Newnham comes to the Cambridge Festivals
Updated with new events information: Newnham academics and alumnae will feature in a wide range of fascinating workshops and talks as part of two Cambridge Festival this spring.
Chapa Sirithunge and members of the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge will run a robotics workshop as part of the Cambridge Festival. Aimed at secondary school children and young adults, it’s an opportunity to learn about a career in robotics and find out how robots are being developed to mimic behaviours and patterns from nature. There will be four sessions: 10am, 11am, 1pm and 2pm, at Newnham College on Saturday 29 March.
We are also looking forward to Professor Claire Hughes’ discussion of The Psychology of Starting School, with an accessible overview of research findings related to this important milestone in children’s lives, and a panel discussion. Also on Saturday 29 March, Old Cavendish Rayleigh Wing, 11.30am.
And Honorary Fellow Janet Todd will be talking about her new book, Living with Jane Austen, a critical study-cum-memoir. On Thursday 27 March at 7pm, Cambridge University Press, Bookshop and Showroom. Unpicking Austen’s response to the 18th-century fascination with the idea of ‘nerves’ and nervous illness, and her own changing attitude.
Dr Lloyd-Fox is giving a talk at the festival on Saturday 29 March, 11.30am, with Teodora Gliga (University of East Anglia), hosted by Ginny Smith (Braintastic! Science). In Baby Talk, they will discuss the first steps in language acquisition in deaf and hearing babies. British Sign Language interpretation will be provided; babies and toddlers are welcome.
And CRASSH (the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities) are running a powerful series of events: Echoes of War: Bodies, Voices, Minds, chaired by Newnham PhD student Saleyha Ahsan. With a rise in the number of armed conflicts, have come widespread attacks on healthcare, media and education, despite protection under domestic and international law. This Healthcare in Conflict series brings together academics, researchers and practitioners to examine the threats these sectors face and discuss what must be done to protect them.
Protecting Healthcare in Armed Conflict – an interdisciplinary response, 2 April, 5.30pm, features a screening of a new documentary, Doctors Under Attack, telling the story of healthcare workers in Gaza. Followed by a panel discussion.
Keeping the Storytellers Safe in War – a panel discussion, 3 April, 5.30pm, the discussion with two war photographers and exhibition of their work.
Delivering Education in Armed Conflict and Telling the Story, 4 April, 5pm. Features a screening of BBC Panorama special: Saving Syria’s Children, followed by panel discussion and Q&A.
Booking required/recommended.
Cambridge Literary Festival follows this April and Fellow Shushma Malik will be in conversation with journalist and author Joan Smith on Saturday 26 April, in the intriguingly title talk Unfortunately, She Was a Nymphomanic. Joan Smith, amongst other things, was Co-chair of the Mayor of London’s Violence Against Women and Girls Board from 2013 to 2021.
Fellow Mezna Qato will be in conversation with Ilan Pappe, talking about What Next for Israel & Palestine? Historian Professor Pappe will discuss where conflict began and how it may end. On Sunday 27 April.
Alumna and Mother of the House Diane Abbott, MP, will discuss her book, A Woman Like Me, about how she has succeeded against great odds and built an extraordinary legacy. At the Cambridge Union on Saturday 26 April.
And former minister for education Tessa Blackstone joins us here at Newnham College to discuss her new biography of alumna Millicent Garrett Fawcett, who dedicated her life to securing votes for women. On Thursday 24 April.