Pablo Mukherjee grew up in Kolkata, India, and has worked, studied and taught there and the UK. He teaches and researches on imperialism and colonialism, postcolonial theory and literatures, environmental humanities and world literatures. He has written five monographs - Crime and Empire (2003), Postcolonial Environments (2010), Natural Disasters and Victorian Imperial Cultures (2013), (with WReC) Combined and Uneven Development: Towards a New Theory of World-Literature (2015), and Final Frontiers: Science Fiction and Techno-Science in Non-Aligned India (2020: Winner of SFRA Best Book Award, 2021). He has edited three collections of essays and journal special issues, and published a wide range of articles in scholarly journals. He co-edits (with Sharae Deckard) Palgrave Macmillan's book series, New Comparisons in World Literature and serves on the editorial board of a number of leading journals and academic presses. He is currently developing a project on anti-colonial world literatures. Pablo is a keen cricketer who plays for his club in the Cherwell League and represents Oxfordshire's Over-50's side in the national county championship. He loves cinema, photography, art, theatre, coffee, music, travelling (not necessarily in that order) and is more than happy to have conversations about all of these things. He is particularly interested in exploring the role of arts and humanities in developing and sustaining awareness about climate change and looks forward to working with colleagues, students and citizens in Oxford to develop ideas and actions in this area.

James is a former Governing Body Fellow of Wolfson College, having previously been a Research Fellow and a Guy Newton Stipendiary Junior Research Fellow. He has been the Wine Steward at Wolfson and was Chair of the Social and Cultural Committee for four years. An Emeritus Professor, he was formerly Professor of Protein Biochemistry and Head of School at the University of Reading, and Executive Dean of Creative Arts, Technologies & Science and Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Bedfordshire. He is currently a Consultant on Red Listing to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), ‘100 Talents’ Special Visiting Professor at Shanxi University, Honorary Professor at both Changchun University of Science & Technology and at Wuhan Business University, China. In 2021 he was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, and Co-Founder of the US National Academy of Technology. His research, spanning biomedical & environmental sciences, education, and the humanities has resulted in 294 research publications in refereed journals and books, plus 14 items of commercial molecular modelling software produced by Oxford University Press. In 2018 he won the Annual Scientific Award of the International Engineering and Technology Institute (IETI) and in 2006 he won the 6th Aviva / Earthwatch International Award for Climate Change Research. In 2008 he received the Award of Outstanding International Contribution to the Creative Industry of China during the 3rd China Creative Industry Awards, presented at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. James is a JP and runs a Special Interest Group on Education in the Criminal Justice System for the Educators’ Company in the City. A former free-lance recording engineer and producer, he works with young talented musicians for the Worshipful Company of Musicians. James is a former National Leader of Governance and in 2021 celebrated his first 10 years as Chair of Governors of a Further Education College in Bedfordshire.

Have you ever wondered how research from our college may contribute to mitigating the consequences of climate change and environmental degradation, and how it can help in bringing our society and planet onto a more sustainable path towards the future? If so, then please join us for the first Wolfson Earth Emergency Talks, consisting of seven TED-style talk presentations from a wide range of disciplines. Please see attached poster for the specific topics of the talks. There will be refreshments during the event. Further, after the event, food and drinks will be provided for members of the common room.