lectures:

Professor Cécile Fabre  (All Souls College, Oxford) Treason is one of the most serious legal offences that there are, in most if not all jurisdiction. Laws against treason are not conjured up out of thin air: they are rooted in  deep seated moral revulsion about acts which, in the political realm, are paradigmatic examples of breaches of loyalty. In this paper, however, I seek to rehabilitate treason. I begin by providing a conceptual account of treason. I then argue that agents are sometimes morally permitted, indeed obliged, to pass on, in secret, secret information to foreign actors, be they enemies or allies. In the final part of the paper, I argue that they are sometimes permitted, indeed obliged, to disclose such information to the world at large – as, for example, Edward Snowden did - rather than a select few. Cécile Fabre is Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Oxford, and Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. She is the author of six books, co-editor of the edited volume The Morality of Defensive War, and has authored various peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Her recent research focusses on the ethics of war and peace, and addresses questions such as the ethics of ending wars, what constitutes a just peace settlement, whether we are morally obliged to punish war criminals, and whether and how we should commemorate wars. She has also published on the ethics of economic statecraft and the ethics of espionage.  Book your place at this event

Guest speaker:  Dr Nikhil Jain, Laboratory of Applied Mechanobiology, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland Title: ‘'MechanoImmunology': Exploring Physicals Drivers of Macrophage Specification & Activation Using Engineering Toolbox & Epigenomics' Host: Professor Cathy Shanahan Lunchtime seminars from the School of Cardiovascular Medicine & Sciences, covering a wide range of topics that are of natural interest to our School by different speakers at all career stages.   All members of the School are encouraged to attend.

Speaker: Dr Mimi Zou *If you are external to King’s and would like to attend this event, please contact the event organiser. In the debates on law and development in China so far, there has been considerable attention paid to the so-called “Rights Hypothesis”, which emphasise the role of a formal legal system in offering secure and stable property and contract rights. Such a hypothesis has influenced a vernacular of ideas relating to certain “institutional prerequisites” that underpin the Washington Consensus, including a legal order that would promote market efficiency and economic growth. Some argue that China’s economic development has largely taken place without such prerequisites, such as a strong property rights regime or robust formal contract laws and enforcement institutions. However, those who have sought to debunk the “Rights Hypothesis” in China have said relatively little about the role of social rights, such as labour standards, anti-discrimination, and social security protections (commonly seen by advocates of the Washington Consensus as “market-distorting”). This talk by Dr Zou explores how the Chinese state has adopted legal and institutional arrangements in the realm of social rights to support the marketization of the economy and curb the socially destabilising effects of market reform. She refers to this proposition as the “Social Rights Hypothesis”. An important aspect of social rights are the rules and institutions that govern the relationship between labour and capital, particularly in countervailing the inequality of bargaining power inherent in such a relationship. In developing this hypothesis, she examines how labour laws and institutions have co-evolved with changes in China’s labour market as part of the country’s economic reform over the past four decades. Dr Zou specifically looks at the market-constituting, market-correcting, and market-limiting functions of labour law in China’s economic development. First, a set of legal rules and institutions underpinned the commodification of labour in China, which became part of the constitution of a labour market operating closer to those of modern capitalist economies. Second, various aspects of Chinese labour law, such as minimum wage regulations, have sought to correct market outcomes that lead to negative externalities. Third, worker-protective legislative reforms over the past decade have been aimed at limiting the market in the interest of ‘harmonious labour relations’, which the party-state deems crucial to maintaining social stability. In reformulating and problematising the “Rights Hypothesis”, her goal is to offer a novel theoretical approach to understanding the multifaceted functions of social rights in debates on law and development in China and elsewhere. Dr Mimi Zou holds the first academic appointment in Chinese law at the University of Oxford, where she has the role of developing the subject as a new field of study and research. Dr Zou’s award-winning research focuses on Chinese and comparative employment and commercial law. She regularly provides expert commentaries on Chinese law-related issues for international media outlets including The New York Times, BBC, The Guardian, Reuters, China Daily, and South China Morning Post. Dr Zou is currently a special adviser of the Great Britain China Centre and a distinguished expert member of the Asia Society Policy Institute Belt and Road Initiative Taskforce. She obtained her law doctoral and master’s degrees with distinction from the University of Oxford and economics, social science, and law degrees with first class honours from the University of Sydney. She is a qualified Australian and English lawyer with over 15 years of experience in international organisations, law firms, government departments, non-governmental organisations, and academia. Prior to her present role at Oxford, Dr Zou held academic appointments at Columbia Law School, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Utrecht University, and the University of Sydney. She is currently a visiting law professor at Tsinghua University and Peking University. She was named by the Asia Society as an ‘Asia 21 Young Leader’ and recently selected as a finalist for the 2019 Asian Women of Achievement Awards.

Please join the Randall Centre for Cell & Molecular Biophysics for their annual lecture:  Role of the endosomal network in cell and tissue organization Speaker: Professor Marino Zerial, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, GermanyHost: Professor Mathias GautelEndosomes are important organelles for the transport and sorting of endocytosed cargo but also for other functions, such as signal transduction, regulation of metabolism and stress response. Rab GTPases are key regulatory components required for the biogenesis of endosomes as well as of other cellular organelles. In particular, Rab5 is necessary for the biogenesis of the entire endo-lysosomal pathway in vivo. It regulates the specificity and directionality of endosome fusion via the recruitment of tethering effectors that lead membranes to dock and fuse, for which SNAREs alone are insufficient. EEA1 is a tethering factor that bridges a Rab5-positive early endosome with another vesicle harbouring Rab5. Upon binding, Rab5 induces an allosteric conformational change on EEA1, from extended to flexible, generating an entropic collapse force that helps to pull the membranes together.      This means that the Rab machinery regulates both organelle recognition and mechanics leading to membrane fusion. Complementary to this approach, we have been studying the structural organization of the Rab5 machinery on early endosomes, using correlative super-resolution and electron microscopy (SuperCLEM). The combination of in vitro and in vivo systems allows us to answer questions regarding the formation, dynamics and role of Rab domains in the context of endosome biogenesis, structure and function. We are now applying this knowledge and developing quantitative imaging and functional genomics approaches to explore the endocytic mechanisms underlying liver tissue organization and regeneration.

By Professor Richard Harding, Herbert Dunhill Chair in Palliative Care & Rehabilitation, Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College London Abstract  Lack of palliative care places enormous additional stress on already weak health systems in low and middle income countries. Families in poverty can face catastrophic spending on often futile healthcare. Global health policy has begun to recognise palliative care as an essential component of health systems. Therefore, generating evidence for feasible, acceptable and effective responses is crucial. The emergence of global health palliative care is providing mutually beneficial partnerships, with methodological developments that promote south-north and north-south learning. Professor Harding will present some of these novel findings, and lessons learned. Speaker Richard Harding is Herbert Dunhill Chair in Palliative Care & Rehabilitation, at the Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College London. He is founding Director of the Centre for Global Health Palliative Care, is Vice Chair of the Board of the World Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, and directs the WHO Collaborating Centre for Palliative Care. This event is FREE TO ATTEND - no need to register! CPD (1 credit) pending Royal College of Physicians The series aim is to optimise opportunities for local, national and international networking within palliative care and rehabilitation. We facilitate seminars to assist in improving practice, education and policy, and the integration of research and clinical endeavours.

Join us to celebrate this special milestone for our new professors and hear about their inspiring career journeys. And so to sleep Sleep is important for any living creature to restore function, rest and regenerate. However, some sleep disorders lead to sleep fragmentation which results in daytime symptoms like sleepiness, and potential long-term ill health. In his lecture, Professor Joerg Steier will discuss sleep-disordered breathing, particularly obstructive sleep apnoea, how to best treat it, and what to consider if first-line therapy fails.  The methadone queen This lecture will take you through Professor Kim Wolff's early career as a PhD student studying the pharmacokinetics of methadone in heroin addicts and her continued interest in problematic drug use and abuse over the last 20 years, through to her work in supporting the new government legislation for Drug-Driving to her current role as the new Director of King’s Forensics

Since the financial crisis, there has been a strong view that the financial sector has little benefit for society. The stock market is not a net supplier of capital - as much money is spent on share buybacks as is raised from new issuance. Moreover, most stock market trading is speculative side-bets between investors, with no new money being raised by firms. This talk will show that stock market trading may contribute to society even if does not lead to firms raising new capital.No reservations are required for this lecture. It will be run on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Doors will open 30 minutes before the start of the lecture

Dr Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer, Reader in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at the University of Aberdeen presents The Book of Jonah in Jewish-Christian Debate. This lecture offers glimpses of the long and fascinating reception history of Jonah through interaction with sermons, commentaries, artwork, and literature. We shall focus on three texts that have been instrumental in anti-Jewish polemics and discuss not only the Christian interpretations but also the Jewish rejoinders. We shall first look at how the sailors in Jonah 1:12–16 have metamorphosed through the centuries, from being exemplary precursors of Gentile Christians to becoming pious converts to Judaism. We shall then investigate how the Ninevites’ repentance in Jonah 3:5–8 have been used to fuel anti-Jewish comparisons and how Jewish scholars have responded by casting doubts on the Ninevites’ sincerity. We shall conclude by contrasting the Christian propensity for lauding God’s decision in Jonah 4:2 to be merciful with the Jewish inclination to highlight the divine failure to be unmerciful. The Ethel M Wood Lecture is a University of London annual lecture which was endowed by Mrs Ethel M. Wood in 1947. It is administered jointly on behalf of the University by the Department of Theology at Heythrop College and the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King's. Since its foundation in 1947 many distinguished speakers have lectured on topics within the broad field of Biblical Studies. The lectures are designed for students and informed members of the general public.

Dr G. Edward (Edd) Gibson, a Professor and the Sunstate Chair in Construction Management and Engineering at Arizona State University, joins us for an evening lecture exploring the front-end planning of capital projects.  The early project planning phase has the potential to either positively impact the trajectory of a project’s life, or can lead to less than optimal results. Work conducted by Dr Edd Gibson and his colleagues and sponsored by the Construction Industry Institute, has shown the efficacy of a mature and accurate project definition package leading to good decision making on all types of projects – it is a matter of choice and choices.  In this lecture, Dr Gibson will explore the key findings, critical decision points, and best management practices for this process. The “rules” of the process will be discussed along with empirical data showing the results of effective (and ineffective) early planning. Dr Gibson will also examine decision support tools that have been developed specifically for front-end planning, along with emerging modelling, scanning and information technologies that can enhance this process. Guidance for industry practitioners on implementation will also be provided.  The lecture will begin at 18:30 and will be followed by a networking reception from 19:30. Please note that places for this event are limited and seating will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Dr G. Edward (Edd) Gibson, Jr. is currently a Visiting Academic Fellow in the Laing O’Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology at the University of Cambridge.  He is a Professor and the Sunstate Chair in Construction Management and Engineering in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.  Dr Gibson has served as PI or co-PI on over $10 million worth of funded research in his career with research and teaching interests that include front end planning, organisational change, asset management, alternative dispute resolution, prevention through design, and risk management among others.  He was instrumental in developing a number of Construction Industry Institute tools: the suite of five Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI) tools, the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) Maturity and Accuracy Total Rating System (MATRS) tool and the Integrated Project Risk Assessment (IPRA) tool; in addition, he has consulted with over 60 organisations, and taught over 200 short courses to industry. He is an expert in educational leadership, having held a variety of successful academic management positions over the past 19 years.  Dr Gibson has several years of industry experience, served as a U.S. Army officer, and is a licensed professional engineer in Texas. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Construction, a Fellow in the American Society of Civil Engineers and was awarded the 2016 ASCE R. L. Peurifoy Award for outstanding research. He holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from Auburn University and an MBA in Engineering Management from the University of Dallas. Book now

In the late 14th century, the kings of France and the princes of the blood constructed, commissioned,  purchased, gave, appropriated,  pawned and liquidated some of the most extraordinary and magnificent objects of the late medieval period, in a dizzying range of forms and material, from metalwork, manuscripts, textiles  and panel paintings to cameos, talismanic stones and giants teeth. Our knowledge of them today relies in large part on the extraordinarily loquacious, often ad vivam inventories made of these possessions, termed, collectively, ‘joyaux’.  These inventories are arguably the largest body of  descriptive responses to objects that we have from the late medieval period, often demonstrating, and demanding,  an intimate and sustained attention to, and engagement with, visual form. This lecture will consider some of the ways in which the language, order and structure of these texts might provide insights into late medieval ways of assessing, judging and grasping things, of  ‘reading’ objects, or what has been termed by Michael Baxandall, famously, the ‘period eye’. But it will also explore these inventories  as objects in their own right: their often remarkable physical properties can be as revealing as the texts they contain.

Modelling very early onset monogenic IBD using patient-derived iPS cells Speaker: Subhankar Mukhopadhyay, Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences

Title: Dissecting the heterogeneity of adult Gliobastoma by combining single cell DNA and RNA sequencing Speaker: Professor Jiannis Ragoussis, McGill University Please note that this event if for King’s students, academic staff and researchers ONLY

Presenter: Dr Manos Karagiannis The Muslim Brotherhood has been Egypt’s most important and controversial Islamist organization. Following the 2011 revolution, it came to dominate the political scene before its eventual downfall. Most studies have examined either the Brotherhood’s history of militancy or its contemporary political transformation. However, since the mid-2000s, the organisation has formulated an environmental policy that is understudied. Paradoxically, the Brotherhood has ignored Shari’a rules about environmental issues and has offered only pragmatic solutions with some nationalist content. The presentation will first describe briefly how Shari’a has approached certain environmental issues. Then, it will outline the Brotherhood’s general perspective on environment based on the writings and statements of Hassan al-Banna, Mohamed Badie and Mohamed Morsi. Moreover, it will examine the Brothethood’s proposals regarding water management, pollution and energy contained in its election programmes. Finally, it will offer an analysis of the Brotherhood’s environmentalism by examining several factors that can explain its non-religious approach. Dr Emmanuel Karagiannis is a Senior Lecturer at King's College London’s Department of Defence Studies. He held The Defence Studies Department, JSCSC Watchfield is part of the War Studies Group, King’s College London, University of London research positions in prestigious US and British universities (University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, Princeton University, London School of Economics, U.S Military Academy at West Point). His new book The New Political Islam: Human Rights, Democracy and Justice has been published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. His articles have appeared, among others, in Journal of North African Studies, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence, Middle East Quarterly, Small Wars and Insurgencies, Contemporary Security Policy, Asian Security, European Security, Mediterranean Politics, Mediterranean Quarterly, Harvard Asia Quarterly, Europe-Asia Studies, Nationalities Papers, Central Asian Survey, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, and Journal of Balkans and Near Eastern Studies. Currently, he is on sabbatical at Oxford University’s Middle East Centre.