Events

University or College events, which are open to everyone, are listed here.

If you're thinking about applying for an undergraduate degree at Oxford, please also see the information on open days, events and visiting for potential undergraduates.

Online and part-time courses at the University, as well as weekly classes, are offered at the Department for Continuing Education. Please see the course listing for more information.

Painting of a lens cap being removed from an historic camera

A New Power: Photography in Britain 1800–1850

Ongoing to 7 May 2023

The announcement of photography’s invention in January 1839, first in Paris and then in London, introduced a ‘new power’ into British life, which was soon being used for every conceivable purpose. A New Power: Photography and Britain 1800-1850, a new exhibition at the Weston Library, explores the early history of photography. By showing how photography intersected with all aspects of a nascent modernity, A New Power reveals photography’s crucial role in making Britain the society it is today.

Image of a table in a restaurant full of plates of food being passed around by diners

Ravenous: How to Get Ourselves and Our Planet Into Shape

Thursday 11 May

You may not be aware of this - not consciously, at least - but you do not control what you eat. Every mouthful you take is informed by the subtle tweaking and nudging of a vast, complex, global system: one so intimately woven into everyday life that you hardly even know it's there. The food system is no longer simply a means of sustenance. It is one of the most successful, innovative and destructive industries on earth. It sustains us, but it is also killing us. In this book talk, Henry Dimbleby explains not just why the food system is leading us into disaster, but what can be done about it.

What we do and don’t know about the Universe (and how we know it)

Wednesday 17 May

Join Professor Matthew Colless, Distinguished Professor, Australian National University, who will present the 25th Hintze Lecture at the Department of Physics. The talk will give an overview of key facts we now know about the Universe - its size, age, constituents, history and future - and explain how we have come to know these things. But it will also emphasise how ignorant we are about basic elements of the standard model of cosmology, including dark matter, dark energy, and quantum gravity, and conclude by discussing prospects for shedding light on these mysteries.