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Prime Minister visits University of Oxford

27 February 2009

The Prime Minister, The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, is today visiting the University of Oxford to deliver the Romanes lecture on the topic of science.

During the day, he will visit Oxford’s new Biochemistry building, where he will meet scientists from across the University for a roundtable discussion. He will also join members of the University, including students, at a reception after the lecture.

In addition, he will have a chance to view some of the treasures of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, including a Magna Carta and the papers of a previous Labour Prime Minister, James Callaghan.

The Romanes Lecture is an annual public lecture at Oxford University. The first was given in 1892 by William Gladstone. Subsequent speakers have included Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Sir Isaiah Berlin, Edward Heath, AJP Taylor, Tony Blair, Sir Paul Nurse and Muhammad Yunus.

A reporter from Press Association is in attendance, plus a pooled photographer for newspapers and a photographer for the wires services. The University will also make available free photos of the event by 15:30 today: please email press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk or phone 01865 280528.

A report of the event will be viewable on www.ox.ac.uk/news from 4.30pm today. The lecture will go up on the University website and iTunesU site early next week.

The plan for the day is as follows:

  • Prime Minister is welcomed by the Vice-Chancellor, Dr John Hood, and introduced to the Registrar, Dr Julie Maxton, and Professor David Sherratt, Iveagh Professor of Microbiology, who is deputising for the Head of Biochemistry. The VC and Professor Sherratt will escort the Prime Minister on a short tour of the University’s new Biochemistry building. The Prime Minister will be shown a microscopy demonstration in which chromosomes are segregated (see Notes to Editors for more).
  • Prime Minister participates in a roundtable discussion with a range of Oxford scientists (including those who have set up spinout companies to commercialise their research). The discussion will be on scientific and medical research at Oxford and the benefits they bring to the UK economy and in tackling the global challenges of the 21st century (see Notes to Editors for more).
  • Prime Minister gives Romanes Lecture in the Sheldonian Theatre on ‘Science and our Economic Future‘ to an audience of around 1,000 (University academics, staff and students, plus members of the public), with an introduction by the Vice-Chancellor.
  • Prime Minister has a short private viewing of some treasures from the Bodleian Library. He will see: (i) an original 1217 reissue of Magna Carta, one of the keystones of civil liberty; (ii) St Margaret’s Gospel-book, owned in the eleventh century by Margaret, Queen of Scots, renowned for her goodness and learning; (iii) Some papers by former Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan; (iv) The manuscript of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
  • Prime Minister to attend a reception with various members of the University, including students, researchers in the social sciences and researchers in the humanities.

For more information please contact the Press Office, University of Oxford, 01865 280528, press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk

or

10 Downing Street Press Office, 020 7930 4433 

Notes to editors

  • The Romanes Lectures were created in 1891 following an offer by John Romanes of Christ Church (who died in 1894) to fund an annual lecture. The lecturer is invited to speak by the current Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Each Romanes Lecturer must deliver to the Vice-Chancellor a copy of his or her lecture, which will be kept at the Bodleian Library. Full list of previous speakers on request.
  • The Biochemistry building opened in 2008 and is a distinctive building with glass facades and coloured glass ‘fins’. It brings together 300 lecturers, researchers and students previously based in a number of separate buildings across the University’s Science Area. Inside, a large open atrium with breakout spaces and specially commissioned artworks encourages collaboration between the researchers. There is a virtual tour at www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/biochemistry and pictures and more information are available on request.
  • Biochemistry experiment: The Prime Minister will be invited to see a microscopy demonstration, which will segregate a newly-fertilized fruit-fly egg. Defects in chromosome segregation and duplication, which occurs before eggs divide, can lead to cell death and to diseases like cancer and Down’s syndrome. The microscopy demonstration will show an experiment to support the hypothesis that newly duplicated chromosomes are held together by cohesin, a ring-shaped protein. At the onset of normal cell division, a protease (protein-cleaving protein) called ‘separase’ cleaves the cohesin ring, thereby allowing onset of chromosome segregation. Better understanding of the process may ultimately help understand and treat diseases caused by faults in the process.
  • Roundtable discussion with scientists: The VC will give a brief overview of scientific and medical research at Oxford, and will then invite the following to provide short case histories of recent Oxford spinout companies:  (i) Dr Constantin Coussios and Professor Peter Friend on their spinout OrganOx, which is developing a device for sustaining organs outside the body using blood at normal body temperatures. The device is capable of sustaining an organ in a functioning state outside the body for periods of 3 days, using blood at normal body temperature. In the first instance, the technology will be used for improved preservation and repair of livers prior to transplantation, and is expected to result in a significant increase in the number and quality of transplantable organs. More information on request. (ii) Dr Malcolm McCulloch on his spinout Intelligent Sustainable Energy Ltd, formed between Navetas Energy Management and Oxford University, which has created technologies to help people reduce and manage their energy consumption. The ‘smart meter’ will allow households to monitor which individual appliances are consuming electricity in real time and over time, delivering the data in a form most suited to the individual consumer such as a PC or mobile, or, for the first time, via itemised electricity bills. More information on request. See also the website of Isis Innovation, the University’s tech transfer arm: www.isis-innovation.com. There will follow a general discussion of scientific and research at Oxford. More information on Oxford University’s 70 spinout companies, or Oxford’s science research, on request.
  • Bodleian treasures: The Prime Minister will see: (i) An original 1217 reissue of Magna Carta, one of the keystones of civil liberty. The Bodleian holds the highest number of surviving original issues of the 13th century anywhere, and the plans for library redevelopment include putting these on long-term public display. (ii) St Margaret’s Gospel-book, owned in the eleventh century by Margaret, Queen of Scots, renowned for her goodness and learning (and later canonized). (iii) Some of the Callaghan Papers, some five hundred boxes acquired in 1992 and closed by Lord Callaghan during his lifetime. Callaghan had the rare distinction of holding all three senior Cabinet posts (Chancellor of the Exchequer (1964-67), Home Secretary (1967-70) and Foreign Secretary (1974-76)) before serving as Prime Minister (1976-1979). The Prime Minister will look at Lord Callaghan's memoirs recalling his October 1976 speech on education.  (iv) The manuscript of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, one of the most popular novels of the nineteenth century. The manuscript is written mostly in the hand of Mary but with extensive additions and revisions by her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley.
  • The Sheldonian Theatre: The Sheldonian Theatre was erected in 1664–8 to a design by Sir Christopher Wren, from funds donated by Gilbert Sheldon. In 1994 the Theatre was described by the European Commission as "one of the architectural jewels of Oxford". Its purpose was to provide an appropriate secular venue for the principal meetings and public ceremonies of the University, and this remains its function today. The seating capacity is 1,000. 

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