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.

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China's Deepfake Regulations

Thursday 1 June

China implemented new regulations on 'deep synthesis' technology in January 2023. Some commentators have called it a 'landmark', 'first-of-its-kind' and the 'most comprehensive' law in the world regulating deepfakes. The regulations prohibit the use of such technology for spreading 'fake' news or information that could disrupt the economy or national security, which authorities have wide latitude to interpret. Providers of 'deep synthesis technologies' must take steps to prevent the use of their services for illegal or harmful purposes, protect user privacy, authenticate user identity, and label synthetic content, among other legal obligations. In this lecture, Professor Mimi Zou will examine the new regulations, their likely implications and the challenges that may arise in implementation and enforcement.

Samuel Ringgold Ward: A Life of Struggle

Thursday 1 June

Born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Samuel Ringgold Ward (1817–c. 1869) escaped enslavement and would become a leading figure in the struggle for Black freedom, citizenship, and equality. Ward, a newspaper editor, Congregational minister, and advocate for the temperance movement, was considered one of the leading orators of his time. After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 he fled to Canada, where he lectured widely to improve conditions for formerly enslaved people. Ward then went to Britain as an agent of the Canadian Antislavery Society and published his influential book Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro. Despite Ward’s prominent role in the abolitionist movement, his story has been lost because of the decades he spent in exile. In this book R. J. M. Blackett brings light to Ward’s life.

Picture of Charles Darwin from Meyers Lexicon books

The Evolution of Darwin and the Great Debate

Friday 30 June

In 1859, Darwin published On the Origin of Species, introducing the world to the Theory of Evolution. A few months later, a contentious public debate was hosted at Oxford University Museum of Natural History to discuss Darwin's revolutionary ideas. Newspapers reported the event to be as sensational as anticipated, with onlookers shouting and even fainting. Biologist Thomas Huxley championed Darwin, and flamboyantly demolished the anti-evolutionary opinions of Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford. Meanwhile, Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle, sat clutching his bible, regretting allowing Darwin to join him on the five-year voyage that spurred his theories. Join historian Diana Preston, in the very same venue, as she whisks us back to reflect on the 'Great Debate'.