Fire and Wire
The Vice-Chancellor’s new series highlights University communities and brings interesting Oxford stories to you.
In her Admission speech Professor Tracey said:
'The Hebbian principle in neuroscience describes beneficial neuronal behaviour in the brain: if you fire together, you wire together. My goal is to fire and wire this great University more closely with our city, this nation and the globe, working generously with the other great British universities with whom we share our higher education ecosystem.'
Building on her goal to ‘fire and wire’ the University, this series explores Oxford’s people and stories.
Episode 5: Oxford women making a global impact
March 2024
This International Women's Day (8 March), Professor Irene Tracey sat down with women from across the University who are making a global impact with their work. Professor Kokila Lakhoo, Dr Isang Awah and Professor Katrina Charles joined the Vice-Chancellor to discuss the challenges of working in an international space and the difficulties impacting the retention of women in academia.
Download the full transcript of the conversation on women making a global impact (Word doc) here.
Episode 4: Innovation and spinouts
December 2023
Mairi Gibbs, Chief Operating Officer at Oxford University Innovation and Lilly Bussmann, Principal at Oxford Science Enterprises, join Professor Irene Tracey for the latest podcast in this series to discuss innovation at Oxford.
Download the full transcript of the conversation on Innovation and spinouts (Word doc) here.
Episode 3: Fire and Wire in the Garden
September 2023
Irene speaks to Dr Chris Thorogood, the Head of Science at Oxford Botanic Garden, about the past, present and future of this extraordinary institution.
Listen to just the audio of the interview here.
Episode 2: Wellbeing in the workplace
July 2023
Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Director of Oxford's Wellbeing Research Centre, speaks to Irene about why wellbeing matters in the workplace. He also discusses some of the latest research findings coming out of the Wellbeing Research Centre.
Episode 1: Women in STEM
April 2023
In the first episode, Irene speaks to Misha Patel, DPhil student in the Department of Engineering Science, and Professor Sonia Antoranz Contera from the Department of Physics. They touch on their pathways into science as women, the importance of networks and what direction their work will take next.