Futuremakers

Content warning: Please be aware that this episode refers to topics such as suicide, suicidal ideations, methods of suicide and overdose. In Episode 9 of the series, Professor Belinda Lennox sits down with Professor Seena Fazel, Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at the Department of Psychiatry and Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist.  Here, they discuss Oxford's long history of suicide research, and Professor Fazel's work identifying high-risk populations, particularly those who have been through the criminal justice system, and what clinicians can do to improve assessment and treatment of patients.  They also look at the evidence for restricting access to means, and how examining population-level data can help researchers better understand the causes of suicide.

Content warning: Please be aware that this episode refers to topics such as suicide, suicidal ideations and depression. In the eighth episode of the series, Professor Belinda Lennox speaks to Ben West, mental health campaigner, best-selling author and social media influencer.   In 2018, Ben unexpectedly lost his brother to suicide. In this conversation, Ben shares his journey as a campaigner for mental health awareness, suicide prevention, and his work to fundamentally change how we approach mental health, especially in schools.   Ben released his first book entitled 'This Book Could Save Your Life – Breaking the Silence Around the Mental Health Emergency' in 2022, in which he shares his experiences to date, offering everything he's discovered along the way, from dealing with grief, to how you can support those in your life experiencing poor mental health.

In the seventh episode of the series, Professor Lennox is joined by Cynthia Germanotta and Dr Claudia-Santi F. Fernandes from Born This Way Foundation, and Professor Mina Fazel from Oxford's Department of Psychiatry, to examine how to best help support the mental health of young people. Cynthia Germanotta is President and Co-Founder of Born This Way Foundation and Global Goodwill Ambassador for Mental Health at the World Health Organization. Cynthia co-founded Born This Way Foundation with her daughter, Lady Gaga, in 2012. Since then, the Foundation has connected with tens of thousands of young people across the world, launched innovative youth-focused programming, and conducted cutting edge research.  Dr. Claudia-Santi F. Fernandes is Born This Way Foundation's Director of Research and Evaluation. Dr. Fernandes spearheads the Foundation's research strategy, providing scientific expertise in the design and implementation of youth-led initiatives and impactful programming. Dr. Fernandes also holds a faculty appointment as an assistant clinical professor of the Child Study Center and in Biomedical Informatics and Data Science at the Yale School of Medicine. Mina Fazel is Professor of Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. Her journey into the field of child and adolescent psychiatry was driven by her interest in understanding the impact of environmental factors on mental health. Since 2019, her team has been running the OxWell Student Survey, with over 40,000 children taking part in the 2023 version of the survey, it provides invaluable information for tailoring mental health provision to meet individual needs. In this episode, they discuss some of Born This Way Foundation's activities, including the Be There Certificate and #BeKind365, how school-based interventions can help improve the mental health of young people, and the importance of kindness.

In Episode 6 of the series, Professor Belinda Lennox is joined by Benjamin Perks, from UNICEF, Sabine Rakotomalala, from the World Health Organization, and Dr Jamie Lachman, Dr Isang Awah and Stephanie Eagling-Peche from Oxford's Department of Social Policy and Intervention. Here, they discuss the impact of trauma on mental health, how to protect children during a crisis and the resources developed collaboratively between Oxford, the WHO and UNICEF for the Parenting for Lifelong Health programme. Benjamin Perks is Head of Campaigns and Advocacy at UNICEF. Benjamin is a diplomat specialising in human rights in low- and middle- income countries, and has been advocating for, and advising governments on, access and quality of education, child protection, health and justice sector reform. Sabine Rakotomalala is Technical Officer in the World Health Organization's Violence Prevention Unit, part of the WHO's Department for the Social Determinants of Health. Sabine has a master's degree in Child Psychology and has held various roles within the WHO, Terre des hommes and UNICEF aimed at brining awareness to and preventing violence against children. Content warning: Please be aware that this episode refers to topics such as child abuse and mistreatment.

In Episode 5 of the series Professor Lennox sits down with Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Director of the Wellbeing Research Centre, Fellow at Harris Manchester College and Professor of Economics and Behavioural Science at the Saïd Business School. During their conversation they look at recent research findings from the Wellbeing Research Centre that examine the role of the workplace in overall life satisfaction.   Here, they also discuss the surprising findings on how social elements, office architecture and even weather patterns contribute to our wellbeing at work, and the evidence linking happiness and productivity.

In Episode 4 of the series Professor Lennox is joined by Sir John Kirwan (known to most as JK), a former New Zealand rugby player and co-founder of workplace wellbeing technology platform Groov.  They discuss how JK's own experiences with depression informed his extensive mental health advocacy work and led to the founding of Groov, with a mission to impact mental wellbeing globally by helping businesses to improve employee wellbeing and performance. Here, they also look at ways people can build resilient mental health, and the role of business leaders in helping individuals manage their own wellbeing. Content warning: Please be aware that this episode refers to depression, suicide and suicidal thoughts.

In the third episode of the series Professor Lennox sits down with Professors Cathy Creswell and Polly Waite to talk about how anxiety affects young people and the complex picture that makes up the risk factors for developing mental health disorders. They also look at the effective new treatments being developed, and the work being done to make them as accessible as possible. Cathy Creswell is Professor of Developmental Clinical Psychology and holds a joint position in Oxford's Departments of Experimental Psychology and Psychiatry. Professor Creswell leads the TOPIC research group, investigating the development, maintenance and treatment of anxiety disorders in children and young people. Polly Waite is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at Oxford's Department of Experimental Psychology, where her research focuses on the development, maintenance and psychological treatment of anxiety disorders in adolescents specifically.  Associate Professor Waite co-leads the Co-SPACE project with Professor Creswell, tracking the mental health of children and adolescents over the course of the pandemic. Content warning: Please be aware that this episode refers to topics such as depression, disordered eating and anxiety.

In the second episode of the series Professor Lennox is joined by Professors Marian Knight and Fiona Alderdice to examine how mental illnesses impact women and families in the postnatal period, and the power of speaking out. Professor Marian Knight is the Director of Oxford's National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (NPEU) and Honorary Consultant in Public Health with Public Health England. Professor Fiona Alderdice is Senior Social Scientist at Oxford's National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (NPEU) and Honorary Chair in Perinatal Health and Wellbeing at Queen's University Belfast. Here, they explore how shame, guilt and stigma can lead to a deterioration in mental health for women after giving birth, and the need for more resource and research in this area. Content warning: Please be aware that this episode refers to depression, psychosis, PTSD and topics such as maternal suicide.

Episode 1: Brain injury and rehabilitation In the first episode of the new series, host Professor Belinda Lennox talks to Jenny Clarke, CEO and co-founder of the charity SameYou. SameYou's vision is to transform the way brain injury survivors and their loved ones are supported through emotional, mental health and cognitive recovery services, and was founded following Jenny's daughter Emilia's experiences of brain injury and recovery. They are joined by Professor Heidi Johansen-Berg, Director of Oxford's Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging(WIN) and head of the Plasticity Group which studies how the brain changes when we learn, get older, or when we recover from damage such as stroke. The conversation delves into what happens to the brain when it suffers an injury or stroke, the role of neuroplasticity in recovery and the vital role of nurses in the future of rehabilitation.

Peter interviews the Oxford scientists working at the forefront of research into Disease X - a pathogen which the World Health Organization added to their shortlist of blueprint priority diseases in 2018 to represent the hypothetical cause of our next pandemic... This episode is part of our History of Pandemics season - follow Professor Peter Millican as he talks to researchers from around the world about some of the devastating pandemics humanity has experienced. Peter and his colleagues will discuss ten major outbreaks: from the Plague of Athens to the West African Ebola outbreak, via the Black Death, Smallpox and Cholera, and ask how these outbreaks have shaped society, what we may be able to learn from them today, and where we might be heading? Find out more at https://bit.ly/TheHistoryOfPandemics    Futuremakers is created in-house at The University of Oxford, and presented by Professor Peter Millican, from Hertford College. The score for the series was composed and recorded by Richard Watts, and the series is written and produced by Ben Harwood and Steve Pritchard.

Peter begins the final episode of the series in 2014, at the onset of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Whilst that pandemic officially ended in 2016, this virus has caused a brutal outbreak nearly every year since. After his discussion at the start of the series about whether Ebola may have been the disease that caused the Plague of Athens, has Peter arrived back where he started?   This episode is part of our History of Pandemics season - follow Professor Peter Millican as he talks to researchers from around the world about some of the devastating pandemics humanity has experienced. Peter and his colleagues will discuss ten major outbreaks: from the Plague of Athens to the West African Ebola outbreak, via the Black Death, Smallpox and Cholera, and ask how these outbreaks have shaped society, what we may be able to learn from them today, and where we might be heading? Find out more at https://bit.ly/TheHistoryOfPandemics    Futuremakers is created in-house at The University of Oxford, and presented by Professor Peter Millican, from Hertford College. The voice actor for this episode was Benjamin Morel. The score for the series was composed and recorded by Richard Watts, and the series is written and produced by Ben Harwood and Steve Pritchard.

In the ninth episode of our History of Pandemics season, Peter leaves the perils of influenza behind, only to discover an entirely new virus: HIV. Many of you may remember the emerging panic that became the media narrative around HIV and the disease it can lead to, AIDS, and in this episode Peter follows the story from the beginning, with medical experts who’ve worked on the front line of this pandemic since the early days.     This episode is part of our History of Pandemics season - follow Professor Peter Millican as he talks to researchers from around the world about some of the devastating pandemics humanity has experienced. Peter and his colleagues will discuss ten major outbreaks: from the Plague of Athens to the West African Ebola outbreak, via the Black Death, Smallpox and Cholera, and ask how these outbreaks have shaped society, what we may be able to learn from them today, and where we might be heading? Find out more at https://bit.ly/TheHistoryOfPandemics  Futuremakers is created in-house at The University of Oxford, and presented by Professor Peter Millican, from Hertford College. The voice actor for this episode was Mike MacDonald. The score for the series was composed and recorded by Richard Watts, and the series is written and produced by Ben Harwood and Steve Pritchard.

Peter arrives in the twentieth century, during the last years of the Great War, to a pandemic which you may have read a lot about during the early coverage of our current COVID-19 outbreak. After the Black Death, the so-called ‘Spanish’ Flu has one of the most famous monikers of any pandemic, but does it deserve such notoriety?   This episode is part of our History of Pandemics season - follow Professor Peter Millican as he talks to researchers from around the world about some of the devastating pandemics humanity has experienced. Peter and his colleagues will discuss ten major outbreaks: from the Plague of Athens to the West African Ebola outbreak, via the Black Death, Smallpox and Cholera, and ask how these outbreaks have shaped society, what we may be able to learn from them today, and where we might be heading? Find out more at https://bit.ly/TheHistoryOfPandemics   Futuremakers is created in-house at The University of Oxford, and presented by Professor Peter Millican, from Hertford College. The voice actor for this episode was Anna Wilson. The score for the series was composed and recorded by Richard Watts, and the series is written and produced by Ben Harwood and Steve Pritchard.

In this episode, Peter discusses a controversial outbreak... So-called 'Russian' Flu is either the first influenza pandemic we’ll be discussing, or it wasn’t the flu at all. It was either a disease which emerged from and then devastated the country it was named after, or an outbreak which the Russian people barely noticed at the time. It either deserves its place as the seventh pandemic we’re covering in the series, or it’s the pandemic that never was, an outlier in our historical narrative…   This episode is part of our History of Pandemics season - follow Professor Peter Millican as he talks to researchers from around the world about some of the devastating pandemics humanity has experienced. Peter and his colleagues will discuss ten major outbreaks: from the Plague of Athens to the West African Ebola outbreak, via the Black Death, Smallpox and Cholera, and ask how these outbreaks have shaped society, what we may be able to learn from them today, and where we might be heading? Find out more at https://bit.ly/TheHistoryOfPandemics  Futuremakers is created in-house at The University of Oxford, and presented by Professor Peter Millican, from Hertford College. The voice actor for this episode was Anna Wilson. The score for the series was composed and recorded by Richard Watts, and the series is written and produced by Ben Harwood and Steve Pritchard.

Peter makes it to the nineteenth century to discuss the achievements of John Snow - a man who either played a central role in the history of epidemiology, or was just one of many trying to tackle that centuries’ foremost threat; cholera. Peter discusses Snow's role, water pump handles, and how we may very well still be experiencing this devastating pandemic today.   This episode is part of our History of Pandemics season - follow Professor Peter Millican as he talks to researchers from around the world about some of the devastating pandemics humanity has experienced. Peter and his colleagues will discuss ten major outbreaks: from the Plague of Athens to the West African Ebola outbreak, via the Black Death, Smallpox and Cholera, and ask how these outbreaks have shaped society, what we may be able to learn from them today, and where we might be heading? Find out more at https://bit.ly/TheHistoryOfPandemics     Futuremakers is created in-house at The University of Oxford, and presented by Professor Peter Millican, from Hertford College. The voice actor for this episode was Benjamin Morel. The score for the series was composed and recorded by Richard Watts, and the series is written and produced by Ben Harwood and Steve Pritchard.  

We'll be publishing the second half of our History of Pandemics series next week; featuring episodes on Cholera, the pandemic that wasn't, the so-called Spanish Flu, HIV/AIDS, and the West African Ebola outbreak. In the meantime, here's a short message from Oxford's Professor Sir John Bell on the importance of learning from past pandemics.  Please do continue to enjoy our first five stories, from the Plague of Athens to Smallpox, and tell everyone you know about the show! You can find out more at https://bit.ly/TheHistoryOfPandemics

Welcome to the eighteenth century, at a point when Europe is going through another major smallpox outbreak, a disease that by this point has been plaguing populations around the globe for centuries. Peter will discover why milkmaids may be to central to the story of vaccination, how smallpox features in popular contemporary literature and what Napoleon thought of an English physician called Edward Jenner.  This episode is part of our History of Pandemics season - follow Professor Peter Millican as he talks to researchers from around the world about some of the devastating pandemics humanity has experienced. Peter and his colleagues will discuss ten major outbreaks: from the Plague of Athens to the West African Ebola outbreak, via the Black Death, Smallpox and Cholera, and ask how these outbreaks have shaped society, what we may be able to learn from them today, and where we might be heading? Find out more at https://bit.ly/TheHistoryOfPandemics  Futuremakers is created in-house at The University of Oxford, and presented by Professor Peter Millican, from Hertford College. The voice actor for this episode was Anna Wilson. The score for the series was composed and recorded by Richard Watts, and the series is written and produced by Ben Harwood and Steve Pritchard.

In the final plague episode of the series, Peter talks to his guests about the last major outbreak of this horrific disease in seventeenth-century England. Along the way they dispel some myths – for example it wasn’t the Great Fire of London that finally defeated the disease – and he drops in on one of the outbreaks most famous commentators – Samuel Pepys. Stay tuned to the end for a bonus conversation on Shakespeare’s experience during the plague outbreaks which led up to this final Great Plague.   This episode is part of our History of Pandemics season - follow Professor Peter Millican as he talks to researchers from around the world about some of the devastating pandemics humanity has experienced. Peter and his colleagues will discuss ten major outbreaks: from the Plague of Athens to the West African Ebola outbreak, via the Black Death, Smallpox and Cholera, and ask how these outbreaks have shaped society, what we may be able to learn from them today, and where we might be heading? Find out more at https://bit.ly/TheHistoryOfPandemics  Futuremakers is created in-house at The University of Oxford, and presented by Professor Peter Millican, from Hertford College. The voice actor for this episode was Tom Wilkinson. The score for the series was composed and recorded by Richard Watts, and the series is written and produced by Ben Harwood and Steve Pritchard.

Peter arrives in the fourteenth century and meets history's most notorious plague outbreak. The Black Death is a gruesome name well-matched with a grim disease, and as you'll find out, it's not just the name which has survived to the modern period...  This episode is part of our History of Pandemics season - follow Professor Peter Millican as he talks to researchers from around the world about some of the devastating pandemics humanity has experienced. Peter and his colleagues will discuss ten major outbreaks: from the Plague of Athens to the West African Ebola outbreak, via the Black Death, Smallpox and Cholera, and ask how these outbreaks have shaped society, what we may be able to learn from them today, and where we might be heading? Find out more at https://bit.ly/TheHistoryOfPandemics  Futuremakers is created in-house at The University of Oxford, and presented by Professor Peter Millican, from Hertford College. The voice actor for this episode was Tom Wilkinson. The score for the series was composed and recorded by Richard Watts, and the series is written and produced by Ben Harwood and Steve Pritchard.

Welcome to the Eastern Roman Empire in the sixth century. This time, Peter discusses a plague that historians and medical experts agree was likely the first plague pandemic humanity experienced. You may not have heard much about the emperor Justinian I, or why he’s got a plague outbreak named after him, but by the end of this episode you’ll hear just how devastating and long-lasting this pandemic was.   This episode is part of our History of Pandemics season - follow Professor Peter Millican as he talks to researchers from around the world about some of the devastating pandemics humanity has experienced. Peter and his colleagues will discuss ten major outbreaks: from the Plague of Athens to the West African Ebola outbreak, via the Black Death, Smallpox and Cholera, and ask how these outbreaks have shaped society, what we may be able to learn from them today, and where we might be heading? Find out more at https://bit.ly/TheHistoryOfPandemics  Futuremakers is created in-house at The University of Oxford, and presented by Professor Peter Millican, from Hertford College. The voice actor for this episode was Liz McCarthy. The score for the series was composed and recorded by Richard Watts, and the series is written and produced by Ben Harwood and Steve Pritchard.

Join Peter in 5th century Athens, a crowded city in the midst of a siege, where a devastating disease had just erupted. Our guests discuss whether this really was plague, the breakdown in law and order that began to emerge, and how the historian Thucydides survived the disease that hit his city. This episode is part of our History of Pandemics season - follow Professor Peter Millican as he talks to researchers from around the world about some of the devastating pandemics humanity has experienced. Peter and his colleagues will discuss ten major outbreaks: from the Plague of Athens to the West African Ebola outbreak, via the Black Death, Smallpox and Cholera, and ask how these outbreaks have shaped society, what we may be able to learn from them today, and where we might be heading? Find out more at https://bit.ly/TheHistoryOfPandemics   Futuremakers is created in-house at The University of Oxford, and presented by Professor Peter Millican, from Hertford College. The voice actor for this episode was Shaunna-Marie Latchman. The score for the series was composed and recorded by Richard Watts, and the series is written and produced by Ben Harwood and Steve Pritchard.

Just before our third season starts we talk with Dr Peter Drobac, a global health physician and Director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, and Dr Aoife Haney, Research Lecturer in Innovation and Enterprise, about the social, economic and environmental changes that may well be heading our way after our current pandemic.  Coming soon... Follow Professor Peter Millican as he talks to researchers from around the world about some of the devastating pandemics humanity has experienced. Peter and his colleagues will discuss ten major outbreaks: from the Plague of Athens to the West African Ebola outbreak, via the Black Death, Cholera and Smallpox, and ask how these outbreaks have shaped society, what we may be able to learn from them today, and where we might be heading? Find out more at https://bit.ly/TheHistoryOfPandemics 

Originally recorded back in September 2019 at the AI@Oxford Conference held at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School, this 'live' episode sees Prof. Millican joined by: Mitchell Baker (Chairwoman, Mozilla Foundation); Mike Wooldridge (Professor of Computer Science, University of Oxford); Safiya Omoja Noble (Associate Professor, University of California Los Angeles), and; Jim Wilkinson (CFO, Oxford Sciences Innovation). In it, they revisit a number of topics from the first season of Futuremakers, from the automation of jobs to algorithmic bias to AI and so called 'fake news'. For more information on the conference, visit: https://innovation.ox.ac.uk/innovation-news/events/aioxford-conference/ainextsteps/

Climate migration hit the headlines in January, when the United Nations made a landmark ruling (https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/01/1055671) about the legal rights of those displaced by a climate crisis. The UN High Commission for Refugees has warned that millions of people could become climate refugees in the coming years, and meanwhile, tensions over scarcity are stoking fears of conflict. With temperatures and anxieties rising, how do we prepare for changing human mobility and new kinds of conflict? Joining Prof. Millican in this episode is Lisa Thalheimer, a  DPhil student whose research focuses on quantifying the impacts of human mobility and extreme weather events, linked to climate change. You can find Lisa online @ClimateLisa (https://twitter.com/ClimateLisa) .  

The world is getting hotter, drier, and more crowded. By 2050, there will be ten billion humans across the globe, while at the same time there may be far less land suitable for growing food. There's also a growing awareness that our diet and food choices can have a significant impact on our carbon footprint: while innovations like lab-grown foods may provide lower emission options, and new technologies may make our food supply more adaptable and robust, there are clearly many challenges ahead. Put simply: what is the future of food? Joining Prof. Millican in this bonus episode are Dr Monika Zurek and Dr Jim Woodhill, from the Food Systems Group at the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute. You can find out more about their work here: https://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/food/ Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at: http://bit.ly/trueplanet

In this bonus ‘reaction’ episode, we chat to several Oxford academics who were either at, or closely following the recent events at COP 25.   We ask them what (if anything) was decided at the meeting in Madrid, whether enough action was taken, and where we might go next - ahead of COP 26 in Glasgow, Scotland (2020).   Interviewed on this episode were Professor Fredi Otto, Professor Nathalie Seddon, Dr Helen Gavin, DPhil students Alex Clark and Lisa Thalheimer, entrepreneur Charmian Love and lawyer Bill Clark.    Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/TruePlanet and keep an eye on this feed, for more bonus episodes in the new year.

In this special bonus episode, originally recorded on 25th November, Professor Millican travels to the Bank of England to interview its Governor, Mark Carney. This episode was recorded before it was announced that Mark Carney will become the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance in 2020.   The interview covered a range of topics, but focused in particular on the challenges that markets may need to overcome if we hope to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees C, how federal banks are working to prepare for these, and if an even more fundamental change to our economic and political system is needed.   Can markets provide a tool to promote necessary action? Is it possible to find a middle ground of sustainable economics? Can we be green, and capitalist?   Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/TruePlanet and keep an eye on this feed, for more bonus episodes in the new year.

Solving climate change can involve either mitigation – reducing the greenhouse gases we’re putting into the atmosphere – or adaptation – the process of adjusting to our changing environment. In the last episode of series two, we wanted to learn more about how these solutions are developing, what form they take, and where we should be applying them. We were particularly interested in the contrast between two climate change solutions: engineering approaches (such as technical methods of carbon capture, novel methods of building, or physical climate defences), and natural approaches (such as reforestation, changes in farming patterns, or restoring wetlands). With the stakes so high, how far can we harness nature to help tackle climate change, or will technology provide a solution? With Peter to discuss this are; Nathalie Seddon, who having trained as an evolutionary ecologist is now Professor of Biodiversity and Director of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative, Jim Hall, originally an engineer and now Professor of Climate and Environmental Risks, who is an expert on climate risks to infrastructure, and who for ten years sat on the UK independent Committee on Climate Change, and Dr Helen Gavin, Oxford Martin Fellow, an environmental scientist and sustainability professional bringing 18 years of experience in both industry and education. Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/TruePlanet

In 2010, Jeffrey Mazo outlined in his book ‘How global warming threatens security and what to do about it’ four ways in which climate and environmental change could produce security threats: ·     a general systemic weakening,  ·     boundary disputes, ·     resource wars, ·     and by multiplying instability in already fragile or weak states.  Yet so far in our second series, with conversations around energy use, international treaties and individual choices, talk of conflict has received much less attention.  Is this a fair reflection of the relative threat, or should people be paying far more attention to these potential future developments? Is global conflict due to climate change inevitable? With Peter to discuss this are; Kate Guy, from the Centre for Climate and Security in Washington DC, a doctoral researcher at the University of Oxford specialising in International Relations, who focusses on the intersection of climate change and national security; and Dr Troy Sternberg, from Oxford's School of Geography and the Environment, whose research has explored how environmental and climate changes in the Gobi region of northern China and Mongolia, have impacted on security in the Middle East. Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/TruePlanet

To date, there have been climate change legal cases in at least 28 countries. From Greta Thunberg leading a group of young people in filing a lawsuit against five countries at the UN to the Hague Court of Appeals upholding a historic ruling against the Dutch government, increasing numbers of people are taking legal action together to demand governments do more.    And with various oil and gas companies being sued by US cities for costs of climate-related damages, today on Futuremakers, we’re asking: what does this rise in litigious climate action mean for society as we race to meet climate targets?   Joining Peter Millican on the panel today:   Fredi Otto, Acting Director of the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford, and a lead author on extremes in weather in the ongoing assessment report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the IPCC) Liz Fisher, Professor of Environmental Law at Oxford and General Editor of the Journal of Environmental Law Myles Allen, Professor of Geosystem Science, and a lead author on the IPCC’s Special Report on 1.5 degrees   Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/TruePlanet

Many of our panellists in season two have described barriers that are standing in our way if we hope to restrict global warming to the 1.5 degrees C limit that the 2018 IPCC report outlined, and some have advocated how our current economic system could be used to overcome them. But can markets really provide a tool to promote necessary action? In this episode we ask; can we be green AND capitalist? Joining Professor Millican on this latest episode of Futuremakers are: Thomas Hale, Associate Professor in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, Charmain Love, ‘Entrepreneur in Residence’ at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at our Saïd Business School, and Ben Caldecott, Associate Professor at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and founding Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme. And at the end of this episode there's a bonus conversation between Peter and Johan Rockström, joint director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany, who in 2009 led an international group of twenty eight leading academics, in proposing a new framework for government and management agencies as a precondition for sustainable development on the planet Earth. Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/TruePlanet

Nuclear energy is still a controversial idea for many people, with dangerous accidents and destructive bombs being at the top of their minds when they hear the words, yet other renewable energy sources are not without their critics, and arguably are not yet at a place where they can entirely replace our current energy systems. So what role can, or should, nuclear be playing in the UK energy sector as we move towards a sustainable future? Join our host, philosopher Peter Millican, as he explores this topic with Professor Nick Eyre, Director of the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions, who in 1997 wrote the first published study on how the then Government’s 20% carbon emission reduction target might be achieved; Dr Sarah Darby, Acting Leader of the Energy Programme at Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute, who has a particular interest in how energy systems might develop in more environmentally and socially-benign ways; and James Marrow, James Martin Professor of Energy Materials, whose work is focussed on the degradation of structural materials.   Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/TruePlanet 

On the 12th December 2015, at the 21st COP in Paris, representatives of 196 states reached an agreement to combat climate change that was celebrated around the world. With the long-term goal of keeping global temperature to below two degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels, and covering areas such as nationally determined contributions and global stocktakes, Paris was heralded as a huge break-through. But four years on, and against the backdrop of the United States announcing its intention to withdraw from the agreement, what did the politicians at Paris actually achieve?   Join our host, philosopher Peter Millican, as he explores this topic with Fredi Otto, Acting Director of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute and a lead scientist on the World Weather Attribution project; Richard Millar, a Senior Analyst for the Committee on Climate Change, whose research spans the physical and economic consequences of climate policy; and Sugandha Srivastav, a researcher on the post carbon transition, who’s previously worked at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/TruePlanet 

With a lot of Government work relying on geo-political understanding between nation states and large multinational corporations, is there still potential for actions on an individual level to shape the future of the planet? Do actions such as changing our diets, varying how we commute or even joining in with mass demonstrations, have the possibility of being anywhere near as effective as changes that can be made on an international level? Can one person save the planet? Join our host, philosopher Peter Millican, as he explores this topic with Professor Susan Jebb, a nutrition scientist who is co-director of the Livestock, Environment and People (or LEAP) project, Dr Tina Fawcett, a senior researcher at the Environmental Change Institute, who works on the ECI’s energy programme, and Tristram Walsh, President of the Oxford Climate Society, a student society dedicated to developing informed climate leaders. Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/true_planet

What does the current infrastructure in the UK look like, and how far is it from where we need to be to meet our international commitments, or even our own challenge to be Net Zero by 2050?  How much do our working practices and lives contribute to how ‘green’ the country is, and how can we promote and preserve biodiversity across the globe? How do we compare to other countries, and what can we learn from them? Finally, how do you build a ‘greener’ country? Join our host, philosopher Peter Millican, as he explores this topic with Professor Cameron Hepburn, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, who has provided advice on climate policy to a number of governments; Alison Smith, a senior researcher at the Environmental Change Institute, who’s worked on a number of EU climate projects and is the author of ‘The Climate Bonus: co-benefits of climate policy’ (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Climate-Bonus-Alison-Smith/dp/1849713413) ; and April Burt, who has spent the past eight years working in conservation management in the western Indian ocean and is now part of Oxford’s Environmental Research team. Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/true_planet

With the IPCC warning that policymakers have limited time to keep global warming to a maximum of 1.5° C, beyond which the climate-related risks to humans and natural systems rise quickly, it’s clear that we need to act sooner rather than later. This may be why we’re seeing increasing public action from the likes of Extinction Rebellion and the Youth Strikes for Climate, but what action have we seen from governments in the UK and beyond since this stark warning was delivered? What confidence can we have in our leaders to bring about the changes we need over the next decade?    Join our host, philosopher Peter Millican, as he explores this topic with Caroline Lucas MP, Green Party politician and Member of Parliament for Brighton Pavilion, Dr Ryan Rafaty, a political scientist at the University of Oxford working with our Climate Econometrics project, and Tristram Walsh, President of the Oxford Climate Society, a student society dedicated to developing informed climate leaders.   Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/true_planet You can find the cartoon Caroline mentions at http://aries.mq.edu.au/images/Copenhagen-Pett.jpg     [Please note: this episode was recorded in July, at a time of extraordinary movement in UK politics – some people have changed jobs and some references have dated, but the themes remain as urgent as ever. One of our guests for this episode is Caroline Lucas, a Green MP, who we invited in her capacity as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Climate Change – members from other parties were invited and could not attend.]

The IPCC’s 2018 Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C broke into the public consciousness through media reporting that we only had twelve years to limit climate change catastrophe.   But was this really the conclusion of the report?  If it was, do we really only have twelve years to fix our climate, and if not, how soon should we take action?   Join our host, philosopher Peter Millican, as he explores this topic with Professor Myles Allen, Coordinating Lead Author on the IPCC’s Special Report on 1.5 degrees, Professor Helen Johnson from Oxford’s Earth Sciences Department, whose work focuses on understanding ocean circulation and the role in plays in the climate system; and Dr James Painter from the Reuters Institute at Oxford, who focuses on the portrayals of climate change in online and offline media.    Find out more out Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/true_planet

Rising sea levels? Burning forests? 12 years to act? These are the issues that will come to define our time. Join us as we bring together leading experts from Oxford and beyond to discuss the existential threats from climate change, and how we should rethink our governance, infrastructure, working practices and lives to help prevent them. As Futuremakers returns for its second season, we're looking at the cutting-edge research into climate, energy, food, waste, water and biodiversity, and exploring the debates around how and where global climate action should be taken. Join the discussion with host Professor Peter Millican and take a seat at the table for Futuremakers season two. Coming October 2019. Find out more at http://po.st/true_planet

Once we believed that the world around us behaved according to the laws of classical mechanics, and it took us hundreds of years to work out that actually something else was going on. Quantum computing offers what we believe to be the best way to process information based on the laws of physics as we now know them. But how did we discover that quantum mechanics could offer such developments in computing? And why did this realm remain hidden for so long? For this special episode of Futuremakers, Peter Millican, Professor of Philosophy, set out to discover the truth about a global race to develop the world’s first scalable quantum computer. He met a diverse range of researchers, who gave him their thoughts on the powerful next realm of computation their work opens up, via the fundamental building blocks, to the ultimate goal of a truly universal quantum computer. Keep listening to find out why there's a race to create this technology, if Oxford's researchers believe we'll ever achieve our goal, and what it could mean for society if we did.

In the final episode of our series, we’re looking back at the themes we’ve discussed so far, and forward into the likely development of AI. Professor Peter Millican will be joined by Professor Gil McVean, to further investigate how big data is transforming healthcare, by Dr Sandra Wachter, to discuss her recent work on the need for a legal framework around AI, and also by Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt on where the field of artificial intelligence research has come from, and where it’s going. To conclude, Peter will be sharing some of his views on where humanity is heading with AI, when you’ll also hear from his final guest, Azeem Azhar, host of the Exponential View podcast. Futuremakers will be taking a short break now, but we’ll be back with series two in the new year, when we’ll be taking on another of society’s grand challenges: building a sustainable future. Before then we’ll also be publishing a special one-off episode on Quantum Computing and the global opportunities, and risks, it could present. To read more about some of the key themes in this episode, you can find Sandra Wachter’s recent papers below. - A Right to Reasonable Inferences: Re-Thinking Data Protection Law in the Age of Big Data and AI: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3248829 - Explaining Explanations in AI: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3278331 - Counterfactual explanations without opening the black box: automated decisions and the GDPR: https://jolt.law.harvard.edu/assets/articlePDFs/v31/Counterfactual-Explanations-without-Opening-the-Black-Box-Sandra-Wachter-et-al.pdf

In the penultimate episode of series one, we’re looking at the development of AI across the globe. China has set itself the challenge of being the world’s primary innovation centre by 2030, a move forecast to generate a 26% boost in GDP from AI related benefits alone, and some claim they’re already leading the way in many areas.  But how realistic is this aim when compared to AI research and development across the world?  And if China could dominate this field, what are the best, and worse, case scenarios for both it, AI technology, and the rest of the planet?  Join our host, philosopher Peter Millican, as he explores this topic with Mike Wooldridge, Head of Oxford’s Department of Computer Science;  Xiaorong Ding, a post-doctoral researcher who’s studied and worked several of China’s leading universities and companies; and Sophie-Charlotte Fischer, a visiting researcher at the Future of Humanity Institute, and a PhD Candidate whose dissertation project focusses on the development of AI in China and the US. 

So far in the series we’ve heard that artificial intelligence is becoming ubiquitous and is already changing our lives in many ways, from how we search for and receive information, to how it is used to improve our health and the nature of the ways we work. We’ve already taken a step into the past and explored the history of AI, but now it’s time to look forward. Many philosophers and writers over the centuries have discussed the difficult ethical choices that arise in our lives. As we hand some of these choices over to machines, are we confident they will reach conclusions that we can accept? Can, or should, a human always be in control of an artificial intelligence? Can we train automated systems to avoid catastrophic failures that humans might avoid instinctively? Could artificial intelligence present an extreme, or even an existential threat to our future? Join our host, philosopher Peter Millican, as he explores this topic with Allan Dafoe, Director of the Centre for the Governance of AI at the Future of Humanity Institute; Mike Osborne, co-director of the Oxford Martin programme on Technology and Employment, who joined us previously to discuss how AI might change how we work; and Jade Leung, Head of Partnerships and researcher with the Centre for the Governance of AI.

Around the world, automated bot accounts have enabled some government agencies and political parties to exploit online platforms in dispersing messages, using keywords to game algorithms, and discrediting legitimate information on a mass scale.  Through this they can spread junk news and disinformation; exercise censorship and control; and undermine trust in the media, public institutions and science. But is this form of propaganda really new? If so, what effect is it having on society? And is the worst yet to come as AI develops?  Join our host, philosopher Peter Millican, as he explores this topic with Rasmus Nielsen, Director of Oxford’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism;  Vidya Narayanan, post-doctoral researcher in Oxford’s Computational Propaganda Project; and Mimie Liotsiou, also a post-doctoral researcher on the Computational Propaganda project who works on online social influence.  

Many developments in science are achieved through people being able to ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’ and in the history of AI two giants in particular stand out. Ada Lovelace, who inspired visions of computer creativity, and Alan Turing, who conceived machines which could do anything a human could do. So where do their stories, along with those of calculating engines, punched card machines and cybernetics fit into to where artificial intelligence is today?  Join our host, philosopher Peter Millican, as he explores this topic with Ursula Martin, Professor at the University of Edinburgh and a member of Oxford's Mathematical Institute,  Andrew Hodges, Emeritus Fellow at Wadham, who tutors for a wide range of courses in pure and applied mathematics, and Jacob Ward, a historian of science, technology, and modern Britain and a Postdoctoral Researcher in the History of Computing. 

As chatbots and virtual assistants become an ever-present part of our world, and algorithms increasingly support decision-making, people working in this field are asking questions about the bias and balance of power in AI. With the make-up of teams designing technology still far from diverse, is this being reflected in how we humanise technology? Who are the people behind the design of algorithms and are they re-enforcing society’s prejudices through the systems they create?   Join our host, philosopher Peter Millican, as he explores this topic with Gina Neff, Senior Research Fellow and Associate Professor at the Oxford Internet Institute,  Carissa Véliz, a Research Fellow at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics and the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, and Siân Brooke, a DPhil student at the Oxford Internet Institute focussed on construction of gendered identity on the pseudonymous web. 

With AI algorithms now able to mine enormous databases and assimilate information far quicker than humans can, we’re able to spot subtle effects in health data that could otherwise have been easily overlooked.  So how are these tools being developed and used? What does this mean for medical professionals and patients? And how do we decide whether these algorithms are making things better or worse?  Join our host, philosopher Peter Millican, as he explores this topic with Alison Noble, Technikos Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Department of Engineering Science, Paul Leeson, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Oxford, and a Consultant Cardiologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital, and Jessica Morley, a Technology Advisor to the Department of Health, leading on policy relating to the Prime Minister's Artificial Intelligence Mission.

AI is already playing a role in the finance sector, from fraud detection, to algorithmic trading, to customer service, and many within the industry believe this role will develop rapidly within the next few years. So what does this mean for both the people that work in this sector, and for the role banking and finance plays in society? Join our host, philosopher Peter Millican, as he explores this topic with Professor Stephen Roberts, Royal Academy of Engineering and Man Group Professor of Machine Learning, Professor Nir Vulkan, a leading authority on e-commerce and market design, and on applied research and teaching on hedge funds, and Jannes Klaas, author of 'Machine Learning for Finance: Data algorithms for the markets and deep learning from the ground up for financial experts and economics'.

Our lives are increasingly shaped by automated decision-making algorithms, but do those have in-built biases? If so, do we need to tackle these, and what could happen if we don’t? Join our host, philosopher Peter Millican, as he explores this topic with Dr Sandra Wachter, a lawyer and Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, Dr Helena Webb a Senior Researcher in the Department of Computer Science, and Dr Brent Mittelstadt, a philosopher also based at the Oxford Internet Institute.

In 2013 two Oxford academics published a paper entitled “The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?”, estimating that 47% of U.S. jobs were at risk of automation. Since then, numerous studies have emerged, arriving at very different conclusions. So where do these estimates diverge, and where do we think the automation of jobs might be heading? Join our host, philosopher Peter Millican, as he explores this topic with one of the authors of that paper, Professor Mike Osborne, Dr Judy Stephenson, an expert on labour markets in pre-industrial England, and Professor David Clifton from our Department of Engineering Science.

Down winding streets, beyond the dreaming spires, inside the college walls, debates are happening - in every study room and lecture theatre - about the future of society. Futuremakers, from the University of Oxford, invites you to that debate.  Join your host, philosopher Peter Millican, and three experts as we discuss the movements that are shaping the future of our society.  Our first series is all about Artificial Intelligence, and we’ll explore topics from the inherent bias of algorithms to the future automation of jobs. That’s Futuremakers – available to download now.