The Hands Building by night.

Mansfield Public Talks

Mansfield hosts a lively and engaging series of free public talks, every Friday from 5.30pm, during Oxford University term time.

 

The Mansfield Public Talks are convened by College Principal, Helen Mountfield QC, and platform leading figures from varied fields, aimed at opening up ideas and debate in front of a wide audience. The talks are open to all and as such are an important element of the College’s public engagement efforts. 

Mansfield Public Talks: Hilary Term 2022

Recordings of last term's Public talks can be found on Mansfield's YouTube channel, here. 

Friday 28 January 2022

Ita smiles at the camera.

Enacting Intimacy 

Ita O'Brien

Ita O’Brien, the world’s leading intimacy co-ordinator and founder of Intimacy On Set, whose credits include Normal People, Sex Education, It’s A Sin and I May Destroy You, in conversation about the ethics, aesthetics and politics of portraying sex on stage and screen. Image credit: Nic Dawkes. 

More details and book: here

 

Friday 11 February 2022

A headshot of Sir Ian, in a black suit and tie. Where is the Centre of Gravity? Public Service in Fractious Times

Sir Ian Blatchford

Sir Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum, recent past Chairman of the National Museum Directors' Council and alumnus of Mansfield, reflects on navigating the choppy waters of ‘public service’ in times of fiscal austerity, Culture Wars and Covid

More details and book: here

 

Friday 18 February 2022

Tom smiles at the camera. He is outside, in front of bright green foliage. Surviving the 21st Century

Tom Fletcher

Tom Fletcher, formerly foreign affairs advisor to Gordon Brown and David Cameron, and British Ambassador to the Lebanon, now Principal of Hertford College Oxford discusses his new book, Ten Survival Skills for a World in Flux.

More details and book: here

 

Friday 25 February 2022

Rebecca smiles at the camera. This Dark Country: Women Artists, Still Life and Intimacy in the Early 20th Century

Rebecca Birrell, Assistant Keeper of Paintings Prints and Drawings at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and alumna of Mansfield College, on her dazzling new work of group biography and art criticism.

More details & book: here

 

 

Friday 4 March 2022 

Richard smiles.Richard Pinel Performs at Mansfield

Richard Pinel

Free concert in the College Chapel We are honoured to welcome international, award-winning organist, Richard Pinel, who will be performing in Mansfield’s Chapel for this celebratory recital to inaugurate the College’s famous and newly restored organ. This is a free event, open to all, though limited seating is available. Please book early to avoid disappointment. We will be raising funds in support of Music at Mansfield.

More details and book: here

 

Friday 11 March 2022 

Chris is in a suit. He smiles at the camera. The Hands Lecture: Something rotten in the state - corruption and the fight for human rights

Chris Bryant MP

The Annual Hands Politics Lecture. Chris Bryant MP, Chair of the Parliamentary Standards Committee and Mansfield alumnus will argue that 'golden visas', weak financial regulation, poor political analysis and powerful UK law and accountancy firms have enabled authoritarian regimes like Russia to play us for fools and undermined the UK's reputation for the rule of law.

More details and book: here