The Reign of the Dinosaurs | Children's Christmas Lecture
2023-12-20 16:30 - 17:30 (Europe/London) | Palmer Building, G10
Book your place

Have you ever wondered how the dinosaurs came to rule the world? Join Dr Ciara O’Donovan as we travel back 230 million years to revisit the Mesozoic Earth.
We will meet the ancestor of all dinosaurs (who may surprise you!) and follow the dinosaurs as they spread across the globe. Journeying through time, we’ll watch as one species evolved into hundreds with varying shapes and sizes. Finally, find out what happened when the world was filled with dinosaurs and how a gigantic asteroid colliding with Earth ended their story. Or did it?
Admission is free. Booking essential, reservations on a first-come, first-served basis.
Suitable for children 7-12 years.
The lecture will be interpreted in British Sign Language (BSL) by an interpreter.

Call for papers: Digital Humanities and Artificial Intelligence
2024-01-20 17:00
The call for papers has now closed. For further details of the conference, please visit the Digital Humanities website.

CFP
DIGITAL HUMANITIES & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
One-Day Conference at the University of Reading
17 June, 2024

Keynote Speaker:
Dr Barbara McGillivray
(King’s College London)

We invite scholars, researchers, and practitioners to participate in a focused exploration of the intersections between Digital Humanities (DH) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) at a one-day conference at the University of Reading.
The conference will feature three distinct strands, each proving a unique perspective on the evolving landscape of DH-AI:
Strand 1: Cultural Heritage

Explore the role of artificial intelligence in preserving, interpreting, and making accessible cultural heritage.
Discuss innovative projects and technologies that digitise, catalog, and safeguard cultural artifacts and historical sites.
Examine the impact of AI on the study and dissemination of cultural heritage.

Strand 2: Ethics

Delve into the ethical considerations and challenges posed by the use of AI in Digital Humanities.
Discuss issues of bias, representation, and inclusivity in AI-driven research and projects
Explore strategies and best practices for ensuring ethical AI applications in the digital humanities

Strand 3: Synthetic Media

Investigate the creative potential of AI-generated content, such as art, music, literature and virtual environments.
Showcase projects that leverage synthetic media for storytelling, cultural expression, and education.
Examine the ethical and cultural implications of AI-generated content in the Digital Humanities.

We welcome submissions in the following formats:

Individual research papers
Panel Proposals

Please submit your proposal by 20 January, 2024 following the guidelines below.
The conference will also lay the groundwork for a special edition of Digital Humanities Quarterly. If you are unable to attend the conference, but want to contribute to the DHQ special edition, please send your abstract by 30 July, 2024. See guidelines below for further details.

Guidelines for Submission & Timeline
Please submit your abstract (250 words) including a brief biography (200 words), affiliation and email address to DH-AI-Conference@reading.ac.uk by 20 January, 2024.

CONFERENCE DATE: Monday 17 June, 2024
Abstract Submission Deadline: 20 January, 2024
Notification of Acceptance: 15 February, 2024
Program and Registration opens: 1 March, 2024
Registration closes: 1 May, 2024
Abstract Submission for DHQ Special Issue: 30 July, 2024
Article Submission Deadline: 1 December 2024
Submission to DHQ: 15 January 2025

This is a free event sponsored by the Digital Humanities CoP at the University of Reading. Places are limited and registration is required.
For any inquiries, please contact the organising committee at
DH-AI-Conference@reading.ac.uk

Organising Committee:
Dr Mara Oliva, Associate Professor in History and DH Champion
Dr Dominic Lees, Associate Professor in Film, Theatre and Television and Steering Committee Member of Synthetic Media Research Network
Dr Jumbly Grindrod, Lecturer in Philosophy
Professor James Ferryman, Professor of Computational Vision
Dr Rachel Lewis, Research Development Manager for Heritage & Creativity
Dr Bonhi Bhattacharya, Senior Research Manager for Environment and Agriculture and Food and Health

Human vs machine: what can corpus linguistics contribute to our understanding of large collections of texts?
2024-02-07 14:00 - 15:30 | Palmer 103
Keynote Speaker: Professor Sylvia Jaworska, Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics
A collaboration between Heritage & Creativity and Prosperity & Resilience on Wednesday 7 February 2024 from 14:00-15.30.
Location: Palmer 103 and Online

14.00
Welcome and introduction
Dr Mara Olivia, Digital Humanities Champion
Professor Roberta Gilchrist, Research Dean, Heritage & Creativity
Professor Adrian Bell, Research Dean, Prosperity & Resilience

14.10
Keynote address: Human vs machine: what can corpus linguistics contribute to our understanding of large collections of texts?
Professor Sylvia Jaworska

14.40
Roundtable
Dr Jonathan Golub (Politics & International Relations): “Treating the text of EU legislative proposals as data”
Dr Rachel Foxley (History): “A beginner’s project in textual analysis: political polarisation in the English Civil War”
Professor Mike Goodman (Geography & Environmental Science): “Analysing the texts of #CovidTwitter and getting students to de-normalise the world through frame analysis”

15.10
Q&A

15.30
What’s next for the Digital Humanities Community of Practice and Hub? and close.
Dr Mara Olivia

Abstracts
In this talk, I will first outline key principles underlying the linguistically informed approach of corpus linguistics which has been adopted to study discourse in large collections of texts (corpora). I will focus in particular on the analytical tools of frequency, concordance, collocation and keyword and the software programme Sketch Engine to show the benefits of this approach to identify and examine discourse patterns and topics in large text corpora. Examples will include collaborative work conducted with researchers from HBS, SAGES and Pharmacy. The second part will compare the corpus approach with another popular method widely used in social sciences, that of topic modelling, which was developed in computer science. It will report on insights from a small quasi-experiment in which the two approaches were used to identify topics in a corpus of sustainability reports. The talk explores how the identified topics were similar and different and what this means for the analytical power of the two methods. I will conclude with a series of tentative observations regarding the benefits and limitations of each method and recommendations for researchers in choosing analytical technique to study large collections of texts available digitally.
Speakers
Professor Sylvia Jaworska explores professional communication in (new) media, business and health settings focusing predominantly (but not exclusively) on the ways in which language and other semiotic choices are used to construct identities and perpetuate social stereotyping, biases and stigma. She examines discourse and communication using tools and techniques from corpus linguistics and discourse analysis as well as other quantitative and qualitative methods adopted in linguistics and social sciences including interviews, focus groups and surveys. Dr Jonathan Golub is a political scientist using quantitative and qualitative methods to analyse decision making in the European Union. He is particularly interested in modelling the EU policymaking process and issues of institutional performance, such as the role of formal versus informal rules, the potential trade-off between efficiency and democratic legitimacy, and the distribution of power between Member States and supranational actors. His research interests also include modelling UN Security Council decision making, evaluating the effects of economic sanctions, studying the determinants of national and global environmental policy, and understanding judicial politics. Dr Rachel Foxley’s work focuses on the history of political language and political thought, particularly in seventeenth-century England. Her PhD and first book were on the Levellers, and looked at the way in which this remarkably audacious network of activists and pamphleteers adapted and reworked the less radical thought of the parliamentarian cause which they had supported. Her more recent and current work focuses particularly on the writings of the English republican writers of the seventeenth century, including John Milton, James Harrington, Marchamont Nedham, Henry Neville, and Algernon Sidney. She is working on a book on their complex and perhaps conflicted treatments of the idea of democracy, and have published several shorter pieces on them. She has an abiding interest in the reception of classical ideas in early modern Europe, which is highly relevant to this project, and she is co-editing the Brill’s Companion to the Legacy of Greek Political Thought with David Carter and Elizabeth Sawyer. She is also interested in the gendered aspects of political texts and political thought, and hopes to focus on this more in future work. Professor Mike Goodman is an interdisciplinary, critical human geographer focusing on the cultural politics of food, humanitarianism and the environment. Research topics have included fair trade networks, alternative food networks, the rise of celebrity politics in the context of food, climate change and global development and ways society is attempting to make life more just, liveable and care-full in the Anthropocene. He is particularly interested in conceptualising how these issues and connections are framed in the media in order to understand their social and geographical significance to building more sustainable societies, challenging existing structures of power and offering critical spaces for marginalised voices. If you are not already a member, you are welcome to join the Digital Humanities Community of Practice via our MS Teams channel. (This link will take you to the Teams channel. If you are not already a member, you will be presented with a dialogue box that says ‘Join’. Click this to send a request, which will be approved if you are a member of the University of Reading. If you are already a member of the Team, this link just takes you directly to the ‘General’ channel.) or email the DH Champion, Dr Mara Oliva (m.oliva@reading.ac.uk)
Within the COP, you will be able to introduce yourself, share your research, and access information about funding opportunities, support, and events. Read more here.
Our events are open to all researchers, staff, and PGRs from any subject – we welcome interdisciplinary collaboration!

My Mother Tongue: A celebration of community languages
2024-02-21 11:00 - 13:00 | Lifespring Church, 143 Oxford Road, RG1 7UY
Join the Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CeLM) to celebrate International Mother Language Day. The free, family friendly event will showcase and celebrate some of the languages spoken in Reading.
Free to attend. Light refreshments served.
Register using this Microsoft form.

Beyond Scale: GIS and the Humanities
2024-02-28 14:00 - 15:30 | Palmer 105, University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus, Reading, Select a State or Province:, RG6 6EW, United Kingdom
Beyond Scale: GIS and the Humanities
Professor Stuart Dunn
(King’s College London)
Date: Wednesday 28 February 2024
Time: 14:00-15.30
Place: Palmer 105 and Online
Programme
Coffee and Tea available from 13.50
14.00 Welcome and Intro – Dr Mara Oliva (DH Champion)
14.10 Keynote address: Professor Stuart Dunn (King’s College London) – ‘Beyond Scale: GIS and the Humanities’
14.50 Q&A
15.25 What’s next (DH CoP and Hub – future events) & close – Dr Mara Oliva

Future Health: Can nutrition and lifestyle combine to make a global impact? IFNH Annual Forum 2024
2024-02-28 14:00 - 17:00
The 2024 IFNH Forum event will be held on 28 February (14:00-17:00).
This year the theme will look to the future to explore what new developments in nutrition and its interaction with lifestyle can help reduce the massive burden of some key non-communicable diseases including dementia. This will include how effects of food cultures can impact the need to change dietary habits and how the needed dietary changes can be affected by social inequalities and climate change. The Forum will probe key aspects of these substantial challenges.
The event is free to attend, please Click Here to register your attendance and forward this invitation to colleagues you think may be interested.
Programme

14:00
Welcome
Prof. Carol Wagstaff, Research Dean for Agriculture, Food and Health, University of Reading

14:05
IFNH – activities and achievements of 2023
Prof. Ian Givens, IFNH Director, University of Reading

14:15
Cognition and Dementia: Milk fat globule membrane, supplementation for promotion of neurodevelopment in infants and prevention of neurodegeneration in ageing adults
Dr Javier Fontecha, Head, Food Lipid Biomarkers and Health, Institute of Food Science Research (CIAL,CSIC) in the Autónoma University of Madrid

14:45
Dietary fibre: How can we increase intake of this important dietary
component?
Prof. Julie Lovegrove, Director Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition, University of Reading

15:05
Cognitive function and mood: The effects of flavonoid-rich blueberries
in healthy children and adults
Prof. Claire Williams, Chair of Neuroscience, School of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading

15:30
Obesity: Diet, lifestyle and genes in an obesogenic environment
Prof. John Mathers, Professor of Human Nutrition, Human Nutrition & Exercise
Research Centre, Newcastle University

16:00
Food culture: Dietary diversity and farm decision making for
resilient agrifood systems in the Global South
Prof. Henny Osbahr, Co-Head, Department of International Development, School of
Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading

16:20
Diet, health, and social inequalities: Adaptation and mitigation strategies with indigenous cooperatives in Latin America
Dr Claudia Murray, Research Fellow, Department of Real Estate and Planning,
Henley Business School, University of Reading

16:40
Q&A
Chaired by Prof. Ian Givens and Prof. Vimal Karani

17:00
Formal close

Download the programme
Download the speakers’ biographies

Scouting, Translating, and Publishing Young Adult Literature from Latin America
2024-02-28 17:00 - 18:30 | Palmer 104, University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus, Reading, RG6 6EW, United Kingdom
The Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing in partnership with Outside in World, the organisation dedicated to promoting and exploring world literature and children’s books in translation, are delighted to announce the latest event in their seminar series on translation for children:
Speakers: Claire Storey (Translator/ World Kid Lit) and Rosemarie Hudson (HopeRoad Publishing)

This seminar is a hybrid event (in-person & on Zoom) and is free & open to all.

To register for the Zoom link, please click here.
To join us in person, come to Room 104, Palmer Building, University of Reading (Whiteknights campus), RG6 6EW

In 2021, Claire Storey (Translator/ World Kid Lit) applied for funding from Arts Council England for a project focusing on translating and pitching Young Adult literature from Latin America to UK publishers. In this webinar, she will discuss her project, how she identified Latin America as her focus area, how she pitched the project to UK publishers and what she has learned about scouting and pitching along the way.
Claire will be joined by Rosemarie Hudson (HopeRoad Publishing) who will talk about why she set up HopeRoad Publishing in 2010 and how three of the titles from Claire’s project fitted with her publishing objectives: Never Tell Anyone Your Name by Federico Ivanier (Uruguay), The Darkness of Colours by Martín Blasco (Argentina) and The Wild Ones by Antonio Ramos Revillas (Mexico). Rosemarie and Claire will also discuss how their relationship as publisher and translator has grown and been mutually beneficial.
♣
Claire Storey – translates from German and Spanish into English, specialising in middle grade and young adult literature. In 2021/22, she was awarded funding from Arts Council England for a translation project focusing on Young Adult Literature from Latin America. From 2019-2023, Claire was co-editor of the blog at World Kid Lit and remains involved in the project highlighting translated books for you people. Claire also acts as an international book scout, seeking out and presenting suitable Spanish and German-language books to English-speaking publishers. Claire regularly volunteers in schools talking about careers with languages and was named Outreach Champion 2021 by the UK Institute of Translation and Interpreting.
Jamaican/British Rosemarie Hudson grew up in London and it’s where she founded her first independent publishing company BlackAmber in 1998. Its ethos was to publish unheard voices in English and international languages, and in particular the best writers and writings from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Its aim she’s pursued ever since. She published many authors to critical acclaim during this period including Patricia Cumper; Alex Wheatle; Cauvery Madhavan; Rachel Manley; Yvonne Brewster and Gaston-Paul Effa, before her company was bought out. Often called a ‘trailblazer’,
Rosemarie is a keen and experienced mentor, serving on the board of the Book Trade Charity (BTBS) for six years and mentoring on the Arts Council project, Decibel.
About HopeRoad
In 2010 Rosemarie Hudson founded HopeRoad, the indie publisher which loves to share untold stories around identity, cultural stereotyping and injustice, and specialises in encouraging new talent and promoting the best literary voices from and about Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. HopeRoad’s authors include: Tahar Ben Jelloun; Kamala Markandaya: Cauvery Madhavan; Pete Kalu; Ferdinand Dennis; Yan Ge, Max Lobe; Véronique Tadjo, Igiaba Scego, John Agard and Tony Fairweather to name a few. Rosemarie is also a board member of Inpress Books. She is excited about the future for HopeRoad and very much looking forward to celebrating its forthcoming 15th anniversary.

University of Reading and Natural History Museum Collaborative Research Fellowship Information Day
2024-03-07 10:00 - 16:00 | Palmer Building, Whiteknights Campus, University of Reading.
Thursday 7th March 2024, 10:00 – 16:00
Palmer Building, Whiteknights Campus, University of Reading
Are you considering a Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant application in 2024? The partnership offers new opportunities for collaborative research across a broad range of disciplines. This event aims at attracting interest from high-potential ECRs who may wish to apply for an independent research fellowship to be held jointly at the University of Reading and Natural History Museum.
The partnership would like to invite applications to attend an Information Day from ECRs who may wish to apply for an independent research fellowship to be held jointly at the University of Reading and Natural History Museum*. In addition to support with fellowship applications and project design, we offer the potential to work at two dynamic, research-intensive organisations, together with a programme of support which will help to establish successful applicants’ careers and independence as academic researchers.
Applicants are asked to complete a short application form to register their interest in attending and outline their proposed areas of research. Projects which could build meaningful collaborations between the organisations, and which have strong potential in the sustainability/environmental science area, are encouraged.
Applicants to attend must be considering a fellowship which has the potential to undertake meaningful research in an area of study which is of relevance to both organisations.
Some key areas of strength and research themes can be found here.
Lunch and refreshments will be provided. Travel expenses from UK applicants can be covered.
Please email your completed application form, together with a brief CV, to NHM-UoR-partnership@nhm.ac.uk by Sunday 11th February 2024. We will issue invitations to the event to all successful applicants no later than Friday 23rd February.
Please use the same email address for any queries regarding the application process, the Information Day or the partnership as a whole.
Download the application form here.
Agenda:

10.00: Arrival with refreshments
10.30: Introduction to the UoR-NHM partnership
10.45: Introduction to UoR’s research themes
11.00: Introduction to NHM’s research themes
11.15: My Experience as a Fellowship Holder talks
12.00: Networking Lunch and chance to look around campus
13.30: Supporting you with your Fellowship
14.30: Q&A session (involving all presenters)
15.00: Closing remarks
15.10: Informal networking session with refreshments
16.00: End

*Target fellowship schemes include: UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, BBSRC Discovery Fellowship, STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship, NERC Independent Fellowship, The Wellcome Trust Career Development Awards, Royal Society University Research Fellowship, Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship, Daphne Jackson Trust Fellowship, Branco-Weiss Research Fellowship.

CBCP Children’s Literature Workshop: Identities and Visibility in Children’s Print Culture Archives and Collections
2024-03-07 16:00 - 18:00 | Online
This workshop hears from three recent CBCP visiting fellows and their research in the children’s culture and the children’s collections held at the University of Reading. Their papers will explore the ways archives and collections (interpreted broadly) can make visible different actors, agents, writers and themes in print culture for children and the construction of identities.
This online workshop is free & open to all.
To join us via MS Teams, please register here.

***
Paper 1:
Aleksandra Wieczorkiewicz, Where the Translators Are (in Victorian Periodicals for Children)
Translators are among the most important agents in children’s literature. But they were often – especially in the early stages of its evolution – marginalized and placed in the background. Not mentioned on the title pages or hidden under pseudonyms or initials they were “invisible storytellers” and “the great disappeared of literary history” (Lathey 2014). In her presentation Where the Translators Are (in the Victorian Periodicals for Children), Aleksandra will talk about the project she carried out in the UoR Special Collections as the CBCP Visiting Research Fellow 2022–23. Its primary objective was to explore the visibility of translators in Victorian children’s periodicals such as Aunt’s Judy Magazine, Good Words for the Young and The Children’s Friend: to find out who the translators working for the periodicals were, whether they left their signature in the texts (in form of prefaces, footnotes, accompanying articles etc.), in which periodicals – if in any – they were most visible, and what this tells us about the position of the translators at the time.
***
Paper 2:
Simona Di Martino, “Do you want to be a Nurse?”: Girl and the British Educational Magazines for Girls in 1950s
British girls’ magazines and comics flourished in the UK from the 1950s through the 1970s. The first girls’ magazines, School Friend and Girl, appeared in the early 1950s, even though the girls’ comics trend took off in the latter half of the 1950s, with the long-running titles Bunty and Judy. Magazines for girls have long been regarded as a minor source for the history of education and children’s literature. However, these publications allow us to understand ethical models and values related to a specific historical period. Particularly, my visiting fellowship at the CBCP allowed me to consult the UoR’s Special Collections and analyse many issues of the educational magazine Girl by Hulton Press. This magazine, founded by the Rev. Marcus Morris in 1951, was very much an educational magazine whose heroines, including those who got into scrapes, became involved in tales that had a moral substance and showcased several jobs and careers that young women could pursue. This paper aims to examine the British educational magazine Girl and to assess the ways in which it promoted active and ‘visible’ models of girlhood. Such an analysis will pave the way for a comparative investigation of other European markets for girls, such as the more lacunary Italian one.
***
Paper 3:
Margarida Castellano, Making visible Antifascist and totalitarian discourses in Children’s & YA literature in Spain, 1936 to 2023
This presentation examines the role of children’s and young adult literature in Spain as a medium to confront and undermine fascist and totalitarian ideologies from the Spanish Civil War to 2023. It specifically centers on the 1937 Cartilla Escolar Antifascista and subsequent multimodal texts, illustrating their use of text and imagery as ideological tools against fascism in an era of high illiteracy. It also considers the historical contributions of the Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts and the Misiones Pedagógicas, which highlighted the transformative power of education. Moving to the present, it draws parallels with contemporary picturebooks and graphic novels that defy Spain’s ‘Pact of Oblivion’, showcasing works by renowned authors and illustrators. These modern narratives, like their historical forerunners, intertwine aesthetic appeal with profound socio-historical insights. This research, forming part of the investigation conducted at the CBCP and presented at the 2023 Annual CBCP Conference Publishing Antifascism, emphasizes the critical need for pedagogical strategies based on multiliteracies and critical thinking, thus equipping students to critically engage with dominant narratives and foster a future of social justice.
***
Speakers
Dr Aleksandra Wieczorkiewicz is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Polish and Classical Philology and a researcher in the Children’s Literature & Culture Research Team at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland. Her academic interests include English children’s literature of the Golden Age and children’s literature translation studies. She is the author of an award-winning dissertation on the Polish translation reception of George MacDonald, J.M. Barrie and Cicely Mary Barker; she is also a literary and academic translator. In 2020 Aleksandra completed her PhD fellowship as a Visiting Scholar at the CIRCL, University of Reading; in 2023 she was a Visiting Fellow at the CBCP, UoR, where she carried out the project Translator’s Own Paper? Translated Literature in British Children’s Periodicals of the Victorian Era. She is co-organising the upcoming international conference “Children’s Literature and European Identities” (24-26th October 2024, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland; https://bit.ly/CFP_europeanidentities)
Dr Simona Di Martino is an MHRA postdoctoral fellow at the University of Warwick currently working on her first monograph Italian Gothic Poetry (Liverpool University Press). She holds a PhD in Italian Studies from the University of Warwick. In 2023 Simona was a CBCP Visiting Research Fellow and had the chance to conduct archival research at the MERL Special Collection, at the University of Reading. She organised and took part in national and international conferences and published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on various topics including the Gothic, children’s literature, and representations of witches in Italian comics. Simona is currently developing a new research project on witch girlhood and female empowerment in Anglo-American and Italian popular print culture for young people. Finally, she is co-organiser of the upcoming conference Seen and Heard: Voices of Transnational Girlhood(s) on Identity, Gender, and Culture Conference to be held at the University of Warwick in April 2024.
Dr Margarida Castellano is a Lecturer in Language and Literature Teaching at the Universitat de València. Author of the award-winning Les altres catalanes. Memòria, identitat i autobiografia en la literatura d’immigració (2018), she has published various chapters and peer-reviewed articles related to the processes of identity formation through literary texts and the uses of multimodal texts in the context of teaching additional languages. Her current research endeavors extend to exploring the integration of multimodal texts and multiliteracy frameworks in additional language instruction, as well as investigating language acquisition within multilingual environments.

Using small grants to kickstart your Digital Humanities ambitions
2024-03-13 11:30 - 13:00 | Online
A short online information session to talk about how to use small research grants to kickstart your Digital Humanities ambitions. The session will be run by Research Services and will cover:

what is Digital Humanities?
Use of digital Humanities in smaller grants
a short talk from an academic who has held a British Academy Small Grant using Digital Humanities
an outline of 3 appropriate small grant opportunities
signposting to further help and resources

Join the meeting here.

Percy Ure Lecture 2024
2024-03-14 08:00 - 17:00 | Edith Morley Building, Van Emden Lecture Theatre, Edith Morley Building, University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 6UR, United Kingdom
Speaker: Professor Irene Lemos (Oxford), author of ground-breaking work on the Early Iron Age in Greece, the so-called ‘Euboian koine’, and the crucial site of Lefkandi on Euboia.
More details to be announced.

English Landscapes: screening and discussion
2024-03-18 19:00 - 20:30 | Minghella Studios, Minghella Building, Whiteknights Campus, RG6 6UR, United Kingdom
English Landscapes: screening and discussion
The University of Reading’s Screen Work Group is proud to present a screening and discussion of two exciting projects. Matter of Britain, supported by Arts Council England, is a collaboration between filmmaker Peter Treherne and the local community of Mayfield, in response to the Grail Legend. Thames at Cookham, made by two Reading undergraduate students, is an experimental documentary connecting the local artistic community with the ongoing excavation (by UoR staff and students) of an Anglo-Saxon monastery site in Cookham.
We’re pleased to welcome all the filmmakers to discuss their work, as well as a number of participants and collaborators. There will be a wine reception too.
We hope you will be able to join us for this event, please register to attend here.
Screen Work Group – About Us
The Screen Work Group is a community of researchers at the University of Reading who engage with screen subjects and methods. We have a strong base in the Department of Film, Theatre & Television, but our members work from a variety of disciplines, departments and schools.
Our aim is to bring together varying perspectives and approaches to screen work, and to support UoR colleagues in their engagement with that work.

The Magic of Languages: A Journey of Linguistic Discovery
2024-03-27 16:30 - 17:30 | Edith Morley Building, Van Emden Lecture Theatre, Edith Morley Building, University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 6UR, United Kingdom
Did you know that most people in the world speak two or more languages? How do they do it? Join Professor Ludovica Serratrice on a journey of linguistic discovery that will take you from babbling babies to children juggling words and sentences in two languages.

Where Do We Go From Here?
2024-05-01 19:30 - 21:30 | Minghella Studios, Minghella Building, Whiteknights Campus, RG6 6UR, United Kingdom
Where Do We Go From Here?
10 people, one platform. A call for change but will change come?
Through missing a connection, we find we have more in common than that which divides us.
In the breakdown of a system comes the opportunity for something new.
Devised, written, and performed by asylum seekers, refugees, and those with lived experience of (dis)abilities or mental health challenges. This play speaks of our current times through the voices of people who often go unheard. Followed by post-show Q&A hosted by Fiona Talkington, writer, and broadcaster BBC Radio 3.
This performance will include BSL (British Sign Language) for the deaf community and AD (Audio Description) will be available. Wheelchair access is also available. This performance is suitable for 12+. If you need BSL interpretation and/or prefer to be near where the interpreters are more visible, please enquire about this via the Front of House staff before the show and ask them for recommendations. We will also have a BSL interpreter before the show to help with this.
With special thanks to our partners:
Refugee Support Group, University of Reading, LAMDA, Reading Museum, The Museum of English Rural Life, Paff After the Emergency.
Supported by The Arts Council England, Reading Council and Berkshire Community Foundation, thank you for your continued support.
Ticket Prices:
£10
£5 Student Concessions

Landscapes or livelihoods? | Walker Institute
2024-05-07 14:30 - 16:30 | Allen Lab, Room G09
The Walker Institute is inviting you to join in our immersive event on climate and cultural heritage:
LANDSCAPES OR LIVELIHOODS?
Filling a climate knowledge gap and networking with the wider community of climate heritage action!
When: 7 May 2024 from 2:30–4:30pm
Where: Allen Lab; room G09
What does it involve: Four snapshots from colleagues which will offer perspectives of different cultural contexts from Africa and South Asia, through to the Middle East and the UK with colleagues from across the university as well as from visiting scientists joining from Nepal and Senegal. Then an interactive session to explore the issues from different stakeholders’ perspectives.

Tackling global helminth diseases – a veritable can of worms
2024-05-09 11:30 - 12:30 | LO22 G01 London Road Campus
This seminar will outline aspects of research undertaken by the DeWorm3 project (2015-2023), which included a series of community cluster randomised controlled trials to determine the feasibility of interrupting transmission of soil-transmitted helminth (parasitic worm) diseases in focal geographical areas. It will discuss existing evidence and the new methodological approaches needed to generate data necessary for informing potential novel and effective intervention strategies for human helminth infections, highlighting some of the challenges in developing a true One Health approach. Register to attend using the online form.

Colonialism, Coloniality, and Climate Science
2024-05-10 13:30 - 15:30
uti
Jointly organised by the Department of History and Department of Meteorology
1:30-3:00pm on 10 May 2024 (Friday)
Ditchburn Lecture Theatre, JJ Thomson Building
HYBRID. All Welcome. Registration Required
Please complete the registration form. Joining link will be sent if you choose to attend virtually.
Colonialism has widely acknowledged legacies in both the cause of the climate crisis and the inequality of the harms it is causing. But what about the links between colonialism and climate science? How does colonialism, both past and present, shape contemporary practices in climate science? What are the ways in which institutions both perpetuate and challenge these practices? These questions will be explored in a discussion and Q&A with a distinguished panel of scholars.
Chair
Allan Laville – Dean for Diversity and Inclusion
Panellists

Debjani Bhattacharyya – Professor for the History of the Anthropocene, University of Zurich
Deborah Coen – Professor of History & History of Science & Medicine, Yale University
Aïda Diongue-Niang – Technical Advisor, National Agency for Civil Aviation and Meteorology, Senegal, and Vice-Chair of IPCC Working Group I
Roger Pulwarty – Senior Scientist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA
Chi Huyen Truong – Programme Coordinator, Himalayan University Consortium, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Nepal

The event will be followed by a reception.

Intermedia/Interarts Workshop 3. The Intermedial Body: Chinese Arts and Beyond
2024-05-10 18:00 - 21:00 | Birkbeck Cinema, 43 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PD
A two-day event that explores ‘the intermedial body’, including talks by artists and researchers and a free film screening.

Community Festival 2024: Showcase your research
2024-05-18 11:00 - 16:00 | Whiteknights campus, University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus, Reading, RG6 6AH, United Kingdom
The University’s Community Festival returns to Campus this year on Saturday 18 May.
The Festival brings together local residents, alumni, community groups and small businesses for a programme of live music, theatre and performance, community stands, crafts, street food, and research activities.
Last year’s research programme included a research exhibition featuring stands with hands-on activities, children’s talks, research talks, and a multilingual storytelling activity. The activities were popular and well received by both visitors and participants, and this year’s Festival aims to expand on these activities and attract new audiences.
Participate in this year’s Community Festival
Expressions of interest are now open for research activities for the 2024 Community Festival. Researchers are invited to read the guidelines carefully and complete the short application form by 12pm on Monday 12 February to be considered.
Researchers from all disciplines are encouraged to apply, regardless of previous public engagement experience.

Inequalities: Interdisciplinary Symposium
2024-06-04 10:00 - 16:00 | University of Reading, RG6 6UR
This interdisciplinary symposium aims to explore the relationship between migration, care and intersecting inequalities within the post-pandemic geopolitical landscape of immobility regimes, crisis-driven displacement, care deficits and ageing populations. The symposium will reflect on how paid and unpaid caring arrangements are shaped by intersecting inequalities in diverse migration and transnational contexts. We are interested in papers that address caring practices across the lifecourse, intersectionality and inequalities in access to formal care and social protection globally.
We invite papers (to be presented in person) that address the following themes (but are also open to other related topics):

‘Proximate’ and ‘distant’ intergenerational care in transnational families
Paid and unpaid care and intersecting social differences and inequalities (gender, race, ethnicity, disability/ chronic illness, ageing, socio-economic status, legal status, multilingualism, education and so on)
Children’s and young people’s caring responsibilities in diverse migration contexts
(Im-)mobility and care regimes and differential welfare entitlements and rights
Forced transnationality, agency and social protection among refugees and asylum seekers
Language brokering, literacy mediation and access to support
Care ethics and cross-cultural understandings of care, wellbeing, health and illness
Methodological and ethical approaches to researching caring relations, migrant/transnational family lives and inequalities

These highly politicised and emotive issues pose key challenges and dilemmas for policymakers, practitioners and family members, as well as researchers and academics interested in transnational migration, care and social protection.
In addition to in person paper presentations, the Symposium will include:

Transnational ageing: theorising digital kinning and the multi-directionality of care: Keynote lecture by Professor Loretta Baldassar, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia (hybrid – online access available)
Intergenerational Care, Inequalities and Wellbeing among Transnational Families in Europe: Plenary presenting key findings of the ‘Transnational Families in Europe research project, led by Professor Ruth Evans, University of Reading and Dr. Rosa Mas Giralt, University of Leeds. The presentation will be followed by a panel discussion with leading academics, practitioners and policymakers (hybrid – online access available).

A selection of papers presented at the Symposium will be included in an Edited Collection (open access) on Care, Inequalities and Wellbeing across Generations in Transnational Families.
Registration
Registration fee (includes lunch and refreshments): £30
A small number of bursaries are available for postgraduates and practitioners (please provide details of expected travel costs when enquiring about this). Contact: r.evans@reading.ac.uk.
Abstract submission
Please send your paper title and abstract (maximum of 250 words), with author(s), email address and affiliations, by 8 April 2024 to Jodie Ellis (j.ellis2@reading.ac.uk).
Please also indicate if you wish your paper to be considered for the Edited Collection on Care, Inequalities and Wellbeing across Generations in Transnational Families.
Further information
Contact: Ruth Evans: r.evans@reading.ac.uk
Web: Transnational Families in Europe: Care, Inequalities and Wellbeing, https:/research.reading.ac.uk/transnational-families/

Pop Up Geology Museum
2024-06-05 14:00 - 18:00 | Russell Building
g Mineral resources are used in many aspects of modern life and may also hold the key to a more sustainable future. This event showcases some of our amazing collections , their geology, uses and impacts.
For further information, contact Dr Hazel J. McGoff 0118 378 6743 h.j.mcgoff@reading.ac.uk
All welcome on:
Wednesday 5th June 14.00 – 18.00
Thursday 6th June 09.30 – 13.00
Russell Building, Whiteknights Campus, RG6 6UR (Building 70 on campus maps)

From Local To Global | In Conversation with Professor Ed Hawkins MBE
2024-06-21 19:00 - 20:30 | RG1 1QH, Concert Hall, Blagrave Street, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 1QH, United Kingdom
From local to global: how the climate stripes spread a message around the world
Join us in conversation with Professor Ed Hawkins MBE, climate scientist and IPCC author, and creator of the famous climate warming stripes.

The Future of National Poetry Archives | 2-day workshop
2024-06-27 08:00 - 2024-06-28 17:00 | Museum of English Rural Life (The MERL), Redlands Road, Reading, RG1 5EX, United Kingdom
The University of Reading will be hosting a two-day workshop on the theme of “The Future of National Poetry Archives” from 27th-28th June 2024. The workshop will be held at the Museum of English Rural Life, Redlands Road, Reading RG1 5EX. It is free to attend.

View the programme for the event. It seeks to cover the various ‘constituencies’ involved with our poetry archives: the archivists themselves; academic researchers; those involved in creative responses to archives; those charged with raising public awareness and creating public events with the archives. The ambition is to begin a conversation which will evolve through future events and links that will foreground the archival presence within our understanding of recent poetries across the UK.

If you would like to register for the event, please email Prof Steven Matthews (s.matthews@reading.ac.uk).

Please note that there will be no parking spaces available at the venue during the event.

Global Book Cultures: Materialities, Collaborations, Access | SHARP Conference 2024
2024-07-01 08:00 - 2024-07-05 17:00 | University of Reading, RG6 6UR
SHARP 2024 will explore how books and texts are produced, distributed, and read in global contexts today and in the past. The conference will address how access to book cultures is uneven on many different levels. Taking inspiration from recent work in critical bibliography (Maruca and Ozment, 2022) and transnational print activism (Noorda, Norrick-Rühl, le Roux, 2022) we are seeking papers that will interrogate how book cultures across time can and have been used to resist, question, or otherwise support or reinstate various systems of power and/or oppression.

My Climate Risk seminar
2024-07-08 13:00 - 14:00
For the last summer session of the “My Climate Risk Interdisciplinary Learning Group” (MCRILG), we are delighted to be joined by Dr Masilin Gudoshava, Climate Modeling Expert at the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) in Nairobi, Kenya.
Masilin’s work focuses on sub-seasonal to seasonal forecasting, and her interest is in producing tailored forecasts that cater to the specific needs of various climate-sensitive sectors, such as agriculture, health and disaster management. Her role also involves collaborating with stakeholders to ensure that the forecasts are practical, relevant, and effectively utilized
Masilin will discuss with us the importance of understanding the behaviour of rainy seasons, especially onset, for informed decision-making. She will introduce us to the behaviour and change of “Kiremt” rainy season in drought-prone Ethiopia, through the paper “Characterization and variability of Kiremt rainy season over Ethiopia”. Masilin’s extensive experience in producing forecasts and communicating them to countries and communities provides a great opportunity to ask her questions also on her work more generally.
We look forward to seeing you on Monday 8th July at 1pm BST (GMT+1) to learn more about this! You can find detailed information and the Zoom link to attend the session on our website. If you want to register to MCRILG and receive calendar invitations the Friday prior to the Monday session, you can also enrol in our MCRILG list.

Climate and Finance Conference 2024
2024-09-20 | Henley Business School
We are excited to announce the third edition of the Climate and Finance Conference, which will take place at the ICMA Centre – Henley Business School on 20 September 2024. The conference aims to bring together researchers, practitioners, and experts in the intersection of climate change and finance. We invite submissions of papers or abstracts on a wide range of topics related to climate and finance.
Conference Details:

Date: 20 September 2024
Venue: ICMA Centre – Henley Business School, University of Reading
Format: One-day conference with plenary sessions and a panel discussion
Attendance: Both in-person and online participation are available. However, we require conference speakers to attend in person.

Topics of Interest (but not limited to):

Climate adaptation and resilience
Nature finance and biodiversity
Extreme weather hazards and finance
Transition risk and transition planning
Scope 3 emission measurement and disclosure
Accelerating the green economy
Sustainable investing
Carbon pricing and emissions trading
Climate finance policy and regulation
Emerging trends in climate science and climate finance
Climate finance challenges in emerging economies

Submission Guidelines:

Submission Deadline: 15 August 2024
Please send your papers or abstracts to s.varotto@icmacentre.ac.uk with the subject line “Climate and Finance Conference Submission.”

Authors of accepted papers will be notified by 28 August 2024.
Scientific Committee:

Professor Len Shaffrey, NCAS and Meteorology Department, University of Reading
Professor Simone Varotto, ICMA Centre – Henley Business School, University of Reading

Registration: The conference is free of charge, but registration is required. Please register online at https://forms.office.com/e/A9yX8Cghxv by 9 September 2024. We look forward to receiving your submissions and seeing you at the conference!

Start of Year Message from PVC (Research and Innovation) Professor Parveen Yaqoob
2024-09-25 08:00 - 17:00
Dear colleagues,
As we begin another new academic year, there is a lot that feels different. The positive tone and language about higher education coming from the new government is welcome, even though the challenges we face are pressing. Financial sustainability is the number one topic of conversation in almost every university in the country, but we have yet to see whether there are plans to address the underfunding of research, calculated as a deficit of £5bn, which is in addition to the deficit of £1.7bn for teaching, and which contributes significantly to institutional financial shortfalls. Over the last few months I’ve been asked to contribute to a number of discussions about how universities should be making the case for their vital contribution to research to ensure that it remains high on the national agenda. In a Universities UK event in July I set out how we should be engaging public and political stakeholders to demonstrate our critical contribution to health research and at the annual Universities UK conference, held here in Reading this month, I was asked to make the case for longer-term research funding cycles. Both events highlighted the fact that we can’t take for granted that our stakeholders understand the importance of a stable and properly funded research base, so we need to make sure that we communicate the real-world relevance of the research we do at Reading at every opportunity. This is even more important in the current financial environment, where we must remain resolute in holding our ground as a research-intensive university.
Looking ahead, we’ve reached a milestone on a number of projects and initiatives that you will be hearing about over the next few months, including:

Development of a new research strategy; the current strategy was published in 2019, when Dominik and I had just been appointed to our post. We’ve achieved a lot since then and the strategy doesn’t reflect how far we’ve come in developing strategic partnerships, understanding the importance of a positive research culture and the huge strides we’ve made on sustainability. I will be putting out a call for individuals to take part in focus groups as part of the consultation process for the new strategy, as well as consulting with key stakeholders, such as RDLs, IDRC Directors and HoS.

REF planning; the next months will see UoA leads completing SWOT analyses of each element of the REF submission to help shape our preparation.

Implementation of the Agrifood Futures strategy; the final report of the scoping exercise was presented to Council in July and the project now moves to implementation. Now that the strategy is live (e mail agrifoodscoping@reading.ac.uk for a copy), we need to use it actively; this is especially important for those disciplines most closely connected with agrifood, but applies to all disciplines. Please use the above e mail address if you’d like to discuss the strategy.

And finally, there are three important reviews to complete over the next year: (i) a deep-dive review of our strategic partnership with the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation to understand what has worked well (or not) and whether there are opportunities that we haven’t yet considered; (ii) a review of the University’s infrastructure and how we manage it, with the aim of better long-term planning, and (iii) a review of the Interdisciplinary Research Centres as they reach the end of their 5-year term, which will also include a broad examination of how we approach interdisciplinary research at Reading.

As ever, do get in touch if there is anything you would like to discuss and keep in regular contact with your RDL and Associate PVC (APVC) Research for the latest updates. And if you’re wondering what on earth an APVC Research is, you’ve probably missed the announcement that there has been a change of name from Research Dean to APVC Research (with the equivalent change for T&L Deans). This is entirely due to sector precedence and lack of understanding of the Dean role as it was applied at Reading- the job is exactly the same, it’s just more of a mouthful to say. And on the topic of APVCs, I will soon be announcing the new APVC for the Environment theme (replacing Rowan Sutton, who now heads the Met Office Hadley Centre).
Wishing you a productive term,
Parveen
Professor Parveen Yaqoob
Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation

Participate in the Festival of Tomorrow 2025
2024-09-25 08:00 - 2024-10-06 17:00
menmen The 2025 Swindon Festival of Tomorrow will be held from 10 to 22 February. Last year, the event drew around 23,000 visitors, including people of all ages and backgrounds. It was especially popular with families who don’t usually take part in science-related activities.
Find out more about the Swindon Festival of Tomorrow on their website.

These are the opportunities to participate:

Schools Programme (10-14 February): Engaging online shows with science communicators for EYFS, KS1, and KS2 students, complemented by virtual and in-school workshops. Proposals with interactive elements or follow-up activities for teachers are welcome.
About Town Programme (15-22 February): Events and activities that attract audiences who typically don’t engage with science, research, tech, or innovation. Interactive and participatory activities such as workshops, tours, art installations, or performances are particularly welcome. Family-friendly events are especially relevant for the February half-term, though evening events for adults are also of interest.
Hybrid Talks and Panels (15-22 February): In-person and hybrid discussions, interviews, and presentations for adults and teens interested in science and technology. Proposals that highlight new research, offer fresh perspectives, or engage audiences in discussions about relevant cultural and societal issues are sought.

The deadline for these is 6 October. Therefore, if interested, please let us know before you contact the festival organisers. For more information click here.

Finale Event (21-22 February)
This two-day family-focused event features hands-on exhibits, workshops, art installations, shows, and panels. They invite applications for exhibitions, shows, performances, and interactive activities. (Deadline 1 November)

We have funding available to support one stand at the Finale Festival. If you are interested, please submit a 300-word proposal outlining your planned activity.
The proposal should include the following:

Title: Provide a clear and engaging title
Your research: One or two sentences describing your research (50 words max.)
Proposed activity: Explain what your activity entails and how you will make it engaging for your intended audience. Please include what you expect the key message, learning or ‘take-away’ for the audience will be.
Resources: Outline the materials and support you will need to effectively present your activity.

Please email your proposal to c.magotra@reading.ac.uk by 5 pm on 1 November.

Health Innovation Partnership (HIP) Collaboration Innovation Fund Call
2024-10-14 09:00 - 17:00
Health Innovation Partnership (HIP) Collaboration Innovation Fund Call (7th) Launch – DEADLINE 14 October 2024 5pm
The Health Innovation Partnership (HIP), a partnership between the University of Reading (UoR) and the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust (RBFT), has launched the next Collaboration Innovation Fund (CIF) Competition.
This call is open to all staff members at RBFT and the University of Reading, both clinical and non-clinical, regardless of grade. We are seeking innovative ideas in the areas of Professional Services engagement, Education, and Research. Applications must include at least one collaborator from each institution, demonstrating an existing or potential partnership between the RBFT and UoR. We particularly encourage applications from new teams and professionals, as well as those who have not previously received funding. The deadline for applications is Monday 14 October 2024 at 5pm.
For more information about HIP and the programmes we run, please visit readingHIP.co.uk. Further details on this event, as well as instructions on how to apply for the CIF competition, can be found using the links below.
Useful links (on the HIP website):

CIF Information
Application and Useful Documents

If you require additional information or support related to the upcoming CIF competition or the collaboration event, please contact us at HIP@reading.ac.uk or reach out to the HIP Facilitator via sohail.akhtar@royalberkshire.nhs.uk.

'The Many Faces of Oxford Road, Reading' - Book Launch
2024-10-16 12:00 - 14:00 | Lifespring Church, 143 Oxford Road, RG1 7UY
