Oxford+

Episódios

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  Ethics & Innovation: What We Automate, Govern and Protect 15.09.2026 7min

  What are we unwilling to automate away?In this wrap episode of Oxford+, host Susannah de Jager returns to the ten conversations that made up the Ethics and Innovation miniseries and draws out the thread running through all of them. Philosophers, technologists, lawyers, policymakers and social innovators discuss democracy, language and intelligence, care, healthcare, access to justice, and who benefits when innovation succeeds.The timing matters. Bill Gates has argued that AI will be either the greatest equaliser ever invented or the worst source of injustice, and that the choices made now will decide which, in a 6,000-word essay published in 2026. Public confidence remains thin: around 1 in 3 adults in Great Britain say they would not trust AI to carry out any task, according to the Office for National Statistics.This is a short guide to the debate for people who will not build AI systems but will live with the results, at work, in hospitals, in classrooms and in court.Susannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentIn this episode of Ethics and Innovation by Oxford+ brought to you by Equinox.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Ethics & Innovation: Inside Microsoft's AI for Good Lab 08.09.2026 31min

  What happens when you point some of the world's strongest analytical tools at problems money alone has never fixed?In this episode of Ethics and Innovation by Oxford+ brought to you by Equinox, host Susannah de Jager speaks with Juan M Lavista Ferres, Corporate Vice President and Chief Data Scientist at Microsoft and director of its AI for Good Lab. Juan explains how a study of 20 million births changed what researchers knew about smoking and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, why a satellite image and a CT scan are the same problem to a machine learning team, and how roughly 100 incoming requests get filtered down to two or three funded projects.The timing is pointed. The World Economic Forum reported in August 2026 that the world faces a shortage of health workers by 2030, according to the World Economic Forum, which is the exact supply gap behind Juan's work on preventable blindness in premature babies. He is equally clear about the limits: no data, no access, no expert partner, no project. Every tool his team builds, he says, could also be used as a weapon.(00:00) - Welcome to Oxford+ (01:42) - From Development Banking to AI for Good (03:49) - What 20 Million Births Revealed about SIDS (05:23) - Why Every Project Needs a Domain Expert (06:21) - Satellite Images and CT Scans: The Same Problem (08:39) - The Funnel and the Tyranny of Choice (10:17) - Data Access, Privacy and Labelled Data (13:50) - Open Source, No Fees and Donated Expertise (16:40) - SPARROW and the Data Collection Problem (20:06) - Legal Help for Women and Girls in Malawi (23:18) - Preventable Blindness and the 36-Hour Window (26:30) - Responsible AI, Bias and Tools Used as Weapons Juan M Lavista Ferres: Juan M Lavista Ferres is Corporate Vice President and Chief Data Scientist at Microsoft and director of the AI for Good Lab, which he co-founded in 2018. He leads a team of data scientists and researchers in AI, machine learning and statistical modelling, working with domain experts on health, sustainability, humanitarian response and accessibility. Before Microsoft he spent five years at the Inter-American Development Bank, and after joining Microsoft in 2009 he worked on the Experimentation Platform and the Bing data mining team before moving into applied research. His SIDS work with academic collaborators was published in Pediatrics, and he is a co-author of the lab's AI for Good book. He is a co-author of the 2025 JAMA Network Open study on AI-enabled screening for retinopathy of prematurity in low-resource settings.Connect with Juan on LinkedInSusannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentIn this episode of Ethics and Innovation by Oxford+ brought to you by Equinox.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Ethics & Innovation: Oxfordshire's Divide Between Opportunity and Access 01.09.2026 33min

  How can one of the UK's most prosperous counties also hold some of its widest gaps in life expectancy and school results?In this episode of Ethics and Innovation by Oxford+ brought to you by Equinox, host Susannah de Jager speaks with Jeremy Long, co-chair of the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership, about what an inclusive economy looks like in practice and why averages hide as much as they reveal. Jeremy sets out the OIEP's three working groups, early years, youth engagement and inclusive employers, and the charter that lets organisations pick the pledges they can act on now.He describes taking employers into HMP Bullingdon to see how ex-offenders can return to work, the early years summit that put school readiness back on the county agenda, and plans to revive work experience through the Opportunity For All event. The timing matters. Figures published on 27 August 2026 show 981,000 young people across the UK were not in education, employment or training between April and June, according to the Office for National Statistics. Jeremy explains how Oxfordshire can match unfilled roles with local talent, and how Equinox extends that work.(00:00) - Welcome to Oxford+ (01:53) - What the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership Is (03:45) - The Averages That Mask Oxfordshire's Inequality (06:27) - Early Years, Youth and Inclusive Employers (08:34) - Inside the OIEP Charter and Its Pledges (10:24) - Ex-Offenders, Timpson and HMP Bullingdon (11:40) - Closing the Gap for 18 to 24-Year-Olds (12:38) - The Early Years Summit and What Came Next (15:56) - Cradle to Career and the School as Anchor (18:12) - Reviving Work Experience Across the County (21:32) - Equinox, the Local Policy Lab and Green Skills (27:07) - Aspirations for the Next Five Years Jeremy Long: Jeremy Long is co-chair of the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership, a collaboration of more than 100 organisations across business, local government, the universities, education and the voluntary and community sectors. A chartered accountant by training, he spent fifteen years as chief executive of MTR Corporation's European business and chaired the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership from 2016 to 2023. He has chaired the board of trustees at River Learning Trust since October 2023, sits as a non-executive director of National Grid Electricity Transmission, and chairs the Oxford energy efficiency installer EnergyMyWay.Connect with Jeremy on LinkedIn. Susannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Equinox.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Ethics & Innovation: Serving, not Harming and Connection, not Convenience 25.08.2026 41min

  What should AI actually do for us, rather than simply what can it do?In this episode of Ethics and Innovation by Oxford+ brought to you by Equinox, host Susannah de Jager speaks with Dr Caroline Green, Director of Research at Oxford's Institute for Ethics in AI, about care as one of the defining ethical questions of the AI age. Caroline explains what care means inside a regulated social care system, why OpenAI and Anthropic have started borrowing the language of caregiving, and where she thinks that borrowing should worry us.The conversation moves between the very specific and the very broad: carebots collecting data while they chat to residents, the Oxford framework that helps providers question technology suppliers properly, a week in Dharamsala learning how Tibetan communities use AI to preserve their language, and the civic AI work she is developing with Ambassador Audrey Tang. New Stanford research published this month found that people with smaller social networks who turn to AI companions for emotional support report lower well-being, which makes Caroline's warning about caring-sounding systems timely. Two phrases anchor the episode: serving, not harming, and connection, not convenience.(00:00) - Welcome to Oxford+ (01:42) - What Care Actually Means (03:55) - Why Big Tech Has Adopted the Language of Care (05:53) - Job Displacement and the Doom Narrative (08:15) - Dharamsala, Monasteries and Tibetan Language AI (11:59) - What Makes Us Distinct as Humans (14:26) - The Oxford Framework for Responsible AI in Care (17:13) - Carebots and the Line between Task and Relationship (23:26) - Ageing Societies and the Rights of Older People (26:54) - Young People, Trust and Over-Reliance on AI (33:16) - Civic AI and the Ethics of Care (37:36) - Hope, Harm and the Civic Space Dr. Caroline Green: Dr Caroline Emmer De Albuquerque Green is Director of Research and Head of Public Engagement at the Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford, where she leads the Accelerator Fellowship Programme. She is one of the UK's leading voices on the responsible use of AI in health and social care. Caroline co-led the Oxford Project on the Responsible Use of Generative AI in Social Care and wrote its April 2025 white paper setting out a value-led approach, work that led to the AI in Care Alliance whose vision and priorities were agreed at the second AI in Social Care Summit in March 2026. She also leads Truth and Trust: AI and Young People, a research collaboration with the BBC announced in February 2026. Caroline holds an LLB from the University of Edinburgh, an MSc in Human Rights from the LSE, an MA in Investigative Journalism from City University and a PhD in Gerontology from King's College London.Connect with Caroline on LinkedInSusannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Equinox.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Ethics & Innovation: Can Trust Keep Up With AI? 18.08.2026 38min

  What do you do when the technology arrives faster than the plan you wrote for it?In this episode of Ethics and Innovation by Oxford+ brought to you by Equinox, host Susannah de Jager speaks with Professor Anne Trefethen, Professor of Scientific Computing at the University of Oxford and Trustee of the Alan Turing Institute, about leading a university through the arrival of generative AI. Oxford published its digital strategy in 2022, weeks before ChatGPT appeared, and Anne explains why it then took courage to stop, rethink planned investments and add the governance she had hoped to avoid.The conversation moves from student adoption and equal access to what national resilience now means: sovereign capability, models we can trust because we know what they were trained on, and enough trained people to use them well. It lands in the middle of a live policy push, with the UK government expanding free AI training to reach 10 million workers by 2030.Anne also makes the case for optimism, and for changing how we prepare graduates as entry-level work shifts. Useful listening for anyone setting AI strategy inside a large, complex organisation.(00:00) - Welcome to Oxford+ (01:31) - A Career in Scientific Computing (02:41) - Oxford's First CIO and the Road to Digital (04:21) - When ChatGPT Overturned the Strategy (06:39) - Rethinking Investment and Governance (09:12) - Pilots, Rollout and Equal Access (12:57) - Hinton, Altman and the Race to Superintelligence (19:41) - The Turing as National Convener (22:02) - What Resilience Means in the Age of AI (25:45) - Sovereign Models, Distillation and Trust (28:57) - Sovereign Data Sets and British Values (36:18) - Entry-Level Jobs and the Next Generation Anne Trefethen: Anne Trefethen FREng is Professor of Scientific Computing at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of St Cross College and a Trustee of the Alan Turing Institute, the UK's national institute for AI and data science, appointed to its board in November 2024. She joined Oxford in 2005 to establish the Oxford e-Research Centre, which she directed for over six years, became the University's first Chief Information Officer in 2012, and went on to serve as Pro-Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for gardens, libraries and museums, then people, then digital, leading Oxford's digital transformation programme. Before Oxford she spent almost 20 years in industry and academia, including research roles at Thinking Machines Corporation and the Cornell Theory Center, Vice President for research and development at the Numerical Algorithms Group, and leadership of the UK e-Science Core Programme. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2017 and has served as a non-executive director of the UK Statistics Authority.Connect with Anne on LinkedInSusannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Equinox.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Ethics & Innovation: Building an Innovation Ecosystem That Includes Everyone 11.08.2026 27min

  Who really benefits when an innovation ecosystem succeeds?In this episode of Ethics and Innovation by Oxford+ brought to you by Equinox, host Susannah de Jager talks to Dr Olga Kozlova, Director of Innovation and Engagement at the University of Oxford, about Equinox, Equitable Innovation Oxford, the regional partnership she has helped drive since its launch. Olga explains why Oxford wants to avoid repeating San Francisco's mistakes, where economic success sat alongside rising poverty and crime, and how Equinox is instead building a skills agenda, an inward investment unit and a founders' pledge to spread the benefits of growth more widely.The conversation lands as the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor gains fresh momentum, with government plans to double funding and unlock up to £78 billion for the UK economy by 2035. Olga argues that Britain needs more national pride in its innovation strengths, and a clearer story about why Oxfordshire's growth should matter to everyone who lives there, not just those inside the university's walls.(00:00) - Welcome to Oxford+ (01:13) - Introducing Equinox and Equitable Innovation (02:29) - Bringing Equity and Innovation Together (05:54) - Taking Stakeholders on the Growth Journey (06:38) - Focusing Equinox's Delivery Priorities (07:50) - Telling Innovation's Local Success Stories (09:07) - Opening Up Oxford's Communal Spaces (10:21) - Supporting Founders Outside the University System (12:31) - Building an Inward Investment Unit (16:34) - Backing the Ox-Cam Rail and Growth Corridor (19:59) - Keeping Sovereign Talent and Capital in the UK (22:32) - National Pride and Self-Belief Olga Kozlova: Dr Olga Kozlova is Director of Innovation and Engagement at the University of Oxford, where she leads work on technology commercialisation, start-ups, investment and inclusive innovation ecosystems, and is one of the driving forces behind Equinox, Equitable Innovation Oxford. She previously established and led the Innovation and Industry Engagement Directorate at the University of Strathclyde and founded Converge, Scotland's national company creation and entrepreneurship development programme. Olga is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and an experienced board member and adviser across the UK innovation ecosystem.Susannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Equinox.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Ethics & Innovation: Can AI Close the Justice Gap? 04.08.2026 42min

  What if the biggest barrier to justice is not the law itself, but who can reach it?In this episode of Oxford+, part of the Ethics and Innovation miniseries sponsored by Equinox, host Susannah de Jager speaks with Professor Philippa Webb, co-founder of the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice, about whether artificial intelligence can close the global justice gap rather than widen it. Philippa explains why only a small fraction of people who need a lawyer can access one, how her team is building legal tools for women and girls in Malawi, and why judges in Brazil and Argentina are already teaching themselves to code and building their own agents.The conversation also confronts the risks. Deepfakes are now trivially easy to produce, digital evidence is piling up unused in atrocity prosecutions, and 130 states have suffered cyber attacks. With the World Economic Forum reporting that 87% of organisations see AI-related vulnerabilities as the fastest-growing cyber risk, Philippa makes the case for legal routes to accountability, better training, and closing the perception gap that still keeps AI out of the courtroom.(00:00) - Welcome to Oxford+ (01:55) - A Career Across Academia and Practice (03:33) - Inside the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice (06:19) - Cyber Attacks, Critical Infrastructure and Accountability (10:00) - The Digital Evidence Gap in Atrocity Crimes (13:22) - Training Judges, Prosecutors and Defence Counsel (16:18) - How Easy It Is to Make a Deepfake (19:32) - The AI Justice Atlas and Courtrooms Worldwide (21:48) - Building a Fair Trial Advisor for Judges (25:11) - Malawi, a Legal Desert and a Testing Ground (29:24) - Cutting the Bottleneck for Lawyers (33:10) - Protecting Journalists in the First 48 Hours (38:13) - What the Institute Needs Next Philippa Webb: Philippa Webb KC is Professor of Public International Law at the University of Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government, a Fellow of Exeter College, and a barrister at Twenty Essex. With Amal Clooney, she is co-founder and Director of the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice, the first global initiative dedicated to harnessing AI for justice, launched in October 2025 as a partnership between the Blavatnik School and the Clooney Foundation for Justice. She has served as Special Assistant and Legal Officer to the President of the International Court of Justice and as legal adviser to the Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, and she appears regularly before the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights and the UK Supreme Court. She co-wrote The Right to a Fair Trial in International Law with Amal Clooney, was named International Law Junior 2025 by Legal 500, and was elected to the Institut de Droit International in 2025.Connect with Philippa on LinkedInSusannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Equinox.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Ethics & Innovation: What Makes Us Human in the Age of AI? 28.07.2026 37min

  What do our conversations with machines reveal about what it means to be human?In this episode of Ethics and Innovation by Oxford+ brought to you by Equinox, host Susannah de Jager speaks with Professor Edward Harcourt, Director of Oxford's Institute for Ethics in AI, about the parts of human life that no algorithm can reproduce. Edward argues that the real risk of chatbots is not that they reshape social life, but that people mistake them for something real.Recorded as the UK government confirmed a ban on social media for under-16s from spring 2027, the conversation moves from embodiment and mortality to attachment theory, pluralism and the limits of machine minds. Edward warns of two quieter dangers: cognitive atrophy, as we outsource our thinking, and social atrophy, as we trade human contact for efficiency. Edward Harcourt: Edward Harcourt is Director of the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford, where he is also Professor of Philosophy and a Fellow of Keble College. His work sits at the boundary of ethics and the philosophy of mind, and his research at the Institute focuses on AI and humanity: how human values should shape the design, governance and use of AI, and what philosophical reflection on AI reveals about what is unique to human beings. From 2018 to 2022 he was Director of Research, Strategy and Innovation at UK Research and Innovation's Arts and Humanities Research Council, where he helped develop its Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) programme. He is the editor of Attachment and Character (Oxford University Press, 2021) and has written widely on moral psychology, child development and Wittgenstein. He was appointed MBE.Connect with Edward on LinkedIn Susannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Equinox.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Ethics & Innovation: Civic AI, Data Soil and Digital Democracy 21.07.2026 41min

  What if AI could strengthen democracy instead of concentrating power?In this episode of Ethics and Innovation by Oxford+ brought to you by Equinox, host Susannah de Jager speaks with Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s Cyber Ambassador and former Digital Minister, about civic AI, digital democracy and the practical alternatives to extractive big tech models. Audrey explains why data should be treated as soil, not oil, and how smaller, community-shaped models can serve families, cities and nations without forcing everyone into a single technological dependency.The conversation moves from Taiwan’s pandemic response to deepfake fraud, social media portability, local Kami models and the 6-Pack of Care, offering a hopeful but grounded vision for AI governance. Recent reporting on Taiwan’s anti-fraud work shows why this matters now: Audrey has said Taiwan’s civic AI approach helped reduce deepfake scams by more than 94%, as reported by MIT Solve.For policymakers, founders and citizens, this episode asks a practical question: how do we design AI systems that increase participation, transparency and trust, rather than deepening dependency, polarisation and surveillance?(00:00) - Welcome to Oxford+ (01:13) - Audrey Tang’s Role in Taiwan and Oxford (03:16) - Data as Soil, Not Oil (05:14) - Replacing Rage Algorithms with Consensus (09:10) - Community Notes and Commercial Bridge-Building (13:00) - Singleton Models, Kami and Local AI (17:19) - Sovereign Models and Technology Dependency (22:29) - Building Trust Around Public Data (27:34) - Transparency, Data Altruism and Shared Purpose (31:16) - The 6-Pack of Care (33:45) - Barriers to Civic AI Adoption (36:58) - Rewilding the Web Audrey Tang: Audrey Tang is Taiwan’s Cyber Ambassador, Taiwan’s first Digital Minister from 2016 to 2024, and a Senior Accelerator Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Ethics in AI. Audrey is a civic hacker, open-source contributor and co-author of Plurality: The Future of Collaborative Technology and Democracy, with work focused on digital democracy, public-interest technology, civic AI and collaborative governance. TIME named Audrey to its inaugural 100 Most Influential People in AI list in 2023, and Audrey received the 2025 Right Livelihood Award for advancing the social use of digital technology to empower citizens, renew democracy and heal divides.Connect with Audrey on LinkedIn Susannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Equinox.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Ethics & Innovation: Does AI Actually Understand Our World? 14.07.2026 40min

  What does it really mean to say that an AI system understands, reasons or thinks?In this episode of Ethics and Innovation by Oxford+ brought to you by Equinox, host Susannah de Jager speaks with Dr Raphaël Millière, Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of Oxford, about the deep conceptual questions behind today’s AI systems. Raphaël explains why strong performance on a benchmark does not always prove real competence, why language models learn in a profoundly different way from humans, and why common sense remains such a revealing fault line in AI research.The conversation moves from consciousness and anthropomorphism to the geopolitical stakes of sovereign AI. Recent research from Anthropic on global workspace-like structures in language models shows why questions about internal representations are becoming more urgent, while the European Commission’s 2026 technological sovereignty package underlines how AI capability is now tied to economic resilience, national security and democratic control.(00:00) - Welcome to Oxford+ (01:01) - Raphaël Millière’s Work in Philosophy of AI (03:24) - Performance, Competence and AI Evaluation (07:01) - Testing Analogy and Reasoning in AI Models (08:56) - Why AI Learns Differently from Humans (13:13) - Language, Embodiment and the Path to Intelligence (17:02) - Common Sense and the Jagged Edge of AI (19:39) - Should We Build Human-Level AI? (22:29) - The Utopian and Arms Race Cases for AI (28:31) - Sovereign AI, Europe and Strategic Dependence (34:01) - Public Investment, Private Incentives and Democratic Governance (37:21) - Moving Beyond Polarised AI Debates Raphaël Millière: Raphaël Millière is an Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of Jesus College and affiliated with the Institute for Ethics in AI. His research sits at the intersection of philosophy, cognitive science and artificial intelligence, with a focus on the capacities and limitations of contemporary AI systems, including language understanding, reasoning, planning, consciousness and AI safety. He also holds an AI2050 Fellowship from Schmidt Sciences, and his recent work includes The Philosophy of Language Models, published in Philosophy Compass.Connect with Raphaël on LinkedInSusannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Equinox.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Ethics & Innovation: The Social Media Ban, Sovereign AI, and the Race We Can't Stop 07.07.2026 35min

  Can democracies capture the economic benefits of AI while protecting citizens from the unintended consequences?In this episode of Ethics and Innovation by Oxford+ brought to you by Equinox, host Susannah de Jager speaks with Lord Lionel Tarassenko, founding President of Reuben College and a pioneer of machine learning in safety-critical systems, about why the race to build ever more powerful models increasingly resembles an arms race. They explore whether the UK's long focus on ethical AI has become a competitive advantage, how Britain should position itself between the United States, Europe and China, and why sovereign AI and sovereign data assets matter for defending national values.The conversation lands at a pivotal moment. Days after the UK government announced a ban on social media use by under-16s modelled on Australia's, Lionel explains why he changed his mind and now sees a ban as the only real leverage over platforms that have resisted safety by design for a decade. From AI literacy in schools to the case for putting the AI Security Institute on a statutory footing, this is a clear-eyed look at governing a technology moving faster than policy.Lord Lionel Tarassenko: Lionel Tarassenko, Baron Tarassenko CBE FREng FMedSci, is the founding President of Reuben College, Oxford, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Research Professor of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford. A world-leading expert in the application of signal processing and machine learning to healthcare, he was among the first to apply machine learning to real-world, safety-critical systems, from Rolls-Royce jet-engine health monitoring to NHS patient monitoring. The critical-care system he designed was the first machine learning system to gain FDA approval, in 2008. He founded four University spin-out companies, directed the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, and edited the 2019 Topol Review of NHS technology and the workforce. He was appointed a non-party-political life peer in 2024 and sits on the crossbenches, where he speaks on AI, healthcare and digital policy.Connect with Lionel on LinkedInSusannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Equinox.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Introducing the Ethics & Innovation Miniseries 30.06.2026 2min

  How do we ensure technology serves society rather than society becoming subject to technology? And perhaps most importantly, what does progress actually mean?In this special Oxford+ Miniseries, we're going to speak to leading academics, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and practitioners working at the intersection of ethics, technology, and society. Together, we're going to explore questions including how should we govern powerful new technologies? What does human flourishing look like in the age of AI? How is technology shaping childhood, relationships, and mental health? And how can innovation ecosystems ensure that prosperity is shared more broadly?The aim of this miniseries is not to provide definitive answers, rather to help all of us ask better questions. Because the future is not something that simply happens to us, it's something we can choose to build.Ethics and Innovation is proudly sponsored by Equinox, Equitable Innovation Oxford. Equinox brings together leaders from across business, academia, local government, and civil society to ensure that the benefits of Oxford's remarkable innovation ecosystem are shared more widely across communities helping to create more inclusive, sustainable, and equitable future for the region.Susannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentThe Ethics & Innovation Miniseries is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Equinox. Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Season Four Wrap and a Look Ahead to Ethics, AI and Season Five 23.06.2026 2min

  What changes when an innovation ecosystem stops talking about problems and starts talking about solutions?In this wrap of Season Four, Oxford+ host Susannah de Jager reflects on a clear shift in rhetoric across the series, from missing pieces of the puzzle to a real sense of momentum in Oxford and the wider UK. She points to initiatives like Equinox, Equitable Innovation Oxford, and the inaugural Oxford Tech Week as signs of an ecosystem finally galvanising itself and becoming easier to engage with.The timing fits a buoyant national picture: UK startup funding reached $7.8 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 60 per cent year on year, the strongest start to a year since 2022, according to HSBC Innovation Banking and Dealroom. Susannah also looks ahead, previewing a summer Ethics and Innovation miniseries on how AI should be shaped for societies, children and workforces, and a Season Five from September featuring names including Gordon Sanghera and Hermann Hauser.Susannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Mishcon de Reya, HSBC Innovation Banking, and James Cowper Kreston.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Oxford+ in Brief with Ceri Morgan, Partner at Dalloway Partners 16.06.2026 6min

  How should we measure success in the place trying to scale Britain's best science? In this Oxford+ in Brief, Dr Ceri Morgan takes on the same four quick-fire questions every guest faces. She reflects on what success would mean after two decades spent at arm's length in investment banking, the advice she would give anyone entering the Oxford ecosystem, and what the city does brilliantly yet struggles with: it brings you face to face with astonishing, modest people, but connects them far too rarely. Looking ahead to 2050, Ceri wants Oxford closer to the Boston benchmark, with more companies scaling outside the university and acquirers reinvesting locally rather than draining talent abroad. Her timing is apt: UK university spin-outs have nearly tripled in value to £49 billion since 2020, with activity now spreading beyond the golden triangle. From mentorship and the Lamb and Flag to a magic-wand investor database, this is a short, candid window into how a natural connector thinks.Ceri Morgan: Dr Ceri Morgan is a Partner at Dalloway Partners, the advisory firm founded in 2025 by Vanessa Colomar and Helen James to help foundational science and first-time founders scale at speed. A medical doctor by training, she practised in cardiology and trauma medicine before moving into the City, where she spent more than two decades in healthcare and life sciences investment banking, building and leading top-ranked life science teams at firms including KBC Peel Hunt and Deutsche Bank and advising companies such as Oxford Nanopore and IP Group. Most recently she was Head of Late Stage Portfolio at Oxford Science Enterprises, and she is a Senior Advisor to LifeScience ORG. Based in Oxford, she also sits on a London hospital patient advisory group, drawing on her own experience as a cancer patient to push for stronger patient advocacy.Connect with Ceri on LinkedInSusannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Mishcon de Reya, HSBC Innovation Banking, and James Cowper Kreston.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Recycling Capital and Talent in Oxford's Innovation Economy 09.06.2026 38min

  How should we value a healthcare system that frustrates the very innovators trying to improve it?In this episode of Oxford+, host Susannah de Jager speaks with Dr Ceri Morgan, a doctor turned healthcare investment banker turned patient, about her three careers and what they reveal about UK life sciences. Ceri explains why, for years, companies pitching an NHS-first strategy were handed close to a zero valuation, and why the UK's thin life sciences public market has pushed founders towards private capital and trade sales.Her move to Dalloway Partners marks a third act focused on the non-scientific side of scaling: mentoring founders, opening up investor networks and building Oxford's ecosystem. The timing matters. After UK biotech raised just £1.8 billion in 2025, early 2026 figures show venture funding rebounding, with £516 million raised in the first quarter. From recycling capital and talent to being your own patient advocate, this is a candid conversation about fixing the structures around brilliant British science.(00:00) - Welcome to Oxford+ (01:23) - A Doctor's Path into the City (03:34) - Building a Life Sciences Banking Team (06:31) - Twenty Years Advising Science Companies (08:35) - A Third Career and a New Mission (10:24) - Why the NHS Earns a Zero Valuation (11:53) - The Shrinking Life Sciences Public Market (14:50) - Inside Dalloway Partners (16:48) - The Non-Scientific Side of Scaling (21:53) - Treating Oxford as One Ecosystem (25:54) - Female Health, Storytelling and Open Networks (32:06) - Being Your Own Patient Advocate Ceri Morgan: Dr Ceri Morgan is a Partner at Dalloway Partners, the advisory firm founded in 2025 by Vanessa Colomar and Helen James to help foundational science and first-time founders scale at speed. A medical doctor by training, she practised in cardiology and trauma medicine before moving into the City, where she spent more than two decades in healthcare and life sciences investment banking, building and leading top-ranked life science teams at firms including KBC Peel Hunt and Deutsche Bank and advising companies such as Oxford Nanopore and IP Group. Most recently she was Head of Late Stage Portfolio at Oxford Science Enterprises, and she is a Senior Advisor to LifeScience ORG. Based in Oxford, she also sits on a London hospital patient advisory group, drawing on her own experience as a cancer patient to push for stronger patient advocacy.Connect with Ceri on LinkedIn Susannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Mishcon de Reya, HSBC Innovation Banking, and James Cowper Kreston.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Oxford+ in Brief with Riham Satti, co-founder and CEO of MeVitae 02.06.2026 5min

  What does success really look like when we get hiring right? In this Oxford+ in Brief, Susannah de Jager puts forward four questions to Riham Satti, co-founder and CEO of MeVitae. Riham describes success as a workplace where people feel they belong, feel empowered, and stay because their work feels like a career worth building. She offers candid advice for anyone entering the Oxford ecosystem, reflects on what the city does brilliantly and where it could connect its specialised pockets more effectively, and imagines what Oxford might look like by 2050. With a recent large-scale study finding that AI hiring tools can systematically reject qualified candidates (Stanford HAI, May 2026), her closing wish, a magic wand for fairness at work, could not feel more timely. Riham Satti: Riham Satti is the co-founder and CEO of MeVitae, an award-winning people intelligence platform that combines neuroscience, behavioural economics, and responsible AI to help organisations make fairer, faster, and fully explainable workforce decisions. A neuroscientist by training, Riham studied medical engineering at Imperial College London before completing her research at Oxford, where she developed a deep fascination with how the brain makes decisions. Through the Oxford University Innovation incubator, she co-founded MeVitae with computer scientist Vivek Doraiswamy to tackle bias and inefficiency in hiring. MeVitae now works with global enterprise clients including Transport for London, HS2, and Taylor Wessing, delivering up to 90% time and cost savings while reducing employee turnover by 25%. The company has been honoured with the Norrsken Impact/100 Award, nominated by Microsoft, and was selected by the UK Information Commissioner's Office to co-develop the national AI Data Protection Audit. Riham is a TEDx and keynote speaker and sits on the TechUK Council, advising on the responsible use of AI in business.Connect with Riham on LinkedInSusannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Mishcon de Reya, HSBC Innovation Banking, and James Cowper Kreston.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Unconscious Bias, Responsible AI, and the Future of Workforce Decisions 26.05.2026 39min

  What if the key to fairer hiring lies not in better policies, but in understanding how our brains actually make decisions?In this episode of Oxford+, host Susannah de Jager speaks with Riham Satti, co-founder and CEO of MeVitae, about her journey from studying neuroscience at Oxford to building an AI-driven platform that transforms workforce decision-making. They explore how cognitive biases shape recruitment, why ten seconds of CV screening can derail a hiring process, and how organisations can use data and responsible AI to make fairer, faster, and smarter people decisions.With recent research showing that recruiters using biased AI tools mirror those inequitable choices up to 90% of the time, the conversation could not be more timely. Riham explains how MeVitae integrates neuroscience, anonymised recruiting, and transparent algorithms to help organisations identify hidden risks, improve candidate experience, and build genuinely inclusive workplaces. From bootstrapping with grant funding to working with global enterprise clients, her story is a blueprint for turning academic curiosity into commercial impact.(00:00) - Welcome to Oxford Plus (01:42) - The Academic Path to Entrepreneurship (03:12) - Stumbling into the World of Startups (04:21) - From a CV App to Uncovering a Broken Industry (06:37) - Funding the Early Days with Grants and Grit (09:20) - How MeVitae Evolved from B2C to Enterprise AI (13:19) - Neuroscience in Action: Eye Tracking and Hiring Bias (15:16) - Practical Steps to Reduce Unconscious Bias (21:37) - The Benefits Beyond Efficiency: Candidate Experience (25:56) - Connecting HR Data to Uncover Hidden Risks (30:20) - Company Retreats and Building Team Culture (35:09) - The Future of MeVitae and Responsible AI Riham Satti: Riham Satti is the co-founder and CEO of MeVitae, an award-winning people intelligence platform that combines neuroscience, behavioural economics, and responsible AI to help organisations make fairer, faster, and fully explainable workforce decisions. A neuroscientist by training, Riham studied medical engineering at Imperial College London before completing her research at Oxford, where she developed a deep fascination with how the brain makes decisions. Through the Oxford University Innovation incubator, she co-founded MeVitae with computer scientist Vivek Doraiswamy to tackle bias and inefficiency in hiring. MeVitae now works with global enterprise clients including Transport for London, HS2, and Taylor Wessing, delivering up to 90% time and cost savings while reducing employee turnover by 25%. The company has been honoured with the Norrsken Impact/100 Award, nominated by Microsoft, and was selected by the UK Information Commissioner's Office to co-develop the national AI Data Protection Audit. Riham is a TEDx and keynote speaker and sits on the TechUK Council, advising on the responsible use of AI in business.Connect with Riham on LinkedIn Susannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Mishcon de Reya, HSBC Innovation Banking, and James Cowper Kreston.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Oxford+ in Brief with Dr Holly Reeve, co-founder and CEO of HydRegen 19.05.2026 9min

  What would it take for Oxford to truly unlock its potential as a global innovation hub and what keeps getting in the way?In this Oxford+ In Brief mini episode, host Susannah de Jager puts four quick-fire questions to Dr Holly Reeve, co-founder and CEO of HydRegen. Holly shares what success looks like if Hydregen reaches commercial scale manufacturing, why Oxford's chemistry department has become a breeding ground for spin-outs, and why she wishes the barriers between universities and startups were far lower than they are today.With a new super cluster board forming across the Oxford–Cambridge arc and initiatives like Equinox and OX Tech Week working to connect the ecosystem, Holly argues the direction of travel is encouraging. But she is clear that the real bottleneck is not facilities or funding structures: it is the failure to invest strategically in the people behind the science. Dr Holly Reeve: Holly Reeve is the co-founder and CEO of HydRegen, an Oxford University spin-out developing bio-based catalysts to replace precious metals in chemical manufacturing. She holds a MChem and DPhil in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Oxford, where she worked on the HydRegen technologies from inception in Professor Kylie Vincent's research group. Holly has raised over £1.3 million in early-stage funding from Innovate UK and investors, secured a further £2.6 million led by Clean Growth Fund, and grown the company to 15 people. She is a Royal Society of Chemistry Emerging Technology prize winner and a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub's Shott Scale Up Accelerator. In June 2025, HydRegen announced a strategic collaboration with James Robinson Speciality Ingredients to implement its Bio2Amine™ biocatalyst technology in commercial manufacturing.Susannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Mishcon de Reya, HSBC Innovation Banking, and James Cowper Kreston.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Bridging the Gap between Scientific Research and Industrial Impact 12.05.2026 34min

  What does it really take to turn a breakthrough in a university lab into a company that could transform how the world makes chemicals?In this episode of Oxford+, host Susannah de Jager speaks with Dr Holly Reeve, co-founder and CEO of HydRegen, an Oxford spin-out replacing precious metals in chemical manufacturing with bio-based enzyme catalysts. Holly shares her journey from a farm in rural England to leading a 15-person deep tech company now preparing for manufacturing and raising a Series A.With the global biocatalysis market projected to more than double to USD 10.2 billion by 2033, Hydregen is positioned at the forefront of a sector gaining serious momentum. Holly discusses how she developed leadership skills during her PhD, why the shift from academic to commercial mindset is so difficult, and how she balances curiosity with execution. She also speaks candidly about the challenges of fundraising as a female founder in a sector where women-led deep tech startups still receive only 15% of seed funding.(00:00) - Welcome to Oxford+ (01:22) - Growing Up Curious on a Farm (02:36) - Finding Chemistry at Oxford (04:17) - Inside Kylie Vincent's Research Group (05:17) - Learning to Lead through Delegation (07:16) - Going beyond the Lab to Find Industry (09:00) - Knowing Your Strengths and Building around Them (11:34) - Building Industry Relationships during a PhD (13:04) - Learning to Listen before You Pitch (17:27) - Founding HydRegen (22:05) - Replacing Precious Metals with Bio-based Catalysts (29:27) - Exploration versus Exploitation in Deep Tech Dr Holly Reeve: Holly Reeve is the co-founder and CEO of Hydregen, an Oxford University spin-out developing bio-based catalysts to replace precious metals in chemical manufacturing. She holds a MChem and DPhil in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Oxford, where she worked on the HydRegen technologies from inception in Professor Kylie Vincent's research group. Holly has raised over £1.3 million in early-stage funding from Innovate UK and investors, secured a further £2.6 million led by Clean Growth Fund, and grown the company to 15 people. She is a Royal Society of Chemistry Emerging Technology prize winner and a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub's Shott Scale Up Accelerator. In June 2025, HydRegen announced a strategic collaboration with James Robinson Speciality Ingredients to implement its Bio2Amine™ biocatalyst technology in commercial manufacturing.Connect with Holly on LinkedInSusannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Mishcon de Reya, HSBC Innovation Banking, and James Cowper Kreston.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.
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  Oxford+ in Brief with Dr Christiaan de Koning and Michael Collyer, Co-Founders of Founders and Funders 05.05.2026 3min

  What does success really look like for Oxford's innovation ecosystem, and how do you build something that lasts?In this Oxford+ in Brief bonus episode, host Susannah de Jager puts the same four questions to Dr Christiaan de Koning and Michael Collyer, co-founders of Founders and Funders and the team behind the inaugural OX Tech Week. With UK startups raising $7.8 billion in Q1 2026 alone, the stakes for getting Oxford's commercialisation engine right have never been higher. Looking ahead to 2050, Christiaan and Michael imagine a less fragmented, more collaborative Oxford that is not just a research hub but a global commercial centre for science and innovation.Dr Christiaan de Koning: Christiaan de Koning is an Associate Fellow at Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, and Chair of the Founders and Funders Foundation. He teaches at Said Business School and is a strategic adviser to CIMMYT, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre. He holds a DPhil from Oxford in management research, where his work focused on the commercialisation of CRISPR biotechnology through new ventures. Through Founders and Funders, he has helped build a community of over 4,000 members connecting researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors across the Oxford ecosystem.Connect with Christiaan on LinkedInMichael Collyer: Michael Collyer is a researcher at the University of Oxford's Internet Institute and co-founder of the Founders and Funders Foundation. He co-established the university's AI network, running events in Oxford and London to connect researchers and entrepreneurs in the AI and machine learning space. His academic work spans information controls, natural language processing, machine learning, and the intersection of artificial intelligence with intellectual property law.Connect with Michael Collyer on LinkedInSusannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.Connect with Susannah on LinkedIn and Subscribe to the Oxford+ Newsletter for Exclusive ContentOxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Mishcon de Reya, HSBC Innovation Banking, and James Cowper Kreston.Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.