Career Talks & Lectures

All students are welcome to attend our series of lunchtime careers’ talks. A diverse range of career options will be described by external speakers giving students a chance to gain an insight into possible career routes for themselves. Each presentation will be followed by opportunities for students to ask questions of the professionals.

All talks take place on Tuesday's (unless otherwise stated) at lunch time 1.00 - 1.35 pm in the Chapel.

SUMMER Term 2024 - Forthcoming Careers Talks:

Lunchtime Careers talks are held either via Teams or in person in the Chapel from 1pm.

On Monday 29 April we welcome Old Olavian Dr James Kempton who has had a fascinating career as a biologist at the University of Oxford, where he has led the scientific research expedition (Expedition Cyclops) to the Cyclops Mountains of Indonesian New Guinea and has also specialised in the epidemiology of malaria. Dr Kempton’s lunchtime talk is a unique opportunity to hear about his experiences and we are very excited to welcome him back to St Olave’s. All Olavians are welcome to attend the talk which will take place in the Chapel at 1pm on Monday.

Dr James Kempton’s Biography

In the summer of 2023, James led Expedition Cyclops, a scientific research expedition to the Cyclops Mountains of Indonesian New Guinea. During four weeks of gruelling fieldwork, he and his team rediscovered Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, a species of egg-laying mammal not seen by science for 62 years. They collected thousands of invertebrate specimens, and nearly a hundred frogs and reptiles. Already from these specimens they discovered two species of frog new to science, and dozens of new insect species - even new genera.

Alongside his work in New Guinea, James researched malaria epidemiology. His focus was on how age and number of exposures to malaria influence disease outcome, and how this varies between settings of different transmission intensity.

He made a small jump to epidemiological modelling from the field of flight biomechanics, which was the concern of his DPhil. Here he sought to understand how albatrosses and their relatives can fly hundreds of miles without flapping, and how falcons and hawks can so precisely intercept their prey.

Work Experience and Careers information is updated regularly on this website / If you have any questions, please contact: