College News

Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize: Shortlist Announced.

The shortlist for the 2012 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize has been announced, with 6 translators in the running for the award:

Professor Kia Nobre of Oxford University and Fellow of New College, discusses the limits of how much we can consciously take in.

In a programme looking at the unconscious mind, Professor Kia Nobre of Oxford University and Fellow of New College discusses the limits of how much we can consciously take in.

We all like to think we are in control of our lives - of what we feel and what we think. But scientists are now discovering this is often simply an illusion.

Memorial Service on Saturday 2 June in New College Chapel for Professor Sir Michael Dummett, MA, DLitt, DLitt (Hon), FBA

A memorial service will be held on Saturday 2 June at 3.00 pm in New College Chapel for PROFESSOR SIR MICHAEL DUMMETT, MA, DLitt, DLitt (Hon), FBA (27 June 1925 – 27 December 2011), Wykeham Professor of Logic, 1979-1992, and Fellow, New College, 1979-2011; Fellow of All Souls College, 1950-1998.

The service will be a joint commemoration of Sir Michael and Lady Dummett.

Professor Dieter Helm appointed chairman of the government's new Natural Capital Committee

Lovely view, but what's it worth to us?

The Sunday Times (News Review), p. 6, Jonathan Leake, 01/04/12

Interview with Dieter Helm, professor of energy policy at Oxford University and Fellow of New College, who has been appointed chairman of the government's new Natural Capital Committee, a body that will advise the government on the worth of the country's natural resources, especially in relation to economic development.

AI robot: How machine intelligence is evolving

AI robot: evolution of the machines that learn for themselves
The Observer (Review), p. 24, Unattributed, 01/04/12
In-depth article on artificial intelligence by Marcus du Sautoy, Simonyi professor for the public understanding of science and a professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford and Fellow of New College, ahead of BBC2's Horizon: Hunt for AI on Tuesday at 9pm, which he presents.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/01/ai-artificial-intellige...

A more casual choir?

New College Oxford: A more casual choir

BBC News online, 08/04/2012

Several Oxbridge colleges are famous for their world-class choirs, and the singers of New College Oxford are renowned for their beautiful and distinctive sound. On Easter Sunday the choir's director of music, Edward Higginbottom, brought his ‘relaxed’ choir to perform on The Andrew Marr Show, presented by guest host James Landale.

New College hosts Joseph Volpe as Humanitas Chair of Opera.

Humanitas Opera Chair April 2012

Thursday 26th

Magdalen Auditorium

5.00 Inaugural address ‘Whither opera in the 21st Century?’

Saturday 28th

Magdalen Auditorium

2.00 Joseph Volpe in conversation with William Conner

4.15 Round Table discussion - ‘Opera: past, present and future’

Why do golf courses get plenty of water while vegetables are left to wither?

Pipe down

Financial Times (House and Home), 24/03/2012, p.10, Robin Lane Fox, Fellow of New College

In an article on the imminent hose pipe ban, Robin Lane Fox notes in passing that the lawns at his college, New College, will not be watered, though 'there will be the usual requests from the College scientists and economists to "irrigate" and save the grass'. He recalls that most of the lawns survived the drought of 1976.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/a25ae564-6eb2-11e1-acf0-00144feab49a.html#axzz...

Leverhulme Trust Grant awarded to New College Fellow

Grant winners
Times Higher Education, p. 27, Unattributed, 15/03/12

Andrei Zorin from the University of Oxford and a Fellow of New College, has been awarded a £216,012 Leverhulme Trust grant to study the creation of a Europeanised elite in Russia: public role and subjective self. His research includes Russian Literature and Cultural History of XVIII early XIX centuries in European Context, Russian Literature and Ideology, Cultural History of Emotions and Late Soviet and Post Soviet Literature.

Dieter Helm, professor of energy policy at Oxford University and Fellow of New College, discusses fossil fuels, energy prices and their impact on climate change.

Business Daily is all about oil and energy today.

Most modern economies appear to be smooth running machines. Lights turn on at the flick of a switch, the trains arrive on time, the supermarkets are full of food. But the security and stability we take for granted is more fragile than you might think.

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