Univ Seminar: Creativity and AI

Univ Seminar Speakers - Charlotte Deane, Philippa Malicka, Pireeni Sundaralingam, Chris Mammen

Univ Seminar Speakers (clockwise from top left) – Professor Charlotte Deane MBE, Philippa Malicka, Pireeni Sundaralingam, Dr Christian E Mammen

Thursday 3 July 2025, 6.30pm
University College, Oxford OX1 4BH

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the event will now take place at University College, Oxford, which has enabled us to reduce ticket prices; however, capacity is limited, and fewer tickets will be available.

On Thursday 3 July, Baroness Amos, Master of University College, Oxford, will be joined by Professor Charlotte Deane MBE (1993, Chemistry), Miss Philippa Malicka (2007, English), Dr Chris Mammen (1993, Law), Professor Pireeni Sundaralingam (1986, Psychology) for the biennial Univ Seminar.

Join us for a stimulating conversation with our panellists as they debate the implications and impact of AI on creativity and the creative industries. There will be an opportunity for a Q&A.

The rapid rise of AI is a major topic of conversation within the creative industries. From the Writers Guild strike in 2023 and to recent prominent figures challenging the UK government’s plans to exempt technology firms from copyright laws, the landscape is rapidly shifting. Our panellists will explore how AI is impacting human creativity, the various ways AI is currently being used, and the laws that need to govern AI and Intellectual Property in the modern world.

Following the seminar, you will have a chance to network with fellow attendees and the panellists over a drink and some nibbles. This is a perfect opportunity to reconnect with fellow Univ Old Members and friends to enjoy an evening of debate and good conversation.

If you are unable to attend in person, you can join the event via Zoom. To register please purchase a ticket below.

Tickets can be booked via the link below:

Booking

Speaker profiles

Professor Charlotte Deane

Professor Charlotte Deane MBE (1993, Chemistry) is a Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Oxford and the Executive Chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). From 2022 to 2023, Professor Deane was Chief AI Officer at Recursion (previously Exscientia), a biotech, where she led its computation scientific development. At Oxford, Professor Deane leads the Oxford Protein Informatics Group (OPIG), who work on diverse problems across immunoinformatics, protein structure and small molecule drug discovery; using statistics, AI and computation to generate biological and medical insight. Her work focuses on the development of novel algorithms, tools and databases that are openly available to the community. These tools are widely used web resources and are also part of several Pharma drug discovery pipelines. Professor Deane brings to the panel experience in the real world AI applications and development.

Philippa Malicka

Philippa Malicka (2007, English) is an author, publishing consultant and occasional journalist. Her forthcoming debut novel, In Her Defence is set to be released in early 2026, published by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK, and Simon and Schuster in America. Her journalistic work has been published in papers such as the Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph, with her book reviews featuring frequently in the Telegraph. Philippa’s experience within this field and her evolving understanding of how AI will impact the publishing and creative industries more widely, provides the seminar with a valuable perspective on how AI may augment of disrupt the traditional creative marketplace and the role of human authorship in the age of AI.

Dr Chris Mammen

Dr Christian Mammen (1993, Law) is a leading Intellectual Property (IP) lawyer with Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP in San Francisco, where he is Office Managing Partner. Dr Mammen represents a wide variety of companies on technology and IP issues, including AI. In addition to his work for clients, Dr Mammen has an interest in the broader theoretical and ethical implications of AI. In 2024, whilst an Academic Visitor with the Oxford Faculty of Law, he was the lead author on a new white paper titled, “Creativity, Artificial Intelligence, and the Requirement of Human Authors and Inventors in Copyright and Patent Law”. The study incorporates multidisciplinary perspectives from neuroscience, philosophy, and law to provide a thorough analysis. It investigates the role of human creativity in making work eligible for protection under IP laws, and examines how current AI models measure up against the IP laws’ creativity requirements. The paper also debates the impact of generative AI on human creative efforts and the need for IP laws to evolve with the technology surge. Dr Mammen has received international recognition for his work in AI and IP, having lectured in the US, the UK, Japan, Korea, and other countries.

Professor Pireeni Sundaralingam

Professor Pireeni Sundaralingam (1986, Psychology), Univ Poet Laureate and Associate Professor in the Department of Writing, Consciousness and Creative Inquiry at the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, USA is both a cognitive scientist and an artist. As a poet, Professor Sundaralingam has held national fellowships in poetry, been published in over 30 literary journals and her work has been translated into five languages. As a scientist, Professor Sundaralingam has held research posts at MIT’s Dept Brain & Cognitive Sciences and at UCLA, researching human decision-making and innovation, and led research at Silicon Valley’s Center for Humane Technology.

Professor Sundaralingam has served as Science Advisor to the Irish government’s Minister of Art & Heritage, and as Principal Advisor on Human Potential for UNLive, the Museum of the United Nations, leading strategy on the connections between behaviour change and the arts. As founder of “NeuroResilience Consulting”, she has been an advisor on human-computer interaction for groups ranging from Wall Street’s Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to the European Union Parliament. Professor Sundaralingam was also a co-author on the white paper “Creativity, Artificial Intelligence, and the Requirement of Human Authors and Inventors in Copyright and Patent Law”, which was led by Dr Mammen.

Accommodation

Refunds

Please note that audio, photographs and video footage may be taken throughout our events. These may be used by the College for marketing and publicity in our publications, on our website and in social media or in any third party publication. Please contact the event organiser if you have any concerns or if you wish to be exempted from this activity.

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