Cambridge Series at the Hay Festival
Nineteen Cambridge academics and alumni gave talks before thousands of people at the prestigious Hay literary Festival which has just ended in Wales.
Speakers included Nobel prize winner Professor Sir John Gurdon, Professor Henrietta Moore, Professor Sir Richard Evans, Professor Simon Blackburn and Dr Ha-Joon Chang.
It is the sixth year the University has run a University of Cambridge series at the international Festival, which brings together writers from around the world to debate and share stories.
Also taking part from the University this year were Lord Martin Rees, Professor Stefan Collini, Dr Bhaskar Vira, Dr Toby Wilkinson and Professor David Reynolds.
The subjects speakers covered ranged from stem cell cloning, cancer research, Alzheimer’s as the 21st century plague in the context of historical plagues, the future of civic activism and the history of conspiracy theories to North Korean politics, underground tunnelling, vanity and greed, the battle of Plataea and why everyone can understand economics.
Biyi Bandele, a former Wilson Fellow at Churchill College and author, playwright and director, spoke to Malachi McIntosh, a Lecturer in Postcolonial Literature and a Fellow of King's College, about directing his first feature film, Half of a Yellow Sun, based on the book by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. He said he chose to direct the film because he was fed up with going to the cinema to watch films which were “ostensibly about Africans, but where Africans were marginalised”. He added that film audiences had responded well to a “rational Africa” where Africans were not depicted as victims. He also said that he was motivated to direct a film which touched on the Biafran war which he says is little discussed in Nigeria, adding that the lack of discussion of the causes of the war was a factor in the rise of Boko Haram. In fact, the film is effectively banned in Nigeria because of the scenes relating to the war which took place between 1967 and 1970 and in which up to three million people died.
Dame Barbara Stocking, President of Murray Edwards College, was joined by three alumnae - writer and businesswoman Frances Edmonds, singer-songwriter Polly Paulusma and journalist Ellie Pithers to talk about women in the workplace. The event was based on the recent Women Today, Women Tomorrow survey of Murray Edwards alumna which found many had faced bullying and a lack of support in the workplace. The talk covered everything from pay discrimination, self employment, unconscious bias and macho work cultures to being promoted on merit rather than internal politics. Dame Barbara said women and men needed to forge an alliance to create a better balance between work and family life for everyone.
On the last day of the Festival, Dr Terri Apter and author and journalist Zoe Strimpel discussed gender stereotypes. Strimpel spoke about online dating and stereotypes linked to single women. Dr Apter,a psychologist, writer and Senior Tutor at Newnham College, showed how stereotypes are embedded even in people who consider themselves free of bias and how stereotypes, often internalised, can impact negatively on performance. She noted that while much had been said about the power of stereotypes, the determined efforts of girls and women to challenge and resist stereotypes was often ignored. She suggested this creative ambivalence could provide a useful perspective for understanding developmental changes in adolescence, early adulthood and midlife.
During the Festival, many of the Cambridge academic speakers met 45 alumni at an event on 25th May, which a number of alumni speakers also attended including Lord Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England, author Simon Singh and arts leader John Tusa. The event was introduced by Peter Florence, director of the Hay Festival and an alumnus himself.
24 May
1pm
Professor Robert Mair
What's going on underground: tunnelling into the future for our cities
Robert Mair is the Sir Kirby Laing Professor of Civil Engineering and Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cambridge. He was Master of Jesus College 2001-2011.
2.30pm
Paul Cartledge
After Thermopylae: the battle of Plataea and the Oath of Plataea
Professor Cartledge is the first A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University, having previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge. He is an international expert on Athens and Sparta in the Classical Age and will talk about his new book After Thermopylae: The Oath of Plataea and the End of the Graeco-Persian Wars.
25 May
5.30pm
Professor Chris Dobson and Dr Mary Dobson
Alzheimer’s and other plagues
Chris Dobson is John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Chemical and Structural Biology and Master of St John’s College. Dr Mary Dobson is an author and an historian of medicine and was formerly Director of the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, University of Oxford.
26 May
11.30am
Dr Ha-Joon Chang
Economics: a user's guide
Dr Ha-Joon Chang is a Reader in the Political Economy of Development and author of several widely-discussed policy books. He was ranked by Prospect Magazine as one of the top World Thinkers in 2013.
2.30pm
Professor John Gurdon
Cloning stem cells: a modern medicine revolution
Professor Sir John Gurdon is Distinguished Group Leader in the Wellcome Trust/CRUK Gurdon Institute in Cambridge. His awards include the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that mature cells can be converted to stem cells.
27 May
11.30am
Professor Simon Blackburn
in conversation with Rosie Boycott. Mirror, Mirror: The Uses and Abuses of Self-Love
Professor Simon Blackburn recently retired as professor of philosophy and is a Fellow of Trinity College. He is the author of many books, including most recently Mirror, Mirror: The Uses and Abuses of Self-Love.
28 May
11.30am
Dr Robin Hesketh
Demystifying cancer
Dr Robin Hesketh is a member of the Biochemistry Department and The Cambridge Cancer Centre and a Fellow of Selwyn College. His books include Betrayed by Nature, an introduction for non-scientists to cells, molecules and cancer, and The Secret of Life to be published this year.
7pm
Professor Henrietta Moore
The future of civic activism
Professor Henrietta Moore is William Wyse Chair of Social Anthropology and is the Chair and co-founder of SHM Productions Ltd, a strategy and insight consultancy based in central London. She is co-editor of Global Civil Society 2012: Ten Years of Critical Reflection.
29 May
11.30am
Professor Sir Richard Evans
The history of conspiracy theories
Richard Evans is Regius Professor of History at Cambridge University and President of Wolfson College. He is also Principal Investigator and overall director of the Leverhulme funded project Conspiracy and Democracy: History, Political Theory and Internet Research.
30 May
11.30am
Dr John Swenson-Wright
North Korea: the perennial crisis state?
Dr John Swenson-Wright is the Fuji Bank University Senior Lecturer in Modern Japanese Politics and International Relations, a Fellow of Darwin College and Head of the Asia Programme at Chatham House.
31 May
4pm
Dame Barbara Stocking
Women Today, Women Tomorrow
Dame Barbara Stocking is President of Murray Edwards College and former CEO of Oxfam GB. Barbara will be joined by three alumna - Telegraph fashion journalist Ellie Pithers (matriculated 2008), singer-songwriter Polly Paulusma (1994) and the author and comms expert Frances Edmonds (1970).
7pm
Biyi Bandele in conversation with Dr Malachi McIntosh
Biyi Bandele is a novelist and playwright who wrote the screenplay for the recent adaptation of Half a Yellow Sun. He was also a former Judith E. Wilson Fellow at Churchill College. Dr Malachi McIntosh is a Lecturer in Postcolonial Literature and a Fellow of King's College.
1 June
11.30am
Dr Terri Apter and Zoe Strimpel
Beyond the script: how women follow, resist and play with the stereotypes that define them
Dr Terri Apter is a psychologist and writer and Senior Tutor at Newnham College, Cambridge. Zoe Strimpel is an author, journalist and Cambridge alumna.