The Battle of Ideas (BOI) is an annual debating festival held at the Barbican, in London, with more than 450 speakers and 100 debating over the course of two days. The Weidenfeld-Hoffmann  scholars have organised a satellite session that will focus on the degeneration of the political discourse - The rise of toxic politics: can we be civil? - which the organisers of BOI introduce on the festival website.

Looking at a world seemingly filled with slurs, angry social-media comments, inflammatory remarks about migrants, and nasty jibes about ‘stupid Brexiteers’ or ‘metropolitan remoaners’, many commentators have announced that we live in an age of ‘toxic politics’. The phrase supposedly captures the increasingly nasty, personal and hate-filled political discourse, as well as pointing to the corrosive effect of this on our political life.

The speakers of the sattelite event orginized by our scholars are still to be confirmed.

You can reserve a free ticket here.

Tellus Mater Distinguished Fellow in Sustainability Studies 2019 with Professor Pamela Matson, Stanford University

book your ticket here

The Tellus Mater Distinguished Fellowship is managed by the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute (UCCRI) in cooperation with the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust. You can find out more about UCCRI at www.conservation.cam.ac.uk.

Tellus Mater Distinguished Fellow in Sustainability Studies 2019 with Professor Pamela Matson, Stanford University

The Tellus Mater Distinguished Fellowship is managed by the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute (UCCRI) in cooperation with the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust. You can find out more about UCCRI at www.conservation.cam.ac.uk.

Tellus Mater Distinguished Fellow in Sustainability Studies 2019 with Professor Pamela Matson, Stanford University

Tuesday 26 Feb 5pm
Public Lecture :
The Practical Pursuit of Sustainability

The Babbage Lecture Theatre
Cambridge CB2 3QZ  book your ticket here: Sustainability is a term widely used by many different groups – from corporations to the international development community to academic institutions and non-profits – sometimes with different meanings and different goals. In this talk, Pamela Matson will draw common threads among the different uses, and illustrate how systems thinking and a capital assets framework can be used by all of them to increase the likelihood of accomplishing sustainability goals.
Pamela Matson is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary Earth scientist, academic leader and organizational strategist.
This event will be followed by a  drinks reception in the David Attenborough Building

The Tellus Mater Distinguished Fellowship is managed by the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute (UCCRI) in cooperation with the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust. You can find out more about UCCRI at www.conservation.cam.ac.uk.

Daniel (USA, DPhil Int. Relations, Arcadia, 2011) will be reflecting on his time at Oxford, his pioneering work through Microclinic International (a not-for-profit development organisation founded by Daniel in 2005) and his acclaimed book, Indecision Points. For more information and how to book please click here.

The new cohort of Scholars, along with any continuing Scholars come together in Oxford for an intensive four day programme of discussions on political and moral philosophy.

2018 Annual Leadership Forum at Said Business School.

Park End St , Oxford, England OX1 1HP

Sam Mendes in Conversation with Professor Laura Marcus.

A Screening of ‘Road to Perdition’ followed by a Q&A with Sam Mendes at the Phoenix Picturehouse, 57 Walton Street, Oxford.

Please make sure to purchase your ticket in advance at the Phoenix Picturehouse directly.

Sam Mendes’s work directing theatre and film spans 25 years!

In 1998 he directed his first film American Beauty, winning the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture, as well as the Golden Globe and Directors’ Guild Awards. He has since directed the Academy Award-winning Road to Perdition, Jarhead, Revolutionary Road, Away We Go, the BAFTA and Academy Award-winning Skyfall and most recently the latest Bond movie, Spectre.

In 2003 he founded Neal Street Productions with Pippa Harris and Caro Newling. Neal Street has produced the BAFTA award-winning television series Call the Midwife, The Hollow Crown and Penny Dreadful, Britannia and Informer; several movies including Things We Lost in the Fire, Stuart A Life Backwards and Starter for 10; and in the theatre the long-running Shrek The Musical and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Sam’s theatre career began in his early twenties. At 24 years old he became the first Artistic Director of the Minerva Theatre in Chichester. At 27 he founded the Donmar Warehouse in London, which he ran for ten years. It has become one of the world’s leading playhouses.

In 2009 he founded the Bridge Project, a transatlantic classical theatre company, for which he directed The Winter’s Tale, The Cherry Orchard, The Tempest, As You Like It and Richard III. His many theatre awards include: four Olivier Awards, two Tony Awards, five Evening Standard Awards, several Critics’ Choice Awards and the Hamburg Shakespeare Prize.

Other theatre includes:  For the Royal Shakespeare Company: Troilus and Cressida, Richard III, The Tempest and The Alchemist. For the National Theatre: The Sea, The Birthday Party, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Othello and King Lear. For the Royal Court The Ferryman. In the West End: The Cherry Orchard, London Assurance, Kean, Oliver! Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, On Broadway: Cabaret, The Blue Room, Gypsy and The Vertical Hour.

His next project is The Lehman Trilogy at the National Theatre in July 2018.

He was awarded a CBE in 2000 and a Directors’ Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.

Time and location TBD

Third Moral Philosophy Follow-up Seminar at Nuffield College.

1 New Road , Oxford, OX1 1NF United Kingdom