Meeting Minds 2021 - Watch the films

This year we were lucky to have two Oxford University Meeting Minds alumni events, both of which were truly global affairs, with alumni from America, Asia and Europe joining us online for an enjoyable mix of talks and Q & A sessions.

As part of April’s week-long series of events, Kellogg offered a wonderfully varied programme, ranging from a talk on art restitution with Sotheby’s European Head of Restitution, to a chance to ask questions of a three-time RHS Chelsea Flower Show Best in Show winner.

In September, we were delighted to include various Kellogg alum and members of the University, in our line-up of speakers, discussing topics such as investment in childhood education; inclusion, diversity, equity & access in the workplace; and the defence of wrongly convicted children in Somaliland.

Watch all our events below.

Watch September’s Alumni Meeting Minds events

(Further videos from September’s events will be added when available)

Nudging more Investment in Early Childhood Education and Childcare

Tarun Varma (MSc Education, MBA), Experience Implementation Specialist at the LEGO Foundation; Scott Greenhalgh, Board Trustee at The London Community Foundation; Naomi Eisenstadt, Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Oxford Department of Education and the Department of Social Policy and Intervention; and Brett Wigdortz OBE, Co-Founder and CEO of Tiney, discuss investment in early childhood education & childcare.

How Can We Create Healthy Cities?

Members of Kellogg’s Global Centre on Healthcare and Urbanisation (GCHU) talk about the format, methodology and planned output of their Commission on Creating Healthy Cities, and discuss the topic of Preventable Deaths in Cities.

IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access) in the Workplace

Kellogg alumna Christine Li-AuYeung (EMBA 2016), looks at inclusion, diversity, equity and access in the workplace, through the lens of a first-generation Asian immigrant and professional from an underrepresented group working in the West.

Using Human Rights, Sharia and Customary Law to Defend Wrongfully Imprisoned Children in Somaliland

Caitlin Lambert (MSt International Human Rights Law) was working as a lawyer in Somaliland when she discovered that children were being sent to prison even though there were laws on the books meant to prevent this.

In this lecture, Caitlin discusses her work defending wrongfully imprisoned children in Somaliland and the founding of her organisation the Children’s Legal Defence Centre (CLDC).

Watch April’s Alumni Meeting Minds events

Question Time: Gardening with Andy Sturgeon

Ask the expert! Eight-times RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist and three-times Best in Show winner Andy Sturgeon tackles some perplexing planting problems, from garden ideas for people suffering from long Covid to repotting lemon trees. Plus Andy’s thoughts on the role of landscape architects in achieving sustainable development.

Freud in London: Exploring the places, & people Freud met, including Virginia Woolf & Salvador Dali

One of the most influential figures in the 20th Century, Sigmund Freud, spent the last two years of his life living in Hampstead, feted by such influential figures as Salvador Dali and Virginia Woolf. In this lecture, Kellogg Fellow Professor Alistair Ross traces the inter-woven influence of London in his life and thinking, and these unexpected encounters.

Now more than ever: Reimagining Discrimination Law for Intersectionality

In this talk, Kellogg Fellow Dr Shreya Atrey will discuss her new book, Intersectional Discrimination which examines the concept of intersectional discrimination and why it has been difficult for jurisdictions around the world to redress it in discrimination law.

‘No man ever loved’: Looking for Shakespeare in his Sonnets

William Shakespeare’s Sonnets appear to offer up a direct line to “Will” the man, an offer which few of us are able to resist. But what happens when we read from the text to the life – or from the life to the text?

Kellogg Fellow, biographer and literary critic Anna Beer explains her take on these beautiful, controversial ‘sugared Sonnets’, from their manuscript circulation in the early 1590s to their printing in 1609, complete with mysterious dedication to Master W.H.

To make devastating diseases of infants disappear: what we have learnt with Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Every year, thousands of newborns around the world are born with rare genetic diseases leading to death or lifelong disability. With technological advancements in the field of genetics and medicine, the rate of introduction of treatments for these rare conditions has grown remarkably. Dr Laurent Servais and his team pioneered in the field of genetic New Born Screening (NBS) in rare diseases by funding, designing and leading an innovative NBS programme for Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

Lost & Found: The Work of Sotheby’s Restitution Department

Kellogg alum and European Head of Restitution, Director, Sotheby’s London, Richard Aronowitz’s talk will focus on provenance research (1933-1945) and due diligence in the international art trade, as well as on the restitution of looted art and cultural valuables that were lost to Jewish families during Nazism.

Achieving Social Justice in a Pandemic Age

Will the United Kingdom always have deep levels of inequality? Have we forgotten our history of tackling social injustice? Can anything be done about this? Professor Geraldine Van Bueren looks at how other countries tackle social justice and asks whether such approaches would work in the UK.

Diana Wood Memorial Concert: The Echéa Quartet

This year’s Diana Wood Memorial Concert formed part of the University of Oxford’s Meeting Minds Alumni Week 2021

The Echéa Quartet performed the following programme:

Quartettsatz in D minor, D703 (F Schubert)
String Quartet No. 6, Op. 25 (Elisabeth Lutyens)
String Quartet in B minor Op. 33 No. 1 (J. Haydn)