Events of interest to Faculty of Theology and Religion
Talks:

Monday 9 February 2026

OCCT Discussion Group: Hallucination, Contemplation, and ‘Ideal Realism’: British Romanticism in Dialogue with Daoism
Date: 9 February 2026, 12:45 - 14:00
Speaker : Dr Serena Qihui Pei (UCL)
Venue: St Anne's College, Woodstock Road OX2 6HS
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Shut Up and Write (or Translate)!
Date: 9 February 2026, 14:00 - 17:00
Speaker
Venue: St Anne's College, Woodstock Road OX2 6HS
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Movement and Uncertainty: Embodying Cognition
Date: 9 February 2026, 16:00 - 17:30
Speaker : Dr Ariel Dempsey (Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford)
Venue Details: Ground Floor Studio, Old Fire Station
Organiser: Ian Ramsey Centre for Science & Religion
Hosts: TBA

Tuesday 10 February 2026

Tolkien's Animism
Date: 10 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Erik Jampa Andersson
Venue: Corpus Christi College, Merton Street OX1 4JF
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 11 February 2026

Playing in the open: Getting familiar with Creative Commons licences
Date: 11 February 2026, 9:30 - 11:00
Speaker s: Georgina Kiddy (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford), Rachel Scanlon (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)
Venue: Radcliffe Science Library, off Parks Road OX1 3QP
Venue Details: Seminar Room
Organiser: Sarah Humphreys (Bodleian Libraries)
Hosts: TBA

Hajj and the Art of Pilgrimage
Date: 11 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Professor Sir Nasser Khalili (Khalili Foundation)
Venue: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Marston Road OX3 0EE
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

The Excavations of the Church of St Polyeuktos at Sarachane Revisited
Date: 11 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker : Pamela Armstrong (Oxford)
Venue: 66 St Giles', 66 St Giles' OX1 3LU
Venue Details: Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, and online via Microsoft Teams
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Friday 13 February 2026

'Our “woman talk” was about Marxism and anti-imperialism': Charting the Thought Worlds of the Black Women’s Movement in Britain
Date: 13 February 2026, 13:00 - 14:00
Speaker : Jade Bentil (University of Oxford)
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road OX2 6GG
Venue Details: Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, Seminar Room 63, Ground Floor
Organiser: Marielle Masolo (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 18 February 2026

Ethics in AI Lunchtime Research Seminar:
Date: 18 February 2026, 12:30 - 13:30
Speaker : Dr Felix Simon (University of Oxford)
Venue Details: Schwarzman Centre/Remote
Organisers: Graham Bagley (Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford), Jacqueline Wright (Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Dependent Labour in the Late Antique Near East
Date: 18 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker : Arietta Papaconstantinou (Aix-Marseille)
Venue: 66 St Giles', 66 St Giles' OX1 3LU
Venue Details: Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, and online via Microsoft Teams
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Shaping the future of AI and Human Rights
Date: 18 February 2026, 17:30 - 18:30
Speaker : Professor Yuval Shany (King's College, London)
Venue Details: Lady Margaret Hall, Norham Gardens, Oxford
Organisers: Graham Bagley (Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford), Jacqueline Wright (Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford)
Hosts: Graham Bagley (Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford), Jacqueline Wright (Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford)

Imams and patrons: service provision by Islamic non-state actors
Date: 18 February 2026, 17:30 - 19:00
Speaker : Dr Tugba Bozcaga (KCL)
Venue: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Marston Road OX3 0EE
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 19 February 2026

The Problem of the Christian Master | Book Symposium
Date: 19 February 2026, 10:30 - 12:30
Speaker
Venue: Christ Church, St Aldates OX1 1DP
Venue Details: Michael Dummett Lecture Theatre
Organiser: McDonald Centre (Faculty of Theology and Religion)
Hosts: TBA

Friday 20 February 2026

Police Power, Plantation Principles: Racialized Expendability and Regional Policing in the Post-Slavery Caribbean Basin
Date: 20 February 2026, 13:00 - 14:00
Speaker : Morgan DaCosta (University of Oxford)
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road OX2 6GG
Venue Details: Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, Seminar Room 63, Ground Floor
Organiser: Marielle Masolo (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Title TBC
Status: This talk is in preparation - details may change
Date: 20 February 2026, 15:00 - 17:00
Speaker : Graham Priest (CUNY)
Organiser: Joshua Loo (Oxford)
Host: Joshua Loo (Oxford)

Monday 23 February 2026

OCCT Discussion Group: On the Trail of the Detective: Testing a New Comparative Methodology in World Literature
Date: 23 February 2026, 12:45 - 14:00
Speaker : Oliver Eccles (UCL)
Venue: St Anne's College, Woodstock Road OX2 6HS
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

The Bible and the Earth: A Proposal for Ecotheological Hermeneutics
Date: 23 February 2026, 16:00 - 17:30
Speaker : Dr Bethany Sollereder (University of Oxford)
Venue Details: Room 00.079 (Ground Floor), Schwarzman Centre
Organiser: Ian Ramsey Centre for Science & Religion
Hosts: TBA

Tuesday 24 February 2026

Beauty and Peril and Sorrow: A Web in Tolkien's Thinking
Date: 24 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Anders Stenström
Venue: Corpus Christi College, Merton Street OX1 4JF
Venue Details: Auditorium
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 25 February 2026

From divine sovereignty to national legitimacy: transformations in the theology of political Islam
Date: 25 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Professor Jocelyn Cesari (University of Birmingham)
Venue: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Marston Road OX3 0EE
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Mapping Unholy Places in Late Antiquity
Date: 25 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker : Robert Wiśniewski (Warsaw)
Venue: 66 St Giles', 66 St Giles' OX1 3LU
Venue Details: Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, and online via Microsoft Teams
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Friday 27 February 2026

Race & Resistance: Informal Writing Session
Date: 27 February 2026, 13:00 - 14:00
Speaker
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road OX2 6GG
Venue Details: Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, Seminar Room 63, Ground Floor
Organiser: Marielle Masolo (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Mariusz Szczygieł and Antonia Lloyd-Jones with Linden Editions
Date: 27 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker s: Mariusz Szczygieł, Antonia Lloyd-Jones
Venue: St Anne's College, Woodstock Road OX2 6HS
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Monday 2 March 2026

Shut Up and Write (or Translate)!
Date: 2 March 2026, 14:00 - 17:00
Speaker
Venue: St Anne's College, Woodstock Road OX2 6HS
Venue Details: Seminar Room 10
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

OxFOS26: AI versus open research: Exploring the evolving tensions
Date: 2 March 2026, 14:00 - 16:00
Speaker Various Speakers
Venue: Weston Library, Broad Street OX1 3BG
Venue Details: Online
Organisers: Jackie Thompson (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford), Ruth Mallalieu (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford), Sarah Humphreys (Bodleian Libraries)
Hosts: TBA

Tuesday 3 March 2026

OxFOS26: The future of Rights Retention to protect researchers' copyright
Date: 3 March 2026, 11:00 - 13:00
Speaker Various Speakers
Venue: Weston Library, Broad Street OX1 3BG
Venue Details: Online
Organisers: Jackie Thompson (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford), Ruth Mallalieu (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford), Sarah Humphreys (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

OxFOS26: Future of open research in humanities and social sciences
Date: 3 March 2026, 15:00 - 16:30
Speaker Various Speakers
Venue: Weston Library, Broad Street OX1 3BG
Venue Details: Online
Organisers: Jackie Thompson (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford), Ruth Mallalieu (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford), Sarah Humphreys (Bodleian Libraries)
Hosts: TBA

Modes of Remembering in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Fictional World
Date: 3 March 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Mina Lukić Gunner (University of Belgrade)
Venue: Corpus Christi College, Merton Street OX1 4JF
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 4 March 2026

OxFOS26: Oxford Forum of Open Scholarship - Conference day
Date: 4 March 2026, 10:00 - 19:00
Speaker Various Speakers
Venue: Weston Library, Broad Street OX1 3BG
Organisers: Sarah Humphreys (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford), Jackie Thompson (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford), Ruth Mallalieu (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Ethics in AI Lunchtime Research Seminar:
Date: 4 March 2026, 12:30 - 13:30
Speaker : TBC
Venue Details: Schwarzman Centre/Remote
Organisers: Graham Bagley (Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford), Jacqueline Wright (Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

The Anatomy of a Conversion: Nicolaus Steno and the Search for Religious Certainty in the “Scientific Revolution”
Date: 4 March 2026, 16:00 - 17:30
Speaker : Dr Nuno Castel-Branco (All Souls College, Oxford)
Organiser: Ian Ramsey Centre for Science & Religion
Hosts: TBA

Expert Insights Seminar - AI and human agency
Date: 4 March 2026, 17:00 - 19:00
Speaker : Professor Christopher Summerfield (University of Oxford)
Venue Details: Lady Margaret Hall, Norham Gardens, Oxford
Organisers: Graham Bagley (Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford), Jacqueline Wright (Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford)
Hosts: Graham Bagley (Institute for Ethics in AI, Oxford), Jacqueline Wright (Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford)

Transnational ties of faith: Imdadullah’s letters and writings from the Hijaz during the late-19th century
Date: 4 March 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Dr Moin Ahmad Nizami (Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies)
Venue: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Marston Road OX3 0EE
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Ubiquitous and Universal? Rebellion and State Formation between Byzantium and Early Islam
Date: 4 March 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker : Alasdair Grant (Hamburg)
Venue: 66 St Giles', 66 St Giles' OX1 3LU
Venue Details: Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, and online via Microsoft Teams
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 5 March 2026

OxFOS26: Cultivating FAIR data across disciplines: Examples of collaborative initiatives and practical tools
Date: 5 March 2026, 13:00 - 15:00
Speaker s: Susanna-Assunta Sansone, Allyson Lister, Dan Crane, Beth Knazook
Venue Details: Online
Organisers: Jackie Thompson (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford), Ruth Mallalieu (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford), Sarah Humphries (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Friday 6 March 2026

OxFOS26: How to do open research safely
Date: 6 March 2026, 11:00 - 12:00
Speaker Various Speakers
Venue Details: Online
Organiser: Sarah Humphreys (Bodleian Libraries)
Hosts: TBA

Book Talk | Hubert Harrison: Forbidden Genius of Black Radicalism
Date: 6 March 2026, 13:00 - 14:00
Speaker : Dr Brian Kwoba (University of Memphis)
Venue: Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road OX2 6GG
Venue Details: Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, Seminar Room 63, Ground Floor
Organiser: Marielle Masolo (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Title TBC
Status: This talk is in preparation - details may change
Date: 6 March 2026, 15:00 - 17:00
Speaker : Professor James Ladyman (Bristol)
Organiser: Joshua Loo (Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Monday 9 March 2026

OCCT Discussion Group: Teaching the Coloniality of the Climate Crisis in Translation: Indonesian and Dutch Flood Narratives
Date: 9 March 2026, 12:45 - 14:00
Speaker : Lucelle Pardoe (UCL)
Venue Details: Microsoft Teams
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Quantum Worldviews - Believing and Belonging
Date: 9 March 2026, 16:00 - 17:30
Speaker : Dr Shaun Henson (Faculty of Theology and Religion, Oxford)
Venue Details: Room 00.079 (Ground Floor), Schwarzman Centre
Organiser: Ian Ramsey Centre for Science & Religion
Hosts: TBA

Tuesday 10 March 2026

Habitatio est omen - or: like land, like people
Date: 10 March 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Thomas Honegger (Friedrich Schiller University, Jena)
Venue: Corpus Christi College, Merton Street OX1 4JF
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 11 March 2026

Leviathan's health: state capacity and epidemics from the Black Death to Covid
Date: 11 March 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Professor Sheilagh Ogilvie (University of Oxford)
Venue: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Marston Road OX3 0EE
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Unbecoming Roman: Performative Ethnicity and Panspermía in the Byzantine World c.1190-1235
Date: 11 March 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker : Nathan Websdale (Oxford)
Venue: 66 St Giles', 66 St Giles' OX1 3LU
Venue Details: Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, and online via Microsoft Teams
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 12 March 2026

Silver trees and pearl crosses: Franco-Mongolian diplomacy and cultural exchange in thirteenth-century Karakorum
Date: 12 March 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Emily Guerry
Venue: St Catherine's College, Manor Road OX1 3UJ
Venue Details: Mary Sunley Lecture Theatre
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 7 May 2026

Title TBC
Date: 7 May 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Cécile Voyer (Université de Poitiers)
Venue: St Catherine's College, Manor Road OX1 3UJ
Venue Details: Mary Sunley Lecture Theatre
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Friday 15 May 2026

Title TBC
Status: This talk is in preparation - details may change
Date: 15 May 2026, 15:00 - 17:00
Speaker : Jennifer Nagel (Toronto)
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 28 May 2026

The Many Lives of the Asante Ewers
Date: 28 May 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Lloyd Debeer (British Museum)
Venue: St Catherine's College, Manor Road OX1 3UJ
Venue Details: Mary Sunley Lecture Theatre
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Friday 29 May 2026

Title TBC
Status: This talk is in preparation - details may change
Date: 29 May 2026, 15:00 - 16:00
Speaker : Selim Berker (Harvard)
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 4 June 2026

Contemporary Art Meets the Medieval Monastery
Date: 4 June 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Jessica Barker (Courtauld Institute)
Venue: St Catherine's College, Manor Road OX1 3UJ
Venue Details: Mary Sunley Lecture Theatre
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 11 June 2026

Day 1 - Reimagining Humanism: Religious Humanisms as Frameworks for Building a Common Life in a Fractured World
Date: 11 June 2026, 9:00 - 17:00
Speaker Various Speakers
Venue: Christ Church, St Aldates OX1 1DP
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Title TBC
Date: 11 June 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Meg Bernstein (University of East Anglia)
Venue: St Catherine's College, Manor Road OX1 3UJ
Venue Details: Mary Sunley Lecture Theatre
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Reimagining Humanism | McDonald Centre Annual Conference 2026
Date: 11 June 2026, 17:00 - 14:30
Speaker s: Rev. Canon Prof. Luke Bretherton (University of Oxford), Slavica Jakelić (Richard P. Baepler Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, Valparaiso University), Randi Rashkover (Nathan and Sofia Gumenick Chair of Judaic Studies, William & Mary), Eric Gregory (Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Religion, Princeton University), Ufuk Topkara (Professor of Comparative Theology from an Islamic Perspective at the Berlin Institute for Islamic Theology, Humboldt University of Berlin), Professor Joshua Hordern, Aaron Stalnaker (Professor of Religious Studies, Indiana University), Chammah Kaunda (Academic Dean at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies (OCMS))
Venue: Christ Church, St Aldates OX1 1DP
Venue Details: Michael Dummett Lecture Theatre
Organisers: TBA
Host: Rev. Canon Prof. Luke Bretherton (University of Oxford)

Friday 12 June 2026

Day 2 - Reimagining Humanism: Religious Humanisms as Frameworks for Building a Common Life in a Fractured World
Date: 12 June 2026, 9:00 - 17:00
Speaker Various Speakers
Venue: Christ Church, St Aldates OX1 1DP
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

This list contains talks from the following series:
2-Day Conference: Medieval Vestments
After Rome and Further East Seminar
Bampton Lectures 2023: Jesus and the Displaced: Christology and the Redemption of Habitation
Can there be Buddhist physicalism?
Eastern Christianity in Interfaith Contexts
Ecclesiastical History Workshop
George Rousseau Lectures
Greco-Roman and East-Asian Classics events (Janus Project)
Grinfield Lectures on The Septuagint 2024 | SÉBASTIEN MORLET - “The Plurality of the Biblical Text - Past and Present”
Interreligious Interactions in South Asia (Virtual Colloquium)
Islamicate Intellectual History Seminar Series
Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar
Magic, Maths, Mamluks, and Mongols: History of Islamic Science at the Boundaries
MANUSCRIPTS in Interfaith Contexts
Medieval Visual Culture Seminar
Modern Jewish Thought Seminar
Moving Stories - Sectarianisms in the Global Middle East
New St Cross Special Ethics Seminar Series
New Testament Seminar
No What Without a How: Theological Method and the Theologies of Original Sin in Modern Catholic Thought
'Opening the Angus' Seminars and Events
Open Scholarship
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Seminars
Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture Michaelmas 2023 Term Programme
Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation
Race & Resistance
Religion in Britain and Ireland, 1400-1700
Religion in Britain and Ireland, 1400-1700
Religion in the British Isles 1400 - 1700
Religion in the British Isles, 1400-1700 Seminar
Science, Technology, Environment and Muslim Societies (STEMS)
SEMINAR ON JEWISH HISTORY AND LITERATURE IN THE GRAECO-ROMAN PERIOD
The 54th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies: Material Religion in Byzantium & Beyond
The Bible in Art, Music and Literature Interdisciplinary Seminar
The James Ford Lectures in British History 2024: The World's Reformation
The Speaker’s Lectures in Biblical Studies 2023
Tolkien 50th Anniversary Seminar Series
Tolkien seminars
TOSCCA/ONGC Seminar series
Wilde Lectures in Natural and Comparative Religion - Religion Refracted and in Motion: On Pilgrimage in Present Times
Womanhood in Interfaith Contexts