessible yet grounded in academic research, this volume offers valuable insights for readers interested in disability studies or social justice. It aims to inspire dialogue, challenge stigma, and advocate for a future that prioritises the voices and experiences of individuals with Tourette’s syndrome. Part of the TORCH Neurodiversity Network events
Oncogenes are not able to initiate tumors in all cellular contexts, a phenomenon referred to as oncogenic competence. Such competence depends on both cell-intrinsic programs (i.e. developmental and epigenetic state) as well as cell-extrinsic influences from the TME. To study this, we have developed zebrafish and human pluripotent stem cell models of melanoma. In the talk, I will discuss how convergence of intrinsic and extrinsic programs determines the likelihood of oncogenic transformation. SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY The White lab is interested in the basic biology of melanoma, with a specific focus on the intersection between developmental biology and cancer biology. There are many parallels in these processes, including both cell-intrinsic fate decisions as well as cell-cell interactions in the microenvironment. Using both zebrafish and human pluripotent stem cell models of melanoma, his lab has described a mechanism called “oncogenic competence” that explains why DNA mutations are only sometimes able to initiate tumors. His lab has found that the ability to initiate melanoma is strongly influence by the anatomic position of the cell along the body axis. Whereas cutaneous melanomas are enriched for BRAF mutations, acral melanomas more commonly harbor amplifications of genes such as CRKL. These specific oncogenes depend upon the positional gene program in the melanocytes, suggesting that an anatomic code could be a targetable vulnerability in melanoma. Finally, his work has more recently investigated how cells in the TME such as keratinocytes and adipocytes promote melanoma progression and metastasis, acting through signaling and epigenetic mechanisms. He has been awarded the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, as well as awards from the Melanoma Research Alliance, the Pershing Square Foundation Award, the American Cancer Society, and the Mark Foundation ASPIRE award.
Zotero is a reference management tool that helps you build libraries of references and add citations and bibliographies to word processed documents using your chosen citation style. This classroom-based session covers the main features of Zotero and comprises a 45-minute presentation followed by practical exercises at the computers. You can leave at any point once you have tried out the software, and do not have to stay until the end. The learning outcomes for this classroom-based session are to: create a Zotero library and add references to it; edit and organise references in your Zotero library; add in-text citations and/or footnotes to your word-processed document; create bibliographies; understand how to sync your Zotero library across multiple computers; and understand how to share your Zotero library of references. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers and other staff.
Primary: William Morris, News from Nowhere (1890): Chapters 4-7 Supplementary: Charles Dickens, Hard Times (1854): Chapters 1-2; Lorna Finlayson ‘I was a Child Liberationist’ (2021)
Join us for the second annual Social Sciences Division Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Lecture, featuring award-winning journalist, bestselling author, filmmaker and Oxford alumna Afua Hirsch. Afua Hirsch studied PPE at Oxford. Her bestselling books, including Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging (2018) and Decolonising My Body: A Radical Exploration of Rituals and Beauty (2023), have shaped conversations on race, identity, and decolonisation. In this lecture, she will share insights from her career and research, offering reflections on some of today’s most urgent questions around race and belonging. Afua Hirsch is the founder of Born In Me, a production company creating premium scripted and unscripted TV and film, including Africa Rising, an ongoing BBC series exploring the art and culture of African countries. She is also the host of Legacy, a top-3 global podcast hit for Wondery and Amazon Music, now in its twentieth season. A journalist for more than twenty years, she is a former Guardian correspondent, associate editor of British Vogue, and a professor of journalism at the University of Southern California. We do hope you'll join us for this opportunity to hear from one of today’s leading voices in journalism, storytelling, and social commentary.
Curious about using AI to find research papers? Not sure how to properly reference GenAI and avoid plagiarism? This beginner-friendly workshop introduces three GenAI tools (ChatGPT, Elicit, and Perplexity), showing how they can support information discovery and analysis. Designed for those new to AI, this practical session will allow you to independently experiment with these tools and participate in group discussions to explore their strengths, limitations, and suitability for different tasks. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers, and other staff who are new to AI.
The 5-module core course designed and delivered by experts in leadership provides a blend of online materials, presentations and small group discussion sessions, and aims to develop enhanced skills and confidence in innovation leadership, managing stakeholders and teams, influencing skills and more. Module 1: Leadership and innovation Module 2: The Entrepreneurial Mindset Module 3: Visualising Success: setting goals and identifying success factors Module 4: Managing stakeholders and teams; Coaching and mentoring for success Module 5: Communicating and influencing externally
CPRD collects anonymised patient data from a network of GP practices across the UK. Primary care data are linked to a range of other health related data to provide a longitudinal, representative UK population health dataset. For more than 35 years, research using CPRD data and services has informed clinical guidance and best practice, resulting in over 3,500 peer-reviewed publications investigating drug safety, use of medicines, effectiveness of health policy, health care delivery and disease risk factors. The session will provide a brief overview of the wealth of data available for researchers, discuss the strengths and limitations of the data, describe the process of submitting a research protocol and obtaining data access, and explain how the NDPH CPRD Team can work with researchers on potential studies. Topics to be covered: 1. Primary care data 2. Linked data 3. Research protocol submission and data access Intended Audience Staff and students who are interested in learning how to use electronic health records from GP practices for research in disease epidemiology, methodological and/or health services delivery research, drug safety, economics, drug utilisation, pharmacoeconomics, drug effectiveness, and pharmacoepidemiology. Objectives 1. Understand the coverage, strengths and limitations of the two primary care databases 2. Aware of the linked datasets available 3. Aware of CPRD's Research Data Governance process 4. Aware of the services provided by the NDPH CPRD Team Monday, 12 May, 10:00 - 11:00 am Aden Kwok - An introduction to Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) data Mode: Hybrid To attend, please register - https://forms.office.com/e/JdBY77pCNF?origin=lprLink MS Teams - Join the meeting now Meeting ID: 391 230 848 220 Passcode: Cm6up2Pd
TBC
The immediate risk of AI is not a sensational conflict with malevolent superintelligence and killer robots. It is the risk of AI destabilizing the current political-economic equilibrium, radically altering the balance of power in society, and tearing up the social fabric. This talk describes how such a process might unfold and proposes policies and institutions for managing the political and economic risks of AI. Competition policy emerges as a critical tool for risk management, as does strengthening democratic and egalitarian institutions. Without appropriate policies, there will be no AI-driven growth take-off and the scale of inequality that would emerge would dwarf anything experienced in the twentieth century.
Considerable criticism of the narrowness of teacher efficacy operationalisations argues they fail to tap the complexity of the teacher’s role. At the same time, we need more knowledge about how self-efficacies change for different kinds of teachers, dependent on their individual qualities and early career experiences, and consequences for their professional engagement. In this seminar, I will review the development and validation of our multidimensional SET (self-efficacy for teaching) scale1 , explore different patterns of change from teacher education through early career, identify associated demographics and early career experiences, and examine impacts on professional engagement. The SET extends the widely-used Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), to build a comprehensive and ecologically-valid measure beyond their classroom work by developing new items to tap 5 additional competences: ‘Critical reflection on practice’, ‘Value cultural diversity’, ‘Professional interactions with the community’, ‘Respect confidentiality’ and ‘Meet legislated ethical requirements’. Beginning teachers (N = 339) from four Australian universities completed the SET at 2 timepoints: near the end of teacher education, and again after on average 3 years teaching. Early career self-report measures included experiences of excessive demands, mentoring, collective-efficacy and belonging. Professional engagement was measured at both timepoints (effort, planned professional development, persistence). CFAs established psychometric validity and scalar invariance across timepoints. Five different change patterns were distinguished using hierarchical cluster analysis (Ward’s method) of change scores: “High competence”, “Moderate growth”, “High growth—longest timeframe”, “Declining competence” and “Declining competence—shortest timeframe”. Repeated-measures MANOVA compared clusters on trajectories which associated with distinct demographic/school contextual characteristics. High competence started out and retained high self-efficacies; highest-rated collective-efficacy/belonging T2 may have supported this continuity. By contrast, ‘declining’ clusters reported least supports. Moderate growth/High growth—longest timeframe reported similar contextual supports as others. Declining self-efficacies mattered for teachers’ level of professional engagement. Although tempting to infer self-efficacy increases with length of experience it was unrelated for one ‘declining’ cluster, pointing to quality rather than quantity of experience as key. It is crucial for policymakers, educators and administrators to set in place contextual structures and practices to nurture beginning teachers’ professional engagement and development by supporting the range of expected competences outlined by national frameworks. Acknowledgments: This work is conducted jointly with Professor Paul Richardson, Monash University, funded by Australian Research Council: DP0666253, DP0987614, DP140100402 1 Watt & Richardson, 2008 – presented at Oxford in 2009. Join on Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_OTNiZGM1MzItOTcwOS00YThjLWJmYTAtZGFjZGM1YzkyNjQw%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22cc95de1b-97f5-4f93-b4ba-fe68b852cf91%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2275f39f15-fefd-45cf-b904-2e2174db4aa1%22%7d
In a big place like Oxford, it’s not always easy to find out about what’s available and how to make the most of your time here. This event is for new research staff to welcome you to our wonderful university and introduce you to the many opportunities and resources. People who attend are typically postdocs, research fellows and research assistants at Grades 6 to 8. Event objectives: Identify resources and support for your professional and career development. Know how to widen your social network through the Oxford Research Staff Society, Oxford University Newcomers Club. Start to effectively plan your coming months at Oxford. Pre-Requisites: No pre-requisites required.
Patents and standards are a valuable source of technical information relevant to the fields of engineering, materials sciences, and more. Together, they provide approved rules and guidelines whilst helping to protect inventions and innovative ideas. They can, however, be tricky to find. Join this session to find out more about what patents and standards are, why they might be useful for your research and how to find them in specific databases. By the end of this session, you will: know what a patent is and where to find it; know what a standard is and where to find it; and be able to reference patents and standards. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers and other staff.
ABSTRACT Successful mathematical learning requires the integration of conceptual understanding, procedural skill, and number fact knowledge. But many children struggle with learning number facts and particularly the multiplication tables. One reason for this may be the need to resolve interference between facts. Models of number fact learning propose that this requires inhibitory control, but we lack empirical evidence for this and particularly how interference emerges when learning new facts. I will present studies with adults and children that evidence the need for inhibitory control, examine interference during the learning of new facts, and consider the impact of different types of classroom practice. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Camilla Gilmore is Professor of Mathematical Cognition at Loughborough University. She is interested in understanding how we acquire and process mathematical ideas and what this means for mathematics education. She completed her doctorate in Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford before working as a postdoc at Harvard University. She then spent five years as a Research Fellow in the Learning Sciences Research Institute at The University of Nottingham before joining Loughborough in 2011. She is now Co-director of the Centre for Mathematical Cognition – funded by Research England – and leads the ESRC-funded Centre for Early Mathematics Learning. To join the talk remotely: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84218701589?pwd=0ztWPlw7tqf80Wpg6zmFNJULKifiX1.1 Meeting ID: 842 1870 1589 ID: 536931
Is part of the purpose of our roles as academics to change society by feeding our knowledge into policy decision making? Increasingly the spotlight might fall on how we are making a measurable difference in society. So how can we engage with stakeholders, and use our knowledge, to inform, shape and/or change policy? Reflecting on his role as Aotearoa New Zealand Ministry of Transport’s Chief Science Advisor, this presentation will consider how we can engage in decision making and the risks of doing it. It will consider the pros and cons of being ‘inside government’ vs the greater freedom, but less direct access to policy makers, of being outside. It was also consider the professional and personal risks of trying to get your voice heard in policy debates.
Many explanations for the rise of populism date its modern incarnation back to the Great Financial Crisis, when arguably a period of deregulation triggered risk taking that brought the global financial system crashing down. But equally it will be hard to foster faster growth unless the UK’s financial services grow faster and more effectively serve their purpose. So how does the regulator in the middle, the Financial Conduct Authority, get the balance right between consumer rights and enabling innovation? Find out more and register: https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/research/visiting-parliamentary-fellowship/register-to-attend-7/ This seminar will take place in the Nissan Institute Lecture Theatre at St Antony’s College: 62 Woodstock Rd, Oxford, OX2 6JF
Academics, teachers, and activists have long been engaged in efforts to dismantle deficit thinking about language and race in England’s schools, but linguistic injustices persist. In this talk, which draws on my individual and collaborative projects with Professor Julia Snell, I show how Ofsted are a central force in the maintenance of linguistic injustice and the reproduction of dominant language ideologies which frame racialised and working-class communities as linguistically deficient. I draw on multiple data to do so, including a large corpus of historical and contemporary inspection reports, Ofsted policy documents, training materials for inspectors, and interviews with racially marginalised teachers. I turn critical attention to the white ears of Ofsted – institutional and powerful modes of listening which hear nondominant language varieties as symptomatic of empirically detached but ideologically connected traits, such as misbehaviour, poor quality teaching, intellectual inferiority, and a disinterest in school. I show how Ofsted rely on a flawed theory of social justice which frames the acquisition of dominant language varieties as a key means to achieving equality, but at its core, is a means to preserve the raciolinguistic status quo. Through this analysis, I argue that Ofsted’s policing of language in schools is a form of what Rob Nixon calls slow violence: an intergenerational form of harm which builds up quietly yet steadily over time. I end by calling for linguistic justice in schools and consider what role – if any – Ofsted might play in that. -- Dr Ian Cushing is Senior Lecturer in Critical Applied Linguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University. His research focuses on documenting and dismantling deficit thinking about language in schools, especially concerning its intersections with race and class. This work takes place in close collaboration with teachers, where he is currently involved in projects which imagine futures of linguistic justice in schools. His work is funded by the Spencer Foundation, the British Academy/Leverhulme, and the UK Literacy Association. His 2022 monograph, Standards, Stigma, Surveillance: Raciolinguistic Ideologies and England’s Schools won the British Association of Applied Linguistics book prize, and he was the recipient of the 2023 Outstanding Contribution to Research award from the National Association for the Teaching of English. He is an Editor of Critical Studies in Education.
Are you looking to learn about the ways in which to transmit scientific ideas and make your research accessible to a non-specialist audience through a variety of mediums? This session will serve as an introduction to science communication and how it can be successfully incorporated into our roles. By the end of this session you will be able to: define science communication and provide a list of examples; explain why science communication is important for both our CPD and the public; and list ways in which we can all get involved in science communication. Intended audience: Students, staff and researchers from MSD and OUH.
TBA
Unlock the secrets to conquering self-doubt and embrace your achievements with our transformative workshop led by Dr. Tracy Bussoli. Course Highlights: • Understand Impostor Phenomenon (IP): Delve into the roots of IP and discover why high achievers often grapple with this phenomenon. • Explore Your Unique Experience: Create a safe and confidential space to reflect on your personal journey with IP. Share and connect with like-minded individuals. • Impact on Life & Career: Uncover the ways in which IP can affect your life and career. Gain insights into its subtle manifestations and tackle its consequences head-on. • Strategies for Empowerment: Identify powerful strategies to manage self-doubt effectively. Dr. Tracy Bussoli will equip you with practical tools to navigate and overcome Impostor Phenomenon.
The second in a duo of courses (attendees should attend the Fundamentals course prior to Logistics) that will cover the logistics of researching, publishing, and locating open scholarship resources and tools at the University of Oxford. Subjects include: what is the Oxford University Research Archive?; depositing work into ORA via Symplectic Elements; depositing data into ORA-data; applying for one of Oxford’s APC block grants; registering or connecting your ORCID; how to be included in the rights retention pilot; and locating and checking funder policies. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers and other staff.
It has long been appreciated that learning about the probabilistic structure of events alters our perceptual awareness. However, recent work has demonstrated that this relationship between learning and perception is more complex than previously believed and can theoretically serve a multitude of functions. For example, we must balance demands of representing the perceptual world accurately while effectively updating our models when the world changes. The first part of my talk will present some work that asks how we optimize this balance via predictive mechanisms. The second part will consider how explanations of oscillatory windows of perceptual awareness could link with these ideas. I hope to convince the audience that our models of learning-perception interdependences should move on from some currently popular monolithic accounts (e.g., cancellation; intrinsic fixed sampling rhythms), and stimulate discussion concerning how best to conceptualise these synergistic relationships.
We characterize optimal policy in a multidimensional nonlinear taxation model with bunching. We develop an empirically relevant model with cognitive and manual skills, firm heterogeneity, and labor market sorting. We first derive two conditions for the optimality of taxes that take into account bunching. The stochastic dominance optimal tax condition shows that at the optimum the entire schedule of benefits dominates the entire schedule of distortions in terms of second-order stochastic dominance. The lobal optimal tax formula provides a representation that balances the local costs and benefits of optimal taxation while explicitly accounting for global incentive constraints. Second, we use Legendre transforms to represent our problem as a linear program. This linearization allows us to solve the model quantitatively and to precisely characterize bunching. At an optimum, 10 percent of workers is bunched. We introduce two notions of bunching -- blunt bunching and targeted bunching. Blunt bunching constitutes 30 percent of all bunching, occurs at the lowest regions of cognitive and manual skills, and lumps the allocations of these workers resulting in a significant distortion. Targeted bunching constitutes 70 percent of all bunching and recognizes the workers' comparative advantage. The planner separates workers on their dominant skill and bunches them on their weaker skill, thus mitigating distortions along the dominant skill dimension.
This talk draws on the approach of conceptual historians to explore how Asia emerged as a conceptual space with Afghanistan at its center in the minds and writings of Afghan and Muslim intellectuals in the early twentieth century. Reacting to European civilizational divides, transnationally-connected Muslim reformers of the early-twentieth century like the Afghan writer and statesman Mahmud Tarzi (1865-1933) conceived of a broader Asia in which Afghanistan figured prominently. Through Tarzi and the transregional press, Asia became a galvanizing political framework that shaped material solidarities on the ground in Afghanistan, not without tensions and contradictions. Beyond shedding light on important intellectual developments, this talk also puts forward conceptual history as a method for writing regional histories. It illustrates the potentials of situating and tracking the development of the geographic terms we use across time and languages, noting how they changed over time, through space and interrogating how they were understood by our historical interlocutors. Marya Hannun is a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, where she serves as the Managing Editor with the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP). Her current research is a transregional history of the Afghan women's movement and gendered reform in the early 20th Century.
Faculty Presentations
Anthroposophy, the alternative spiritual movement founded in 1913 by Austrian Esotericist Rudolf Steiner, has become a significant presence in contemporary Israeli society. Two branches of the Anthroposophical society operate in Israel, along with an Anthroposophical Kibbutz in the upper Galilee. Waldorf education, based on Steiner’s pedagogical principles, is highly popular, with hundreds of Waldorf kindergartens, schools and training centers across the country. Additionally, several Anthroposophical remedial homes and villages support people with special needs. The widespread success of Anthroposophy in Israel raises intriguing questions. How did the spiritual teachings of Rudolf Steiner, which are rooted in western esoteric traditions and incorporate numerous Christological themes, resonate withing Israeli Jewish society? How do Israeli Anthroposophists engage with Steiner’s negative views on Judaism and Zionism? The lecture will explore the reception history of Anthroposophy in Israel, focusing on the efforts of Israeli anthroposophist to reconcile their Jewish and Israeli identities with their Anthroposophical beliefs and practices. Boaz Huss is the Aron Bernstein Chair in Jewish History in the Department of Jewish Thought and serves as the chair of the Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University. His research focuses on the history of Kabbalah, Western esotericism, New Age culture, and new religious movements in Israel. Huss's recent publications include The Cosmic Movement: Sources, Contexts, Impact (Bialik Press, 2021, co-authored with Julie Chajes) and Mystifying Kabbalah: Academic Scholarship, National Theology, and New Age Spirituality (Oxford University Press, 2020). His forthcoming book, The Secret Doctrine of the Jew: Jewish Theosophists and the Kabbalah, is scheduled for publication in 2025 by the State University of New York Press.
We conduct a field experiment to study how unemployed job seekers' subjective wage expectations shape their job search behavior and labor market outcomes. Using matched survey-administrative data from more than 9,000 unemployed workers in Denmark, we first document that job seekers anchor their wage expectations to their pre-unemployment wages by more than is objectively justified. A random half of the sample is provided with information about the objective wage potential of comparable workers, leading them to update their own wage expectations accordingly and to adjust their job search strategies. Ultimately, the treatment increases re-employment probabilities among both previous over- and previous under-estimators, but through different mechanisms. Initial over-estimators lower their reservation wages and increase their search effort. Initial under-estimators increase their reservation wages and redirect their job search to vacancies closer to their residence. Consistent with a reduction in search frictions in local labor markets---which is unanticipated by workers---they find re-employment sooner and at higher wages.
Join us for the screening of the documentary films Daughters of Chibok and Mothers of Chibok followed by a post-film discussion on 13 May at Rhodes House! As part of the Global Programmes portfolio, the Film Fora series showcases impactful films and brings together a global community to spark ideas for meaningful change in response to global challenges. We will be screening two different films on the day so please refer to our 'About the Films' section to learn more about the two films. If you are interested in watching the VR movie Daughters of Chibok, it will be screened at 5:40 PM, before the screening of Mothers of Chibok at 6:00 PM. Learn more about the two films here:https://events.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/rhodes-film-fora-2025/pages/about-the-films
In this public talk, Jean Strouse discusses her acclaimed new book, Family Romance, John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers with Professor Dame Hermione Lee. About Family Romance: In Family Romance, Bancroft Prize winning author, Jean Strouse captures the dramas, mysteries, intrigues, and tragedies surrounding John Singer Sargent's portraits of the Wertheimer family Stouse looks at twelve portraits of one English family painted by the expatriate American artist at the height of his career – and at the intersections of all these lives with the sparkle and strife of the Edwardian age. In commissioning this grand series of paintings, Asher Wertheimer, an eminent London art dealer of German-Jewish descent, became Sargent’s greatest private patron and close friend. The Wertheimers worked with Rothschilds and royals, plutocrats and dukes – as did Sargent. Asher left most of his Sargent portraits to London’s National Gallery, a gift that elicited censure as well as praise: it was a new thing for a family of Jews to appear alongside the Anglo-Saxon aristocrats and dignitaries painted by earlier masters. Strouse’s account, set primarily in England around the turn of the twentieth century, takes in the declining fortunes of the British aristocracy and the dramatic rise of new power and wealth on both sides of the Atlantic. It travels back through hundreds of years to the Habsburg court in Vienna and forward to fascist Italy in the 1930s. Its depictions of Sargent, his sitters, their friendships and circles, and the portraits themselves, light up a period that saw tumultuous social change and the birth of the modern art market. Sargent brilliantly portrayed these transformations, in which the Wertheimers were key players. Family Romance brings their interwoven stories fully to life for the first time. Speaker Details: Jean Strouse is the author of Morgan: American Financier and Alice James: A Biography, which won the Bancroft Prize in American History and Diplomacy. Her essays and reviews have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, Architectural Digest, Newsweek, and other publications. Strouse has been a Fellow of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and served as the Sue Ann and John Weinberg Director of the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at The New York Public Library from 2003 to 2017. She lives in New York City. Hermione Lee was President of Wolfson College from 2008 to 2017 and is Emeritus Professor of English Literature in the English Faculty at Oxford University. She is a biographer and critic whose work includes biographies of Virginia Woolf (1996), Edith Wharton (2006), Penelope Fitzgerald (2013), and Tom Stoppard (2020). She has also written books on Elizabeth Bowen, Philip Roth, and Willa Cather, an OUP Very Short Introduction to Biography, and a collection of essays on life-writing, Body Parts. She was awarded the Biographers’ Club Prize for Exceptional Contribution to Biography in 2018. From 1998 to 2008, she was the Goldsmiths’ Professor of English Literature at Oxford. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Literature and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2023 she was made GBE for services to English Literature. She founded OCLW at Wolfson College in 2011. She is currently working on a biography of Anita Brookner. Further Details and Contacts: After the event, join us for a complimentary wine reception and book sale by Caper (@caperoxford). This event is free and open to all; however, registration is recommended. This is an in-person event, but will be recorded and made available soon after on the OCLW website. Registration will close at 10:30 on 13 May 2025. Any queries regarding this event should be addressed to OCLW Events Manager, Dr Eleri Anona Watson.
Significant progress has been made in understanding the neural mechanisms underlying spatial attention and working memory. However, in natural settings, the rapid flow of information during saccades and speech perception poses challenges to the mechanisms supporting these cognitive functions. To address this, we are developing a research program using magnetoencephalography (MEG) in humans to investigate these mechanisms during natural tasks such as visual exploration, reading, and language comprehension. During visual exploration, we find that both feature and category information about upcoming saccade targets can be accessed as early as 100 ms after fixation on the pre-saccadic object. Similarly, in natural reading, both orthographic and semantic information can be extracted from upcoming saccade targets within 100 ms of fixating on the preceding word. Importantly, during both visual exploration and reading, saccades are locked to the phase of ongoing alpha oscillations, suggesting that these oscillations are important for visuo-motor coordination. During language comprehension, working memory is crucial for storing information across embedded sentences. We have identified the neural network and temporal dynamics associated with the maintenance and reactivation of this information during sentence processing. In conclusion, our approach demonstrates how concepts and mechanisms identified in cognitive neuroscience can be applied to understand the key neuronal operations required for naturalistic tasks. References • Wang, L., Frisson, S., Pan, Y., and Jensen, O. (2024) Fast hierarchical processing of orthographic and semantic parafoveal information during natural reading. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.09.27.615440v1 • Fakche, C., Hickey, C., and Jensen, O. (2024) Fast feature- and category-related parafoveal previewing support free visual exploration. J Neurosci 44: e0841242024 • Pan, Y., Popov, T., Frisson, S., and Jensen, O. (2023) Saccades are locked to the phase of alpha activity during natural reading. PLoS Biol 21(1):e3001968 • Pan, Y., Frisson, S., and Jensen, O. (2021) Neural evidence for lexical parafoveal processing. Nature Communications 12:5234 • Jensen, O., Frisson, S., Pan, Y., and Wang, L. (2021) A pipelining mechanism supporting previewing during visual exploration and reading. Trends in Cogn Sci 25:103301044
The Trusted Research Team welcome you to join our May informational Surgery! University research is facing increasing scrutiny from the UK Government and research funders in relation to security, ethical, financial, and reputational risk. A range of measures have been rolled out to address risk in international research collaborations, such as legislation, advice services, and support to universities in their due diligence processes. Actions include the export control regulatory framework and the National Security and Investments Act, as well as the tightening of funder terms and conditions. To help departments navigate the changing landscape of Trusted Research, Research Services regularly host a series of Trusted Research & Assurance Surgeries. These surgeries are open to researchers, departmental support staff, divisional representatives, and RS colleagues to discuss all aspects of Trusted Research and Assurance including export control, NSIA, and due diligence on international collaborations. To ensure your session meets your and your department’s needs, we ask that you clarify your particular area of interest upon booking: * Export Control as it relates to your department * Due Diligence for third parties * Managing risk * Information on National Security Investment Act and other legislation involving international collaborative research * Questions regarding a specific case The next surgery will be held Wednesday, May 14th 2025. From 10:00 to 14:00 At Boundary Brook House, Churchill Drive Oxford OX3 7LQ To book your 30 min timeslot, please contact trusted.research@admin.ox.ac.uk A kind reminder, the deadline for booking a timeslot is Tuesday, May 13th 2025
There is a positive psychology revolution sweeping educational psychology, emphasizing how healthy, normal, and exceptional students can get the most from education. Positive self-beliefs are at the heart of this revolution. My self-concept research program represents a substantive-quantitative synergy, applying and developing new quantitative approaches to better address substantive issues with significant policy implications. Particularly in educational psychology, self-concept enhancement is a major goal. Self-concept is also an essential mediating factor that facilitates attaining other desirable outcomes. In education, for example, a positive academic self-concept is both a highly desirable goal and a means of facilitating subsequent academic accomplishments. However, the benefits of feeling positive about oneself concerning the choice, planning, persistence, and subsequent accomplishments, transcend traditional disciplinary and cultural barriers. Perhaps more than any other area within educational psychology, there are extensive international cross-cultural tests and support for the generalizability of the major theoretical models in the discipline. Self-concept research has also been a testing ground for developing new and evolving quantitative methodologies. My purpose here is to provide an overview of my self-concept research in which I address diverse theoretical and methodological issues with practical implications for research, policy, and practice. Highlights include: · Extensions of the BFLPE (adverse effects of school-average achievement on self-concept) to include negative effects on student, teacher, and parent educational aspirations and expectations, the role of school-average SES, and phantom effects of school-average achievement on subsequent student achievement. · Extensions of the REM (reciprocal relations between academic self-concept and achievement) juxtaposing cross-lag panel models with and without random intercepts and lag2 effects, and models of simultaneous (lag0) effects. · Extensional of the I/E (internal/external frame-of-reference model) showing that high verbal achievement detracts leads to high verbal self-concept but lowers math self-concept (and vice-versa for math achievement) and how this explains in part so-called Gender Paradox in STEM coursework selection. · An integrative model incorporating all three of these effects. Join on Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NWY0MWFiYTgtYjUwNy00OTVjLTk4NWItMmFkZWIwYmRiMTBh%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22cc95de1b-97f5-4f93-b4ba-fe68b852cf91%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2275f39f15-fefd-45cf-b904-2e2174db4aa1%22%7d
An introduction to key archival, printed and electronic resources, such as finding aids, bibliographic resources and primary sources for post-1800 global history. The focus will be on non-European history but will draw predominantly on English and European language resources. This session is classroom-based. After the session you will have an understanding of: the different types of material relevant to researching modern global history; how to search databases, bibliographies and other online resources; how to search the Bodleian Libraries resource discovery tool for manuscripts and archives; and how to locate relevant archive material elsewhere. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers and other staff.
Are you an early career researcher, fixed-term lecturer, or doctoral student trying to get some writing done? Do you research on a topic related to health, medicine, the body, or mind using Humanities or Social Sciences approaches? The Medical Humanities Writing Group is an inclusive, interdisciplinary and casual gathering, encouraging writing as well as meeting others: all are welcome. We have timed writing blocks and coffee/tea/light refreshments, and are focused on setting writing goals and getting work done in a positive and supportive environment. Attendance is free and you are welcome to join us for anything from a single session, to a few, or even the whole term.
If you are interested in attending any of these events, please send an email to plp@law.ox.ac.uk to indicate i) which events you plan to attend, ii) whether you would like to join the speaker for dinner that evening, iii) whether you plan to attend the student seminar accompanying the Colloquium. For more information, visit the PLP Colloquium website: www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-and-subject-groups/jurisprudence-oxford/PLP-colloquium where up-to-date information is listed.
Even before the demands of the recent pandemic, the NHS was operating severe pressure. Against a backdrop of greater life expectancy and the critical need for effective social care, coupled with the development of revolutionary new treatments, can the 75-year-old NHS model adapt to provide fit-for-purpose prevention, early detection and treatment, and social, primary, secondary and tertiary care? What is the future of the NHS? Join our distinguished panel including Jonathan Van-Tam, former Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, and leading figures from the sector in conversation with Trinity Fellow and Clinical Director of the University of Oxford Primary Care Clinical Trials Unit, Christopher Butler as they consider and discuss the future of the NHS.
Discover what elements of storytelling and narrative can be used to enhance a profession in the sciences. Craft compelling and moving stories from your experiences as a scientist using these key story elements: character, conflict, structure, metaphor and description. Apply these storytelling and narrative skills to working in the sciences: communicating research to a range of audiences (including publics, media and funding bodies); enhancing presentation skills; telling scientific stories across a range of media.
The Data Engineers meeting seeks to connect data wranglers and professionals in related data engineering roles across the University. This group aims to provide a platform for individuals to share their expertise and interests, fostering a sense of community and encouraging knowledge exchange across research teams. While primarily designed for those working at the intersection of data generation and analysis - covering areas such as data collection, wrangling, modeling, visualization, and communication - the group is inclusive and open to all members of the University. Please join us for the next Data Engineers meeting: Date - Thursday 15 May 2025 Time: 11:00 - 12:00 Venue: BDI/OxPop Seminar room 0 Agenda: 11:00 - Introduction 11:10 - Adam Huffman, Research Computing Manager, University of Oxford 11:25 - TBD 11:40 - Discussion (Q&A, feedback) Followed by lunch in the atrium To attend, please register - https://forms.office.com/e/xysygZrh4r?origin=lprLink
Surprisingly many long-standing questions in (stem) cell research remain disputed. One major reason is the fact that we usually analyze only populations of cells - rather than individual cells – and at very few time points of an experiment – rather than continuously. We therefore develop imaging approaches and software to image, segment, and track cells, and to quantify e.g. divisional history, position, interaction, and protein expression or activity of all individual cells over many days and generations. Live-cell imaging is complemented by novel large-volume multi-color 3D imaging with up to single-molecule sensitivity. Dedicated software, machine learning and computational modeling enable data acquisition, curation, and analysis. Custom-made microfluidics, optogenetics and other hardware devices improve single-cell observation, dynamic manipulation, molecular analysis, and the high-dimensional snapshot ‘omics’ quantification of individual cells with known history, kinship and dynamics. The resulting continuous single-cell data is used for analysing the dynamics, interplay, and functions of signalling pathway and transcription factor networks in controlling the fate decisions of self-renewing and differentiating hematopoietic, pluripotent, neural stem and intestinal stem and progenitor cells and normal and synthetic embryos.
The prevalence of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy is 29–49% in people with Diabetes Mellitus, up to 50% of them develop Neuropathic Pain. The reasons for this are not completely understood and this heterogeneity cannot be always captured by a single molecular assay. Studying the molecular changes at the level of genetic variation; the gene and protein expression; the quantity of metabolites and serum biomarkers can reveal composite signatures explaining the heterogeneity of the disease. I will discuss how we can utilise multi-omics data integration and analysis to discover composite biomarkers associated with the presence and intensity of Neuropathic Pain
Please note that this seminar has changed date and will now be held on May 15. More information will be available shortly. Booking is required for people outside of the Department of Social Policy and Intervention (DSPI). DSPI Members do not need to register.
Join via: https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/tosca
Please contact "$":mailto:sarah.apetrei@campion.ox.ac.uk for the Teams link to join remotely.
In this talk anthropologist Munira Khayyat revisits the South Lebanon borderland, where she has conducted longterm fieldwork in the wake of its almost total destruction after the latest season of war there. This talk reflects on ecologies of resistance and survival through storms of war and the steadfastness of life after the end of the world.
2025 Lorna Casselton Memorial Lecture given by Dr Andrea Hinwood, Chief Scientist, United Nations Environment Programme.
Medical experimentation on humans was criminalized under international law following the Nuremberg Trials, where Nazi physicians were prosecuted. However, similar practices continued thereafter in several Western countries, including the United States, Australia, Britain, Sweden and Canada. This talk will present the first criminological investigation into this phenomenon, aiming to identify criminal clusters of varying degrees of harm and involving differing medical procedures: (1) experiments based on racial ideology, (2) military-related experiments, and (3) general medical experiments. The talk will conclude by offering preliminary proposals for legislative amendments and future research. The presentation will be followed by discussion and drinks. The event is free. Advance registration below is required from all attendees. This event will take place in accordance with the framework developed by a number of Oxford colleges, including Worcester College, to promote free speech at Oxford. Details of this framework and ‘tips’ for productive discussion of difficult topics are to be found at: www.worc.ox.ac.uk/fos. By attending this event, attendees agree to adhere to these guidelines and the terms and conditions of the event which uphold Worcester College’s commitment to freedom of speech: www.worc.ox.ac.uk/fos/massada-2025
The Chief Medical Officer has confirmed that attendance at the Surgical Grand Rounds can count toward internal CPD, with 1 point awarded per hour. Please note that in-person attendance is required, and you will need to sign the attendance register. Please email Louise King (louise.king@nds.ox.ac.uk) if you would like to attend online.
Mariam Jamal-Hanjani is a Clinician Scientist and Group Leader at the UCL Cancer Institute in London. She studied theoretical physics and medicine at UCL and is a Thoracic Medical Oncologist. Her research is focused on the biological processes driving metastatic disease, including genomic drivers of tumour dissemination, tumour- and host-initiated mediators of catabolic states suggestive of cachexia, and failure of the adaptive immune system.
In the absence of conventional lymphatics, drainage of interstitial fluid and solutes from the brain parenchyma to cervical lymph nodes is along basement membranes in the walls of cerebral capillaries and tunica media of arteries. Perivascular pathways are also involved in the entry of CSF into the brain by the convective influx/ glymphatic system. Cerebral arterial basement membranes form the pathways by which fluid passes into and out of the brain with different basement membrane layers involved. The significance of these findings for neuroimmunology, Alzheimer’s disease, drug delivery to the brain and the concept of the Virchow–Robin space will be discussed. SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY Roxana Carare qualified in Medicine in Bucharest in 1994. During her basic clinical training, she became fascinated by anatomy and completed her PhD in neuropathology in 2006, in the University of Southampton, UK. The main international recognition for Roxana Carare has come from the interdisciplinary research she leads, relevant to the causes and new treatments for Alzheimer's disease, with over 165 peer reviewed publications in the field. She led the discovery of the intramural periarterial drainage system for proteins and fluid from the brain that fails in ageing leading to Alzheimer’s disease and her group now focusses on harnessing this system for efficient therapies and early biomarkers for age related neurodegenerative diseases. Roxana is a member of the UK Medical Research Council Dementia Platform UK Vascular Experimental Medicine committee and the UK government advisory committee for the effects of pollution on the brain, has served as the only European member of the American NIH strategy committee for funding in dementia. Roxana has won prestigious awards, including a Dementia Research Leader award from Alzheimer’s Society UK. Roxana has served as Co-Chair for The International Alliance of Women Alzheimer's Researchers in Alzheimer’s Association, she is Chair of the Vascular Professional Interest Area of Alzheimer’s Association, co-led the Scientific Committee for Vas-Cog, Secretary of the British Neuropathological Society, member of the scientific committee of the Rainwater Foundation, serves as an expert for several international research funding boards. Roxana is a Visiting Professor in the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology Targu Mures- Romania where she has co-founded the British-Romanian Academic Institute of Neuroscience.
Primary: William Morris, News from Nowhere (1890): Chapters 8-11 Supplementary: Angela Davis, ‘Abolitionist Alternatives’ in Are Prisons Obsolete? (2003): Chapter 6
Technical and vocational education and training (VET) is a crucial part of any economy and education system. In particular, upper secondary VET systems are responsible for educating a large proportion of the population, significantly impacting productivity, economic growth and skills shortages. In this paper, we analyse the short-run impacts of a new set of hybrid upper secondary VET qualifications in the UK: T levels. T levels are large (3 A levels in size) VET qualifications that are more academically oriented than other VET qualifications and combine classroom learning with work-based experience and placements. T levels are part of a broader global trend towards combining academic and vocational tracks into one programme in upper secondary education. Using a combination of methods (instrumental variables, regression adjustment and matching), we find overall, early indications of initial T levels having negative short-run impacts. T level students are significantly less likely to achieve a full level 3 by the age of 18. However, T level students are more likely to progress to advanced apprenticeships and higher technical study. We show that these impacts are more negative for the marginal student and when considering other level 3 vocational pathways as an alternate form of study. We also find heterogeneity by T level pathway (subject), indicating that some pathways are performing significantly better than others. Join on Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_OTNiZGM1MzItOTcwOS00YThjLWJmYTAtZGFjZGM1YzkyNjQw%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22cc95de1b-97f5-4f93-b4ba-fe68b852cf91%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2275f39f15-fefd-45cf-b904-2e2174db4aa1%22%7d
HDRUK Oxford Monthly Meetup, Monday 19 May 2025, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Speakers: 1) Professor Peter Visscher; Professor of Quantitative Genetics, Oxford Population Health, University of Oxford 2) Dr Siqi Wang; Oxford Population Health, University of Oxford Talk Description: The availability of large biobanks with individual-level genomic, exposure and outcome data allow researchers to address questions about the causes and consequences of human complex trait variation. In two presentations, we will highlight new discoveries on the association between genomes, traits and diseases, using multiple biobanks and data on hundreds of thousands of individuals. Short Bios: 1) Peter Visscher is a quantitative geneticist at the Nuffield Department of Population Health. His research is about a better understanding of human trait variation in populations and the development of statistical analytical tools to analyse genotype-phenotype data in large biobanks. 2) Siqi Wang is a postdoctoral researcher at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, with expertise in epidemiology and the analysis of biobank data. Mode: Hybrid In-person Venue – Richard Doll Lecture Theatre, Richard Doll Building, Old Road Campus, University of Oxford To attend online - please register (link below)
Disputes between colleagues can have a significant impact on performance and wellbeing as well as affecting patient experience and safety. This course is designed to help healthcare professionals understand how and why conflicts arise within and between teams, as well as what they can do to try and resolve issues. This course aims to help participants: understand the causes and impact of colleague to colleague conflict in a healthcare context appreciate different types of conflict personalities identify how conflict develops learn de-escalation strategies.
The Oxford Spinoza Conference is dedicated to exploring the myriad manners in which Benedict Spinoza has contributed to the history of philosophy and continues to shape our understanding of the world. The third edition will take place at Pembroke College on Tuesday 20 May 2025. The theme of this year’s conference is Benedict Spinoza: Politics & the International. Keynote Speakers Sandra Leonie Field (Monash University) Pierre-François Moreau (Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon) The conference is open to all and free to attend. Please fill in the registration form. Submissions: The theme will colour the keynotes, but papers are welcome from across Spinoza’s work and across all generations of Spinoza scholars: we will accept submissions from students, early career researchers and experienced academics. Submission deadline: 17 March 2025 Abstracts: By email to olivier.defrance@pmb.ox.ac.uk Hosted by: Olivier Yasar de France (Stipendiary Lecturer in Political Theory, Pembroke College, Oxford) & James Read (Associate Professor of Philosophy, Pembroke College, Oxford)
TBA
Join us for a digital scholarship coffee gathering - tea and coffee will be provided. If you'd like to get an email reminder of these coffee mornings please sign up for that here: https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/oxford/digital-scholarship-coffee-morning-keep-in-touch
Selective attention relies on intricate neural mechanisms that govern how the brain processes information. In this lecture, I will explore research on the neural underpinnings of voluntary spatial, feature, and object attention, utilizing both EEG and fMRI techniques. I will highlight key findings related to attentional control in the frontal and parietal cortices, as well as how these processes influence sensory and perceptual processing. Additionally, I will present studies examining voluntary attention in free-choice conditions, where individuals exert their free will to direct attention without external guidance. The framework for this presentation is our Specificity of Control (SpoC) Model of attention, which highlights the microstructural organization of top-down control and the specificity of sensory biasing it imparts in the visual cortex. ABOUT THE SPEAKER: George R. Mangun, Ph.D., is the founding and now Co-Director of the Center for Mind and Brain, a Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neurology, and the former Dean of Social Sciences at the University of California, Davis. He received his doctoral degree in neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego, and has taught and conducted research at UC San Diego, Dartmouth College, and Duke University. His laboratory investigates brain mechanisms of perception and attention in health and disease. His team has identified many of the basic brain processes by which humans focus their attention and filter out distracting events, as well as how these processes break down in disorders of attention. In 1994, he chaired the founding committee of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, an international scientific society with over 3000 members; he continues to serve on the Governing Board for the society and is currently President and Treasurer of the corporate board. In 1998, he was the founding Director of the Duke University Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience. He is an active editor, and the author of numerous journal publications and books, including his celebrated foundational textbook, Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind. For a decade he was the Director of the Kavli Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience, a training program for doctoral and postdoctoral scholars that was supported by NIMH, NIDA, and the Kavli Foundation. From 2008 to 2015, Mangun served as Dean of Social Sciences at UC Davis, where he led the academic programs of ten university departments ranging from Anthropology and Psychology to Economics, Political Science, History and Philosophy. He is also an outspoken advocate for access and inclusion in higher education, and is currently serving as the founding co-chair of the College of Letters and Science Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee. Among other honors and awards, Professor Mangun received the Distinguished Early Career Contributions Award from the Society for Psychophysiological Research, an NIMH Senior Scientist Award, and a Distinguished Scientist Lecturer Award from the American Psychological Association. He is an elected fellow of both the Association for Psychological Science, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2024 he received the Award for Education in Neuroscience from the Society for Neuroscience, and was also named a Fulbright U.S. Distinguished Scholar.
Join us for an interactive in-person session with Roger Frosh, an expert in strategic communication and engagement. With experience working across academia, industry, and start-ups, Roger will share practical approaches to help researchers present their ideas clearly, connect with diverse audiences, and maximise the impact of their work.
COURSE DETAILS In this session we introduce RDM and the practical skill of developing Data Management Plans to manage your own data successfully. The Research Data Management (RDM) course answers these questions and more: How often do you consider how you’re managing this vital resource? Is your data secure and backed up? How can you demonstrate its integrity if challenged? Could your research make a greater impact by sharing data? What happens to your hard-won data when your project ends? LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this session you will: Have an appreciation of the importance of RDM and understand the research data management lifecycle. Confidently approach preparing a data management plan and apply the principles to your own research. Be able to locate sources of support and expertise around the University to help with different aspects of RDM.
We develop a novel measure of trust in the Federal Reserve using Generative Artificial Intelligence to analyse millions of tweets about the Fed, its leadership and its policy framework and decisions. Our measure reacts in an intuitive way to various macro-financial variables and indicators of U.S. monetary policy. To study the effects of trust shocks, we use a narrative identification approach based on ethical scandals embroiling some FOMC members, and we study the effects of these shocks using a daily VAR. We find that trust shocks have highly persistent effects on macroeconomic variables despite having short-lived effects on our trust measure: they weaken business conditions, the stock market and news sentiment, while increasing the VIX index. Inflation expectations also increase following a trust shock, worsening the inflation-output trade-off.
Different strands of science studies, including scientometrics and sociology of science, have produced a large body of works focused on specific dimensions of inequality manifesting at macro-, meso- and micro-levels of academia. However, the persistent divide between these works prevents a more holistic understanding of how social inequalities in a given field are interlinked and shape the knowledge it generates. Our multi-method study on inequality and its epistemic effects in forest research addresses this gap. Drawing on Bourdieusian sociology of science as a meta-theoretical frame, our project links bibliometrics, ethnography and content analysis to examine how gender- and geography-related inequalities affect scientific practices, the distribution of capital and knowledge outcomes in the field. In the first part of our presentation, we explain how we operationalise Bourdieusian theory for empirical study, and present selected bibliometric analyses of global forest science, and selected findings from a comparative database representation study and comparative content analysis focused on Tanzanian forest science. In the second part, we move from the macro- to the micro-level, sharing qualitative insights from the ethnographic research carried out in the context of our multi-method project. We specifically zoom into African-European research projects on forests and show how and why inequalities are reproduced in international collaborations, regardless of formal project constellations and contrary to individual intentions. The analysis highlights collaboration habitus as a concept explaining discrepancies between desired forms of collaboration and actual collaboration practice.
Student Presentations
By situating Hebrew textbooks for adults within their historical and social contexts, this lecture sheds light on the intricate relationship between pedagogy, national identity, and the challenges faced by immigrants adapting to a new homeland. Employing the concept of Entangled Histories, it connects global pedagogical knowledge of language instruction with the unique adaptations developed in Mandatory Palestine and the State of Israel for adult learners. Through an examination of Hebrew textbooks, their authors, and their integration into Hebrew classes for adults, often conducted as evening lessons, my research highlights the interplay between imported methodologies and local innovations. The lecture explores how Hebrew textbooks became a medium for navigating the tension between preserving cultural heritage and fostering integration into a rapidly evolving society. Rakefet Anzi is a PhD candidate in Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a 2024/25 Leo Baeck Fellow of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. Her dissertation explores Hebrew language education for adults in Mandatory Palestine and early Israel (1930s–1950s), focusing on its role in shaping national identity and society-building. She has been affiliated with the Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Center and the Cherrick Center, contributing to research on German-Jewish history and the Yishuv. In May–July 2025, Rakefet will be a Junior Visiting Scholar at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. Alongside her research, she teaches at the Hartman High School for Girls in Jerusalem, blending her passion for history and education.
For more than 20 years, my research has focused on the professional knowledge of mathematics teachers. In 2002 this research 'entered the classroom', to observe how teachers apply what they know in the act of teaching mathematics. The result was the Knowledge Quartet (KQ), a theoretical framework for analysing and developing mathematics teaching. I shall describe how the KQ emerged, and how the scope of the KQ has since been extended from its origins in English elementary classrooms - including the application of the KQ to the teaching of other disciplines, such as science, technology and English
Chin's humour-filled memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, tells his story about growing up Asian in Detroit and coming out to his working class immigrant family, all set against the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s, AIDS, and his family's popular Chinese restaurant. The book has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, as well as CBS Saturday Morning News and NBC News. It's also been honoured by the State of Michigan and the American Library Association. Curtis Chin is a co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City and served as the non-profits’ first Executive Director. He went on to write comedy for network and cable television before transitioning to social justice documentaries. Chin has screened his films at over 600 venues in twenty countries. He has written for CNN, Bon Appetit, the Detroit Free Press, and the Emancipator/Boston Globe. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and more. His memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, was published by Little, Brown in Fall 2023. His essay in Bon Appetit was selected for Best Food Writing in America 2023.
Are you preparing a poster presentation for an upcoming conference, meeting or symposium? This interactive session, or ‘poster clinic’, will include a group discussion of different examples of poster presentations, as well as an opportunity to present your own draft of your poster presentation to your fellow attendees. It is expected that the small group of peers in attendance will provide feedback and respectful comments on each other’s work. Intended audience: Students, staff and researchers from MSD and OUH.
In many markets, firms increase product complexity through add-on features, which can make the evaluation and comparison of products difficult, and thus increase buyers’ search cost. Does this product obfuscation limit buyers’ search behavior and induce them to buy overpriced products? And if so, why does competition not eliminate obfuscated products? We show – based on competitive experimental markets with surplus-enhancing obfuscation opportunities – that obfuscation via product complexity severely constrains the depth and breadth of buyers’ search. Sellers anticipate and take advantage of this by hiding unattractive product features and selling add-ons persistently above marginal cost. Even the most favorably priced product in the market is offered above marginal cost, and buyers persistently fail to find the best product such that inferior products have a good chance of being bought, leading to enduring price dispersion. Surplus-enhancing obfuscation opportunities are the causal driver of persistent profits and price dispersion because if we remove these opportunities, overall prices quickly converge to marginal cost. However, if add-ons merely complicate the products without generating additional surplus, obfuscation via product complexity becomes quite fragile because buyers display an aversion against complex products.
Calcium (Ca2+) is a requisite second messenger in all living organisms. From C. elegans to mammals, Ca2+ is necessary for locomotion, bodily functions, and neural activity. However, too much of a good thing can be bad. Intracellular Ca2+ overload can result in loss of function and death. Intracellular Ca2+ release channels evolved to safely provide large, rapid Ca2+ signals without exposure to toxic extracellular Ca2+. Ryanodine receptors (RyRs) are intracellular Ca2+ release channels present throughout the zoosphere. Over the past 35 years, our knowledge of RyRs has advanced to the level of atomic-resolution structures revealing their role in the mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of human disorders of heart, muscle, and brain. Stress-induced RyR-mediated intracellular Ca2+ leak in the heart can promote heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias. In skeletal muscle, RyR1 leak contributes to muscle weakness in inherited myopathies, to age-related loss of muscle function and cancer-associated muscle weakness, and to impaired muscle function in muscular dystrophies, including Duchenne. In the brain, leaky RyR channels contribute to cognitive dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease, posttraumatic stress disorder, and Huntington’s disease. Novel therapeutics targeting dysfunctional RyRs are showing promise.
Gravity shapes our everyday experiences, from apples falling from trees and the ebb and flow of tides to the motion of planets and galaxies. It also governs the universe's most extreme phenomena, such as the formation of black holes and the emission of gravitational waves. In this month's Balliol Online Lecture, Dr Romain Ruzziconi will trace the evolution of our understanding of gravity, from the major breakthroughs of Galileo, Newton, and Einstein to the modern concept of holography. Unravelling the mysteries of gravity helps us confront profound questions about the cosmos: What is the fate of an observer falling into a black hole? What are the origins of the universe itself? Dr Romain Ruzziconi is the Walker Early Career Fellow in Mathematical Physics at Balliol College and a Titchmarsh Research Fellow at the Oxford Mathematical Institute, his core subject area is theoretical high-energy physics. His research focuses on theoretical aspects of classical and quantum gravity, employing the methods of holography, asymptotic symmetries, and scattering amplitudes. Currently, his work is concentrated on flat space holography and exploring the interplay between celestial amplitudes and Carrollian physics. He is leaving his Balliol fellowship a year early, in October 2025, to take up a Global Marie Curie Fellowship at Harvard and the École Polytechnique Paris.
*Carlo Ginzburg will present the Oxford Centre for European History and Isaiah Berlin Annual Lecture* *Carlo Ginzburg* received a PhD from the University of Pisa in 1961 and has held teaching positions in several universities across Italy and America, including the University of Bologna, and the University of California, Los Angeles. His areas of specialism range from the Italian Renaissance to early modern European history, and he is a pioneer in the field of microhistory – intense investigations of well-defined topics leading to broader generalisations. Professor Ginzburg has published a significant number of papers and books on topics from witchcraft and agrarian cults in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (1966), to Morelli, Freud, and Sherlock Holmes (1984).
COURSE DETAILS You will learn how to read a group, deal with difficult situations, use humour, match your presentation to the audience, and make an impact. You will learn how to get your message across so it is remembered. You will learn about timing and when you should deliver key messages. You will develop your self-awareness and understand its role in presenting. LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this session you will understand more about: How to structure your presentation for impact. How your psychological state affects your presentation skills and how you can manage it. How to read a group and how to deal with difficult situations. How to deliver your presentation with more confidence.
If you are planning to run a ‘non-CTIMP’ research study this introductory course is for you. Not all research is subject to clinical trials regulations, but the same standards of conduct apply. This course in Good Clinical Research Practice covers the legislation that applies to ‘non-CTIMP’ research, along with the detailed principles of good practice in clinical research studies. This three-hour online course consists of trainers’ led presentations, short video-talks from those experienced in the conduct of clinical research and interactive exercises. The course is run by the experienced research support specialists from the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospital’s Joint Research Office, JRO. Join this online presentation through Microsoft Teams for an overview of: • Purpose of Good Clinical Research Practice including historical background • Difference between Clinical Care and Research Practice • Ethical and Regulatory Considerations in the UK • Research Study Requirements and Documentation • Research Study Conduct and Management
Newspapers are a valuable resource for researching not only news but also many other aspects of political, economic, social and cultural life. In this session we will introduce key online sources of news and how to make best use of them. The focus will be on historical and contemporary newspapers from the 17th century across most countries of the world. After the session participants will understand: the value of newspapers in research; the difficulties of using newspapers in research and effective search techniques, and be able to use a range of sources for searching and reading. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers and other staff.
If you are interested in attending any of these events, please send an email to plp@law.ox.ac.uk to indicate i) which events you plan to attend, ii) whether you would like to join the speaker for dinner that evening, iii) whether you plan to attend the student seminar accompanying the Colloquium. For more information, visit the PLP Colloquium website: www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-and-subject-groups/jurisprudence-oxford/PLP-colloquium where up-to-date information is listed.
COURSE DETAILS The course will include: Critique of readability in relevant papers. Use of tenses in academic papers. Writing with impact. Concise writing. Grammar and proof reading. Scientific table and chart technique. LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of the session participants will be able to: Develop understanding of the characteristics of scientific writing; write in simple, clear and concise scientific English. Develop knowledge of how to write grammatically correct English. Improve proof reading skills; organise the sections of a scientific paper effectively. Develop a scientific argument with appropriate language that conveys the message effectively. Make effective use of charts and tables.
In this online interactive workshop, you will learn how to create an effective search query and have the opportunity to try out a range of tools that you can use to search for scholarly materials to support your research. You will: learn how to find books and other scholarly items in Oxford libraries using SOLO; search for journal articles using subject databases and scholarly search engines; and be signposted towards learning materials you can use if you are interested in searching for conference proceedings, theses and dissertations. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers and other staff.
From what time we wake up to what we choose to wear to whom we marry, choice is a defining feature of the human experience. Sheena Iyengar, S.T. Lee Professor of Business at Columbia Business School, has spent decades studying the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms behind decision-making—why we choose, how choices impact our happiness, and whether more choices empower or overwhelm us. Blending empirical research with real-world applications, Iyengar challenges common assumptions to show how complex our decision-making processes truly are. Are more choices enabling or crippling? Does careful planning always help us make better decisions? How does our environment affect our preferences? Her research spans healthcare, consumer behavior, medicine, leadership, and innovation to uncover the hidden dynamics of choice. By deepening our understanding of the forces that drive decisions, Iyengar equips us to choose with greater awareness, confidence, and clarity—whether that means exercising our freedom to choose well or recognizing when we would rather not choose at all. SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY Sheena S. Iyengar is the S.T. Lee Professor of Business and the Academic Director of the Innovation Hub at the Columbia Business School. She is one of the world’s experts on choice and innovation. Iyengar is the recipient of the Thinkers50 2023 Innovation Award and the author of two award-winning books, The Art of Choosing (2010 Financial Times Business Book of the Year and #3 Bestselling Business Book on Amazon) and Think Bigger: How to Innovate (2023 Gold Medal recipient for the Axiom Business Book Awards and Thinkers50 Top 10 Management Book of the Year). Her recorded TED Talks have received a collective 7 million views. She regularly appears in top tier media such as The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The New Yorker, The Economist, Bloomberg Businessweek, CNBC, CNN, The BBC, and NPR. Iyengar is famously recognized her “Jam Study,” which revolutionized how we approach product offerings and customer curation. The study revealed that too many choices reduce customer purchasing and corporate growth. Since then, over 1,000 studies on choice overload have been conducted, leading to the widely recognized 80/20 rule, which shows that 80% of a company’s outcomes (outputs and revenue) come from 20% of causes (inputs and choices). Leveraging her expertise in choice, Iyengar has advised hundreds of companies across business, technology, consumer retail, media, consulting, investing, and STEM, helping them transform decision-making and enhance stakeholder experiences. Iyengar created the Think Bigger method for innovative thinking and problem-solving based on recent advances in neuro- and cognitive sciences. Where prevailing methods for innovation, such as Design Thinking, teach customer research and feedback methods, Think Bigger concentrates on how creative ideas form in your mind and teaches a six-step process for innovation. In 2024, Iyengar was awarded the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP) Scientific Impact Award. She was ranked by the Thinkers50 as a Top 10 Management Thinker in 2023. In 2022, Iyengar was ranked by the Asian American Business Development Center as one of the 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in Business. She received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the CBS Executive MBA Class of 2021. In 2012, Iyengar was recognized by Poets and Quants as one of the Best Business School Professors for her work merging academia with practice. In 2002, she was the only social scientist to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the Office of the President. Iyengar holds a dual degree from the University of Pennsylvania, with a BS in Economics from the Wharton School and a BA in psychology from the College of Arts and Sciences. She received her PhD from Stanford University. In her personal life, as a blind woman, Iyengar intuitively used Think Bigger to find her calling and strives to inspire others to do the same.
What’s new in inflammatory bowel disease? Public information event What’s on… What’s new & what’s coming in medicine & surgery? State of the art lecture (Dr Alissa Walsh, Dr Oliver Brain & Mr Mark Bignell) Diet and IBD: Progress at last (Professor Kevin Whelan, London). Presentations on the latest research into the management of Crohn’s disease & Ulcerative Colitis Growing up with IBD: State of the art lecture (Dr Hannah Gordon & Professor Holm Uhlig) Panel Question & Answers Session Presentations from charities CCUK and CICRA We are very pleased to invite you to attend our third educational evening focussing on progress in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Presentations from Oxford consultants and specialists will cover latest progress in the medical and surgical management of these diseases, current research studies, and a special session focussing on young people growing up with inflammatory bowel disease. In addition, we are delighted that Professor Kevin Whelan, from King’s College London is coming to give a state of the art talk on diet and inflammatory bowel disease. He is a well-recognised expert in this area. All of the speakers will take part in a Question & Answer session. There is no charge for the event, and we will plan to make arrangements for car parking, and refreshments. If you are not able to attend, but would still like to ask a question, please ask here: https://forms.office.com/e/Bn5J63ic5y
Please contact "$":mailto:sarah.apetrei@campion.ox.ac.uk for the Teams link to join remotely.
The aim of the seminar is to foster a dynamic and interdisciplinary postcolonial research culture supportive of individual scholarship. Finalists, M.St. and D.Phil. students, lecturers, fellows, scholars from across the university community – all are welcome. If you’d like to appear on the seminar mailing list, please email zana.mody@kellogg.ox.ac.uk, riley.faulds@worc.ox.ac.uk OR hannah.fagan@mansfield.ox.ac.uk
This talk explores the contested evolution of Denmark’s national assessment and quality assurance system, focusing on its decade-long experiment with adaptive online testing in public education—examining its design, purpose, and implementation. National tests have long been at the centre of political and professional debate, a contention that intensified as new assessment policies took shape before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The talk investigates how key stakeholders—teachers, school leaders, politicians, and civil servants—have navigated these shifting policies, negotiating the role of standardized assessment in a changing educational landscape. Critically engaging with the role of expertise in education policy, the talk questions the extent to which knowledge and evidence genuinely inform decision-making. It also unpacks the influence of bureaucratic logics, political agendas, and intermediary actors in shaping assessment policies, highlighting the tensions between research-based policymaking and political imperatives. By examining Denmark’s evolving approach to national testing and the broader mechanisms of quality assurance, this talk offers insights into the power dynamics, institutional structures, and governance processes that shape the development and transformation of assessment policies in democratic education systems. Online link registration: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NGJjM2FhMjYtNTYxMS00N2UxLTllNGQtMjZlOTg4ZTYyM2U1%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22cc95de1b-97f5-4f93-b4ba-fe68b852cf91%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%227e40180b-c61c-4bbb-b2cc-6ab5136a4dca%22%7d
The Chief Medical Officer has confirmed that attendance at the Surgical Grand Rounds can count toward internal CPD, with 1 point awarded per hour. Please note that in-person attendance is required, and you will need to sign the attendance register. Please email Louise King (louise.king@nds.ox.ac.uk) if you would like to attend online.
Scholars have used the concept of the 'Komnenian Restoration' of Byzantium for many years, and yet the term has never received a critical analysis: what did the Komnenoi believe they were restoring? Did they achieve any of their aims, in what ways, and what was the legacy of their successes and failures? This symposium aims to gather both established and emerging Komnenian Scholars to analyse these questions, and to do so across all fields including cultural, religious, administrative, legal and societal history as well as military. Likewise, it will have an especial focus on the Komnenian legacy, both towards the Byzantine successor states of the 13th century, and also the Turkish and Latin polities that arose after their 12th century peak. This symposium will also discuss the publication of a handbook of Komnenian scholars, and so welcome attendees who would also consider contributing to such a volume. This event will also involve associated cultural events, such as a workshop on Komnenian manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. For more information, and to register interest in attending, please fill in the online form: https://forms.gle/dneAq4okLfQkpL99A, by 14 April 2025 – late contact will be considered, but the event may have reached capacity by then.
The lecture will be followed by a discussion with Paula Chan, Faisal Devji, and Alexander Morrison, and a drinks reception.
Primary: William Morris, News from Nowhere (1890): Chapters 12-16 Supplementary: William Morris, ‘Unattractive Labour’ (1885); Attractive Labour’ (1885); ‘As to Bribing Excellence’ (1895)
The Middle East Centre is honoured to host this year's Devaki Jain Lecture. The series, established in 2015 by Devaki Jain, welcomes esteemed women speakers from the South. Past speakers have included Dr Graça Machel, Professor Eudine Barriteau, and Dr Noeleen Heyzer. https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/middle-east-centre/middle-east-centre/middle-east-events/
Scholars have used the concept of the 'Komnenian Restoration' of Byzantium for many years, and yet the term has never received a critical analysis: what did the Komnenoi believe they were restoring? Did they achieve any of their aims, in what ways, and what was the legacy of their successes and failures? This symposium aims to gather both established and emerging Komnenian Scholars to analyse these questions, and to do so across all fields including cultural, religious, administrative, legal and societal history as well as military. Likewise, it will have an especial focus on the Komnenian legacy, both towards the Byzantine successor states of the 13th century, and also the Turkish and Latin polities that arose after their 12th century peak. This symposium will also discuss the publication of a handbook of Komnenian scholars, and so welcome attendees who would also consider contributing to such a volume. This event will also involve associated cultural events, such as a workshop on Komnenian manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. For more information, and to register interest in attending, please fill in the online form: https://forms.gle/dneAq4okLfQkpL99A, by 14 April 2025 – late contact will be considered, but the event may have reached capacity by then.
China Centre Book Talk: Institutional Genes: The Origins of China’s Institutions and Totalitarianism by Chenggang Xu (Cambridge University Press, 2025) This book explores the origins and evolution of China’s institutions and communist totalitarianism in general. Contemporary China's fundamental institution is communist totalitarianism. Introducing the concept of Institutional Genes (IGs), the book examines how the IGs of Soviet Russia merged with those of the Chinese imperial system, creating a durable totalitarian regime with Chinese characteristics. Institutional Genes are fundamental institutional elements that self-replicate, guide institutional changes, and are empirically identifiable. The book first analyses the rise of communist totalitarian ideology in Europe and how it led to the creation of a totalitarian system based on the Tsarist Russian IGs. It then examines the origins and evolution of the IGs of the Chinese imperial system, focusing on how these IGs combined with the communist totalitarian IGs introduced to China by the Comintern. This fusion enabled the CCP to establish a totalitarian regime in China. The book further discusses the institutional changes during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, analysing how the hybrid of Soviet totalitarian IGs and traditional Chinese IGs gave rise to a Regionally Administered Totalitarian (RADT) system. It also explores how the RADT system facilitated China's rapid economic development during the reform and opening-up period, not only saving the CCP but also transforming China into a totalitarian superpower. The ascent of communist totalitarian China echoes Mises' warning that efforts to halt totalitarianism have failed. Reversing this trend necessitates a thorough understanding of totalitarianism. Chenggang Xu is an economist specializing in political economics, institutional economics, law and economics, and Chinese political economy. He is a Senior Research Scholar at SCCEI, Stanford University, a Board Member of the Ronald Coase Institute, and a Research Fellow at CEPR (Center for Economic and Policy Research). Before retiring from the University of Hong Kong, he was the Chung Hon-Dak Professor of Economics there, a Special-Term Professor at Tsinghua University, and a World-Class University Professor at Seoul National University. He was also a Reader (tenured) at the London School of Economics until 2009 and served as the President of the Asian Law and Economics Association, as well as a consultant for the World Bank and the IMF. He has frequently appeared in the media to analyse and comment on China’s political economy. Dr Xu obtained his PhD in Economics from Harvard in 1991. He was the recipient of the 2013 Sun Yefang Prize and the first recipient of the Chinese Economics Prize in 2016.
This paper maps the political trajectories of U Ottama (1879-1939), an anti-colonial revolutionary and Buddhist monk who mobilized the sangha and laymen in Burma into political action in the early 20th century. U Ottama’s politics was shaped by his travels across Buddhist Asia, especially India where he spent two decades intimately involved in the project of Buddhist revival, and Japan, the Asian exemplar of political and religious sovereignty. In his quest for spiritual and temporal freedom, U Ottama invoked the sacred geography of India – the birthplace of Buddhism – and its political destiny with which he believed Burma’s was inextricably entangled. At the same time, Hindu reformers within the Arya Samaj and All India Mahasabha aligned themselves with the movement for Buddhist revival in their projections of Greater India. U Ottama served as the “living link” between the spiritual and temporal manifestations of Hindu-Buddhist proximity in the 1920s and 30s, becoming the president of the All India Hindu Mahasabha in 1935. Shifting focus away from the territorial nationalisms of anticolonial politics in the inter-war years, this paper argues that the Pan-Asian projects of Buddhist revival and Greater India coalesced around the imagined existential threat posed by Muslims in India and Burma that produced a shared politics of Hindu-Buddhist religious majoritarianism that continues to reverberate across South Asia till today. Bio: Sana Aiyar is Associate Professor of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her broad research interests lie in the regional and transnational history of South Asia and South Asian diasporas, with a particular focus on colonial and nationalist politics and society across the Indian Ocean. She is author of Indians in Kenya: Politics of Diaspora (HUP, 2015) and is currently completing a book manuscript on India and Burma in the 1920s and 30s. She is also Research Director and Co-curator of South Asia and the Institute: Transformative Connections.
“It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” This maxim, frequently attributed to Frederic Jameson, seems to reflect much of the content of our daily news, fueling a growing preoccupation, both political and artistic, with dystopias and decline. But there are also counter efforts – Post capitalist literature, for one. A unique experiment took place in Israel in the years 2020-2023: a think tank was established, dedicated to envisioning a new social and economic reality in the Middle East. Following a year of concentrated research and debate, four fiction writers set out to write novels encapsulating such a reality, so that readers may begin to engage with concrete possibilities for its realisation. The lecture will present the process of this collaborative investigation, the models and questions considered, and the four novellas written as a result, that illustrate and elucidate how such a future might be imagined. The presentation will be followed by discussion and drinks. The event is free. Advance registration below is required from all attendees. This event will take place in accordance with the framework developed by a number of Oxford colleges, including Worcester College, to promote free speech at Oxford. Details of this framework and ‘tips’ for productive discussion of difficult topics are to be found at: www.worc.ox.ac.uk/fos. By attending this event, attendees agree to adhere to these guidelines and the terms and conditions of the event which uphold Worcester College’s commitment to freedom of speech: www.worc.ox.ac.uk/fos/massada-2025
LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of the session, participants will have: Developed an awareness of what makes a presentation effective. Understood why planning and practice are crucial to the success of a presentation. The confidence to choose and use a variety of techniques to engage the audience. Practiced delivering a short presentation and gained constructive feedback. INTENDED FOR PGR and Research Staff with limited experience of giving presentations.
1. Zhao J et al. Intracerebral hemorrhage among blood donors and their transfusion recipients. JAMA 2023;330:941-950; 2. Kaiser JH, Zhang C, Kamel H, Navi BB, Razzak J, Liberman AL. Stroke risk after emergency department treat-and-release visit for a fall. Stroke 2024;55:2247-8; 3. Berghout BP, Heshmatollah A, Bos D, Kavousi M, Ikram MK. Risk of cardiovascular diseases after nonfocal transient neurologic attacks in the elderly: the Rotterdam study. Neurology 2025;104:e210214
We study the role of financial frictions in determining the allocation of investment and innovation. Empirically, we find that established firms are investment-intensive when they have low net worth but become innovation-intensive as they accumulate net worth. To interpret these findings, we develop an endogenous growth model with heterogeneous firms and financial frictions. In our model, firms are investment-intensive when they have low net worth because their returns to capital are high. Financial frictions determine the rate at which firms drive down the returns to capital and shift towards innovation. Quantitatively, the aggregate losses due to lower innovation are large, even though the allocation of capital to existing ideas is comparatively efficient. If innovation has positive spillovers, a planner would lower investment among constrained firms to finance more innovation. An innovation subsidy does not generate the correct distribution of investment and innovation to exactly decentralize this outcome.
Faculty Presentations
Against the backdrop of the (pseudo)expansion of higher education in Nigeria, this presentation develops an understanding of the everyday work that goes into enacting disability inclusion policies in higher education institutions in Nigeria. Through a decolonial institutional ethnography, it brings the social organisation of policy texts (Smith, 2005) in dialogue with the colonial matrix of power (Quijano, 2007) to explicate how and why higher education policies and practices in Nigeria are still trapped in the ideological knowing and doing of disability, inclusion and inclusive education. Drawing ethnographic interviews conducted with students with disabilities (SWDs) and other policy “actors”, such as disability unit staff, lecturers, and principal officers across three universities in Nigeria, this seminar shows how disability discourses, institutional policies, and support services are being deployed to “contain” the experience of students with disabilities in higher education institutions. It maps the daily and nightly “policy work” SWD undertake to access, participate, and transform universities that are not designed for people like them.
Refugee camps, regardless of location, are supposed to be “temporary,” a euphemism for biopolitical holding pens that have no end in sight. Host countries thus do not allow permanent structures, and shelters must be made of perishable materials. Such constraints cause particular problems for a camp of the scale of Kutupalong, Bangladesh, which hosts around 900,000 Rohingya. The government of Bangladesh, the UN, and over 100 NGOs who are responsible for this massive population have different agendas and modus operandi. Architects in charge of shelters and public structures must negotiate the tensions between these different groups and between host communities and migrants. This talk will focus on architect Rizvi Hassan. Working closely with refugees, he emphasizes their resilience and creativity rather than victimhood. The fruit of participatory collaboration, the final designs incorporate their artistic skills and help alleviate trauma by giving visible form to the memories of their lost homes and villages. Esther da Costa Meyer, Professor emerita in the Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, was the Vincent Scully Visiting Professor of Architectural History, Yale School of Architecture (2019) and the Kirk Varnedoe Visiting Professor at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts (2024). Her research has focused on the architectural practices of old colonial powers and the resilient cultures of resistance in colonized nations. Her book Dividing Paris: Urban Renewal and Social Inequality, 1852-1870 (Princeton University Press, 2022), won the French Heritage Society Book Award in 2024. In recent years, her teaching has centered on architecture’s complicity with climate change, as well as the architecture of refugee camps around the world.
The abolition of slavery remains a relatively new concept in human history and scholars from all religious traditions have attempted to navigate the religious and ethical questions raised by the historical acceptance of the practice. In this seminar, Haroon Bashir explores how scholars promoting abolition in the name of Islam transformed the debate around Islam and slavery. The seminar explores how abolitionism became the hegemonic position within contemporary Islamic thought and provides a genealogy of ‘Islamic abolitionist’ thought. Abolitionist arguments were not simply accepted when originally articulated, with defenders of the slave trade using the weight of historical tradition to emphasise the legitimacy of slavery. The strongly contested debates that ensued had huge ramifications for understandings of authority, tradition, and modernity within Islamic thought that are as present as they are past.
The Bingham Lecture in Constitutional Studies is an annual lecture series, established in 2014 in honour of Lord Bingham of Cornhill (History 1957, Honorary Fellow and Visitor) through generous gifts from a former colleague of Bingham’s. The lectures aim to encourage a greater understanding of, and interest in, constitutional matters amongst members of Balliol — past, present, and future. Relationships between the UK and devolved governments are central to the effective functioning of devolution and ultimately to the stability of the Union. Intergovernmental relations (IGR) can help manage interdependencies, foster cooperation in the face of common policy challenges, and help to prevent and resolve intergovernmental disputes. Or, conversely, poor IGR can generate competition, tensions and mistrust. Yet, IGR have long been the weak link in the UK’s system of devolution and in the years following the Brexit referendum, they were placed under considerable strain. The Labour Party entered office with a commitment to resetting those relationships. This lecture will reflect on developments in IGR since the general election, set within a broader context of intergovernmental dynamics over the past decade. In so doing, it draws upon the family metaphor and concepts from the study of families and relationships to lend insight into evolving relationships between the UK’s four governments. Professor Nicola McEwen is a Professor of Public Policy and Governance in the College of Social Sciences and Director of the Centre for Public Policy at the University of Glasgow. She was previously at Edinburgh University from 2001, first as Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer in 2006, and as Professor of Territorial Politics from 2014. She was founding Co-Director of the Centre on Constitutional Change, where she remains a Research Fellow. Nicola completed a Senior Research Fellowship with the ESRC UK in a Changing Europe, having previously been Principal Investigator of one of its prestigious Brexit Priority Grants. Her project, entitled A Family of Nations? Brexit, Devolution and the Union, explored intergovernmental relations in UK-EU negotiations, and the implications of Brexit for devolution and the future of the Union. From 2019-2022, she was Research Fellow in a major ESRC-funded project, Between Two Unions: The Constitutional Future of the Islands after Brexit, where she led the research strand charting the evolution of intergovernmental relations. She has published widely in the field of territorial politics, nationalism, multi-level government and policy-making, and multi-level parties and elections. She is actively involved in informing debate within the wider policy and political community, through with extensive experience in providing analysis in broadcast, print and social media, public engagement, advice to governments and parliamentary committees, and consultancy.
Are you looking for a streamlined approach to gathering, managing and citing your references? Join us for this interactive online session in which we introduce Zotero, a reference management tool that helps you to collect and manage references and insert them into your word-processor document as in-text citations or footnotes, as well as generating bibliographies. The demonstration will be on Windows although Zotero is also available for Mac and Linux. By the end of the session, you will understand: how Zotero can help you; how to add references to Zotero from a range of sources; how to manage your references; how to add in-text citations and/or footnotes to your documents; how to create bibliographies; and where to get help with Zotero. Please note that, whilst this session is mostly aimed at beginners, there will be a chance at the end to ask more specific questions about how to use Zotero. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers and other staff.
COURSE DETAILS During the course you will have the opportunity to manage a project. You will be able to apply the techniques you learn to a project that you bring along. Topics covered: project initiation, managing stakeholders and risk, time estimation, planning. LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this session you will understand more about: The importance of planning. The tools to make project management succeed. How to estimate the time a project will take realistically. The skills you need to be a good project manager.
Enhance your critical thinking and research skills in this practical workshop designed for undergraduate students. Learn to question assumptions, analyse sources critically, and develop information discovery and search strategies that will set you apart in your academic studies. By the end of this session, you will be able to: describe what critical thinking is; understand a critical thinking method; apply the method to your academic work; and explain the fundamentals of conducting research, including how to evaluate information sources in SOLO. Intended audience: Oxford undergraduate students.
Coaching skills can help you build positive and effective working relationships with all those you work with. Coaching is a highly impactful approach to people development and can support individuals to identify goals, gain insights into challenges, consider options and plan actions. They are a valuable asset to leaders and managers and can be useful in a range of workplace conversations, such as feedback, delegation and career development reviews.
Measuring and combatting bias has been a central focus of policy and research in domains including employment, courts, news, medicine, college admissions, and AI. Yet notions of a what it means for a decision to be unbiased remain contested and often contradictory. I present a unified framework to define notions of bias and lack of bias across these and other domains, consider when "unbiased" is (or often isn't) a helpful concept, relate these definitions to empirical evidence, and draw lessons for those seeking to combat harmful biases in society.
John Bowers in conversation with Amelia Gentleman, journalist who will discuss her work on the Windrush scandal.
COURSE DETAILS This highly interactive workshop will be based around an example of writing an explainer or news article for the wider, non-specialist public website (though the lessons can be applied to any communication context). It is highly recommended that you will have already attended the introductory workshop (Telling Stories That Matter), or equivalent introductory workshops on storytelling. Brief reading material will be provided to ensure you are up to date with the fundamentals of storytelling that are the basis of this workshop. LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of the course participants will be able to: Apply storytelling elements to their research story. Increase understanding of effective storytelling elements including summary and clarity.
Create content for your teaching or research with greater confidence by attending our session on Creative Commons (CC) licences. Learn how they work, how they interact with copyright and how to use them to best effect. The session will make special reference to images but is applicable to all media, including written works. The workshop is classroom-based. In this playful, interactive face-to-face session we will cover: what Creative Commons Licences are; where to find Creative Commons material; how to apply Creative Commons to your own work; and how to reuse Creative Commons materials. We’ll finish the session with a Creative Commons card game. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers and other staff.
An online introduction to primary sources for the study of American history, from the colonial period to the 20th century. The session will provide an overview of the different kinds of information sources (early printed books, newspapers, databases and official records), and guidance on locating material for research. Collections highlighted include physical materials available in Oxford, Bodleian databases and other online resources. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers, and other staff.
For our next talk, in Machine Learning, we will be hearing from Dr Shishir Rao, Senior Research Scientist, Deep Medicine research group, NDWRH, University of Oxford. We’re delighted to host Shishir in what promises to be a great talk! Date: Thursday 29 May Time: 14:00 – 15:00 Talk title: TBC Location: Seminar room 1 Bio Bio: Dr Shishir Rao is a senior research scientist in the Deep Medicine research group led by Professor Kazem Rahimi focusing on developing and applying AI tools for understanding chronic diseases using multimodal healthcare data. Rao co-leads multiple AI projects in the research group focusing on perinatal risk assessment, musculoskeletal conditions, and heart failure. His research emphasises Transformer-based architectures for electronic health records (EHR) analysis, having pioneered the BEHRT model—the first Transformer for multimodal EHR. He also develops frameworks for causal inference with a focus on bridging advanced computational methods with practical clinical applications. He currently serves as AI methodological advisor for Heart, the BMJ family cardiology journal. ———————————————————————————————————————— All members of the University are welcome to join, please let reception at BDI know you’re here for the seminar and sign-in. We hope you can join us! As a reminder, the Machine Learning seminar is intended to increase interaction between individuals working in ML across Oxford. We encourage in-person attendance where possible. There is time for discussion over, tea, coffee and pastries after the talks. Hybrid Option: Please note that these meetings are closed meetings and only open to members of the University of Oxford to encourage sharing of new and unpublished data. Please respect our speakers and do not share the link with anyone outside of the university. MS Teams: Meeting ID: 366 526 840 766 Passcode: ih6Mt6VK ——————————————————————————————————— If you wish to know more or receive information related to trainings and events at BDI, please subscribe by emailing bdi-announce-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk. You’ll then receive an email from SYMPA and once you reply you’ll be on the list!
Join via: https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/tosca
Please contact "$":mailto:sarah.apetrei@campion.ox.ac.uk for the Teams link to join remotely.
The Chief Medical Officer has confirmed that attendance at the Surgical Grand Rounds can count toward internal CPD, with 1 point awarded per hour. Please note that in-person attendance is required, and you will need to sign the attendance register. Please email Louise King (louise.king@nds.ox.ac.uk) if you would like to attend online.
Primary: William Morris, News from Nowhere (1890): Chapters 17-18 Supplementary: E.P. Thompson, ‘William Morris’ (1959)
Curious about using AI to find research papers? Not sure how to properly reference GenAI and avoid plagiarism? This beginner-friendly workshop introduces three GenAI tools (ChatGPT, Elicit, and Perplexity), showing how they can support information discovery and analysis. Designed for those new to AI, this practical session will allow you to independently experiment with these tools and participate in group discussions to explore their strengths, limitations, and suitability for different tasks. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers, and other staff who are new to AI.
Are you planning to present a poster at an upcoming conference, meeting or symposium? This introductory session will provide you with some top tips on how to create a poster presentation which will help you to communicate your research project and data effectively. There will be guidance on formatting, layout, content, use of text, references and images, as well as advice on printing and presenting your poster. This session will also provide help with locating resources such as templates, free-to-use images and poster guidelines. Intended audience: Students, staff and researchers from MSD and OUH.
Can competition or cooperation for economic gain affect people's social perceptions of others? This paper experimentally examines this possible link from the economic to the social realm. Subjects engage in a task facing either a tournament or a cooperative pay scheme, after which subjects are asked their social perceptions of their counterparts in the task -- how similar they are and how much they have in common. The pay schemes do not affect answers to the subjective similarity measure but significantly influence subjects' reports of commonality. Subjects who compete with counterparts for pay report fewer traits in common with their counterparts than do subjects facing the cooperative scheme. This treatment effect emerges even though our novel measure of commonality provides incentives to report accurately the number of common traits.
TBC
Join on Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_OTNiZGM1MzItOTcwOS00YThjLWJmYTAtZGFjZGM1YzkyNjQw%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22cc95de1b-97f5-4f93-b4ba-fe68b852cf91%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2275f39f15-fefd-45cf-b904-2e2174db4aa1%22%7d
TBA
COURSE DETAILS You will learn how to choose the best journal for your work, negotiate the peer review process and deal with reviewer comments. The course will cover: Why publish and how that affects how you publish. The structure of a paper. What to include in the title and abstract. Open access. Impact metrics and citations. Ways to get published more quickly. Publicising your paper once it is published. LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of the session participants will be able to: Develop and understanding of the peer review process. Construct an effective title and abstract. Be equipped to choose journals for future papers. Be equipped to publicise future papers. PREVIOUS PARTICIPANTS HAVE SAID "Nice to have a professional with an in-depth industry knowledge offer training and advice.'" "The course was excellent and very well delivered. there was a real sense of professionalism.'" "Now it doesn't feel so scary to try to publish a paper.'" INTENDED FOR DPhil students and research staff. The course is suitable for DPhil students and postdocs who want to understand the publishing process better, whether or not they have already submitted a paper.
So, you’ve got a great idea for a research study – but what approvals do you need before you can start? Who do you apply to? And how do you go about doing this? Join an online presentation through Microsoft Teams for an overview of: • how research is governed in the UK • which approval bodies are involved • a step-by-step guide on how to apply for approval • handling amendments to your study
Join us for a digital scholarship coffee gathering - tea and coffee will be provided. If you'd like to get an email reminder of these coffee mornings please sign up for that here: https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/oxford/digital-scholarship-coffee-morning-keep-in-touch
We isolate the main driver of equity risk premium fluctuations in the data, and show that this same shock also explains a large fraction of the business-cycle comovements of output, consumption, employment, and investment. Recessions associated with this shock are characterized by a reallocation away from full-time labor positions, and towards part-time and flexible contract workers. We explain the data using a novel real model where fluctuations in risk appetite lead to a shift from riskier to safer factors of production. Since safer factors carry lower marginal products – a form of real risk premium – this “flight-to-safety” in production input demand precipitates a broad macroeconomic contraction.
Landfills in Delhi are often in the public eye, either because of raging fires, oozing leachate in the ground water or their mismanagement in terms of increasing heights, landslides of waste mounds, followed by subsequent mishaps and accidents. These landfills are often seen as sight of ‘disgust’, dangerous discards, and are today at the centre of policy and public deliberation. Representing sites and the epitome of unchecked production and consumerism, landfills today have become living and animated monuments of the Anthropocene. Despite this increasing visibility of landfills in Delhi, precious little is known about the lives of waste pickers and other residents involved in ancillary activities and making a living. In this article I examine how the most marginalised individuals from various lower-caste communities are relegated to the city's periphery and experience their immediate ‘toxic’ environment, and simultaneously, revalue the discarded sites and materials through their labour by recreating liveable
Student Presentations
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are transforming cell biology, yet the inherent variability among iPSC lines and challenges in accurately characterizing iPSC-derived cell types have limited their broader use in preclinical screening. In this seminar, an innovative imaging assay is presented that combines cell painting with convolutional neural networks to reliably identify cell types even in dense, mixed cultures. The method is benchmarked using pure and mixed cultures of neuroblastoma and astrocytoma cell lines, achieving classification accuracies exceeding 96%. Furthermore, the approach is refined by focusing on the nuclear region and its immediate environment, which maintains high accuracy even under challenging, high-density conditions. The targeted profiling strategy is further applied to iPSC-derived neural cultures to assess differentiation status by quantifying the ratio of postmitotic neurons to neural progenitors, with cell-based predictions outperforming traditional time-in-culture metrics (96% vs. 86%). In mixed iPSC-derived neuronal cultures, microglia are unequivocally discriminated from neurons, and a tiered analysis allows for further distinction between activated and non-activated microglial states, albeit with lower accuracy. Thus, morphological single-cell profiling is demonstrated as an effective means to monitor cell composition in complex neural cultures, holding great promise for enhancing quality control in iPSC-derived cell models for preclinical applications.
Oxford DPhil students are required to deposit a copy of their thesis in the Oxford University Research Archive (ORA). This online session will focus on what ORA is and how to deposit one's thesis in ORA, and how to access help with this process. It will also cover the relevant rights and permissions required and other issues that DPhil students need to take into account when preparing their thesis for upload to ORA. Topics include: what ORA is and what you need to deposit; how to deposit your thesis in ORA; observing relevant rights and permissions; and accessing help with depositing your thesis in ORA. Intended audience: All doctoral research students.
3MT is a competition which challenges doctoral students to explain their research in just 180 seconds. Come and hear about some of the incredible research that oxford doctoral students are pursuing. All are welcome to watch our finalists present. Audience seats are available on a first come, first served basis.
Join us for an insightful discussion on the future of AI in industry, featuring real-world perspectives from business leaders and AI practitioners. Key Themes to be Explored: How AI is influencing business strategies and operations. The evolving role of AI in different industries. Real-world experiences of implementing AI-driven solutions. Emerging trends in AI adoption and development. AI safety: ensuring responsible and ethical AI use, preventing unintended consequences.
Circumscribing cities like Venice and Ravenna, the area around the Mediterranean provides a continuous source of research material for academics working on Byzantine and medieval art. My lecture focuses on mosaics and frescoes produced along the coastline of this sea.
The Oxford Centre for Intellectual History Graduate Conference will take place on Thursday 5 June 2025. The conference will be run as a hybrid event, with the opportunity for all attendees to join us online or in person at Keble College, University of Oxford. This year's theme is Anachronism and History. We are interested in receiving papers from current graduate students relating to contemporary discussions of anachronism and history in intellectual history and related disciplines. This event is an opportunity for graduate students to present their research and network with similar researchers at Oxford and other institutions. See below for more details What is anachronism in history, and how is history being used anachronistically today? These questions are particularly pressing at a moment when historians are more frequently consulted on public issues than scholars from any other discipline. Anachronism in history raises complex questions about how people in the past thought, felt, and acted according to categories that—within their own contexts—may have seemed outdated or misplaced. The anachronistic use of history, however, is something different: it concerns how historical narratives are used in the present to legitimate or challenge authority, shape contemporary political life, and link societies to the past. What challenges does anachronism pose for intellectual historians? How should we approach these tensions methodologically? What are its ethical and epistemological implications? The 2025 Oxford Centre for Intellectual History Graduate Conference invites you to explore these questions. We welcome your own interpretation of anachronism—whether theoretical, methodological, or grounded in a specific historical case study—according to your research and perspective. Our keynote address will be delivered by Dr Tania Shew the Isaiah Berlin Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford. The Call for Papers is open until Sunday 20 April 2025: Submit an abstract: https://forms.office.com/e/1mU8t2r4EV If you wish to attend the conference please express interest here: https://forms.office.com/e/6V3VKtmXzR
COURSE DETAILS The session will cover preparing for interviews, creating a question line, finding your authentic voice and active listening. Participants will be paired up and asked to conduct short interviews with a fellow participant which will be recorded over Zoom. As a group we'll listen back to them and workshop the interviews for constructive feedback. This course is aimed at anyone looking at working on interviewing skills as a presenter but is also useful to those asked to be a guest on a podcast. LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this session you will have: Increased your awareness of strategies for effectively planning an interview. Explored principles of good practice for interview hosts. Explored the components of a good interview question.
Björn Schumacher1 1 Institute for Genome Stability in Aging and Disease, Medical Faculty, Cologne Excellence Cluster for Cellular Stress Responses in Ageing-Associated Diseases (CECAD) Research Centre and Centre for Molecular Medicine (CMMC), University of Cologne, Joseph-Stelzmann-Str. 26, 50931 Cologne, Germany Aging is the biggest risk factor for chronic diseases ranging from dementia to cancer. Prevention of age-related diseases is a prerequisite for healthy aging and requires an understanding of the mechanisms of the aging process. The nuclear DNA cannot be replaced and is hence critically dependent on constant DNA repair. Defects in DNA repair such as nucleotide excision repair can accelerate aging in humans and give rise to a wide spectrum of age-related pathologies during childhood. To better understand the intricate role of genome stability in the aging process, we investigated the consequences of chronic DNA damage in the nematode C. elegans. This in vivo model enabled us to investigate the distinct genome stability mechanisms in terminally differentiated and thus irreplaceable somatic cell such as neurons and immortal germ cells that indefinitely perpetuate the genetic information. In addition, we identified systemic DNA damage response mechanisms that operate between the germline and somatic tissues. We found that the genome quality control in germ cells is influenced by somatic stress responses, which could integrate germline signals with environmental influences. We employed the nematode as discovery tool to identify the first master regulator of somatic DNA repair, which might provide novel geroprotective therapeutic strategies for human longevity. Longevity itself might be determined by the accumulation of stochastically occurring damage as indicated by our ability to predict biological age purely based on the amount of accumulated stochastic variation in biological parameters. Deeper insight into the mechanisms of genome maintenance will provide the basis for a better mechanistic understanding of the organism’s aging process and new perspectives for healthy human aging.
Narrative CVs are being adopted by many funders, nationally and internationally, to give researchers the opportunity to showcase a wider range of skills and experience than is possible in a traditional academic CV; an example is the UKRI Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI). Writing a narrative CV requires a different way of thinking about and describing your skills, experience and contributions to research and innovation compared to a traditional CV. Writing your first narrative CV will take some time and effort; you might not be sure about what activities to include, and how to describe their quality, relevance, and your involvement in them. This presentation will try to demystify and simplify narrative CVs by providing advice, prompts and suggestions for how to write one. Speakers Tanita Casci Director, Research Strategy & Policy Unit Mary Muers Research Culture Facilitator, MSD Kanza Basit Senior Research Facilitator, SSD Gavin Bird Head of Research Facilitation and Support, SOGE, SSD Susan Black, Careers Adviser, Oxford Careers Service Everyone welcome, please register to receive the TEAMS link for this event If you are a student or researcher with a CareerConnect account, please register "here":https://oxford.targetconnect.net/leap/event.html?id=22404&service=Careers%20Service All other staff register "here":https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=G96VzPWXk0-0uv5ouFLPke7xLB0LNIFKuA055EWF9ZtUNEZKNUxEUUk2Qjk4SEZHT1oyMVRaMTFUMC4u the joining link will be in the registration confirmation email
Please contact "$":mailto:sarah.apetrei@campion.ox.ac.uk for the Teams link to join remotely.
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is remaking the Egyptian republic. This involves a double rupture with the First Republic: radical redefinition of the social contract that was established in the decade following the overthrow of the monarchy in 1952 into an ethos of “nothing for free,” and transformation of the presidential system to concentrate Sisi’s powers to normalize a juridical state of exception and recast the republic in the mould of permanent military guardianship. The Second Republic is further characterized by a constant striving to eliminate public politics, and by reliance on an ersatz ideology and the blurring of boundaries between public and private capital to compensate for the deliberate avoidance of organic class alliances. This is why, arguably, Sisi’s new republic cannot achieve social hegemony, setting in contrast with otherwise analogous experiences spanning the 20th century, from fascism in Italy and Spain to the Latin American “bureaucratic authoritarian” states.
*Early Modern History in the Making: The J H Elliott History Forum Inaugural Symposium* *_Thursday 5 and Friday 6 June 2025 - Exeter College, Oxford_* The J H Elliott History Forum has the objects to preserve, promote and disseminate the intellectual legacy of Sir John Elliott, Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford between 1991 and 1997, by means of supporting individuals and institutions engaged in the fields of his research, and encouraging future generations to share an interest in history and an awareness of its role in shaping global events. The Inaugural Symposium of the J H Elliott History Forum will focus on some of the main directions in current research that intersect with the contribution of Sir John Elliott to the field of early modern history. It will provide a unique opportunity to engage with cutting-edge scholarship with special reference to Atlantic and Mediterranean history. Participants will include leading early modern historians as well as early career researchers, including some of the past and present Sir John Elliott Fellows in Oxford and at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. The Symposium is sponsored by the J H Elliott History Forum, the Faculty of History of the University of Oxford, and Exeter College, Oxford. Please see website for programme and FAQs: https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/event/early-modern-history-in-the-making-the-j-h-elliott-history-forum-inaugural-symposium
The Chief Medical Officer has confirmed that attendance at the Surgical Grand Rounds can count toward internal CPD, with 1 point awarded per hour. Please note that in-person attendance is required, and you will need to sign the attendance register. Please email Louise King (louise.king@nds.ox.ac.uk) if you would like to attend online.
Oxygen homeostasis has been a constant challenge to life on earth for at least the last ~600 million years, for which a number of distinct solutions have likely separately evolved. In mammals, the current repertoire of oxygen sensing mechanisms appears insufficient to explain the complexity of responses observed, which vary enormously in timing, magnitude and sensitivity. Our group is interested in defining new molecular mechanisms of oxygen sensing and matching these with unresolved physiological responses to hypoxia. In this talk I will cover our discovery of a new oxygen sensing pathway transduced through enzymatic N-terminal cysteine dioxygenation, and our efforts to better understand its role in integrated mammalian physiology, focusing on the regulation of cardiovascular system in response to hypoxia. SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY I received a B.Sc. in Physiology from King’s College London, where I then undertook a Ph.D. in vascular physiology with Giovanni Mann, exploring responses to low oxygen conditions in endothelial cells. I then joined Peter Ratcliffe’s lab in the Nuffield Department of Medicine in Oxford in 2018 to work on novel hypoxia signalling pathways. In 2020, I took up a Junior Research Fellowship in medical sciences at St. Catherine’s College, and in 2025 I moved to DPAG to start my own lab, funded by a BHF Intermediate Basic Sciences Research Fellowship and Wellcome Discovery Award.
See https://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/event/the-jowett-society-friday-week-6-tt25 for updates.
Dr Yun earned a BSc in Molecular Biology from the University of Buenos Aires and a PhD in Genetics and Biochemistry from Cambridge University at the MRC-Laboratory of Molecular Biology, where she focused on the mechanisms underlying genome stability. During her doctoral studies she became interested in the control of cellular plasticity and thus joined Jeremy Brockes’ lab (University College London) where she begun to explore the mechanisms underlying regeneration of complex structures using salamanders as model organisms. Since September 2017 she is a group leader at CRTD-Center for Regenerative Therapies TU Dresden and Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany. Her current research leverages the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) and the Iberian ribbed newt (Pleurodeles waltl) systems to uncover fundamental principles of regeneration and ageing.
Primary: William Morris, News from Nowhere (1890): Chapters 19-23 Supplementary: William Morris, ‘Makeshift’ (1894)
IDEAL 2025 is an exciting event where experts in the field will come together to discuss the latest advancements in surgical research. Join us at the Houston Methodist Research Institute for a day filled with insightful presentations, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or a student interested in the field, this event is perfect for anyone looking to stay up-to-date with the latest trends in surgical research. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to learn from the best in the industry!
Are you looking to learn about the ways in which to transmit scientific ideas and make your research accessible to a non-specialist audience through a variety of mediums? This session will serve as an introduction to science communication and how it can be successfully incorporated into our roles. By the end of this session you will be able to: define science communication and provide a list of examples; explain why science communication is important for both our CPD and the public; and list ways in which we can all get involved in science communication. Intended audience: Students, staff and researchers from MSD and OUH.
To optimise learning in education remains an ongoing challenge. This study aims to identify an indicator for learning from physiological data, developing a quantitative video data analysis to link sensory input and movement to learning through sympathetic activation. Such measures are believed to help improve teaching quality by enabling assessment of different instructional activities, even within one lesson, due to the high temporal resolution. More specifically, this is done by quantifying brightness, brightness change, loudness, and AI-estimated movement from video data and validating their predictive power for electrodermal activity (EDA). EDA is a well-known indicator of sympathetic activation, i.e., the system behind the ‘fight or flight’ response. To this end, pre/post-tests, video, and EDA data were collected from 12 students (17-18 y) taking part in a physics lesson where instructional activities were varied and in a laboratory experiment with 100 students (12-21 y) watching two different versions of one instructional video, which only differed in strength of sensory input. Findings indicate a causal relationship between sensory input and sympathetic activation. Moreover, an EDA variable correlating with learning was identified and found to vary according to different instructional activities and could be predicted by sensory input strength but not movement. These findings imply that video data can be used to assess sensory input and movement, whilst EDA measures can inform research on student learning. Both measures work on short timescales, making them appropriate for comparing different instructional activities within school lessons. Join on Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_OTNiZGM1MzItOTcwOS00YThjLWJmYTAtZGFjZGM1YzkyNjQw%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22cc95de1b-97f5-4f93-b4ba-fe68b852cf91%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2275f39f15-fefd-45cf-b904-2e2174db4aa1%22%7d
Peter Ly received his B.A. in Biology from Baylor University and Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from UT Southwestern Medical Center. During graduate training with Jerry Shay and Woodring Wright, he studied how aneuploidy – an abnormal number of chromosomes – promotes malignant transformation. He conducted postdoctoral training at the University of California San Diego and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research with Don Cleveland, where he developed chromosome-specific mis-segregation approaches to reconstruct the mechanisms leading to complex genomic rearrangements. In 2019, Dr. Ly joined the faculty of UT Southwestern Medical Center as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research. He holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Cell Biology and is a member of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center as part of the Cellular Networks in Cancer Program. He has been a member of the American Society for Cell Biology since 2013.
Do you want to make sure your work is ‘REFable’ per the new REF open access requirements? In this focused online briefing, we will: step you through the changes and new requirements; provide links to further REF information and guidance; let you know where to find help at Oxford; and answer as many questions as we can. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers, other staff.
This talk challenges two myths about Indian liberalism. The first is that Indian liberalism is "a sensibility rather than a theory." The second is that Indian liberals "collaborated" with the British Raj. Both of these views are mistaken, as I will show by examining Letters to an Indian Raja (1891), the first work of political theory published in modern India. This long-lost work reveals that Indian liberalism was a form of liberal perfectionism—the view that political authority should be exercised paternalistically to promote a liberal vision of human flourishing. This vision sought to liberate individuals from various debilitating forces, including unthinking tradition, gross ignorance, and destructive greed. Furthermore, far from justifying British rule, Letters to an Indian Raja aimed to make the Native States less susceptible to both domineering Britons and despotic Maharajas. In sum, this talk suggests that the two myths surrounding Indian liberalism are the result of scholars focusing on the wrong people and the wrong place. By focusing on the grievances raised and compromises made by liberals in British India, they have overlooked what Indian liberals imagined and tried to do in Indian India. Rahul Sagar is a Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Professor at Princeton University and Global Network Associate Professor at NYU Abu Dhabi. His most recent books include The Progressive Maharaja: Sir Madhava Rao’s Hints on the Art and Science of Government (2022) and Krishna Kumari: The Tragedy of India (2024).
The departure of the UK from the European Union in January 2020 has had a profound effect on the UK’s higher education sector. This has been particularly marked in relation to the international mobilities of students – both into the UK, and from the UK to other nations. The UK left the European Union’s Erasmus+ mobility programme, replacing it with its own ‘Turing Scheme’, while EU students moving to the UK, to study for the whole of a degree, became liable for full international fees (rather than the much lower ‘domestic’ fees that they paid prior to Brexit). Drawing on various sources of empirical data, this lecture will explore the nature and impact of ‘post-Brexit’ student mobilities. It will consider changing patterns of inward and outward mobility – as part of short-term schemes as well as for the whole of a degree – and how these articulate with government policy and discourse. It will also document the rise of various new mobility infrastructures related to post-Brexit student mobilities. Register here for online attendance: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/f01a78e2-bff3-461e-8cd4-6bbb4ce4179f@cc95de1b-97f5-4f93-b4ba-fe68b852cf91
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COURSE DETAILS Issues covered will include work-life balance, planning, prioritising, the need to differentiate between importance and urgency, and using a range of strategies and time-saving ideas. LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this session you will understand more about: A range of time saving techniques. Time wasting activities and learn how to deal with them. The difference between important and urgent. The importance of planning and setting time aside.
Our ability to pursue self-generated goals over extended timeframes is central to human cognition and behaviour. However, scientific studies of these higher-order action processes have traditionally fallen into two isolated research domains. On one hand, executive function research has uncovered a great deal about how our brain coordinates complex action sequences to solve multi-step problems. On the other hand, research on volition has begun to unravel the neural mechanisms that enable us to initiate actions independent of immediate external stimuli. However, to date both camps have neglected the intimate connections between these two processes: many complex problems can be solved in multiple ways, and thus choosing and generating our own path is central to reaching an effective solution. In this talk, I will present findings from behavioural, neuroimaging (fMRI), and EEG studies that examine how volition and problem solving are interconnected in the human brain. In combination, these results reveal new connections between the brain mechanisms underpinning problem solving and volitional action – and suggest that the ability to generate our own courses of action is more central to problem solving than we might usually appreciate.
Faculty Presentations
Kadir Akdemir, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Neurosurgery at MD Anderson. Dr Akdemir has been part of the several international genomic efforts such as the International Cancer Genome Consortia’s pan-cancer whole-genome analyses initiative and NIH’s 4Dnucleome comprehensive chromatin profiling initiative. He holds multiple foundation grants. He is collaborating with the world-renowned brain cancer researchers by being a part of the MD Anderson’s SPORE in Brain Cancer Program, GBM Moonshot program and the Break Through Cancer’s GBM program. His lab has developed a large set of techniques to study mechanisms and patterns of chromatin folding and somatic rearrangements that occur in cancer genomes during neoplastic transformation.
We study the impact of financial aid on upward mobility. An unprecedented financial aid reform in Colombia dramatically increased the enrollment of academically successful students of low socioeconomic status (SES) in high-quality universities. We leverage the policy's stringent eligibility criteria and population-wide administrative microdata, using regression discontinuity (RD) and difference-in-difference (DD) methodologies to estimate causal effects on later-life educational and labor-market outcomes. The program notably boosted attendance of low-SES high-achievers at colleges with high value-added, increasing their returns to ability. Low-SES students are more likely to obtain bachelor's degrees from these colleges, especially in STEM fields, and they achieve higher scores in the college graduation exam. Nine years later, their earnings are 18 log points higher, with a greater likelihood of being in the top 1%, reflecting increased upper-tail mobility. The policy successfully narrowed socioeconomic gaps in college quality, attainment, skill development, earnings, and the returns to ability.
COURSE DETAILS This introductory session, tailored to those new to policy engagement, is designed to support MPLS researchers, DPhil students, and professional services staff, in transforming their motivations for impact into a structured understanding of how to get started in academic-policy engagement. LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this session you will have: A better understanding of the differences between policy influence, impact, and engagement. An enhanced understanding of the policy process at different levels of government (local, regional, national and international). An increased awareness of practical tools and strategies to start creating a policy engagement plan.
COURSE DETAILS The session will introduce approaches to podcasting, present inspiration from a range of different podcast styles, and take you step-by-step through the basic technical skills of recording, editing and publishing audio files. You’ll have the chance to develop an idea and have a go recording it with support and feedback during the day. LEARNING OUTCOMES Upon completion of this course students will have an: Understanding of what podcasting is and its benefits in relation to communicating science to wider society. Ability to identify, develop and create narratives for the purposes of podcasting. Understanding of the skills required to record and edit audio, including making use of music and sound effects. Increased awareness of platforms for publishing podcast material.
In a big place like Oxford, it’s not always easy to find out about what’s available and how to make the most of your time here. This event is for new research staff to welcome you to our wonderful university and introduce you to the many opportunities and resources. People who attend are typically postdocs, research fellows and research assistants at Grades 6 to 8. Event objectives: Identify resources and support for your professional and career development. Know how to widen your social network through the Oxford Research Staff Society, Oxford University Newcomers Club. Start to effectively plan your coming months at Oxford. Pre-Requisites: No pre-requisites required.
LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of the session, participants will be able to: Develop effective communication strategies for presenting complex research concepts to non-specialist audiences. Explore different learning and engagement theories and how they can inform effective public engagement strategies. Learn to adapt engagement techniques based on different audiences. Learn how to assess the effectiveness of engagement approaches and refine them accordingly.
Are you baffled by open, confused by embargoes? Does the mention of the colour gold or green catapult you into a realm of perplexed irritation? Come to this session, where we’ll break down open access and all its many jargon terms, confusing publishing structures and hint at the advantages you can reap by publishing open. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers, other staff.
Join via: https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/tosca
Please contact "$":mailto:sarah.apetrei@campion.ox.ac.uk for the Teams link to join remotely.
Since late 2024, Westminster has debated whether and when English and Welsh patients may hasten their deaths. But what about the opposite situation? How should we handle situations when the patient wants to live but their clinicians determine that continuing life-sustaining treatment is inappropriate, non-beneficial, or therapeutically obstinate? These sorts of conflicts have long been common in NHS hospitals. Yet, they are increasingly prevalent as families dispute even long-settled medical concepts like brain death. Normally, clinicians defer to patients and families when the decision is value-laden and preference sensitive. But surely, clinicians need not comply with "any" demand that patients and families make. What are the proper limits to clinical deference? And how should those limits be adjudicated?
The Chief Medical Officer has confirmed that attendance at the Surgical Grand Rounds can count toward internal CPD, with 1 point awarded per hour. Please note that in-person attendance is required, and you will need to sign the attendance register. Please email Louise King (louise.king@nds.ox.ac.uk) if you would like to attend online.
See https://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/event/the-jowett-society-friday-week-7-tt25 for updates.
Political economy models often assume that voter beliefs are consistent with available information. Recent work emphasizes instead the role played by narratives, subjective causal models that may be incorrectly specified. In this paper, we study the role of political narratives in the context of climate policy. We develop a theory of narrative entanglement, where policy dimensions—initially distinct—become strategically intertwined through narratives created by politicians to sway support. Shocks in one dimension can thus influence unrelated policy areas. We test this theory in the context of EU climate policy before versus after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which affected the economic costs of climate policy but not its ability to address climate change. Using a large language model to analyze speeches in the EU Parliament, we find that narratives are strongly entangled: Members of the European Parliament that emphasize the need to address climate change also emphasize economic benefits, while those denying climate change stress economic costs. After the energy price shock associated with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, narratives shift not only in the economic dimension but also in the climate dimension, with speeches becoming less likely to imply that climate policy is necessary to combat climate change. This pattern holds at the individual politician level, with politicians from right-wing parties showing a more pronounced narrative change than those from the left.
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Linked datasets from Ministry of Justice and Department for Education have made it possible to interrogate the relationship between care experience (i.e. having been in kinship care, foster care and/or children’s homes), ethnicity and youth justice involvement in England using population level data. Taking a critical perspective, Katie will draw on findings from an ADR UK Fellowship project using these datasets showcasing the potential of administrative data to challenge (in)justices. Join on Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_OTNiZGM1MzItOTcwOS00YThjLWJmYTAtZGFjZGM1YzkyNjQw%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22cc95de1b-97f5-4f93-b4ba-fe68b852cf91%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2275f39f15-fefd-45cf-b904-2e2174db4aa1%22%7d
Are you planning to present a poster at an upcoming conference, meeting or symposium? This introductory session will provide you with some top tips on how to create a poster presentation which will help you to communicate your research project and data effectively. There will be guidance on formatting, layout, content, use of text, references and images, as well as advice on printing and presenting your poster. This session will also provide help with locating resources such as templates, free-to-use images and poster guidelines. Intended audience: Students, staff and researchers from MSD and OUH.
Political economy models often assume that voter beliefs are consistent with available information. Recent work emphasizes instead the role played by narratives, subjective causal models that may be incorrectly specified. In this paper, we study the role of political narratives in the context of climate policy. We develop a theory of narrative entanglement, where policy dimensions—initially distinct—become strategically intertwined through narratives created by politicians to sway support. Shocks in one dimension can thus influence unrelated policy areas. We test this theory in the context of EU climate policy before versus after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which affected the economic costs of climate policy but not its ability to address climate change. Using a large language model to analyze speeches in the EU Parliament, we find that narratives are strongly entangled: Members of the European Parliament that emphasize the need to address climate change also emphasize economic benefits, while those denying climate change stress economic costs. After the energy price shock associated with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, narratives shift not only in the economic dimension but also in the climate dimension, with speeches becoming less likely to imply that climate policy is necessary to combat climate change. This pattern holds at the individual politician level, with politicians from right-wing parties showing a more pronounced narrative change than those from the left.
The breakup of Pakistan in 1971—marked by a bloody civil war and military defeat by India—remains shrouded in layers of silence, making it difficult to ferret out the truth from the mistruths. The war ended with over 90,000 Pakistani prisoners of war (POWs) captured in East Pakistan-turned-Bangladesh, who were then transferred to Indian custody. Pakistan responded by interning roughly the same number of Bengali co-religionists in West Pakistan as leverage for the return of its captured POWs. Neither group would return home immediately in what arguably became one of the most significant cases of mutual mass internment post-1945. Over half a century after the 1971 war, the internment of Bengalis remains a non-event in the most significant political crisis in Pakistan’s history. Drawing on a wide range of untapped sources, this talk traces the trajectory of this crisis of captivity in which the Bengalis found themselves as rightless citizens with ‘traitor’ and ‘enemy’ status after the war. Educated at the universities of Warwick and Southampton, Ilyas Chattha is Associate Professor of History at LUMS. Before this, he was based at the University of Southampton where he completed his PhD in 2009. He is the author of ‘They Called Us Traitors’: The Hidden History of Bengali Internment in Pakistan, 1971-1974 (Cambridge, 2025), The Punjab Borderland (Cambridge, 2022), and Partition and Locality (Oxford, 2012). His work has also appeared in Modern Asian Studies, History Workshop Journal, Indian Economic and Social History Review, Contemporary South Asia, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, and International Journal of the History of Sport, as well as several edited volumes. His current research focuses on the legacies of the 1971 War and Enemy Property in South Asia.
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Join us for a digital scholarship coffee gathering - tea and coffee will be provided. If you'd like to get an email reminder of these coffee mornings please sign up for that here: https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/oxford/digital-scholarship-coffee-morning-keep-in-touch
Prof Butterworth’s research focusses on improving the biological effectiveness of radiotherapy by understanding the molecular mechanisms of radiobiological responses in tumours and normal tissues. Using advanced preclinical models of radiation response, his group aims to develop biologically targeted strategies for the realisation of precision radiotherapy.
Trusted Research is a dynamic landscape - do you know what the challenges are for international collaborations in your department? With the acute changes in the geopolitical landscape, university research is increasingly viewed as having a significant impact on national security. The threats are real, the impact of a malicious act could include reputational damage, constraint of academic freedom, legal or regulatory breaches, barring from holding funding from certain funders, and loss or compromise of results, data and intellectual property or cyber or physical infrastructure. The Research Services Trusted Research team supports compliance and safeguarding the integrity of the University’s vital international collaborations. We invite University staff to join the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research) to learn how this changing landscape might affect you or the activities within your department. Pre-registration is required Hear more from the experts, and take the opportunity to ask questions about how this will affect you. Tuesday, June 17th 2025, 11:00am Presentation approx. 45 minutes, with added time for questions. The Martin Woods Lecture Theatre, Dept of Physics, 20 Parks Road, Oxford OX3 3PU To pre-register, please complete this form by Friday June 13th 2025
Student Presentations
COURSE DETAILS Being at Oxford provides you with an amazing opportunity to meet a wide range of extraordinary people who could help you and who you could help. This session will enable you to develop this important skill, which will: help you make contacts; discover opportunities; open doors; and speak to the right people. It will also enable you to devise a strategic approach to networking which can have lifetime benefits for you. LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this session you will: Understand more about the benefits of networking. Feel more comfortable networking. Have learnt some new techniques to help you network more effectively. Have started to develop a strategy for networking.
TORCH Talks: a new series debating some of the most urgent and topical issues of our time from a cross-disciplinary perspective. Practitioners from radically different disciplines and fields share their views and insights on major global challenges. Everyone is welcome and lunch will be provided.
Engagement describes the ways in which we can share our research and its value by interacting with wider public audiences, generating mutual benefit. In this introductory session tailored to those new to engagement, we look at what public engagement is and some of the reasons why you might want to do it. We’ll highlight the multitude of different approaches you can take, and provide tips on getting started and where to get support.
The aim of the seminar is to foster a dynamic and interdisciplinary postcolonial research culture supportive of individual scholarship. Finalists, M.St. and D.Phil. students, lecturers, fellows, scholars from across the university community – all are welcome. If you’d like to appear on the seminar mailing list, please email zana.mody@kellogg.ox.ac.uk, riley.faulds@worc.ox.ac.uk OR hannah.fagan@mansfield.ox.ac.uk
The Chief Medical Officer has confirmed that attendance at the Surgical Grand Rounds can count toward internal CPD, with 1 point awarded per hour. Please note that in-person attendance is required, and you will need to sign the attendance register. Please email Louise King (louise.king@nds.ox.ac.uk) if you would like to attend online.
Please contact "$":mailto:sarah.apetrei@campion.ox.ac.uk for the Teams link to join remotely.
We are looking forward to welcoming you to Trinity Collage, Oxford, for this meeting to celebrate some of the achievements and challenges of the RESPOND programme (https://www.nds.ox.ac.uk/research/the-respond-programme). TOPIC OF INTEREST Innovative quality improvement (QI) initiatives inspired by RESPOND Human factors and systems approaches enhancing patient safety Strategies for optimising team performance Insights and lessons learned from RESPOND strands IMPORTANT DATES Abstract deadline - 25 April 2025 13:00 Acceptance notification - 12 May 2025 Conference date - 20 June 2025 Abstract submission: https://auth.oxfordabstracts.com/?redirect=/stages/77946/submitter
See https://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/event/the-jowett-society-friday-week-8-tt25 for updates.
Primary: William Morris, News from Nowhere (1890), Chapters 29-32 Supplementary: William Morris, ‘The Society of the Future’ (1889); Tony Pinkney, William Morris in Oxford (2007): Conclusion
Associate Professor Antony Cooper is a cell and molecular biologist/geneticist with strong interests in elucidating how cellular dysfunction results in human diseases, with a specific interest in neurodegenerative disease such as Parkinson’s Disease. His research on neurodegenerative diseases focuses on understanding the basis of Parkinson’s disease. Antony completed a PhD at McGill University working on membrane trafficking, and post-doctoral studies at the University of Oregon involving both protein splicing and proteostasis/protein quality control in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). As an Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri his interests evolved to protein misfolding, ER stress and oxidative stress, factors common to many neurodegenerative diseases. As a tenured Associate Professor in Missouri and since returning to Australia at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research he has focused his research on Parkinson’s disease.
Are you looking to learn about the ways in which to transmit scientific ideas and make your research accessible to a non-specialist audience through a variety of mediums? This session will serve as an introduction to science communication and how it can be successfully incorporated into our roles. By the end of this session you will be able to: define science communication and provide a list of examples; explain why science communication is important for both our CPD and the public; and list ways in which we can all get involved in science communication. Intended audience: Students, staff and researchers from MSD and OUH.
Leadership in Action explores what leadership is and looks at some leadership theory. More importantly though it provides researchers with the opportunity to identify and develop their own leadership style through leading and participating in activities. It is a fast-paced face to face course that takes a ‘learning by doing’ approach – so while there are presentations on theory, most of the time is spent actively taking part in activities and then reflecting on them. The course will culminate in a celebratory dinner on the evening of the last day (Friday 21st June) where we will be joined by previous participants, and senior members of divisional staff.
1. Grangeon L, Roussel M, Gillibert A, et al. Applicability of the Edinburgh CT Criteria for Lobar Intracerebral Hemorrhage Associated with Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy. Clin Neuroradiol. 2023;33(2):455-465. doi:10.1007/s00062-022-01230-6 2. Huang X, Zeng X, Tang L, Liu X, Huang X, Liu X, Wang Z, Li N, Fan D, Yang Q. Subarachnoid hemorrhage and finger-like projection predict recurrence in patients with lobar intracerebral hemorrhage. J Neurol. 2025 Jan 24;272(2):166. doi: 10.1007/s00415-025-12900-z. PMID: 39849200; PMCID: PMC11757861.
Join Chris Morrison (Copyright & Licensing Specialist) and Georgina Kiddy (Digital Services Librarian) to play Copyright the Card Game. This interactive, games-based session introduces you to the key concepts of copyright law and allows you to apply them in practice. No prior knowledge is required, and the session caters for all whatever their level of experience with copyright. At the end of the session participants will be able to: explore how copyright really works in practice; interpret the legislation and apply the relevant legal concepts to their own work; practice using the exceptions and licences in sector-specific examples; and discuss the role of risk management in making decisions about the ethical creation and use of copyright material. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers and other staff.
The Ludwig EpiCancer Symposium is focussed on understanding the impact of non-genetic mechanisms on cancer progression, including: epigenetics,epitranscriptomics, non-coding RNAs, protein translation, metabolism and interaction between the microenvironment and cancer cell plasticity. The meeting will bring together world-leadings scientists in each of these areas with the aim of fostering greater understanding of the disease, promoting synergies, and identifying novel therapeutic vulnerabilities.
Are you preparing a poster presentation for an upcoming conference, meeting or symposium? This interactive session, or ‘poster clinic’, will include a group discussion of different examples of poster presentations, as well as an opportunity to present your own draft of your poster presentation to your fellow attendees. It is expected that the small group of peers in attendance will provide feedback and respectful comments on each other’s work. Intended audience: Students, staff and researchers from MSD and OUH.
So, you’ve got a great idea for a research study – but what approvals do you need before you can start? Who do you apply to? And how do you go about doing this? Join an online presentation through Microsoft Teams for an overview of: • how research is governed in the UK • which approval bodies are involved • a step-by-step guide on how to apply for approval • handling amendments to your study
The second in a duo of courses (attendees should attend the Fundamentals course prior to Logistics) that will cover the logistics of researching, publishing, and locating open scholarship resources and tools at the University of Oxford. Subjects include: what is the Oxford University Research Archive?; depositing work into ORA via Symplectic Elements; depositing data into ORA-data; applying for one of Oxford’s APC block grants; registering or connecting your ORCID; how to be included in the rights retention pilot; and locating and checking funder policies. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers and other staff.
Join us for Oxford's 2025 Chinese Language Teaching Research Forum on Wednesday 2 July 2025, 1-5pm. Conference theme and further details forthcoming. Early pre-booking available. Tea, coffee and refreshments included with in-person ticket bookings. Oxford Education Deanery Scholarships available to join this event. Click here for more information and to apply: https://bit.ly/Apply-Deanery-Scholarship For: teachers at primary and secondary level engaged in, or interested in Chinese language teaching.
Research 1. Developing a complete isoform view of biology It is well established that the vast majority of mammalian genes can generate multiple isoforms. Yet, the majority of publications considers a "one-gene-one-protein" model, in which each gene's expression is represented by a single number. If we take the view that genes can talk - the "one-gene-one-number" approach is akin to judging each gene by how much it talks; not by what it is actually saying. We have made considerable progress (both on the informatic and experimental side) on the way to actually judging genes by what-they-say, yet important challenges still remain to be conquered. 2. Isoform usage patterns in the central nervous system All cells in a mammalian brain have (approximately) the same genome - yet they have unique ways of interpreting this genome by producing characteristic expression patterns of genes - and unique sets of RNA and protein isoforms. We aim at finding these characteristic isoforms of a variety of cell types and establish if and how they are linked to the cell's function. 3. Isoform switches associated with development & aging Complex organs such as the brain change dramatically first during development and then again during the aging process - despite only relatively small changes in DNA sequence. We aim at using our unique set of technological insights to understand how isoform usage is affected, both during development and aging - and at distinguishing causes from consequences. 4. Isoform usage in developmental disorders and neurodegenerative disease Both developmental and neurodegenerative diseases have devastating consequences for the affected individuals. Yet a true isoform view of these diseases is lacking in almost all cases and may advance our understanding of the molecular causes for disease
During this forum speakers from Bodleian Open Scholarship Support and across Oxford will discuss current changes in the field of open scholarship. Including subjects like data, open access, open monographs, copyright and more. It is advised that attendees of the forum have previously attended the Fundamentals and Logistics courses to improve understanding. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers and other staff.
For our next talk, in the BDI/CHG (gen)omics Seminar series, we will be hearing from Professor Nathan Palpant, Group Leader at The University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB). We’re delighted to host Nathan in what promises to be a great talk! Date: Tuesday 8 July Time: 9:30 am – 10:30 am Talk title: Unsupervised Approaches to Decode the Functional Impact of Genetic Variation Location: Big Data Institute, Seminar Room 0 Bio: Professor Nathan Palpant is a Group Leader at The University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB). After PhD training at the University of Michigan and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington’s Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, he established his independent research group at the IMB in 2015. His research program focuses on studying mechanisms of cardiovascular development and disease, drawing on interdisciplinary approaches in stem cell biology, genetics and genomics, and drug discovery. He has particular interest in developing cell type agnostic models of genome regulation to gain insights into molecular regulation of cell identity in health and disease. Dr. Palpant is a Heart Foundation Fellow and has received numerous awards including the International Society for Heart Research Young Investigator Award, the Lorne Genome Millennium Science Award, and the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance Excellence in Cardiovascular Research Translation Award. Drawing on seminal studies in his lab on novel stress pathways in heart disease, Dr Palpant co-founded Infensa Bioscience to develop ASIC1a inhibitors as first-in-class therapeutics for ischemic heart disease and stroke. Abstract: The increasing availability of large-scale data is transforming our ability to study genetic regulation of cell states. However, understanding how genetic variation governs cellular function and complex diseases remains a challenge, requiring new analytical frameworks capable of integrating diverse genomic datasets to infer functional relationships. This seminar will present new unsupervised computational approaches for dissecting genetic regulation of cellular phenotypes. Our analysis of evolutionary and epigenetic conservation across human cell types has identified domains under cellular constraint that encode functional determinants of cell identity. By calculating genome-wide, single base resolution cellular constraint scores, I will demonstrate their utility in fine-mapping causal variants from genome-wide association studies, improving polygenic risk models, and predicting clinical outcomes in machine learning-based cancer survival models. These findings form the basis for development of multi-omic genome-wide unsupervised machine learning frameworks and variant-to-trait models that provide powerful approaches for functional annotation of non-coding variants and partitioning disease-associated genetic variants governing complex trait and disease sub-phenotypes. I will illustrate the versatility of these methods across various experimental applications including the study of multi-lineage differentiation from pluripotent stem cells and ongoing efforts to study population-scale data to parse the genetic basis of complex diseases. These studies illustrate new strategies to bridge the gap between genomic variation and cellular function for guiding scalable and interpretable solutions to advance our understanding of human development, disease, and therapeutic discovery. ———————————————————————————————————————— All members of the University are welcome to join, please let reception at BDI know you’re here for the seminar and sign-in. We hope you can join us! We also now have a mailing list – To be added, ping genomics_bdi_whg-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk (with any message), you should get a bounce-back with three options to confirm your subscription. Follow any of those options, and with a bit of luck you should be signed up! As a reminder, the (gen)omics seminar series runs every other Tuesday morning and is intended to increase interaction between individuals working in genomics across Oxford. We encourage in-person attendance where possible. There is time for discussion over, tea, coffee and pastries after the talks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hybrid Option: Please note that these meetings are closed meetings and only open to members of the University of Oxford to encourage sharing of new and unpublished data. Please respect our speakers and do not share the link with anyone outside of the university. Microsoft Teams meeting – Join the meeting now Meeting ID: 346 123 289 586 Passcode: sr3mi9iL ——————————————————————————————————— If you wish to know more or receive information related to trainings and events at BDI, please subscribe by emailing bdi-announce-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk. You’ll then receive an email from SYMPA and once you reply you’ll be on the list!
If you are planning to run a ‘non-CTIMP’ research study this introductory course is for you. Not all research is subject to clinical trials regulations, but the same standards of conduct apply. This course in Good Clinical Research Practice covers the legislation that applies to ‘non-CTIMP’ research, along with the detailed principles of good practice in clinical research studies. This three-hour online course consists of trainers’ led presentations, short video-talks from those experienced in the conduct of clinical research and interactive exercises. The course is run by the experienced research support specialists from the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospital’s Joint Research Office, JRO. Join this online presentation through Microsoft Teams for an overview of: • Purpose of Good Clinical Research Practice including historical background • Difference between Clinical Care and Research Practice • Ethical and Regulatory Considerations in the UK • Research Study Requirements and Documentation • Research Study Conduct and Management
The rapid evolution of Generative AI, and its widespread availability, offers opportunities for experimentation within the collegiate University context. To support this, the Centre for Teaching and Learning, in partnership with the AI and Machine Learning Competency Centre, launched the AI Teaching and Learning Exploratory Fund in summer 2024 to explore how AI could be used within the context of teaching, learning, and academic administration at Oxford. The initiative is supported by Digital Transformation. Join us at this special event, where members of the 12 project teams supported this year will share their insights, experiences, and key findings. Open to all collegiate-University staff. Places are limited. Find out more about the 12 supported projects at https://www.ctl.ox.ac.uk/ai-teaching-and-learning-exploratory-fund. Find out more about the AI and Machine Learning Competency Centre at https://staff.admin.ox.ac.uk/ai-and-machine-learning-competency-centre.
Join us for a full-day workshop, on Thursday 10 July 2025, 9am-5:15pm, exploring the evidence around teaching children for whom English is an Additional Language (EAL). This course is designed for EAL leads, classroom teachers and other educators. It will provide an overview of research evidence on key themes in the field of EAL and will offer practical advice on how to interpret that evidence for policy and practice in mainstream classrooms. The course is led by Oxford’s world-leading educators and researchers, Professor Victoria Murphy, Professor Steve Strand OBE, Dr Hamish Chalmers and Dr Faidra Faitaki. They will bring their considerable experience from working across the field of EAL to help you understand how research informs practice and how you can support and promote inclusive learning environments for all. Coffee, tea and lunch is included in the ticket price. Oxford Education Deanery Scholarships available to join this event. Click here for more information and to apply: https://bit.ly/Apply-Deanery-Scholarship
This course is designed for undergraduates aiming for postgraduate study, graduate students who want to strengthen their skills, and professionals seeking to advance their expertise. Participants will delve into key areas such as economic theory, applied mathematics, and econometrics, equipping themselves with essential quantitative skills and analytical tools. Join us in Oxford for an immersive programme that includes a welcome reception, college formal dinner, and exclusive social activities and tours—the perfect opportunity to network and experience Oxford’s academic life firsthand. Visit the website for more information and registration: https://ouess.web.ox.ac.uk/event/fundamentals-of-graduate-economics
Welcome to Oxford Battery Modelling Symposium (OBMS), a unique event for the battery community. OBMS brings together mathematicians, chemists, physicists and engineers from academia and industry to discuss the latest modelling research and applications. Our philosophy is to invite a small number of outstanding speakers spanning a range of topics from atomistic to continuum modelling, controls and beyond, giving broad and inspiring presentations and open discussions. Our first event in 2019 was attended by 170 people with leading experts including John Newman speaking; our subsequent events were held online during lockdown periods but continued to be wildly popular. We are delighted to invite you back to join us for Oxford Battery Modelling Symposium 2025, which will return as an in-person meeting hosted at the Examination Schools in Oxford. Further details on the event can be found on the event website: https://batterymodel.ox.ac.uk. The event will also include a poster session and a wonderful dinner at Rhodes House.
Are you baffled by open, confused by embargoes? Does the mention of the colour gold or green catapult you into a realm of perplexed irritation? Come to this session, where we’ll break down open access and all its many jargon terms, confusing publishing structures and hint at the advantages you can reap by publishing open. Intended audience: Oxford students, researchers, other staff.
Talk titles TBC
Our September Summer School is tailored for postgraduate students, researchers, and professionals in economics. Your application includes enrolment in two academic courses in Applied Microeconomics, Macroeconomics or Econometrics (from two different disciplines, or focusing on a single field of interest), along with a formal dinner and welcome reception at an Oxford college, daily lunch and refreshments, and a certificate of completion. Visit the website for more information and registration: https://ouess.web.ox.ac.uk/september-summer-school
So, you’ve got a great idea for a research study – but what approvals do you need before you can start? Who do you apply to? And how do you go about doing this? Join an online presentation through Microsoft Teams for an overview of: • how research is governed in the UK • which approval bodies are involved • a step-by-step guide on how to apply for approval • handling amendments to your study
Working towards universal access to safe, affordable surgical, anaesthesia and obstetric care. This intensive five-day course, in person, in Oxford, is suitable for those in all disciplines interested in global surgery, anaesthesia and obstetrics. The course comprises presentations, discussions and seminars looking at major topics in global surgery such as burden of disease, health workforce capacity, training, partnership, supplies, service management, research needs, advocacy and ethics, and resource allocation. There will also be a half-day session on practical preparation for going to work in new contexts alongside local surgical teams. Traditionally surgery has been taught as a technical and practical specialty; however this short course takes a completely different approach and looks at the provision of surgical services at a global level. The term 'Global Surgery' in this course encompasses all related specialities including obstetrics, gynaecology and anaesthesia/critical care. For more information, please visit the Global Surgery Course website.
If you are planning to run a ‘non-CTIMP’ research study this introductory course is for you. Not all research is subject to clinical trials regulations, but the same standards of conduct apply. This course in Good Clinical Research Practice covers the legislation that applies to ‘non-CTIMP’ research, along with the detailed principles of good practice in clinical research studies. This three-hour online course consists of trainers’ led presentations, short video-talks from those experienced in the conduct of clinical research and interactive exercises. The course is run by the experienced research support specialists from the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospital’s Joint Research Office, JRO. Join this online presentation through Microsoft Teams for an overview of: • Purpose of Good Clinical Research Practice including historical background • Difference between Clinical Care and Research Practice • Ethical and Regulatory Considerations in the UK • Research Study Requirements and Documentation • Research Study Conduct and Management
So, you’ve got a great idea for a research study – but what approvals do you need before you can start? Who do you apply to? And how do you go about doing this? Join an online presentation through Microsoft Teams for an overview of: • how research is governed in the UK • which approval bodies are involved • a step-by-step guide on how to apply for approval • handling amendments to your study
Medical Statistics Drop In Session with Dr Lei Clifton,Lead Statistician, Applied Digital Health (ADH) Group, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford. Day: Thursday Date: 16 October 2025 Time: 11:00 -12:00 Venue: BDI conference room (lower ground, near the cafe) Registration: https://forms.office.com/e/b8UEEgrBrY?origin=lprLink Do you have a burning medical statistics-related question that you would like to discuss with the wider Oxford Biomedical community? Submit your question in advance and join the drop-in session, where Lei Clifton will address your query. If you’re interested in being part of the conversation but don’t have a specific question, feel free to attend the session in person and follow along. This is an excellent opportunity to engage in knowledge exchange with your peers. The session will be informal and conversational, encouraging participants to share their perspectives on medical statistics. There will be no set agenda or specific topics of focus; instead, discussions will be spontaneous, shaped by the questions and interests brought forward on the day. Attendees will have the freedom to drop in and ask questions without restrictions, allowing for an open and dynamic exchange of ideas. While the session will not include presentations or detailed statistical analysis, general advice on study design and statistical methods will be provided. The emphasis will be on applying statistical thinking to real-world questions rather than conducting in-depth explorations of predefined topics. This is an in-person event only.
So, you’ve got a great idea for a research study – but what approvals do you need before you can start? Who do you apply to? And how do you go about doing this? Join an online presentation through Microsoft Teams for an overview of: • how research is governed in the UK • which approval bodies are involved • a step-by-step guide on how to apply for approval • handling amendments to your study
If you are planning to run a ‘non-CTIMP’ research study this introductory course is for you. Not all research is subject to clinical trials regulations, but the same standards of conduct apply. This course in Good Clinical Research Practice covers the legislation that applies to ‘non-CTIMP’ research, along with the detailed principles of good practice in clinical research studies. This three-hour online course consists of trainers’ led presentations, short video-talks from those experienced in the conduct of clinical research and interactive exercises. The course is run by the experienced research support specialists from the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospital’s Joint Research Office, JRO. Join this online presentation through Microsoft Teams for an overview of: • Purpose of Good Clinical Research Practice including historical background • Difference between Clinical Care and Research Practice • Ethical and Regulatory Considerations in the UK • Research Study Requirements and Documentation • Research Study Conduct and Management
