Linacre Seminar Series

Linacre College Seminar Series 2024/25

Linacre Seminar Series The Linacre Seminar Series enjoyed another fantastic year, marked by fascinating talks, an engaged audience, and plenty of cheese, wine, and good conversation. We are deeply grateful for everyone's contributions and enthusiasm.

Our chairs brought unique flair to each event, our speakers welcomed us into their diverse worlds, and our audience approached every topic with open-minded curiosity— whether it was astrolabes, Norse chairs, hedgehogs, or multiresistant bacteria. To celebrate our outstanding researchers and their contributions—and to reflect the inspiring, intersectional spirit of the Series—we compiled a booklet of bios and abstracts.

We are now accepting applications on a rolling basis for the upcoming academic year.

Speakers and chairs are invited to join us for Guest Night Dinner following the seminar and are encouraged to continue conversations in an even more relaxed setting.

Seminars will continue to take place during term time on alternate Tuesday evenings from 6:00 to 7:00 PM in the Tanner Room at Linacre. If you have any questions about the

seminar

series,

please

don't

hesitate

to

contact

us

at

academic.office@linacre.ox.ac.uk The Convenors, Esben Rasmussen Agnes Strickland-Pajtok Stephanie Volder Lena Vosding

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List of Speakers 29th October Esben Rasmussen Rasmus Vangshardt Alex Cameron (chair) 12th November Silke Ackermann Emily Warner Luciano Marasco (chair) 26th November Alex Aylward Matthew Campbell Cristiana Tisca (chair) 21st January Sophie Rasmussen Lorena Becerra Valdivia Tea Ghigo (chair) 4th February Sofia Helin Wa Ode Dwi Daningrat Carolin Kobras (chair) 18th February Katherine Beard Stephanie Volder Lorena Becerra Valdivia 4

List of Speakers 4th March Tea Ghigo Sara Hijazi Shaniek Parks (chair)

29th April Luciano Marasco Carolin Kobras Kevin Wolz (chair)

13th May Claire Guimond Alex Lau-Zhu Tarick El-Baba (chair)

27th May Hansa Shree Haichen Hu Luciano Marasco (chair)

10th June Sebastian Lund Tom Kettlety Alex Lau-Zhu (chair)

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29th October Chair: Alex Cameron, JRF

Esben Rasmussen, JRF Political thought, publication and secrets of state

Bio: Esben Rasmussen is a historian of philosophy with a PhD from the University of Copenhagen on the political thought of Thomas Hobbes. He is currently Junior Research Fellow at Linacre College and affiliated with the Centre for Intellectual History, University of Oxford.

Abstract: In this presentation, I delineate my current research on Early Modern political thought at the turn of the 16th century. Whereas the history of political thought has primarily been interested in ideas, theories and propositional content, there is an increasing need to investigate its social, material and cultural contexts.

Thus, political thought in the late 16th century was deeply interested in political secrecy, yet because the treatises where such ideas came to find expression were made available to large audiences on account of the novel material and social conditions of print publication, what they said about secrecy tended to be undermined by their manner of dissemination. I investigate how so-called “reason of state” discourse engaged with this tension. This was a profoundly practical form of “theory” that was acutely aware of the social and cultural settings in which it tried to affect change.

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Rasmus Vangshardt, JRF The limits of crisis: new paradigms for the literary study of 17th century Europe Bio: Rasmus Vangshardt is a Danish scholar of comparative literature. He has published studies on Spanish, German, and English early modern literature. He is a Junior Research Fellow at Linacre College and a two-year Visiting Research Fellow at the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages. His research is currently funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. Research interests include early modern Europe, historical comparativism, and literary theory.

Abstract: In historical as well as literary studies, the 17th century has often been seen as the epitome of crisis. Historically, the sense of decline was evident via the horrors of the 30 Years War, the decline of the Spanish empire, civil wars in England and France, the so-called “little ice age,” and the Marxist notion of a logicoemblematic phase of inherent economic contradiction. In literature, a tempting counterpart offers itself with new types and genres in the form of Don Quijote’s helplessness, Hamlet’s impairing doubt, Pascal’s fear of infinite space, and the reckless lamentations of the German mourning plays. In literary history, this sense of crisis is intimately linked to another core feature of the 17th century: the emergence of cultural modernity.

This talk probes various historiographical and literary links between crisis and ‘modernity’ in 17th century Europe to ponder the ‘limits of crisis’ as a paradigm for the study of the epoch. The goal is to propose alternative models for the function of literature in the emergence of modernity than those of expressing senses of decay

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12th November Chair: Luciano Marasco, JRF

Silke Ackermann, GB Fellow "... and what exactly is 'Islamic Science'?"

Bio: Silke Ackermann is a cultural historian with special interest in the transfer of knowledge between cultures and generations. She worked 16 years at the British Museum in a range of curatorial and managerial roles before taking up a professorship in Germany on cultural leadership and management. She has been a Fellow at Linacre and the Director of the History of Science Museum at Oxford University since 2014, making her the first female director of any of the University’s museums. Together with her team she works on Vision 24, the ambitious transformation project for the Museum’s second centenary.

Abstract: 'Islamic Science' is a term commonly used in scholarly debate and museum displays. But what exactly do we mean when we use this label? Can science be religious? Where is this term positioned within the current debate about 'decolonisation'? And why do we never seem to talk about 'Christian' or 'Jewish science'? In the context of the History of Science's transformation project Vision 24, Silke Ackermann and her team are pondering these questions and are exploring the connections between people, science, art and belief.

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Emily Warner, JRF Expanding Scotland’s native forest Bio: Emily Warner is an ecologist based in the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery. Her research focuses on understanding the biodiversity and ecosystem function outcomes of native woodland expansion in the UK. Emily’s work aims to explore ecological processes and mechanisms with a direct application to habitat restoration in practice. She collaborates with Trees for Life and Highlands Rewilding in Scotland, collecting data across natural gradients and co-designing experiments to explore mechanisms in more detail.

Abstract: Scotland’s once extensive Caledonian pinewood has been reduced to scattered remnants over millennia. Efforts are under way to expand and restore native forests at large-scales across the Scottish Highlands. I will explore the implications of native forest expansion within the wider ecological, cultural and policy context of Scotland.

I will share results of my research on the impacts of new native forest on biodiversity and ecosystem processes, to understand the value of native forest relative to mature forest, the development of the associated ecological communities, and implications as part of larger-scale habitat mosaics. My research also explores the consequences of different forest restoration methods. Most new forest is established by planting, but natural regeneration from remnant forest has the potential to produce forests of greater ecological value. Working with the NGO Trees for Life, who are surveying remnant forest identified from the first OS maps (produced 18431882), I am exploring the relationship between natural tree regeneration and soil communities and properties, to understand how soil communities respond to and facilitate tree establishment and mediate changes in soil processes, particularly carbon storage, with implications for the net carbon storage value of the new forest.

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26th November Chair: Cristiana Tisca, JRF

Alex Aylward, Adjunct Fellow Defective data: contested statistics and the campaign for eugenic sterilization in Interwar Britain Bio: Alex Aylward is a Departmental Lecturer in the Faculty of History, where he teaches the history of science. He arrived at Oxford in 2021 following postgraduate study at the Universities of Cambridge and Leeds. His work explores the history of the modern life sciences, and he is writing a book on the statistician, geneticist and eugenicist R. A. Fisher.

Abstract: Numbers are powerful. In 1924, renowned statistician and geneticist Ronald Aylmer Fisher (1890–1962) contended that a policy of eugenic sterilization could be expected to reduce incidence of ‘mental deficiency’ by 17.4% within one generation. This curiously precise prediction would prove influential. For several years, it featured prominently in eugenic propaganda during interwar campaigns to legalize the sterilization of ‘mental defectives’. Things changed abruptly in late 1930 when, responding to resistance from medical doctors and asylum psychiatrists, the Eugenics Society determined to drop all reference to Fisher’s statistic in future campaign material. By tracing the meteoric rise and rapid fall of a number, this talk will illuminate the contested role of quantification within public discourse on how best to define and deal with disability. I will argue that profound and widely felt ambiguities concerning the meaning and proper interpretation of the 17.4% figure underlay both its strategic strengths and its perceived weaknesses. Despite its ultimate dismissal by eugenic campaigners, the number, and its attendant ambiguities, have proven peculiarly persistent, emerging once more in recent public disputations over Fisher’s legacy 10

Matthew Campbell, DPhil candidate Engineering free-living bacteria to improve nitrogen fixation in barley Bio: Matthew Campbell studied for a Master of Biology and Bachelor of at the University of Leeds. After graduating, he worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew working with endangered terrestrial orchid species. He is now studying at the University of Oxford looking into nitrogen fixing bacteria and their potential uses as natural biofertilisers.

Abstract: The ever growing population is putting a strain on global food systems.

Currently we rely heavily on synthetic fertilisers to feed our crop plants, however they are highly polluting and damaging to the environment. Our dependence on them for crop outputs means that more sustainable alternatives that can match the benefits of chemical nitrogen fertilisers are needed. Free-living bacteria can fix nitrogen for a number of different plants and by genetically engineering these bacteria to fix and release more nitrogen, we could alleviate our over-dependence on chemical fertilisers. This talk will outline two interesting bacteria identified in the Poole lab that have the potential to be engineered as biological chassis for nitrogen fixation.

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21st January Chair: Tea Ghigo, JRF

Sophie Rasmussen, Research Fellow Hedgehogs and robotic lawn mowers Bio: Sophie Rasmussen, or Dr Hedgehog, has engaged in multifaceted research on hedgehogs since 2011. Sophie is managing “The Danish Hedgehog Project”, a citizen science project, where volunteers collected 697 dead hedgehogs with the purpose of using the dead hedgehogs to understand the living. She has previously investigated the ecology of suburban hedgehogs, genetics, dental health, stress, personality, behaviour and survival of rehabilitated and wild juvenile hedgehogs, endoparasites, age, eco-toxicology and MRSA/ringworm in hedgehogs. She is currently leading research on e.g. coronavirus, microbiomes and diet choice of hedgehogs, and the effects of robotic lawn mowers on hedgehogs and is engaged in several other research projects, all with the purpose of understanding why hedgehogs are declining and how to stop it.

Abstract: Robotic lawn mowers are as popular as ever on mainland Europe, providing a convenient and effortless maintenance of gardens. However, some models of robotic lawn mowers pose a threat to our beloved garden visitors: the hedgehogs. The European hedgehog is declining, and it is vital that we eliminate as many of the factors causing this decline, as possible. Therefore, I have teamed up with the industry to create hedgehog friendly robotic lawn mowers, hedgehog crash test dummies and standardised safety tests for hedgehogs, to ensure that future models of robotic lawn mowers will not hurt hedgehogs. This presentation will provide an overview of the research being done to secure this.

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Lorena Becerra Valdivia, JRF The role of climatic shifts in the human settlement of South America during the late Pleistocene Bio: Lorena Becerra Valdivia is an archaeological scientist specializing in radiocarbon dating, holding MSc (2015) and DPhil (2020) degrees from the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on constructing high-resolution chronologies using radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling to explore humanenvironment interactions and climate change. She has worked at leading accelerator mass spectrometry labs and has expertise in stable isotope and organic residue analysis. Currently, Lorena holds a Leverhulme Trust Fellowship (2023-2026) examining the role of climate shifts in early South American settlement.

Abstract: The settlement of South America marks one of the final steps in human expansion across the planet. This study examines the impact of climate changes on this process, specifically two millennial-scale climatic phases: the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR) and Younger Dryas (YD). A detailed cultural timeline was constructed based on the analysis of >130 archaeological sites and ~1,700 dates.

Bayesian modelling was employed to build chronometric models, with the results compared against paleoclimatic records. The findings suggest that human activity likely began in regions most affected by the ACR, specifically in southernmost and high-altitude areas, with the western Andes being settled before eastern regions.

Together with estimates indicating that the onset of megafaunal exploitation and bifacial point technology occurred before or during the ACR, results suggest that cold conditions were not a negative influence on human settlement and adaptation.

Key factors likely include accumulated cultural adaptation and relatively milder climatic changes in the Southern Hemisphere. The study also shows that more widespread occupation occurred during or, more likely, after the YD as conditions stabilised. Results underscore the significance of the Andes as a crucial dispersal route and question the direct impact of human activity or climate shifts on megafaunal extinctions. An analysis of the compiled archaeo-chronometric dataset reveals significant underrepresentation and reporting gaps, highlighting the need for expanded research and more rigorous documentation to improve the reliability of the cultural timeline.

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4th February Chair: Carolin Kobras, JRF

Sofia Helin, DPhil candidate Go with the flow: how can flow biocatalysis revolutionize synthesis?

Bio: Sofia Helin completed her integrated Industrial Masters in Chemistry at the University of York, with a nanotechnology masters project at Oxford nanoSystems.

She is currently a final year chemistry PhD student in Professor Kylie Vincent's lab, focusing on hydrogen powered enzyme reactions to improve sustainability and selectivity in synthesis. Alongside her research at Oxford, she has also led the Catalyst Chemistry graduate network, organising talks and events for the 800 active members.

Abstract: This work investigates the benefits of enzymes in flow reactors, as well as highlighting current challenges in the field. By optimising reaction conditions, a patented immobilised hydrogenase enzyme catalyst can be used to reduce a nitro group to an amine group. This was successfully implemented in flow, replacing a toxic and dangerous metal catalysed step in a proof of concept reaction for synthesis of a lung cancer drug.

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Wa Ode Dwi Daningrat, DPhil candidate Capsular loci of the viridans species

Bio: Wa Ode Dwi Daningrat is an Indonesian government scholar pursuing a DPhil in Clinical Medicine at the University of Oxford. Her main research interests are vaccine

impact

evaluation

and

antimicrobial

resistance

(AMR)

profile

of

Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) and the utilization of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to investigate the presence of genes and mutations in pneumococcal isolates related to AMR.

Abstract: Viridans group streptococci (or the viridans) are a group of species under this genus that can be commensal or pathogens in humans. They mostly colonised the oral mucosa. The notorious member of this group, called Streptococcus pneumoniae, has more than 100 serotypes and has caused the death of 1 million children each year worldwide. These species, specifically the mitis group, are highly recombinant, including within the cps region. My study focuses on exploring the capsular loci within these species, investigating their clustering, and comparing them with other known methods such as MLST, MLSA, and laboratory or culture-based methods. Exploring capsular loci within these species would provide a better understanding of the species’ evolution that would benefit public health in regard to disease prevention through vaccination and treatment strategy.

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18th February Chair: Lorena Becerra-Valdivia, JRF

Katherine Beard, DPhil candidate The complex chair: ritual seats in Old Norse mythology, literature, and archaeology Bio: Katherine Beard is a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford reading for Old Norse Literature at Linacre College. She holds an MA in Old Nordic Religion from the University of Iceland where she submitted her thesis “Hamarinn Mjǫllnir: The Eitri Database and the Evolution of the Hammer Symbol in Old Norse Mythology,” and created the accompanying Eitri platform (eitridb.com). Katherine also holds an MA from New York University in Graphic Communications Management and Technology and a BA from Rowan University. Her research interests include digital humanities, pre-Christian religion and mythology, Scandinavian manuscripts, and symbolism in both literature and archaeology.

Abstract: This seminar considers the ritual seat, often a throne or chair (kubbstol), and why people may have worn or carried small chair-like amulets by considering both medieval literature and Viking Age archaeology. Several dozen chair amulets have been found to date, some being found in inhumations, including the grave of a likely ritual specialist, evoking imagery related to seeresses in the Icelandic sagas.

Beyond mythical seats, the high seat (hásæti) is quite a common motif in medieval Icelandic literature. The throne is often associated with kingship, power, and connections to other worlds. Hásæti relate to kingship and rulers, often bestowing powers upon people (and in one case, a dog), and is used as a literary device related to transitions of power and dynastic destruction. The chair’s amuletic status may correlate to its persistence as a significant literary theme in medieval Icelandic literature. Taken together, the Old Norse corpus and the archaeological record yield further insights about the throne as a sacred symbol to the people of the Viking Age. 16

Stephanie M. Volder, JRF Entangled islands: imagining the end of slavery in Jamaica through the trope of the Haitian Revolution Bio: Stephanie M. Volder has a PhD in Comparative Literature from Aarhus University in Denmark and is currently a Carlsberg Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Linacre College with her project 'Entangled Islands' examining the reception of the Haitian Revolution in British Romantic literature about Jamaica from 1791-1834.

Abstract: In the wake of Haiti's independence as the first black state in the Americas in January 1804, English radical William Cobbett predicted a similar revolution in the British colony of Jamaica, fearing that the black population would violently overthrow the plantocracy. Conversely, black radical Robert Wedderburn in 1824 hoped for a repeat of the Haitian Revolution in Jamaica, envisioning massacres of the ruling class. Both Cobbett's and Wedderburn's perspectives illustrate how Jamaica's fate was seen as linked to Haiti's revolutionary events, often depicted through a Gothic literary aesthetic to evoke a nightmare vision of the end of slavery. The project aims to understand the significance of the Haitian Revolution in a British cultural imagination by examining how Black Atlantic literature, colonial newspapers, travel writing and epistolary novels represented these events through a gothic (and often also sentimental) lens, and how this portrayal influenced the abolition debate and shaped a British self-understanding and notion of freedom in the Age of Revolution (1789-1848).

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4th March Chair: Shaniek Parks, DPhil candidate

Tea Ghigo Painting the past in the 19th century: materials, methods and perspectives in watercolour replicas Bio: Tea Ghigo is a Heritage Scientist specialising in the material analysis of museum collections. Her passion for this field began during her Master's, where she researched painting materials from 15th-century Spain. Her PhD focused on Late Antique Egyptian writing inks, studying collections at the Vatican Library and the Egyptian Museum in Turin, among others. She then worked as a Research Heritage Scientist at the Ashmolean Museum, examining 19th-century watercolours and oil paintings. In 2023, she joined UCL as a Lecturer in the History of Art, Materials, and Technology.

Abstract: Tea’s current research examines collections of 19th-century replicas produced in different contexts and aims to explore whether the artists attempted to use historically-inspired materials when painting historical subjects. She will present the results of material analyses of several objects, and contextualised them with information on technical sources and pigment catalogues. Ultimately, her contribution will explore different questions, such as: How were the materials for the replicas chosen?

Besides the price of painting materials, were other factors influencing artistic practices?

How did the interplay between tradition and innovation influence the outcome?

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Sara Hijazi The role of Tau in spatial disorientation Bio: Sara Hijazi completed a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with a minor in Psychology at the American University of Beirut (AUB). Following that, she was awarded a scholarship to join the Neurasmus Neuroscience program, which allowed her to spend her first year in Berlin and her second year in Amsterdam. Sara then completed her Ph.D. degree at the Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology department in Amsterdam. In February 2020, she moved to Professor Steven Kushner’s lab at the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam as a post-doctoral researcher to investigate the molecular and cellular mechanisms of psychiatric genetic risk. In December 2022, Sara joined the group of Dr Tim Viney as a Blashko fellow funded by the Blaschko Trust.

Abstract: In order to navigate in space, we need a sense of direction, which is brought about by a head-direction(HD) network in the brain. Disorientation is becoming increasingly recognised as an early cognitive biomarker for developing Alzheimer’s disease, and disruption to the HD network might explain this. A key node in the HD network is the anterodorsal nucleus (ADn) of the thalamus, which has one the highest densities of HD cells in the brain. The ADn is one of the earliest brain regions to accumulate pathological Tau, a major biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease. We propose that early disorientation in people that go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease is linked to dysfunctions in HD cells of the ADn. Yet, little is known about the role of Tau in disorientation circuits, especially in the ADn. We are currently investigating the effect of Tau aggregation on the activity of HD cells and their impact on spatial orientation and memory processes. To that end, mice were injected with a virus expressing Tau or GFP in the ADn and then tested in a battery of spatial navigation tests. This was followed by in-vivo recordings of HD cells in awake mice and ex-vivo recordings of ADn cells, on order to compare intrinsic properties between groups. This compelling design links behavioural readouts to electrophysiological recordings, defining the mechanisms for the contribution of HD cells to early orientation deficits.

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29th April Chair: Kevin Wolz, JRF

Luciano Marasco, JRF The physiology of alternative splicing

Bio: Luciano Marasco holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and a degree in Biological Sciences from Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, University of Buenos Aires.

He has a special interest in Spinal Muscular Atrophy and other neurodegenerative diseases and has contributed to a better understanding of it in various countries. He holds patents for his research in the field of Synthetic Biology and RNA-based therapies. In his spare time, he devotes his time to printmaking, print art research and science communication.

Abstract: Alternative splicing, a process in which a single gene can produce multiple protein isoforms, greatly contributes to the complexity of multicellular organisms transcriptomes. This complexity extends to the protein level and significantly influences physiological and pathological processes. Through genome-wide analyses and detailed studies, it is evident that alternative splicing regulates diverse cellular functions

such

as

tissue-specific

differentiation,

thermal

regulation,

neuron

development, and disease like cancer and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Mastery of alternative splicing control has led to clinically approved therapies for hereditary diseases. This seminar emphasizes the critical role of alternative splicing in shaping organismal physiology and pathology, highlighting its potential for therapeutic interventions.

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Carolin Kobras Antimicrobial resistance in the opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus epidermidis

Bio: Carolin Kobras joined Dr Mathew Stracy's laboratory at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology as a postdoctoral researcher in October 2022. Since October 2023 she has been a JRF at Linacre. Carolin's research focuses on understanding how bacteria can survive antibiotic treatment and how we can overcome this challenge.

Abstract: Staphylococcus epidermidis is a prominent bacterium of the human skin microbiota, which has also emerged as a leading nosocomial pathogen. S. epidermidis is one of the most frequent causes of implant-associated infections, prosthetic valve endocarditis and cardiac pacemaker infections. Furthermore, S. epidermidis is responsible for 30-40% of nosocomial bloodstream infections.

Treatment of S. epidermidis infections is increasingly difficult due to the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance - a major global threat to public health. In this study, we tested 88 S. epidermidis isolates from infection and carriage for resistance to different clinically-relevant antibiotics. Linking phenotypic resistance to the presence of genotypic resistance determinants, we found striking associations between antibiotic resistance and specific genomic variation.

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13th May Chair: Tarick El-Baba, JRF

Claire Guimond, JRF How to detect atmospheres on rocky exoplanets (or not)

Bio: Claire Guimond came to Linacre after completing a PhD in Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge, with previous positions in Berlin and Montreal. Her research uses theoretical geochemistry and geophysics to uncover the nature of rocky exoplanets. She is trying to bridge people in the various departments that could help with this sort of thing.

Abstract: Astronomers are racing to find signs of life on exoplanets, planets orbiting stars beyond the Sun. However, "habitability" is not something we can measure, and even the first step – inferring which of these planets have atmospheres – is challenged by potentially confusing false positive signals. I will argue that understanding the possible geology of these worlds will be crucial in determining whether an observed signal could be coming from a planet's atmosphere.

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Alex Lau-Zhu, JRF Intrusive mental images and mental health: new ideas from trauma research

Bio: Alex Lau-Zhu is a Medical Research Council Clinician Scientist Fellow at the Department of Experimental Psychology and a Clinical Psychologist with Oxford Health, working with young people affected by complex trauma. His research focuses on advancing clinical innovations for youth mental health (ages 12-24) through the lens of cognitive science, particularly mental imagery, from vivid flashbacks of the past to worst-case future "flashforwards." Currently, he is exploring trauma, anxiety, and autism. Originally from Peru, he spent part of his early years in China and has lived in the UK for the past 16 years.

Abstract: Psychological trauma affects many, with some individuals developing clinical distress. A key symptom involves intrusive memories, vivid mental images that replay aspects of the traumatic event. These memories are central to disorders like PTSD but also play a significant role in depression and anxiety. In this talk, I will explore how experimental psychology can model the development of intrusive memories following trauma. By examining these memories through the lens of mental imagery, we can discover novel and unexpected interventions, such as using the popular shape-fitting game Tetris to disrupt mental imagery and alleviate traumatic stress, with potential applications beyond trauma.

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27th May Chair: Luciano Marasco, JRF

Hansa Shree, DPhil candidate From deadly toxin to remote-controlled device: A novel voltagegated protein nanopore Bio: Hansa Shree is a 5th-year DPhil Chemical Biology candidate in the Hagan Bayley/Yujia Qing groups, with a strong background in both academic research and entrepreneurship. Her well-cited research in PNAS and Science Advances, focusing on synthetic biology and cancer cell biology, originated from her undergraduate work. In addition to her academic achievements, Shree led a non-CTIMP clinical feasibility study and launched a commercially viable startup in a developing country while completing her DPhil studies, leading to several entrepreneurial awards.

Abstract: Have you ever heard of diodes or transistors? These are the things that allow chips to power phones, tvs, tablets, and virtually any digital device. But the chips of the future will not be made just from silicon, and won't just be powering devices outside our bodies. My research mutates a protein to be voltage-responsive so that, in the future, it may be used in biodevices that could help manage cardiac & neuronal diseases.

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Haichen Hu, DPhil candidate Defining the role of macrophage in inflammageing: Insights from human phenotypic and functional studies

Bio: Haichen Hu completed her pre-clinical training as a medical student in China before coming to the University of Oxford to pursue a DPhil in Molecular and Cellular Medicine. Her research focuses on the role of macrophages, a specific type of immune cell, in human aging and exploring potential ways to reverse age-related immune decline.

Abstract: Our study seeks to elucidate age-related modifications in human macrophage phenotype, function, and their contributions to inflammageing. Contrary to prevailing beliefs, our primary results do not show significant age-related shifts towards a more pro-inflammatory macrophage phenotype. However, we observed a trend towards decreased functional capacity in phagocytosis and efferocytosis with age, suggesting that the role of macrophages in inflammageing is likely more nuanced and complex than solely maintaining a pro-inflammatory state.

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10th June Chair: Alex Lau-Zhu, JRF

Sebastian Lund, JRF Empire of the Sun: decolonizing energy in Rokeya Hossain’s “Sultana’s Dream” (1905) Bio: Sebastian Egholm Lund is a Junior Research Fellow at Linacre College, University of Oxford. He is currently working on the project Empire of the Sun. He is also working on the monograph Climate and Fiction at the Fin de Siècle. He has a PhD in Comparative Literature from Aarhus University (2021-2024). In 2023, he won the Society of Dix-Neuviémistes Publication Prize. In 2024, he won the Northeast Victorian Studies Association ‘Expanding the Field’ Essay Prize. He has published in journals such as Victorian Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies of Literature and Environment, Nineteenth-Century Contexts, and Dix-Neuf.

Abstract: Historical research has neglected the context of imperialism when narrating the story of solar energy. The paper addresses the scholarly lack by contextualising and analysing Indian writer, activist, and educator Rokeya Hossain’s short story “Sultana’s Dream” (1905). “Sultana’s Dream” depicts the protagonist Sultana’s astonishment when she, in a dream vision, travels to the feminist utopia, Ladyland, in which the traditional practice of purdah – the veiling and seclusion of females – has been reversed. The following social transformation leads to a wonderful garden world powered by solar energy. I explore Hossain’s imaginative connection between an alternative world and a new energy paradigm to show how speculative fiction from the turn of the twentieth century tried to decolonize solar energy, imagining it as a resource for social rebellion and a utopian future, demonstrating thus the complex, colonial legacy of the unfolding energy transition.

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Tom Kettlety, JRF Working 1.5 km below ground: doing Earth Science in the UK's deepest mine

Bio: Tom Kettlety is a seismologist, geophysicist and Oxford Net Zero Research Fellow of Geological Carbon Storage. His work focuses on environmental monitoring of industrial activities, particularly processes which artificially trigger earthquakes.

Abstract: This talk describes my recent work measuring earthquake signals in the UK's deepest mine. Boulby, on the northeast Yorkshire coast, is a salt and inorganic fertiliser mine based 1.5 km below ground, with tunnels extending over 10 km under the North Sea. It also houses a UKRI operated dark matter research facility – the Boulby Underground Laboratory. As a part of a UKRI-funded project, I have been deploying seismometers in the mine to assess its potential as an Earth science research facility in several research areas: CO2 and hydrogen storage, geothermal energy, and critical minerals. This work also helps assess the potential for furthering fundamental physics experiments at Boulby, which need an underground, and seismically-quiet, site to function.

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