St Catherine's College Oxford University

This year's seminar will be given by Lord Mandelson (1973, PPE) in conversation with Evan Davis. A former Labour Cabinet minister, and Chairman of Global Counsel, Lord Mandelson's most recent appointment is as Chairman of the investment bank, Lazard International. Lord Mandelson shall combine his knowledge and wealth of experience with that of leading economist, and BBC journalist and presenter, Evan Davis. The result of this collaboration is sure to stimulate a powerful, relevant and informative discussion.

As St Catherine's was being built, in July 1962, the Telstar satellite was making history as the first to relay television pictures through space. A year later, Mary Whitehouse would launch her 'Clean Up TV' campaign. The next five decades would see immeasurable changes, as technology and taste evolved into new programmes. Our panel take a fresh and challenging look at the vast upheavals that have taken place in Britain, and on its stage and screen, in the course of fifty turbulent years. Part of series celebrating 50 years of St Catherine's College.

It was with the chance of making 'a special contribution to the urgent national need for more scientists' that St Catherine's College was first contemplated. Meanwhile, Jacobsen envisaged his creation as an architectural whole, with the gardens and national environment as important to his vision as the physical buildings. Our panel trace the scientific challenges to be overcome in assessing the future of green energy. Part of a series celebrating 50 years of St Catherine's College.

Founding St Catherine's College in the 1960s required extensive appeals to industry to secure adequate funding to build and endow the new College. Our list of founding benefactors represents a rich tapestry of British manufacturing, and is a reminder of the booming condition of the 1960s economy. Fifty years on, and our economy, along with those of the Eurozone nations, is looking less robust. Part of a series celebrating 50 years of St Catherine's College.

When St Catherine's College was first being envisaged, creating an undergraduate body with an equal number of science and arts students was at the forefront of our Founder's minds. Sir Humphry Davy embodied that integration of the disciplines. Sir John Meurig Thomas FRS traces Davy's path from his lowly origins in Cornwall to the pinnacles of international fame. Part of a series celebrating 50 years of St Catherine's College.

The world of our Founders was one in which the space race heated up, and the Cold War froze over. In October 1962, as the College's first cohort of undergraduates arrived, Cuba was bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war. The next five decades of international relations have been equally dramatic and our world today can seem just as tumultuous as it did in 1962. Part of a series celebrating 50 years of St Catherine's College.