Birkbeck Voices

This year’s Birkbeck Arts Week, held at the School of Arts from 18 to 23 May, was a huge success, with members of the public flocking to see, and take part in, a packed programme of lectures, workshops, performances and screenings.

Following up on the last Arts Week special podcast, Birkbeck Voices made it along to 43 Gordon Square during the week itself to experience the buzz at a handful of events.

Here’s the line-up for the podcast:

• We spoke to Dr Jaqueline Riding, Birkbeck alumna and historical consultant about her work on Mike Leigh’s highly acclaimed movie, Mr. Turner

• This is followed by some reaction from participants at the Visual Artists Today Symposium

• And we wrap up with a few words from Dr Rosie Cox who spoke at the Gendering Austerity symposium

For more information about:

• Arts Week 2015 - www.bbk.ac.uk/artsweek

• Dr Jaqueline Riding - jacquelineriding.com

• Dr Rosie Cox - ow.ly/NIDA0

Birkbeck’s Arts Week returns this month with a vibrant and packed programme of free-to-attend public events.

Running in and around the School of Arts in the heart of Bloomsbury from May 18 to 23, Arts Week 2015 comprises a cultural smorgasbord of nearly 50 events, including lectures, performances, screenings, workshops and discussions.

With the week just round the corner, this edition of the podcast features interviews with three Birkbeck academics that will be running events:

- Dr Silke Arnold-de Simine, who will be speaking on the matter of Ruins

- PhD researcher and lecturer in Arts Management, Niki Zanti, who is one of the team behind the Visual Artists Today symposium

- Dr Liane Strauss, who gives a special poetry reading ahead of the Moons, Magpies and London poetry event

For more information about this years ‪#‎BBKartsweek‬ and a full programme of events - www.bbk.ac.uk/artsweek

Dr Belinda Brooks-Gordon, Assistant Dean for Strategy (Equalities) in Birkbeck’s School of Science talks to us about her aspirations for gender diversity within Birkbeck, and why it is so important for the College and the country to address the current ‘leaky pipeline’ which sees women leaving science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine in large numbers.

For more information about Birkbeck's School of Science - www.bbk.ac.uk/science

Professor Mike Oaksford, Head of Birkbeck’s Department of Psychological Sciences, talks about how our academics’ research is making an impact in society, following the REF 2014 results in which all of the department’s research was awarded the top rating for impact. Professor Oaksford describes how the department supports researchers at all stages of their careers and creates an environment which is conducive to conducting this world-leading research.

For more information about Birkbeck’s Department of Psychological Sciences - www.bbk.ac.uk/psychology

Bryony Merritt talks to Professor Stephen Frosh about Birkbeck's performance in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF).

For more information about our REF results - www.bbk.ac.uk/news/ref-results and research at Birkbeck - www.bbk.ac.uk/research

This month's podcast was recorded from an event held on 11 November to unveil a portrait of Professor Eric Hobsbawm at Birkbeck. The event also gave supporters of the Hobsbawm Scholarship Fund the opportunity to meet the first students to receive support from it.

PhD History student Fabio Antonini explains what difference the Hobsbawm Scholarship has made to him and why he was drawn to study at Birkbeck in a department that was shaped by the teaching and research of Professor Hobsbawm over the 60 years that he worked at Birkbeck.

Professor Hobsbawm's friends and former colleagues, Hywel Francis MP and Professor Sir Roderick Floud share their memories of Eric, and explain why they support the scholarship fund.

Julia Hobsbawm, Professor Hobsbawm's daughter who has loaned the portrait to the College, talks about the painting and why she and her family decided to set up a postgraduate scholarship fund in her father's memory.

Finally, Professor David Latchman CBE, Master of Birkbeck, talks about why Professor Hobsbawm is such an important figure in the College's history and how Birkbeck is working to make access to postgraduate study available for everyone.

Find out more about the Hobsbawm Scholarships: www.bbk.ac.uk/hobsbawm-scholarships

View the portrait of Professor Hobsbawm: www.bbk.ac.uk/hobsbawm-portrait

Professor Mike Oaksford, Head of Birkbeck’s Department of Psychological Sciences, talks about how our academics’ research is making an impact in society, following the REF 2014 results in which all of the department’s research was awarded the top rating for impact. Professor Oaksford describes how the department supports researchers at all stages of their careers and creates an environment which is conducive to conducting this world-leading research.

For more information about Birkbeck’s Department of Psychological Sciences - www.bbk.ac.uk/psychology

Undergraduate and postgraduate students at Birkbeck are benefiting from generous funding thanks to support from ArcelorMittal – the world’s leading steel and mining company. In this podcast, Ian Louden, Head of Brand Worldwide, at ArcelorMittal, explains how the scholarships are part of the company’s regeneration efforts in east London. These began with the building of the distinctive 114.5m high ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture for the Olympics in London two years ago.

Three of the scholarship students then describe their own experiences studying Environmental Management, Arts Policy and Management, and Crystallography, at Birkbeck. They describe their personal circumstances, ambitions and emphasise the opportunities opened to them as a result of the funding.

Professor Hilary Fraser, Executive Dean of the School of Arts at Birkbeck and Geoffrey Tillotson Chair of Nineteenth-Century Studies, explores some of the areas covered in her new book: Women writing art history in the nineteenth century. Looking like a woman. She explains the social and technological changes which allowed art history to develop as a new intellectual discipline during the nineteenth century and how female art historians played an important role in this development. She discusses the barriers to recognition of women’s expertise in art history, and how they often used unconventional vehicles to develop their ideas such as novels, travel guides and journalism.

Links for more information:

Professor Hilary Fraser - ow.ly/D5OCW

Book: Women writing art history in the nineteenth century - ow.ly/D5OOu

University research leads to scientific and medical advances and a better understanding of society. Today the impact of such work is increasingly being analysed, in part because of the requirements of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) – an audit of the quality of research in the UK higher education sector.

Professor Stephen Frosh, Pro-Vice-Master for Research and Chair of the REF Working Party at Birkbeck, highlights the pragmatic and philosophical purpose of research in this podcast interview. He speaks about the REF ahead of the results being announced this December, and highlights case studies included in Birkbeck’s submission, including work on cancer therapies and the use of eye-tracking to help restore a damaged painting. Professor Frosh, based in Birkbeck’s pioneering Department of Psychosocial Studies, also talks about his own research on intergenerational trauma.

Links for more info:

Professor Stephen Frosh - ow.ly/BV3Tm

Department of Psychosocial Studies - www.bbk.ac.uk/psychosocial