TORCH | The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities

'Poets in Purgatory' Video

17 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Contemporary poets read from their translations of the Purgatorio and from their poems about Dante. After Dante: Poets in Purgatory, edited by Nick H...

How does climate crisis change the curriculum?

15 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A Climate Crisis Thinking in the Humanities and Social Sciences event. Shifting the question from ‘how should climate change be put into the curricu...

The Diasporic Quartets: Identity and Aesthetics

02 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Keynote lecture in the Diversity and the British String Quartet Symposium, day 3, held on 16th June 2021. Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, o...

The string quartet takes residence: class, community, curricula

02 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Keynote lecture in the Diversity and the British String Quartet Symposium, held on 14th June 2021. Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of t...

Art and Action: Benjamin Zephaniah in Conversation

31 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. In his autobiogr...

Book at Lunchtime: Jews, Liberalism, Antisemitism

23 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Book at Lunchtime is a series of bite-sized book discussions held weekly during term-time, with commentators from a range of disciplines. The events a...

Book at Lunchtime: Born to Write

29 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A TORCH Book at Lunchtime webinar on ‘Born to Write: Literary Families and Social Hierarchy in Early Modern France’ by Professor Neil Kenny. Book ...

Book at Lunchtime: Porcelain - Poem on the Downfall of my City

25 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Book at Lunchtime webinar on Porcelain: Poem on the Downfall of my City by Durs Grünbein, translated by Professor Karen Leeder. Book at Lunchti...

Book at Lunchtime: China’s Good War

25 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A TORCH Book at Lunchtime webinar on ‘China's Good War: How World War II is Shaping a New Nationalism’ by Professor Rana Mitter. Book at Lunchtim...

The Formula of Giving Heart: Panel Discussion and Conversation with the Artist

18 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. This panel disc...

Under the Rainbow: Voices from Lockdown

18 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events! Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding st...

A Concatenation of Rumour

24 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. Named after the...

The Cake, Emma’s Romantic dreams, and le bovarysme - part two, French

21 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Elise Busset, an undergraduate at Oxford University, reads an extract from Madam Bovary in french. Blog post by Professor Jennifer Yee. The heroine of...

The Cake, Emma’s Romantic dreams, and le bovarysme - part one

21 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Eleanor Gilbert, an undergraduate at Oxford University, reads an extract from Madam Bovary in english. Blog post by Professor Jennifer Yee. The heroi...

In Conversation with Lolita Chakrabarti

21 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future, Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities on Thursday 13th...

Translation and Retranslation: priorities, discoveries, pleasures

22 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events! Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding sto...

The Black Chicago Renaissance Women: Lives and Legacies in Music | Dr. Samantha Ege

22 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Held on International Women's Day 2021, Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future, Stephen A. Schwarzman Ce...

The Terra Lectures in American Art: Part 1: Performing Innocence: Belated

18 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Emily C. Burns, Terra Foundation Visiting Professor in American Art, gives the first in the series of The Terra Lectures in American Art: Pe...

The Terra Lectures in American Art: Part 3; Performing Innocence: Primitive / Incipient

15 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Emily C. Burns, Terra Foundation Visiting Professor in American Art, gives the third in the series of The Terra Lectures in American Art: Pe...

The Terra Lectures in American Art: Part 2 Performing Innocence: Puritan

15 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Professor c, Terra Foundation Visiting Professor in American Art, gives the second lecture in the The Terra Lectures in American Art: Performing Innoc...

The Terra Lectures in American Art: Part 4; Performing Innocence: Baby Nation

15 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Emily C. Burns, Terra Foundation Visiting Professor in American Art, gives the fourth in the series of The Terra Lectures in American Art: P...

Book at Lunchtime: Charles Dickens and the Properties of Fiction - The Lodger World

10 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Book at Lunchtime webinar on Charles Dickens and the Properties of Fiction: The Lodger World by Dr Ushashi Dasgupta. Book at Lunchtime is a seri...

Book at Lunchtime: Sophocles – Antigone and other tragedies

01 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Book at Lunchtime event on Sophocles: Antigone and other tragedies by Professor Oliver Taplin. With panellists Professor Karen Leeder and Dr Luc...

Writing and Resistance – The White Rose Pamphlets: A Live Reading

01 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

At around 11am on Thursday 18 February 1943 two students in Munich were arrested for distributing anti-Nazi pamphlets. By Monday they had been interro...

Ken Loach in Conversation

12 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Goes Digital! presents Big Tent - Live Events! Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future Stephen A...

In Conversation with Anne Boyd

05 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Internationally-renowned composer Anne Boyd is in conversation with composer Thomas Metcalf, discussing her life and music ahead of a performance of h...

Book at Lunchtime: The Political Life of an Epidemic – Cholera, Crisis and Citizenship in Zimbabwe

04 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Book at Lunchtime webinar on The Political Life of an Epidemic – Cholera, Crisis and Citizenship in Zimbabwe written by Professor Simukai Chig...

Book at Lunchtime: Royals and Rebels: The Rise and Fall of the Sikh Empire

28 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Book at Lunchtime webinar on Royals and Rebels: The Rise and Fall of the Sikh Empire, written by Dr Priya Atwal. Book at Lunchtime is a series o...

The 2020 Besterman Lecture: Who were the French Revolutionaries?

07 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events! Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding sto...

Anna Atkins: Botanical Illustration and Photographic Innovation

20 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This event is supported by TORCH as part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones of the future Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre f...

Talking Afropean

20 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Talking Afropean: Johny Pitts in conversation with Elleke Boehmer and Simukai Chigudu about his award-winning book. TORCH Goes Digital! presents a ser...

Book at Lunchtime: Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe

10 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Book at Lunchtime webinar on Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe written by Professor Judith Herrin. Date: 4 November 2020. Book a...

Book at Lunchtime: Iconoclasm as Child's Play

09 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Joseph Moshenska, Associate Professor and Tutorial Fellow at University College, discusses his new book, Iconoclasm as Child's Play. Drawing on a ...

Humanities Cultural Programme Live Event: Katie Mitchell in conversation with Ben Whishaw

04 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Big Tent - Live Events! Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Hu...

Live Event: Tragedy and Plague - In Conversation with Professor Oliver Taplin and Fiona Shaw CBE

04 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events! Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding st...

Book at Lunchtime: Commemorative Modernisms: Women Writers, Death and the First World War

03 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Join us for an online TORCH Book at Lunchtime webinar on Commemorative Modernisms: Women Writers, Death and the First World War written by Dr Alice Ke...

Transnational Francoism

23 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Bàrbara Molas discusses Transnational Francoism: The British and The Canadian Friends of National Spain as part of the TORCH Network Conversations in...

Live Event: Imagined Journeys: Pilgrimage, Diplomacy, and Colonialism in Medieval Europe

21 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events!. Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding st...

Live Event: White Rose - Voices of the German Resistance

19 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events! Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding sto...

Live Event: On Being Unprepared (For Our Own Times)

13 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events! Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding st...

Live Event: The World After CoVid

13 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events! Humanities and Policy Week Part of the Humanities Cultural Progr...

Live Event: Living with Pandemics: Finding New Narratives

13 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In conversation with Dr Erica Charters and Robin Gorna. TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events! Performanc...

Live Event: Voices from the Wings: Poetry, Performance and Translation on and off the page

13 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events! Translation Week Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of...

Live Event: In Conversation with Jamelia, Multi-Award Winning Artist

07 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events! Performance Week​. Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, ...

Live Event: Celebrating Tchaikovsky

06 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events! Music Week Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the ...

Live Event: In Conversation with Maaza Mengiste

06 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events! Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding sto...

Live Event: The Social Life of Books: A History of Reading Together at Home

15 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. If we were able ...

Live Event: This is Shakespeare - Prof Emma Smith in conversation with Erica Whyman OBE

15 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. Professor Emma S...

Live Event: Invalids on the Move

15 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. At a time when w...

Live Event: Could you be arrested for planting flowers in your street?

15 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What guerrilla gardening reveals about our relationship with urban nature and culture. Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding...

Cyclone Amphan: Living through the Climate Crisis

24 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In May 2020 a deadly tropical cyclone struck Eastern India and Bangladesh. Named ‘Amphan’ and classified as a ‘Super Cyclone’ this was almost ...

What’s beneath the words: a paper journey

30 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Presented in collaboration with the Bodleian Libraries Centre for the Study of the Book. Contemporary letterpress artist David Armes (Red Plate Press)...

TORCH (en)coding Heritage Network Digital Launch - Exploring Ancient Rome through Immersive Technologies

10 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This digital event explores how 3D-modelling technologies and virtual reality can open new understandings of the past. Prof Matthew Nicholls describe...

Imitating Authors

24 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Book at Lunchtime: Imitating Authors Colin Burrow gives us an original literary history of imitation from an esteemed scholar and literary critic and ...

Humanities Light Night - Oxford Research Unwrapped! Full projection video

11 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Full projection video as part of national Being Human Festival, a huge video projection onto the 3-storey Radcliffe humanities building, premiering SO...

Revolution Rekindled: The Writers and Readers of Late Soviet Biography

07 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Book at Lunchtime: Revolution Rekindled: The Writers and Readers of Late Soviet Biography Polly Jones offers the first ever archival and oral history ...

Empires of the Mind

29 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Book at Lunchtime: Empires of the Mind 'The empires of the future would be the empires of the mind' declared Churchill in 1943, envisaging universal e...

Patience Agbabi reading and conversation: podcast

14 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this podcast the dynamic poet Patience Agbabi is in conversation about her Ted Hughes short-listed collection Telling Tales (2015), a rebellious re...

Ashmolean After Hours: Carpe Diem! Highlights video

13 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Highlights of the Torch collaboration with the Ashmolean Museum for a special edition of After Hours as part of the Last Supper of Pompeii exhibition ...

Princeton University Press Lectures in European History and Culture III: Stories for the future, and how to get there

20 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Martin Puchner, the Byron and Anita Wien Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Harvard University, gives the third and final lecture in t...

Princeton University Press Lectures in European History and Culture II:Think Big! A modest argument about large scales

20 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Martin Puchner gives the second lecture in the Princeton University Press Lectures in European History and Culture. The idea of world literature conta...

Princeton University Press Lectures in European History and Culture I: The Challenge of World Literature

20 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Martin Puchner, the Byron and Anita Wien Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Harvard University, gives the first of the Princeton Unive...

Humanities Light Night - Oxford Research Unwrapped!

19 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Highlights of the Humanities Night Light event. As part of the national Being Human Festival, and Oxford's Christmas Light Festival, Humanities Light ...

Discovering the identity of plants in art

17 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We are surrounded by artistic images of plants. These may be symbolic, decorative or functional. They tell us about the plants important in peoples' l...

Discovering the identity of plants in art

17 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We are surrounded by artistic images of plants. These may be symbolic, decorative or functional. They tell us about the plants important in peoples' l...

The Meaning of Carpe Diem

17 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How "seize the day" does not get CLOSE to capturing the power of the poet Horace's words Ashmolean After Hours: Carpe Diem! Mount Vesuvius is thought...

Supping and Sacrificing in Pompeii's Gardens

17 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The archaeological evidence of garden dining spaces in Pompeii’s houses, restaurants, and tombs reveals complexities of both Roman dining practices ...

Gorgons, gods and gladiators: how to decorate a Pompeian wall

17 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This interactive talk explores the myths, legends and scenes of daily life that Romans painted and scratched onto the walls of their houses. Ashmolean...

Last Supper in Pompeii: An introduction to the Pompeii Exhibition

17 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Exploring the narrative of the show through a selection of highlighted objects Ashmolean After Hours: Carpe Diem! Mount Vesuvius is thought to have b...

Book at Lunchtime: Celebrity Culture and the Myth of Oceania

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

An intriguing case study on how popular images of Oceania, mediated through a developing culture of celebrity, contributed to the formation of British...

The Million-Dollar Maths Equations

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Discover the Navier-Stokes Equations, which not only model the movement of every fluid on Earth, they also have a $1-million prize for a correct solut...

Unveiling the secrets and mysteries of French novels (1789-1820)

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Fanny Lacote will lift the veil on the secrets and mysteries contained within the unknown French literary production published during a turbulent p...

Cuneiform Discoveries from Ancient Babylon

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In ancient Iraq, scribes used cuneiform (wedge-shaped) script to write hundreds of thousands of texts in the Sumerian and Akkadian languages on clay t...

Cuneiform Discoveries from Ancient Babylon

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In ancient Iraq, scribes used cuneiform (wedge-shaped) script to write hundreds of thousands of texts in the Sumerian and Akkadian languages on clay t...

Discovering Music

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Many people love classical music heard on the radio or in concert. But they know less about the manuscripts that performers use, and that show us how ...

The World in a Box: Cabinets of Curiosity

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Das tells the story of the age when Britain first learnt how to collect, and of how that obsession with discovering secrets and collecting c...

Discovering Daily life in ancient Southern Babylonia

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In this talk Professor Jacob Dahl will narrate a day in the life of an ordinary Babylonian person, not a king or a scribe, but a labourer working the ...

Secrets from Missing Manuscripts

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Oxford’s libraries house many beautiful books copied by hand before the arrival of print. What, though, about the many more books from the past whic...

Secrets from Missing Manuscripts

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Oxford’s libraries house many beautiful books copied by hand before the arrival of print. What, though, about the many more books from the past whic...

AI and Creativity

27 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How does AI interact with creativity? Watch this fascinating panel discussion with mathematician Marcus du Sautoy, composer Emily Howard and Sarah Ell...

Chineke! Championing Change and Celebrating Diversity in Classical Music

20 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Chineke! Founder Chi Chi Nwanoku OBE talks about her orchestra of majority BME musicians.

Book at Lunchtime: India, Empire and First World War Culture

20 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Book at Lunchtime event on India, Empire and First World War Culture by Professor Santanu Das. Held on 20th November 2019. Based on ten years of...

Supriya Chaudhuri, Significant Lives: biography, autobiography, gender, and women's history in South Asia

18 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Chaired by Elleke Boehmer.

How to write a southern life: Ethics and writing practices

18 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Eduardo Lalo, Elleke Boehmer, Jonny Steinberg and Premilla Nadasen give a talk for the Southern Biographies event. Chaired by, Hélène Neveu Kringelb...

Southern Biographies: epistemologies, methodologies, theoretical perspectives

18 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Joy Owen, Marcio Goldman, Ramon Sarro and Santanu Das give talks as part of the Southern Biographies event. Chaired, Thomas Cousins.

Book at Lunchtime: Chaucer: A European Life

15 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

TORCH Book at Lunchtime event on Chaucer: A European Life by Professor Marion Turner. Book at Lunchtime is a series of bite-sized book discussions hel...

Lande: The Calais 'Jungle' and Beyond

06 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Book at Lunchtime seminar held on 16th October 2019. How can Archaeology help us understand our contemporary world? This ground-breaking book reflects...

Storming Utopia

14 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This event is an Oxford Public Engagement with Research and part of a Knowledge Exchange project. Organised by Professor Wes Williams (Faculty of Medi...

People's Landscapes: Living in Landscapes

23 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A roundtable discussion explore landscape as a space for living, considering the pressures on land from population growth and discussing questions of ...

People's Landscapes: Future Landscapes

23 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A roundtable discussion consider future landscapes in the context of food, farming and conservation. People's Landscapes: Beyond the Green and Pleasan...

Knowledge Exchange Showcase - Understanding Visitor Engagement of Free Heritage Sites Using Social Media

15 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Kathryn Eccles (Oxford Internet Institute), gives a talk on her Knowledge Exchange research project on using social media data to understand visitor e...

Knowledge Exchange Showcase - Understanding Postgraduate Medical Ethics Education

15 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew Papanikitas Primary Care Health Sciences and John Spicer Health Education England give a talk on their Knowledge Exchange research project on t...

Knowledge Exchange Showcase - Refugee Heritage: the Archaeology of the Calais 'Jungle'

15 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Mallet School of Archaeology and Louise Fowler Museum of London Archaeology give a talk for the Knowledge Exchange Showcase on their research on...

Knowledge Exchange Showcase - Jewish Country Houses

15 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Abigail Green (Faculty of History), Nino Strachey (National Trust), and Silvia Davoli, (Strawberry Hill House) give a presentation on their Knowledge ...

Knowledge Exchange Showcase - Jewish Country Houses

15 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Abigail Green (Faculty of History), Nino Strachey (National Trust), and Silvia Davoli, (Strawberry Hill House) give a presentation on their Knowledge ...

Delius and the Sound of Place

28 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Book at Lunchtime: Delius and the Sound of Place Few composers have responded as powerfully to place as Frederick Delius (1862–1934). Born in Yorksh...

Compassion's Edge

18 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Book at Lunchtime: Compassion's Edge, Winner of the 2018 Society for Renaissance Studies Book Prize. Compassion's Edge examines the language of fell...

Veteran Poetics

12 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Book at Lunchtime: Veteran Poetics: British Literature in the Age of Mass Warfare, 1790–2015 In this first full-length study of the war veteran in l...

Writing an Activist Life

04 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A panel discussion with Karin Amatmoekrim, Margaretta Jolly, and JC Niala, exploring the politics and poetics of writing an activist life. Karin is an...

Derek Attridge 'The Experience of Poetry' Book Launch Panel Discussion

29 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This event celebrates the publication of Professor Derek Attridge's work The Experience of Poetry with a book launch panel discussion. The Experience...