Alumni Weekend

This lecture by Jamie Lorimer explores new ways of thinking and doing environmentalism that need not make recourse to nature. The diagnosis of the ‘Anthropocene’ marks the public end of the idea of nature as a pure place removed from society and revealed by natural science. This problematic idea has been central to much Western environmentalism. This lecture explores new ways of thinking and doing environmentalism that need not make recourse to nature. It focuses on the promise and pitfalls of rewilding – a novel mode of wildlife conservation – illustrated through an experiment in the Netherlands.

Illustrated with photographs from previous trips, this talk by Professor Mark Smith contrasts the Nile Valley and the desert and explore how the relationship between them developed over the course of Egyptian history.

This lecture given by Dr Matt Friedman will look at the evolution of the unique flora and fauna of Madagascar and how it is intertwined with the geological history of the island.

Matthew Reynolds, Fellow and Tutor in English Language and Literature, Oxford, gives a talk for the 2013 Oxford Alumni Weekend. Translations are never as good as their originals - or so we tend to think. But why should that be? Surely translation can involve gain as well as loss? But, if it does that, doesn't it stop being translation and turn into something else: a 'version', 'interpretation' or 'poem in its own right'? The 2013 St Anne's Founding Fellows Lecture will explore these questions with the help of a range of wonderful translations into English, such as Dante, Virgil, Homer, Zamyatin, Dryden, Pope, Ciaran Carson, Natasha Randall and Peter Robinson. We will discover what it means for a piece of writing to be at once a translation and a work of literature.

Panel discussion led by Vice Chancellor Andrew Hamilton, with Mike Nicholson, Helen Swift, Priscilla Santos and Jenny Brennan. Each year, Oxford welcomes talented students, at both undergraduate and graduate level, from all over the globe. Our students come from 140 different countries and territories, attracted by the chance to study at an internationally-renowned university, with outstanding academic achievement and innovation. This session, chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andrew Hamilton, will take a closer look at the student experience at Oxford. Topics under discussion will include Oxford's distinctive college and tutorial system which still underpins a culture of close academic supervision; recent changes to student fees and funding; the admissions process, and Oxford's extensive work in access and widening participation, helping to ensure that the best students, regardless of background, apply to the University. Current students will also be represented on the panel to share some of their experiences.

Dr Perkins gives a talk for the 2013 Oxford Alumni Weekend. Dr Nicholas Perkins curated the 2012 Bodleian exhibition 'The Romance of the Middle Ages'. In this illustrated lecture (also intersecting with the ongoing 'Magical Books' exhibition in the Bodleian) he reflects on medieval romance through the gifts and exchanges that structure its stories: gifts such as rings, swords or the girdle Sir Gawain accepts in return for dangerous kisses; exchanges between men and women, families or enemies. These dynamics are still at work, from The Winter's Tale to The Lord of the Rings. Examining storytelling itself as a form of exchange, Dr Perkins suggests how medieval romances explore ideas of identity, value and the power of narrative to shape human relations.

This session will examine the political and humanitarian dynamics behind the Arab Spring and the Syrian War. Starting with a long view of the events leading to the Arab Spring, it will analyse the regional and international repercussions of the uprisings.

Marianne Talbot talks about the uses and dangers of the relatively new discipline of synthetic biology.

Fireworks consultant, author and former Oxford chemist Dr Tom Smith explains the basic chemistry and construction of fireworks, and their use in modern fireworks displays.

Professor Marcus du Sautoy (New College), Charles Simonyi Chair in the Public Understanding of Science, author and broadcaster gives a talk for the 2013 Oxford Alumni Weekend. From composers to painters, writers to choreographers, the mathematician's palette of shapes, patterns and numbers has proved a powerful inspiration. Often subconsciously artists are drawn to the same structures that fascinate mathematicians, as they constantly hunt for interesting new structures to frame their creative process. Through the work of artists like Borges and Dalí, Messiaen and Laban, Professor du Sautoy will explore the hidden mathematical ideas that underpin their creative output and reveal that the work of the mathematician is also driven by strong aesthetic values