October talks: teaching, gender and forensics

Two new series of free public talks begin this month on campus and at the Museum of Oxford.

Our 2015-16 anniversary lecture series starts today with a talk on live-project learning and how it can help build better communities. Maria Faraone, a qualified architect with international experience of urban development, will share her teaching methods and demonstrate the value of involving students in actual commissions to develop their skills and benefit the urban environment.

This will be followed on 21 October by a discussion on gender equality. In ‘Women on boards: closing the gender gap’, Helena Morrissey, founder of the 30% club, and Lord Davies of Abersoch, author of the Davies Review, will reflect on progress towards targets for women’s representation on company boards. In conversation with Professor Simonetta Manfredi, they will discuss what remains to be done to close the gender gap.

Both lectures take place at 6pm in the John Henry Brookes Lecture Theatre on our Headington campus and places can be booked online.

Further talks in the series will explore topics as diverse as the Troubles in Northern Ireland, Gaza, faith, China, special effects, the OIA ombudsman service, nursing, comedy, poetry, patient safety, Fairtrade food, terrorism, risk, leadership, planning, the eye, ageing, dementia, class in literature, the history of emotions, and biodiversity.

For further information on all events, visit our online listing or download an events guide.

The popular Brookes Outside Broadcasts from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences are also back, with three lectures at the Museum of Oxford.

First up is Dr Katherine Watson from the Department of History, Philosophy and Religion on Monday 12 October at 1.30pm. ‘Before CSI: crime, medicine and science in history’ will trace the history of forensics from the early modern period to the present, through insanity, poisoning, infanticide and criminal identification, showing the impact of legal systems, medical practitioners and the rise of the ‘expert’ in Britain, Europe and North America. 

This will be followed next year by Anne-Marie Kilday on the life and crimes of Jack the Ripper (4 February) and John Gold on the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games (17 March), also at the Museum of Oxford.

All these events are free and open to everyone.