Spend time exploring ideas, discoveries and conversations at the heart of the Schwarzman Centre.
Drop in and out of a lively programme of bite-sized talks, discussions and interactive events running throughout the day. This is your chance to delve into the rich and eclectic research taking place at the Schwarzman Centre, brought to life by leading academics and researchers.
Programmed in collaboration with University of Oxford academics, TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities), GLAM (Gardens, Libraries and Museums) and the Institute for Ethics in AI, we plan to offer something for curious minds of all ages. Expect hands-on object handling of museum collections, guided tours of the Bodleian Humanities Library, accessible mini-lectures, and engaging panel conversations exploring why the humanities matter in today’s world.
No booking is required. Simply drop in, explore, and get a taste of the inspiring work happening across the Schwarzman Centre.
Part of Open House, a free festival day of performances and events open to everyone.
Big Ideas: what's on
All times subject to change.
Talks
11:00 - 12:30 Meet the researcher
Jonathan Walls (Linguistics), Emma Baxter (Medieval and Modern Languages), Andrew McNey (History)
Seminar Room 1
11:15 - 11:30 Welcome to the inaugural exhibition 'Resonant Histories'
Dr Emanuela Vai
Bate Collection of Musical Instruments
11:45 - 12:00 When Shakespeare met Trump
Professor Emma Smith (English)
Seminar Room 4
12:05 - 12:20 Mass shoving in Greek warfare: from Oxford to Hollywood
Dr Roel Konijnendijk (Classics)
Seminar Room 4
12:30 - 12:45 Tudor health & safety
Professor Steven Gunn (History)
Seminar Room 4
12:45 - 13:00 10 myths about witchcraft
Professor Diane Purkiss (English)
Seminar Room 4
13:00 - 13:15 Don’t “quote” me: variations on quotation marks
Professor Philomen Probert (Classics)
Seminar Room 3
13:15 - 13:30 Ten-Minute Book Club
Professor Kirsten Shepherd and Natasha Bradley (English)
Seminar Room 1
13:15 - 14:00 Humanities: future imperfection
Panel discussion
Seminar Room 4
13:30 - 14:30 Meet the researcher
Alfred Lo (Asian and Middle Eastern Studies), Gina Mollicone-Long (Theology and Religion), Bhadrajee Hewage (History)
Seminar Room 1
14:00 - 14:15 Linguistic illusions: now you say it, now you don’t
Professor Colin Phillips (Linguistics)
Seminar Room 4
14:00 - 14:15 Hieroglyphs: write like an ancient Egyptian
Dr Hana Navratilova (Asian and Middle Eastern Studies) and Dr Chloé Agar (History)
Seminar Room 3
14:15 - 14:30 The secret life of nuns
Professor Henrike Lähnemann (Medieval and Modern Languages)
Seminar Room 4
14:30 - 15:15 Ten-Minute Book Club
Professor Kirsten Shepherd and Natasha Bradley (English)
Seminar Room 1
15:00 - 15:15 Cuneiform: write like a Babylonian
Gustavo Fernandes Pedroso
Seminar Room 3
15:00 - 15:15 A lullaby in three journeys
Professor Samantha Sebastian (Music)
Seminar Room 4
15:30 - 17:00 Meet the researcher
Sharvi Maheshwari (Theology and Religion), Caroline Taylor (English) Xingyu Novak Shi (Linguistics), Rajaa Sahgal (History)
Seminar Room 1
16:00 - 17:00 Is there such a thing as ethical AI?
Panel discussion by Institute for Ethics in AI
Cinema
16:15 - 16:30 Superwomen, saints and sinners: why studying the past matters now
Dr Janina Ramirez (Continuing Education)
Seminar Room 4
17:00 - 17:45 End of liberalism
Panel discussion
Seminar Room 4
19:15 - 20:00 Es Devlin in conversation
What does it mean to be human in the age of intelligent machines?
Sohmen Concert Hall
Tours
11:00 - 18:00 Bodleian Humanities Library
Explore the library's collection with the guidance of our teams
Bodleian Humanities Library
11:00 - 18:00 Bate Collection of Musical Instruments
Discover one of the world's most significant archives of musical objects from the Medieval and Renaissance periods to the present day
Bate Collection of Musical Instruments
Activities
11:00 - 18:00 What is the humanities?
Chat to our faculties teams at any time about humanities courses at University of Oxford
Seminar Room 1
11:00 - 18:00 Explore objects and print on a traditional printing press
Look, touch, smell, listen: an opportunity to get up close with some unique objects from Oxford University Gardens Libraries & Museums’ handling collections. What’s it made from? What’s it for? Where does it come from? What’s the story?
Seminar Room 2
12:30 - 13:15 Learn Korean in 15 minutes
Seminar Room 1
13:00 - 16:00 From emoji to cartouches
Interactive activities around ancient and modern inventions for ‘reading between the lines’ in writing. With Dr Chloé Agar, Gustavo Fernandes Pedroso, Alfred Lo, Professor Jieun Kiaer, Dr Hana Navratilova, Dr Florencia Nelli, Professor Philomen Probert, Christian Sanders, and Jeff Wing Tsun Yip. Includes short talks throughout the day
Seminar Room 3
14:00 - 15:00 Play some of our instruments!
Bate Collection of Musical Instruments
Explore more at Open House
