Intellectual Forum NEWS SNAPSHOTS

13 October: The allure of the aesthetic with Melissa Pierce Murray

Ar tist Melissa Pierce Murray explored meanings and roles we ascribe to aesthetics, arguing that beautiful things often mask ugly realities If we concentrate on presentation, she said, we might miss the realities of material production, context and politics. In the absence of absolute values, truth and beauty of concept become apt solutions to arbitrar y sets of rules which we have ourselves constructed The question underpinning her talk was: is beauty in an object, or in a concept? The talk was followed by a popular workshop using experimental drawing techniques to explore perception, cognition, value and intent, including drawing without seeing.

28 October: An evening with Lemn

Sissay

Renowned poet, playwright, memoirist, per former and broadcaster Lemn Sissay OBE read from his memoir

My Name is Why and discussed his life and work

Lemn captivated the room with his electric deliver y and power ful intimacy We’ve never had more laughter at an IF event, but there were also moments of deep seriousness as Lemn spoke candidly about what he went through and what others continue to suf fer. The many people who attended were ef fusive in their feedback, citing the profound impact the talk had on them The Q&A was par ticularly moving and gave rise to extensive reflection and connection

December: We launched a new edX course, Digital Wellbeing and Productivity

The Intellectual Forum teamed up with Senior Research Associate Tyler Shores to create a new edX course on Digital Wellbeing and Productivity The course addresses the challenge of finding a healthy balance between productivity and downtime, and asks: how can individuals and institutions learn from research-based knowledge to create digital habits and skills to help us flourish together?’ This course joins our other free online edX courses: Preventing and responding to sexual harassment and violence and Managing conflict and polarization in the workplace and beyond These courses achieved global success this year, with over 2,000 students from 170 countries enrolling

12 January: Book launch with Dr Paul Dominiak

16 November: Abortion is still a crime in Britain: changing the law for women and girls with Dr

Charlotte Proudman and Lakshmi Sundaram

Many assume that the right to an abor tion is enshrined in law in most of the UK, but that’s not the case As reproductive rights for people with wombs are being challenged around the world, Charlotte and Lakshmi outlined the current legal situation in the UK, and how the law and other tools can be utilised to create change They drew on their experience of fighting for – and achieving – progress in the UK and globally around other aspects of girls’ and women ’ s rights, and their talk led to lively and productive discussion from multiple perspectives in the room.

The Intellectual Forum hosted the book launch for The Falling of Dusk, Dr Paul Dominiak’s new book on religious doubt Paul’s book explores how each of the seven last words of Jesus on the Cross attends to doubt as the refining fire of faith, rather than as its enemy. Paul elaborated on his book’s central questions: why should Christians embrace suspicious doubt, and can a suspicious Christianity challenge doubters? With this talk aimed at those who embrace, reject, or are uncer tain about faith, Paul invited us to reflect in unconventional ways on our assumptions, anxieties, suspicions and beliefs

9 February: Lisa Jardine Memorial Lecture

– Archival pursuits: unediting lives and letters with Professor Nadine Akkerman

In memor y of Professor Lisa Jardine, eminent scholar and the College’s first woman Fellow, Professor Nadine Akkerman spoke on editorial practice She asked: what do we do when editors and archivists wilfully mislead us, and does it matter if their sins are merely those of omission? Nadine discussed M A Green’s work, following Lisa Jardine’s arguments in her final collection of essays, and compared it with J A Worp’s omissions from his edition of Constantijn Huygens’s correspondence She concluded that cer tain inter ventions, especially when under taken silently, are not only prescriptive and presumptuous, but can easily erase entire networks. Find out about past and upcoming events at www jesus cam ac uk/research/intellectual-forum