The battles of Ancient Greece are immortalised in popular culture, from films like Troy and the 300, to literature, art, and music. But what were these battles really like, who fought in them, and why did they break out?

In this episode, Alice Hazell, a classical archaeology and ancient history student at Lady Margaret Hall, and speaks to Dr Roel Konijnendijk, Darby Fellow in Ancient History at Lincoln College, to discuss how Greek warfare functioned and in particular, to take a look at one of the most famous conflicts in history: the Persian Wars.

The survival of offspring is essential for the continuation of species, and yet we see a huge diversity in how much parental care is provided to offspring across the tree of life. So how necessary is it to provide care to your young, and what determines the different strategies employed by differing species?

In this episode of OxPods, biology PhD student Joe Woodman will be interviewing Professor Ashleigh Griffin, who studies why selection favours social behaviour in the context of reproduction.

Have you ever wondered about early Christianity, or how women were able to express themselves through their devotion to Christ?

Ursula White is in Conversation with Professor Annie Sutherland of Somerville college Oxford, to explore the fascinating world of early English Devotional Literature.

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The Renaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries is one of the most celebrated and recognisable periods of cultural history, but it is far from the only time of significant societal transformation across the globe. In the twentieth century medieval historians began to put forth a compelling argument that the twelfth century was one such time.

In this episode, Charlie Bowden, a History student at Jesus College, interviews Dr Philippa Byrne, Departmental Lecturer in Medieval History at Somerville College, about the phenomenon known as the twelfth century renaissance.

The Middle East and North Africa are two of the most archaeologically rich regions on earth. But as a result of military conflict, urban expansion, and climate change, these archaeological sites are increasingly under threat.

In this episode, Alice Hazell, Classical Archaeology and Ancient History student at Lady Margaret Hall, speaks to Dr. Bill Finlayson, a professor of pre-historic environment and society and the director of the EAMENA project, to discuss the current threats to archaeological sites, what can be done to protect them, and why we should care about archaeology.

Theory of mind, the ability to understand others by ascribing mental states to them, has historically been considered a uniquely human characteristic. But are we really the only animals to possess this level of social intelligence?

In this episode of OxPods, Alex Rodway, a biology master’s student at Jesus College, interviews Dr Natasha Gillies, a Stipendiary Lecturer at Merton College, who has studied animal behaviour and population ecology throughout her academic career, about the existence of ‘theory of mind’ in non-human animals.

For the good times and the bad, we turn to the closest around us: our friends. But what is the science behind friendship? Why is it important to have friends? Professor Robin Dunbar is a Professor of Evolutionary Psychology whose research focuses on the evolution of sociality. Robin is best known for formulating Dunbar’s number – the limit on the number of manageable relationships one can have. 

Join Human Sciences undergraduate Miya McFarlane as she interviews this world-famous professor to explore the science behind why friends are so important.

Darwin’s theory of evolution and selection states that characteristics which aid survival and reproduction will be favoured, however, this doesn’t only refer to physical attributes, but also behavioural ones. But how do behaviours arise, how do they spread through populations, and what role do they play in developing animal cultures?

In this episode of OxPods, biology PhD student Joe Woodman will be interviewing Dr Josh Firth, a research fellow at the University of Oxford whose research aims to understand how behaviour and ecology shapes social structure in societies.

In eighteenth-century England, while famous writers such as Alexander Pope and Jonathon Swift were making a living through their published works, a small but growing number of women also started to live by their pens. However, because of the way women were perceived in the public sphere, they were not able to write about themselves in the way men did. In 2017, Professor Christine Gerrard gave the keynote address at the BAKEA conference in Turkey entitled ‘Memory and the Eighteenth-century Female Poet’. In this talk she discussed the difference between memory as expressed by male and female poets of this period, and this sparked an interest in women and memory that Professor Gerrard has been pursuing ever since.

In this episode, Flora Symington, second year English student at Somerville College, will be interviewing Professor Gerrard, Fellow and Tutor in English at Lady Margaret Hall, about her work in this area.

The modern British welfare state can trace its roots back to the reign of Elizabeth I. But how did the state assist the poor in the Tudor period compared to now? Was the Victorian workhouse all that Dickens cracked it up to be? Where did our NHS come from?

In this episode, Charlie Bowden, a History student at Jesus College, interviews Dr Gillian Lamb, Stipendiary Lecturer in History at Somerville College, about the history of poor relief in Britain from the sixteenth century to today.