OxTalks is Changing
During Michaelmas Term, OxTalks will be moving to a new platform (full details are available on the Staff Gateway).
For now, continue using the current page and event submission process (freeze period dates to be advised).
If you have any questions, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
Department: Faculty of History
Talks:
Tuesday 18 November 2025
Survivors: The Converted Jews of Lisbon after the Massacre of 1506
Date: 18 November 2025, 14:00 - 15:30
Speaker
s:
Giuseppe Marcocci (Oxford),
Chair: Giora Sternberg
Venue: Exeter College, Turl Street OX1 3DP
Venue Details: Rector's Drawing Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Three scholars will join Bob Harris to discuss his work ahead of his retirement in 2026
Date: 18 November 2025, 16:15 - 17:15
Speaker
Venue: Lincoln College, Turl Street OX1 3DR
Venue Details: Beckington Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Women’s organizations and social rights in France and its empire (1946-1958)
Date: 18 November 2025, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Anna Nasser (Deakin, St Antony's)
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory,
Venue Details: Room 20.402, Schwarzman Centre
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Title TBC
Date: 18 November 2025, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker
:
Albrecht Ritschl (LSE)
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory,
Venue Details: Learning Centre, Room 00.018, Schwarzman Centre
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Wednesday 19 November 2025
“My Copyist Pretends to Have Misunderstood Me”: Writing émigré Arabic journals in 1880s Paris
Date: 19 November 2025, 11:00 - 12:00
Speaker
:
Dr Raphael Cormack (Durham)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Old Common Room
Organiser:
John-Paul Ghobrial
Hosts:
TBA
Book Talk: 'Nationalism: A World History'
Date: 19 November 2025, 11:10 - 12:30
Speaker
s:
Eric Storm (University of Leiden),
Discussant: Faisal Devji (Balliol College, Oxford),
Discussant: Abigail Green (Brasenose College, Oxford)
Venue: Exeter College, Turl Street OX1 3DP
Venue Details: Ruskin Room, Exeter Cohen Quad (Walton Street)
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
War, Empire, and Displacement
Date: 19 November 2025, 14:00 - 15:30
Speaker
s:
Megan Hamilton (King's College London),
James Hua (University of Oxford)
Venue Details: Room 20.501, Department of History of Art, The Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities
Organisers:
Asma Shakeel (Oxford),
Asmita Sarkar (Oxford),
Sana Shah (Oxford)
Hosts:
TBA
Coca-Cola – a Religious History?
Date: 19 November 2025, 16:15 - 17:15
Speaker
:
Uta Balbier
Venue: Wadham College, Parks Road OX1 3PN
Venue Details: Seminar Room 4, and online via Microsoft Teams
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
New Christian Materiality: Reflections on a New Project
Date: 19 November 2025, 16:30 - 18:30
Speaker
:
Francisco Bethencourt (King's College London)
Venue: Exeter College, Turl Street OX1 3DP
Venue Details: Rector's Drawing Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Art in the Age of the Maxim Gun: The South African War (1899-1902) and the British Illustrated Press
Date: 19 November 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
:
Sean Wilcox (Oxford)
Venue: All Souls College, High Street OX1 4AL
Venue Details: Wharton Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Thursday 20 November 2025
Lightening Round: We gather for flash discussions of research
Date: 20 November 2025, 11:45 - 12:45
Speaker
Various Speakers
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory,
Venue Details: Room 20.501, Schwarzman Centre, Oxford OX2 6GG
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
'Liberal worlds: James Bryce and the democratic intellect’ [New book talk]
Date: 20 November 2025, 12:00 - 13:30
Speaker
:
Stuart Jones (Manchester)
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory,
Venue Details: Schwarzman Centre
Organisers:
Joshua Bennett,
Matthew Grimley
Hosts:
TBA
Captured Consent: Contract Labor in English Charity, Colonization, and War, 1600–1700
Date: 20 November 2025, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
s:
Dr Sonia Tycko (University of Edinburgh),
In discussion with Professor Giuseppe Marcocci (Exeter College)
Venue: Lincoln College, Turl Street OX1 3DR
Venue Details: Oakeshott Room, and online via Microsoft Teams
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Friday 21 November 2025
Civil Wars and the End of the Cold War: Hypotheses for Global History
Date: 21 November 2025, 14:00 - 16:00
Speaker
:
Jeremy Adelman (Princeton & Cambridge)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Gillis Lecture Theatre
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Monday 24 November 2025
Roundtable - The Safe Repository: Sex, Gender and Reproduction at the Kinsey Institute
Date: 24 November 2025, 10:30 - 11:30
Speaker
s:
Rebecca Fasman (Curator),
Professor Justin Garcia (Director),
Liana Zhou (Librarian),
Professor Matt Cook (Oxford),
Professor Sarah Knott (Oxford)
Venue: St John's College, St Giles OX1 3JP
Venue Details: Auditorium
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Marie Curie and public histories of science
Date: 24 November 2025, 16:00 - 17:30
Speaker
s:
Sarah Dry (Oxford),
Stéphane van Damme (CNRS/MFO)
Venue Details: Maison Française d'Oxford, 2-10 Norham Rd, Oxford OX2 6SE
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Male Marriage Gaps, Dynastic Centralisation and Habsburg Trust Fund Babies: Analysing Early Modern Dynasties from a Long(er)-Term Perspective
Date: 24 November 2025, 16:30 - 17:30
Speaker
:
Liesbeth Geevers (Lund University)
Venue: Jesus College, Turl Street OX1 3DW
Venue Details: Memorial Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
NO SEMINAR
Date: 24 November 2025, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
No seminar
Venue Details: No Seminar
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Professor Sarah Knott's Inaugural Lecture: Why a History of Care?
Date: 24 November 2025, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Professor Sarah Knott (Oxford)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Tuesday 25 November 2025
Roundtable: The Politics of Care
Date: 25 November 2025, 10:30 - 11:30
Speaker
Various Speakers
Venue: St John's College, St Giles OX1 3JP
Venue Details: Auditorium
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Tadhg Ó Neachtain (1671–c.1752) – Jacobitism, Philosophy and Knowledge of the World
Date: 25 November 2025, 16:00 - 17:00
Speaker
:
Professor Fionntán De Brún (Maynooth)
Venue: Lincoln College, Turl Street OX1 3DR
Venue Details: Please ask the lodge for directions
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Tadhg Ó Neachtain (1671–c.1752): Jacobitism, Philosophy, and Knowledge of the World
Date: 25 November 2025, 16:15 - 17:15
Speaker
:
Fionntán De Brún (Maynooth)
Venue: Lincoln College, Turl Street OX1 3DR
Venue Details: Beckington Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
The End of Europe: A Global History of European Integration
Date: 25 November 2025, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Marlène Rosano-Grange (Sciences Po)
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory,
Venue Details: Room 20.402, Schwarzman Centre
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
The success of the informal state in England
Date: 25 November 2025, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker
:
Leander Heldring (Northwestern University)
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory,
Venue Details: Learning Centre, Room 00.018, Schwarzman Centre
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Wednesday 26 November 2025
Peasant, Painter, Patron: Anders Zorn and the Collecting of Vernacular Craft as Personal and National Heritage
Date: 26 November 2025, 11:10 - 12:30
Speaker
:
Matilda Eriksson (Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford)
Venue: Exeter College, Turl Street OX1 3DP
Venue Details: Kloppenburg Room, Exeter Cohen Quad (Walton Street)
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Religious Diversity and the early modern English State: views from the parishes
Date: 26 November 2025, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Professor Emeritus Ann Hughes (Keele University)
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory,
Venue Details: Room 00.063, Schwarzman Centre, Woodstock Road, OX2 6GG
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Thursday 27 November 2025
‘Songs of Seven Dials’ [New book talk]
Date: 27 November 2025, 11:45 - 13:15
Speaker
:
Matt Houlbrook (Birmingham)
Venue Details: TBC
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Songs of Seven Dials, *Shared Seminar with Modern British History*
Date: 27 November 2025, 11:45 - 12:45
Speaker
:
Matt Houlbrook (Birmingham)
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory,
Venue Details: History Seminar Room, Schwarzman Centre
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Title TBC
Date: 27 November 2025, 12:30 - 14:00
Speaker
:
TBA
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory,
Venue Details: Room 20.513, History Hub, Schwarzman Centre
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
William Sancroft’s Jest-Book; or, what did a seventeenth-century archbishop find funny?
Date: 27 November 2025, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Dr Tim Reinke-Williams (University of Northampton)
Venue: Lincoln College, Turl Street OX1 3DR
Venue Details: Oakeshott Room, and online via Microsoft Teams
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Royal Attitudes to Raphael and Renaissance Art from Henry VIII to Victoria and Albert
Date: 27 November 2025, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Desmond Shawe-Taylor (Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures)
Venue: Christ Church, St Aldates OX1 1DP
Venue Details: Lecture Room 2
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Friday 28 November 2025
Art and Decolonial Love: Visualizing Just Futures in the Chicanx Civil Rights Movement
Date: 28 November 2025, 14:00 - 16:00
Speaker
:
Charlene Villaseñor Black (Oxford)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Gillis Lecture Theatre
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Monday 1 December 2025
Enslaved Children, “Adultification,” and Resistance in the antebellum US South, 1812-1861
Date: 1 December 2025, 11:00 - 12:15
Speaker
:
Aisha Djelid (Oxford)
Venue: Magdalen College, High Street OX1 4AU
Venue Details: Sophia Sheppart Room, and online via Microsoft Teams
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Anxious nurses and forgotten patients: psychoanalysing the hospital in mid-century Britain
Date: 1 December 2025, 16:00 - 17:30
Speaker
:
Grace Whorrall-Campbell (Oxford)
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory,
Venue Details: Seminar Room 00.063, Schwarzman Centre
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Margins, marginality, and marginalisation: drawing lines within and around late medieval Catholicism
Date: 1 December 2025, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Robert Swanson (University of Birmingham)
Venue: All Souls College, High Street OX1 4AL
Venue Details: Wharton Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Tuesday 2 December 2025
German Mining Science and the Quest for Metals in the Early Modern World
Date: 2 December 2025, 14:00 - 15:30
Speaker
s:
Gabriele Marcon (Vienna),
Chair: Howard Hotson
Venue: Exeter College, Turl Street OX1 3DP
Venue Details: Rector's Drawing Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
“Of myself alone”: Inventing the Written Proposal of Marriage in Long Eighteenth-Century England
Date: 2 December 2025, 16:15 - 17:15
Speaker
:
Sally Holloway (Warwick)
Venue: Lincoln College, Turl Street OX1 3DR
Venue Details: Beckington Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Writing the History of an Invisible Group: Old Women in Germany, 1950-2010
Date: 2 December 2025, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Christina von Hodenberg (GHIL/QMUL)
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory,
Venue Details: Room 20.402, Schwarzman Centre
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
What Did the Romans Ever do for Them? Aqueducts and the Administration of the Empire
Date: 2 December 2025, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker
:
Andrea Papadia (York)
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory,
Venue Details: Learning Centre, Room 00.018, Schwarzman Centre
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Wednesday 3 December 2025
Modern Transimperial History: An Introduction
Date: 3 December 2025, 11:00 - 12:00
Speaker
:
Prof Cyrus Schayegh (Geneva Graduate Institute)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Old Common Room
Organisers:
TBA
Host:
John-Paul Ghobrial
Jews, Handicrafts and Ethnography in Liberal Italy
Date: 3 December 2025, 11:10 - 12:30
Speaker
:
Luisa Levi d’Ancona Modena (Oxford)
Venue: Exeter College, Turl Street OX1 3DP
Venue Details: Kloppenburg Room, Exeter Cohen Quad (Walton Street)
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Knowledge, Science, and Development across Global Contexts
Date: 3 December 2025, 14:00 - 15:30
Speaker
s:
Madeline White (Oxford),
Koyna Tomar (University of Pennsylvania)
Venue Details: Room 20.421, Faculty of History
Organisers:
Asma Shakeel (Oxford),
Asmita Sarkar (Oxford),
Sana Shah (Oxford)
Hosts:
TBA
People as property? Captivity and conflict in medieval Iberia
Date: 3 December 2025, 16:15 - 17:15
Speaker
:
Teresa Witcombe
Venue: Wadham College, Parks Road OX1 3PN
Venue Details: Seminar Room 4, and online via Microsoft Teams
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Art and Sustainability in the Early Modern Iberian World
Date: 3 December 2025, 16:30 - 18:30
Speaker
:
Charlene Villaseñor Black (Worcester College, Oxford)
Venue: Exeter College, Turl Street OX1 3DP
Venue Details: Rector's Drawing Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
The loyalties of professionals: Black soldiers in the Rhodesian army, 1963-1981
Date: 3 December 2025, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
:
M T Howard (Independent Scholar)
Venue: All Souls College, High Street OX1 4AL
Venue Details: Wharton Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Thursday 4 December 2025
The Madwoman in the Factory: Valerie Solanas and the Feminist Imagination
Date: 4 December 2025, 11:45 - 12:45
Speaker
:
Marybeth Hamilton (History Workshop)
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory,
Venue Details: History Seminar Room, Schwarzman Centre
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Religion as a liberating force? Black British feminist movements, localised activism, and faith communities in London, 1970-1990
Date: 4 December 2025, 12:00 - 13:30
Speaker
:
Hannah Elias (Goldsmiths)
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory,
Venue Details: Schwarzman Centre
Organisers:
Joshua Bennett,
Matthew Grimley
Hosts:
TBA
Writing James VI and I
Date: 4 December 2025, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Professor Clare Jackson (Trinity Hall, Cambridge)
Venue: Lincoln College, Turl Street OX1 3DR
Venue Details: Oakeshott Room, and online via Microsoft Teams
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Friday 5 December 2025
The Americas in Catholicism’s Global Cold War
Date: 5 December 2025, 14:00 - 16:00
Speaker
:
Daniel McDonald (Oxford)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Gillis Lecture Theatre
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Tuesday 27 January 2025
Daily Bread: Thinking Comparatively about Food Protests, Social History, Gender, and Archival Politics
Date: 27 January 2026, 14:00 - 15:30
Speaker
s:
Maartje van Gelder (Amsterdam),
Chair: Filippo de Vivo
Venue: Exeter College, Turl Street OX1 3DP
Venue Details: Rector's Drawing Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Lecture 1: Crafting Order
Date: 27 January 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Professor Jill Frank (Cornell University)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Venue Details: South School
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Wednesday 28 January 2025
A model occupation. German occupational policy in Brussels and its impact on the First World War - and beyond
Date: 28 January 2026, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
:
Samuël Kruizinga (UV Amsterdam)
Venue: All Souls College, High Street OX1 4AL
Venue Details: Wharton Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Thursday 29 January 2025
Lecture 2: Media
Date: 29 January 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Professor Peter Mandler (Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Venue Details: South School
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Tuesday 3 February 2025
Lecture 2: Coming to Terms
Date: 3 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Professor Jill Frank (Cornell University)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Venue Details: South School
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Thursday 5 February 2025
Lecture 3: Self
Date: 5 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Professor Peter Mandler (Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Venue Details: South School
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Tuesday 10 February 2025
The Case for India: Restating Eighteenth-Century Oriental Despotism from a History of Knowledge Perspective
Date: 10 February 2026, 14:00 - 15:30
Speaker
s:
Stéphane Van Damme (ENS Paris/MFO),
Chair: Giuseppe Marcocci
Venue: Exeter College, Turl Street OX1 3DP
Venue Details: Rector's Drawing Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Lecture 3: The Capacity of Power
Date: 10 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Professor Jill Frank (Cornell University)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Venue Details: South School
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Wednesday 11 February 2025
Mercenaries for Peace: Masculinity, Internationalism, and Pleasure on the Front Lines of Peacekeeping
Date: 11 February 2026, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
:
Margot Tudor (City)
Venue: All Souls College, High Street OX1 4AL
Venue Details: Wharton Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Thursday 12 February 2025
Lecture 4: State and Economy
Date: 12 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Professor Peter Mandler (Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Venue Details: South School
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Tuesday 17 February 2025
Lecture 4: Making Equality
Date: 17 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Professor Jill Frank (Cornell University)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Venue Details: South School
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Thursday 19 February 2025
Lecture 5: Self and Society
Date: 19 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Professor Peter Mandler (Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Venue Details: South School
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Tuesday 24 February 2025
Lecture 5: The Sense of Beauty
Date: 24 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Professor Jill Frank (Cornell University)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Venue Details: South School
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Wednesday 25 February 2025
Male bodies for the fatherland. Invalidity and self-mutilation in the eighteenth-century Habsburg monarchy
Date: 25 February 2026, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker
:
Julia Heinemann (Antwerp)
Venue: All Souls College, High Street OX1 4AL
Venue Details: Wharton Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Joint session with the History of War seminar. Title TBC
Date: 25 February 2026, 17:15 - 18:45
Speaker
s:
Julia Heinemann (Antwerp),
Chair: Peter Wilson
Venue: All Souls College, High Street OX1 4AL
Venue Details: Wharton Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Thursday 26 February 2025
Lecture 6: Self vs. Society
Date: 26 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Professor Peter Mandler (Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Venue Details: South School
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Tuesday 3 March 2025
Lecture 6: Democratic Form
Date: 3 March 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker
:
Professor Jill Frank (Cornell University)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Venue Details: South School
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Tuesday 10 March 2025
Postgraduate presentations - title TBC
Date: 10 March 2026, 14:00 - 15:30
Speaker
Various Speakers
Venue: Exeter College, Turl Street OX1 3DP
Venue Details: Rector's Drawing Room
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Wednesday 11 March 2025
Postgraduate Presentations
Date: 11 March 2026, 10:00 - 14:30
Speaker
Various Speakers
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory,
Venue Details: Room 20.513, Schwarzman Centre, Oxford OX2 6GG
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA
Tuesday 5 May 2025
Toward a History of Misunderstandings: The Missionaries’ Dilemma
Date: 5 May 2026, 14:00 - 15:00
Speaker
s:
Peter Burke (Cambridge),
Chair: Filippo de Vivo
Venue: St Edmund Hall, Queen's Lane OX1 4AR
Venue Details: Old Dining Hall
Organisers:
TBA
Hosts:
TBA