Sheldonian Series

The Sheldonian Series is a termly event convened by the Vice-Chancellor aimed to promote discussions about the big issues of the day, informed by our commitment to free and inclusive speech, diversity of thought and the vibrant exchange of ideas. This event is open to all students and staff, and will feature scholars and voices from a range of fields and viewpoints.

The Sheldonian Series will continue next academic year in Michaelmas term. Please register your interest to find out when registration opens.

Sheldonian Series: Truth

The Sheldonian Series continued in Trinity term in its final instalment of the 2024/25 academic year. The event focussed on the subject of ‘Truth’. You can watch the recording below and read the news story.

Speakers

Moderator: Richard Ovenden, OBE, Bodley’s Librarian and the Helen Hamlyn Director of the University Libraries, Head of Gardens, Libraries, & Museums (GLAM), University of Oxford;
Panellist: Mitali Mukherjee, Director of the Reuters Institute, University of Oxford;
Panellist: Professor Kimberley Johnson, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University and Winant Visiting Professor of American Government, University of Oxford;
Panellist: Fraser Nelson, journalist at The Times newspaper and columnist and editor of The Spectator from 2009-2024.

(from left) Mitali Mukherjee, Kimberley Johnson, Fraser Nelson and Richard Ovenden

Richard Ovenden is Head of Gardens, Libraries, & Museums (GLAM), a post he holds together with being Bodley’s Librarian (the senior executive officer of the Bodleian Libraries), and is responsible for their strategic oversight.

Richard joined the University of Oxford in 2003 from Edinburgh University, where he was Director of Collections, and has served as Keeper of Special Collections and Deputy Librarian before being appointed Bodley’s Librarian in 2014, and then Head of Gardens, Libraries, & Museums in 2022. He was awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2019. He is an active researcher, his recent book Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge under Attack was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize in 2021. He holds a Professorial Fellowship at Balliol College.

Mitali Mukherjee is the Director of the Reuters Institute and the Director of the Journalist Programmes at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford. She is a political economy journalist with more than two decades of experience in TV, print and digital journalism. Over the course of her journalistic career, Mitali has worked with The Wire, Mint, CNBC TV 18 and India's public broadcaster Doordarshan. She was a Chevening fellow for the South Asia Journalism Fellowship 2020, a Raisina Asian Forum for Global Governance Young Fellow 2019 and a 2017 fellow of the Australia India Youth Dialogue.

Kimberley Johnson is Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis and Affiliate Faculty Member of the Wagner School of New York University. Johnson’s research focuses on American and urban political development, urban and local politics, and race and ethnic politics. Johnson is the author of two books, Reforming Jim Crow (2010) and Governing the American State (2007) and numerous articles on American political development and its intersection with racial and ethnic politics. Current research projects focus on African American urban and suburban politics. Johnson’s next book, Dark Concrete: Black Power Urbanism and the American Metropolis, exploring the development of black power urbanism in Newark and East Orange, New Jersey and Oakland and East Palo Alto, California, will be published in December 2025 by Cornell University Press.

Fraser Nelson is a columnist for The Times, having returned to the paper after 15 years as editor of The Spectator. He doubled the magazine’s subscriptions in a market that fell by two-thirds. He left last year after it was sold for £100 million, five times what it was valued at when he arrived. He has presented three documentaries for Channel Four and is now working on a fourth, asking if Nigel Farage could be Prime Minister.

Past events