University of Cambridge

The third edition of David Crystal’s Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language published this year. There have been huge developments in English in the 15 years since the previous edition.

Not all of the developments have been predictable. Among the expected changes were a continuing spread of English as a global language and the remarkable growth of new internet varieties. But who would ever have predicted in 2003 that the book would need new spreads on English in a post-Brexit Europe, or on changes in the oratorical style of American presidents?

David will discuss these issues, along with a further unexpected outcome in relation to the language of Shakespeare.

Hiraeth participant Hussein talks about friends and family

Two girls on the Hiraeth programme discuss their confidence to speak English

Welcome to We are the University. A podcast about the alumni, staff and students who make Cambridge University unique.

In this episode we chat to Julian Hargreaves about his life in the music industry discovering talent like So Solid Crew and why he chose to leave the music industry and pursue a career in academia.

We talk about Julian’s research with British Muslim communities; the issues around anti-Muslim discrimination and hate crimes.

Dr Amy Erickson talking about Women Entrepreneurs in 18th-century London: change or continuity? and her exhibition: City Women in the 18th Century at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas.

The outdoor exhibition City Women in the 18th Century (Cheapside, London, 21 September – 18 October 2019) highlights the extraordinary number of women who ran manufacturing and commercial businesses in the heart of 18th-century London. Then, as now, the Cheapside area was known for its luxury goods. Unlike now, most of those goods were made on the premises. It is often assumed today that women did not enter the labour force before the 20th century. What is the significance of the discovery that in the 18th century women were not only central to the labour market but also ran businesses? Amy Erickson discusses her research and reflects on the experience of mounting a public exhibition with private sector support.

Didier Queloz from the University of Cambridge was jointly awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics along with James Peebles and Michel Mayor for their pioneering advances in physical cosmology, and the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.

Listen to Professor Queloz talk to journalists at the Science Media Centre in London just a few hours after finding out about the award.

Final-year chemist Shadab Ahmed reflects on his sabbatical year as Cambridge University Student Union Access and Funding Officer, the importance of role models, and how increasing diversity within universities could be the start of seeing real change in society as a whole.

The neuroscientist working to understand and prevent suicide in teenagers.

We talk to Dr Anne-Laura van Harmelen, a neuroscientist, who became fascinated by the brain as a teenager, after her dad gave her a copy of Oliver Sacks’ The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Today she’s investigating adversity and resilience and is part of an international collaboration working to understand, and ultimately prevent, suicidal thoughts and behaviours in teenagers.

https://www.riskandresiliencegroup.uk/

https://twitter.com/ProjectHOPES

https://twitter.com/DrAnneLaura

Is taxidermy a craft or art? Can natural history specimens be an artwork? Who made this putty-nosed monkey? And while we're here, can a fox snarl?

Jack Ashby, Museum Manager at the University Museum of Zoology, tackles taxidermy and its inclusion in Artist: Unknown.

This podcast series is part of an exhibition titled Artist: Unknown at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge. In collaboration with the University of Cambridge Museums, it brings together works of art from across the University’s collections from July to September 2019.

What would a young woman's CV from the past look like?

Helen Ritchie, Research Assistant at The Fitzwilliam Museum, talks about samplers and the role they played for young women in the 17th and 18th century, and why in this instance the artist is unknown.

This podcast series is part of an exhibition titled Artist: Unknown at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge. In collaboration with the University of Cambridge Museums, it brings together works of art from across the University’s collections from July to September 2019.