The Cheng Kar Shun Digital Hub Events Programme for Trinity Term 2024 has been launched today, and is the most ambitious since the Hub opened in 2022. 

Offering up a range of nine diverse events on topics as broad as digital health, big data, music for game controllers, language diversity and the US Capitol Riots, the programme aims to connect audiences with themes related to our world, and academic research, in the digital age.

The new season begins with the Inclusive Gaming Conference on Wednesday 1st May. This one-day conference brings together students, academics, and industry professionals to discuss research initiatives, works in progress, and future directions for explorations of inclusive gaming. The day consists of a series of roundtable discussions, keynote speakers, diverse presentations, and interactive gaming experiences.  This is followed by the Digital Health Horizons Conference (Thursday 16th May), which delves into  the dynamic interplay of digital health and medical artificial intelligence, exploring both the promising opportunities and significant challenges that lie ahead.

 

On Wednesday 22nd May we are delighted to be joined by Jesus College alumnus James Goldston (1986, PPE), a former President of ABC News, who will be giving a talk on Democracy on Trial: January 6 and the 2024 Presidential Election. James was tasked with producing the January 6 hearings conducted by the Select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. The ten historic hearings played a key role in the legal processes that are now underway against former President Donald Trump. Goldston, a former President of ABC News, joins us to discuss how the hearings came to happen, and why they remain so central to the future of American politics.

 

At Creative Multilingualism: Language Diversity in a Digital Age (Friday 24th May) guests can enjoy linguistically enriched snacks and drinks, and contributions from research and creative partners, on topics including teaching pronunciation with AI, interactions between linguistic diversity and biodiversity, and a Prismatic Jane Eyre. The event is organised by the University’s Creative Multilingualism programme, and includes a Yoruba/English musical finale by Grammy Award Winner Lekan Babalola (Percussion) and Kate Luxmoore (Clarinet).

 

A creative collaboration exploring the possibilities of video game controllers in music composition and performance features on Thursday 30th May. PLAY: Music for Game Controllers with the House of Bedlam includes a one hour performance of five new works and existing music to be interpreted by traditional instruments and video game controller instruments. Composers and performers share more about their creative processes, and audience members can try out the video game controller instruments themselves. The performances include a new work, Speedrun for cello and video game controller (2024) by Rob Laidlow, Career Development Fellow in Music at Jesus. The event is supported by The Cultural Programme, PRiSM, the Centre for Practice & Research in Science & Music at the Royal Northern College of Music, funded by the Research England fund Expanding Excellence in England (E3).

 

Ben Goldacre, Professorial Fellow at Jesus College and Director of the Bennett Institute, will be giving the Inaugural Cheng Kar Shun Digital Hub Lecture on Tuesday 4th June. In From Bad Science to Better Data Ben will discuss his career advocating for better research methods, and the differences – if any – in addressing these complex issues with the public, policymakers, and researchers.

 

On Thursday 6th May we are honoured to welcome back the Institute for Ethics in AI for its Annual Lecture, which this year will be given by Professor Joshua Cohen. Professor Cohen (Philosophy and Law, Stanford) is a political philosopher. He has written on issues of democratic theory, freedom of expression, religious freedom, political equality, democracy and digital technology, good jobs, and global justice. His books include On Democracy; Democracy and Associations; Philosophy, Politics, Democracy; Rousseau: A Free Community of Equals; and The Arc of the Moral Universe and Other Essays.

 

As part of a year of events marking the centenary of the death of the writer Franz Kafka, alumna Leah Tomkins join us for a conversation on her new book Franz Kafka and the Truths of Leadership (Edward Elgar Publishing) with the journalist and broadcaster Shelagh Fogarty on Friday 7th June. Franz Kafka is a writer who seems to crystallise modern understandings of the institutions of work, family, religion and the law, especially when they go awry. Images from stories such as The Trial and The Metamorphosis have soaked into the cultural conversation to such an extent that the expression ‘Kafkaesque’ immediately conjures up a mix of the awful and the absurd. Challenging the popular view of Kafka as patron-saint of the underdog, and emphasising the significance of his own work as a leader, Leah’s book explores Kafka’s expertise in the exercise of power. Kafka anticipates many of the core themes of leadership – both good and bad – but especially leadership of the populist, ‘post-truth’ kind, where facts are often overpowered by fictions and fantasies. The event will be introduced by Richard Ovenden, the Bodley’s Librarian, and is supported by ROUNDHOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES (LONDON) LIMITED.

To round off the Trinity Term programme, the Digital Hub will host Hands-on History: Gaming Peripherals Past and Present on Tuesday 11th June. The event explores the history of gaming peripherals over the past 50 years on an innovative and interactive adventure. Guests can experience block stacking with R.O.B the Robot, musical jams with Donkey Konga, a real Mario Kart circuit with remote control karts, and much more! The event is supported by JoyPad.

To view the full listing page on the College website, click here.