Meeting Minds
Meeting Minds is a stimulating weekend of discovery, connection, and celebration – organised by the University, for all alumni. Meeting Minds returns Friday, 19th – Sunday 21st September 2025 with academic talks, tours, panels, and other activities.
At Catz, we are bringing you a full day of academic talks and networking opportunities. Join us on Saturday, 20th September to learn about how the Met Collection informs our modern perception of love, desire, and identity, to dissect fictional accounts of deadly poisons in your favourite works of literature, and to network with key College Officers about the present and future of Catz.
Ticketing Information
Booking is now live, and you can secure your place here! Please note that the ticketing structure has now moved to ‘all-day’ ticketing, allowing you more flexibility. You can now book a day ticket (Friday/Saturday/Sunday) or a weekend ticket.
Booking for both Catz sessions is available here. This year, we’re pleased to share that Catz alumni are entitled to an exclusive discount. Use code CATZ20 for a 20% discount on all tickets.
Once purchased, your ticket gives you access to all events across the University. The full programme of University events is available to view here. These sessions will be hosted at The Mathematical Institute (Woodstock Road, OX2 6GC), or at various Colleges and departments across Oxford.
Saturday, 20th September
1.30pm – Professor Nancy Thébaut, ‘Spectrum of Desire’
Drawing both inspiration and content from her upcoming exhibition at the Met Cloisters, Nancy’s talk offers a captivating look at medieval art through the lens of desire and identity. Opening in October 2025, Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages will unveil the diverse ways in which Middle Ages artists explored human emotion – whether through sacred or secular themes. The exhibition is co-curated by Melanie Holcomb and Nancy.
Featuring highlights from the Met’s collection, this talk will offer both a fresh perspective on medieval relationships and their lasting relevance to love and identity today, as well as an exclusive preview of Spectrum of Desire, before it arrives at the Met later this year.
Nancy Thébaut is an international specialist in European medieval art and architecture. She is particularly interested in the interplay of art, ritual practices, and theology ca. 800-1200. Nancy is currently completing two book projects: Lessons in Looking: Difficult Images of Christ, ca. 850–1050, which explores how medieval visual ambiguity shaped devotional experience, as well as a complementary study on images of Lot’s wife.
Alongside her academic writing and teaching, she is co-curating Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, & Gender in the Middle Ages, an exhibition opening at The Met Cloisters in October 2025, with prior curatorial work at institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago and Musée de Cluny.
Professor Nancy Thébaut is Associate Professor of History of Art and Catz Tutorial Fellow. Before coming to Oxford, Nancy was Assistant Professor of Art History at Skidmore College and Kress History of Art Institutional Fellow at the Institut national d’histoire de l’art in Paris. She obtained her PhD from the University of Chicago, writing about the art, spaces, and objects depicting Christ’s absence after the Resurrection from western Europe ca. 850-1200. She also obtained her MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art (2009), and her diplôme de muséologie from École du Louvre (2011).
2.30pm – Coffee, Cake, and Conversation with the Speakers
Meet the panellists! You are warmly welcome to join us for an hour of relaxed discussion with our wonderful speakers, as well as our Development Team. This will be an invaluable opportunity to learn more about Nancy and Hilary’s research, about their time at Catz, and about the next chapter of student and alumni life at College.
3pm – Professor Hilary Hamnett, ‘Poisonous Tales: A Forensic Examination of Poisons in Fiction’
Dangerous, dark, and difficult to detect, poisons have been a well-worn plot device in literature from ancient times to the modern day. They can perform deadly deeds at a distance, creating dramatic tension and playing on our real-life fears. Hilary’s session will explore her recent book, Poisonous Tales (2023), and examine the diffuse ways in which poison and toxicology appear in our favourite works of fiction. Join Hilary as she asks: what is fact, and what is pure fiction?
Hilary Hamnett (1999, Chemistry) is an internationally recognised forensic toxicologist and lecturer in forensic medicine and science. She is Associate Professor in Forensic Science and Programme Leader at the University of Lincoln. Her experience spans forensic toxicology, teaching forensic science, and contextual bias in toxicological analysis; and her research focuses on cognitive and contextual bias in toxicological decision-making, authentic assessment in forensic education, and the use – and misuse – of poisons in popular literary and cultural narratives.
Dr Hamnett has published significantly in her field, with peer-reviewed publications such as “The Use of Contextual Information in Forensic Toxicology: An International Survey” (2019) and “Authentic Assessment in Forensic Science Programmes: A UK-based Survey of Practitioners” (2025). Her book, Poisonous Tales: A Forensic Examination of Poisons in Fiction (2023) examines literary poisonings – from Shakespeare to Harry Potter – through energetically grounded forensic science.
Professor Hilary Hamnett is Associate Professor in Forensic Science at the University of Lincoln. Before Lincoln, she was a Forensic Toxicologist & Lecturer in the department of Forensic Medicine & Science at the University of Glasgow, where she received a Teaching Excellence Award. She obtained her MChem and DPhil at the University of Oxford. She started her career as a Forensic Toxicologist at the Forensic Science Service in London, and has also held positions at ESR in New Zealand.
To view the University’s programme, please navigate here. These events are open to Oxford alumni, associates, and their guests. Lectures are generally designed for a broad alumni audiences, so parents are advised to exercise discretion or to contact the Alumni Office for further details. For any queries about Catz sessions, please contact us at development.office@stcatz.ox.ac.uk
Date
19 September, 2025
Time
11.00
Venue
Various
Price
TBC