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Science

Tamsin Mather

Adventures in Volcanoland
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 4:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Josh Cohen

All the Rage: Why Anger Drives the World CANCELLED
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 6:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Emilie A. Caspar, Laurence Rees and Leor Zmigrod chaired by Matthew Stadlen

Just Obeying Orders: The Science Behind Mass Murder and the Radical Mind
Trinity College, Levene Building: Auditorium 12:00pm Sun 30 Sunday, 30 March 2025 See this event
Guy Leschziner

Seven Deadly Sins: The Biology of Being Human SOLD OUT
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Sun 30 Sunday, 30 March 2025 See this event
John S Tregoning

Live Forever? A Curious Scientist’s Guide to Wellness, Ageing and Death
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Mon 31 Monday, 31 March 2025 See this event
Nigel Shadbolt

As if Human: Ethics and Artificial Intelligence SOLD OUT
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Mon 31 Monday, 31 March 2025 See this event
Susana Monsó

Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Mon 31 Monday, 31 March 2025 See this event
Sumit Paul-Choudhury talks to Matthew Stadlen

The Bright Side: Why Optimists Have the Power to Change the World
Trinity College: Garden Room Levine Building 2:00pm Mon 31 Monday, 31 March 2025 See this event
Peter Lamont

Radical Thinking: How to see the Bigger Picture – with Magic
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Mon 31 Monday, 31 March 2025 See this event
Tim Coulson

The Universal History of Us: The Science of Why we Exist
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 10:00am Tue 1 Tuesday, 1 April 2025 See this event
Merijn van de Laar

How to Sleep Like a Caveman: Ancient Wisdom for a Better Night’s Rest
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Tue 1 Tuesday, 1 April 2025 See this event
Barbara Sahakian and Christelle Langley chaired by Irene Tracey

Vice-Chancellor’s Interview. Brain Boost: Healthy Habits for a Happier Life
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Tue 1 Tuesday, 1 April 2025 See this event
Violet Moller

Inside the Stargazer’s Palace: The Transformation of Science in 16th-Century Northern Europe
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Tue 1 Tuesday, 1 April 2025 See this event
Robin Choudhury

The Beating Heart: The Art and Science of Our Most Vital Organ
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Tue 1 Tuesday, 1 April 2025 See this event
L R Lam, Tasha Suri, C L Clark and Sarah Rees Brennan chaired by Matthew Stadlen

Breaking Boundaries: Queering Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Trinity College: Garden Room Levine Building 6:00pm Tue 1 Tuesday, 1 April 2025 See this event
Andrew Robinson introduced by Samuel Fanous

Einstein in Oxford
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Marcus Chown

A Crack in Everything: How Black Holes Came in from the Cold
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Thu 3 Thursday, 3 April 2025 See this event
Joseph Conlon

Origins: The Cosmos in Verse
Brasenose College: Amersi Lecture Room 10:00am Fri 4 Friday, 4 April 2025 See this event
Snezana Lawrence, Charlotte Mullins and Nigel Warburton chaired by Heather McCallum

Sparking Curiosity: Big Ideas that Have Shaped World
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Fri 4 Friday, 4 April 2025 See this event
Iain McGilchrist talks to Charles Foster

The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Fri 4 Friday, 4 April 2025 See this event
Isabel Thomas

The Bedtime Book of Even More Impossible Questions CANCELLED
Pusey House: Chapel 10:00am Sat 5 Saturday, 5 April 2025 See this event
Michel Brahic talks to

Power of Prions: The Proteins That Can Cause Alzheimer’s and Other Diseases
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 3 12:00pm Sat 5 Saturday, 5 April 2025 See this event
Masud Husain

Our Brains, Our Selves: What a Neurologist’s Patients Taught Him About the Brain
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 5 Saturday, 5 April 2025 See this event
James Kinross

Dark Matter: The New Science of the Microbiome SOLD OUT
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sun 6 Sunday, 6 April 2025 See this event
Nicholas Money

Molds, Mushrooms, and Medicines: Our Lifelong Relationship with Fungi
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 12:00pm Sun 6 Sunday, 6 April 2025 See this event
Felix Flicker and Femi Fadugba

Physics and Storytelling
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sun 6 Sunday, 6 April 2025 See this event
Thomas Levenson

So Very Small: How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 4:00pm Sun 6 Sunday, 6 April 2025 See this event

Festival information:

A stimulating and rewarding on-stage conversation; a lively informed and tolerant audience; privileged access to the great treasures of the Bodleian, and finally, wonderfully interesting dinner companions to help me conclude the best day I have enjoyed at any festival – anywhere.

The Oxford Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra.

The Oxford Literary Festival has in my mind become the leading literary festival of the year. The organisation, the roster of speakers, the ambience and the sheer quality of it all is superb. May it now go from strength to strength each year stretching its ambition more and more. I believe it will.

I loved the whole atmosphere of the Oxford Literary Festival. From breakfast, alongside some of the attendees, who were talking books with each other a mile a minute, to the public event at The Sheldonian where everyone was lively and engaged – I felt I had arrived in a kind of literary heaven.

It was a privilege for me to visit the festival to receive the Bodley Medal. As an incidental blessing I saw Oxford at its most mysterious and atmospheric. It was a day of piercing cold and as I walked through the twilight from the Sheldonian to Christ Church, the streets were empty and the whole city was shutting itself away. Christ Church was silent except for the footfall of unseen persons around corners and the sounds of evensong creeping from behind closed doors. For the first time I understood thoroughly the power of college ghost stories.

The night in Oxford was the most beautiful event I have ever done. Not just the spectacular setting (of the Sheldonian), but an unforgettable evening.

The Oxford festival is the most elegant and atmospheric of literary festivals. It’s a pleasure to both attend and perform there.

Often as an author, I only occasionally get to meet the public who buy and read my books. The Oxford Literary Festival was a special opportunity for me and certainly one of the highlights of my career – it was an honour I will never forget.