What’s happening in College this week?

💬 Universities champion open inquiry. Yet some of the hardest questions can still be quietly avoided.

At Queen’s, DPhil candidate in Law Arifur has created 'Uncomfortable Conversations', a graduate-led series designed to make space for discussions that feel uneasy, provocative, or even “too much”.

Inspired in part by the reframing of Oxford’s past in the 'Uncomfortable Oxford Tours', and shaped by his own experience of academic censorship, the series explores discomfort as a necessary condition of intellectual life.

🔗 Read more about the thinking behind the series: ow.ly/n4pB50Yrahn ... See MoreSee Less

💿 Queen’s choir releases new CD

Under the direction of Owen Rees, the Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford continues to demonstrate the precision, depth, and expressive range for which it is known. At the heart of the album is the first recording of Old Member Kenneth Leighton’s 'Missa Christi', the composer’s last major work.

The album also features world premiere recordings of Harold Darke’s 'Blessed is the man that endureth temptation' and Imogen Holst’s 'Out of your sleep arise and wake', alongside works by Rebecca Clarke and Gustav Holst.

🔗 ow.ly/Sclo50Yr8fW

'The Crown of Life' is a testament to the extraordinary standard of choral music-making at Queen’s today. ... See MoreSee Less

Professor of Plant Development Jane Langdale has been named one of five ‘Oxford Changemakers’ in 'In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World', the Ashmolean’s forthcoming exhibition exploring the influence of plants on exploration, trade, art, and science.

The exhibition brings together historic collections, contemporary research, and newly commissioned work, placing modern plant science in dialogue with centuries of botanical discovery.

Professor Langdale’s research looks firmly to the future: pushing the boundaries of plant developmental biology to help breed and engineer crops capable of adapting to climate change.

'In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World' runs at the Ashmolean Museum from 19 March until 16 August 2026.

Read more about Professor Langdale’s research: ow.ly/imrx50Yo2j0

#PlantScience #ClimateResearch #OxfordChangemakers #InBloom #Ashmolean #PlantDevelopment #ClimateAdaptation #PlantBiology #AshmoleanMuseum #ScienceInnovation ... See MoreSee Less

This #WorldBookDay, we’re celebrating stories that travel.

Our Library team has selected their favourite books in translation: these are works that cross borders, languages, and generations. It’s a fitting focus for Queen’s, which is home to the Queen’s Translation Exchange. QTE sees translation not simply as the conversion of words, but as an act of cultural exchange.

Travel north with Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book (trans. Thomas Teal), a tender meditation on childhood and loss set on a Finnish island.

Encounter the raw clarity of Tove Ditlevsen’s Copenhagen Trilogy (trans. Tiina Nunnally & Michael Favala Goldman), recently named one of the best books of the 21st century.

Laugh at the absurdities of bureaucracy in Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk (trans. Cecil Parrott) and lose yourself in Umberto Eco’s intricate intellectual thriller Foucault’s Pendulum (trans. William Weaver).

Discover all the recommendations: ow.ly/SS6U50YpuoV
Which translated work has stayed with you? 📚

📷 Fisher Studios
#BooksInTranslation #LiteraryTravel #CulturalExchange #TranslationMatters #QueensLibrary #BookRecommendations #InternationalLiterature #BookLovers ... See MoreSee Less