Events

Catz Exchange Conference – Programme now LIVE (#CatzXCon2026)

Date: Thursday 26 February 2026
Time: 9.30am-5.30pm
Location: Mary Sunley Building, St Catherine’s College, Oxford

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Join us for the The Catz Exchange Conference (#CatzXCon2026), St Catherine’s College’s annual, student-led academic conference, bringing together undergraduate and graduate students from across the College to share ideas, research and creative work in a supportive, interdisciplinary setting. #CatzXCon2026 gives students the opportunity to present work they care about, explore academic interests beyond their own subject, and gain valuable experience of communicating ideas to a non-specialist audience.
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About the conference

#CatzXCon2026 is a full-day conference, featuring current undergraduates and graduates at St Catz, from freshers to finalists. Presentations are around seven minutes in length, followed by questions. #CatzXCon2026 is a lively programme encouraging discussion and exchange across a wide range of disciplines. The conference will conclude with a drinks reception and dinner in Hall.
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PROGRAMME (9.30am start)

Panel 1 (9:40am-11:00am) – The Human Machine

BREAK – TEA/COFFEE

Panel 2 (11.30am-12.10pm) – Technological Challenges

Panel 3 (12.15pm-1.00pm) – Image and Architecture

LUNCH

Panel 4 (2.00pm-3.30pm) – Civilisation and Environment

BREAK – TEA/COFFEE

Panel 5 (4.00pm-4.30pm) – Learning on Education

Panel 6 (4.35pm-5.25pm) – The Human Condition

DRINKS RECEPTION (6.30pm)

DINNER (7.15pm)

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If you would like to attend one, two or all of the panels at the Conference, please register using the link below by Monday 23 February. The form will also allow you to accept an invitation to the drinks reception.

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Our Student Panels

Panel 1 (9.40am-11.00am) – The Human Machine

Open

Martin Kononov (DPhil, Clinical Medicine), ‘Novel therapies may reverse aging and usher in a new era of medicine’
Scott Morris (BA, Medicine), ‘Will humans ever be able to regenerate their hearts?’
Yong Ji (DPhil, Paediatrics), ‘Antibiotics alter the nutrient use of antibiotic-resistant bacteria’
Liyana Asaria-Issa (Visiting Student), ‘The use of brain organoids to study neurodevelopmental disorders’
Amy Wild (BMed, Medicine), ‘A novel lung function technique for the early detection of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)’
Diya Mistry (MBiol, Biology), ‘Why we need sleep – The neural, metabolic and immune consequences of sleep deprivation’

Panel 2 (11.30am-12.10pm) – Technological Challenges

Open

Rosa Wu (Visiting Student), ‘Adaptive certificate prefetching for secure web protocols’
Louis-Emile Ploix (MCompSci, Computer Science), ‘The decompilation problem’
Vivek Kothari (DPhil, Computer Science) ‘Beyond averaging: Rethinking graph neural networks through the lens of information synergy’

Panel 3 (12.15pm-1.00pm) – Image and Architecture

Open

Deborah Dance (DPhil, Architectural History), ‘How the women of Oxford influenced the development of Oxford in the early twentieth century’
Annie Williams (MSt, History of Design ), ‘Judgement in translation: How images change from print to architecture’
Fei Fang (MSc, Digital Scolarship), ‘Needle as archive: Recording cultural memory in a living craft Tradition’

Panel 4 (2.00pm-3.30pm) – Civilisation and Environment

Open

Tamunoimim Kalada-Green (MSc, Energy Systems), ‘Efficiency first, sufficiency next? Rethinking energy demand in Europe and Africa’
Emma Somos (DPhil, Sociology), ‘Are billionaires helping to solve climate change? Mapping the climate engagement of the global super-rich.’
Ava Peralta (BA, Geography), ‘The Golden Bean: Attuning to beauty as an alternative economies approach to coffee production, Uganda’
Tsur West (DPhil, History), ‘Minoan decline, lost Atlantis, and the search for the ancestors of Western Europe’
Vishnu Bandarupalli (BCL, Law), ‘Reorganising Indian federalism’
Andrzej Zalejski (BA, PPE) ‘You’ve heard about Mamdani’s dad? Recognition, revolt, and post-colonial studies.’

Panel 5 (4.00pm-4.30pm) – Learning on Education

Open

Oliver Biswas (BA, PPE), ‘Shaping aspiration or exerting control: The psychological impacts of legal social mobility programmes on students’
Emmanuel Berrelleza (MSc, Comparative and International Education) ‘Students’ First Amendment right to receive information: adopting a balancing test for K-12 curriculum censorship in an anti-DEI era’

Panel 6 (4.35pm-5.30pm) – The Human Condition

Open

Chun Hui (Visiting student), ‘Returning to neutrality: Why Birks and Carroll are quite wrong on ethics of money and finance’
Annika Theodoulou (DPhil, Primary Health Care), ‘Socioeconomic inequalities in smoking cessation behaviours and outcomes’
Beth Smith (MSt, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies), ‘“Ah as soon as I realised you were a woman I stopped reading.”: How the manosphere is more than just ‘incels’ and what we should do about it’
Zara Cherry (BA, Jurisprudence), ‘“Be Careful – She’s a Golddigger”: The harmful influence of rhetoric on financial remedies’

 

Date

26 February, 2026

Time

9.30am-5.30pm

Venue

Mary Sunley Building, St Catherine's College, Oxford