Bletchley Park Week

As the storm clouds of World War Two gathered over Britain, brilliant minds worked tirelessly at Bletchley Park to break the German Engima ciphers. The secret intelligence unravelled by codebreakers such as Alan Turing and Donald Michie was vital to the war effort and is thought to have shortened the conflict by years.
Bletchley Park became the home not only of British codebreaking, but the birthplace of modern information technology. Its extraordinary legacy still impacts on us today and resonates through the cyber security research undertaken by members of Kellogg College. Each year Kellogg College Oxford celebrates their unique partnership with Bletchley Park through a week-long programme of special events.
The 2026 theme is The Age of AI.

Enigma Machine Demonstration

The Enigma machine was an electro-mechanical cipher device used by Nazi Germany to encrypt military and diplomatic communications during the Second World War.
There will be three open demonstrations (at 12.30pm, 3.00pm and 5.30pm) where you can find out how the machine works – and how Bletchley Park’s team of mathematicians, linguists and engineers worked to break the cipher and provide vital intelligence that shortened the war and saved countless lives.

Date Monday 23 February 2026
Time 12:30-13:30, 15:00-16:00, 17:30-18:30
Location The Hub
Cost Free

To book please follow the link:

• 12:30-13:30 book here.
• 15:00-16:00 book here.
• 17:30-18:30 book here.

Women at Bletchley: A Wren’s Story and a Researcher’s Reflection

Join us for a special discussion to hear two very different stories about the Women of Bletchley Park – a personal account and a researcher’s perspective.
Sir Dermot Turing is the award-winning author of X, Y and Z – the real story of how Enigma was broken and Enigma Traitors, which reveals the failings of Allied cipher security during World War II. He will share insights from his latest book, Misread signals, which highlights the crucial, often overlooked roles of women at Bletchley Park.
We are also honoured to welcome Mary Stewart, who will tell us about her experiences serving as a bombe operator in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) during the Second World War. The Wrens, as they were known then, were the female branch of the British Royal Navy, formed initially in 1917 (WWI) and reformed in 1939 (WWII) to release men for sea service by filling crucial land-based roles like clerks, drivers, wireless operators, and codebreakers, serving globally and integrating into the Navy until officially disbanding in 1993 as women joined the Navy directly.

Tea, coffee and biscuits are provided immediately before the talk, from 11.30am.

Sir Dermot Turing is a Visiting Fellow of Kellogg College, and the acclaimed author of Prof, a biography of his famous uncle, The Story of Computing, and most recently Misread Signals.

Mary Stewart was a Bombe operator during the War. Bombe machines were designed by Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman to break German Enigma codes. Operators were mostly women from the Women’s Royal Naval Service (Wrens), who worked shifts in a tedious but vital role that involved setting up the machines, identifying “stops,” and passing potential settings to codebreakers.

Date Tuesday 24 February 2026
Time 12:00-13:00
Location The Hub
Cost Free

Please find booking link for this event here.

Meet Jacqueline de Rojas, Chair of Bletchley Park Trust

Join Kellogg President Professor Jonathan Michie for a conversation with Jacqueline de Rojas, Chair of Bletchley Park Trust, and Bletchley Park Fellow at Kellogg College.
Jacqueline de Rojas is a leading figure in the technology sector, with a distinguished career spanning software, digital innovation and tech leadership. She is a prominent advocate for diversity and inclusion, and has advised both industry and government on digital transformation and navigating technological change. Their conversation will draw on her extensive experience to give insights into “The Age of AI” – how we got here and what it means for our future.

All event attendees are invited to arrive from 5pm, when tea and coffee will be served, and to stay for a drinks reception, which will immediately follow the event.

Date Tuesday 24 February 2026
Time 17:30-18:30
Location The Hub
Cost Free

Please find booking link for this event here.

Academic ethics in the age of instant text generation

Join us for a conversation with Dr Hazem Zohny, to explore some of the ethical questions for academics as AI makes instant text generation a new normal in the expression of ideas.

Dr Hazem Zohny is a Senior Research Fellow in Practical Ethics, Neuroscience, and Society at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics.

Tea, coffee and biscuits are provided immediately before the talk, from 11.30am.

Date Wednesday 25 February 2026
Time 12:00-13:00
Location The Hub
Cost Free

Please find booking link for this event here.

AI if Human: The Ethics, Regulation and Governance of AI

Join us for a conversation with Sir Nigel Shadbolt, as he explores the many dimensions of response to the question: “What would happen if AI were human?”
Sir Nigel Shadbolt is Principal of Jesus College, Oxford, and Professorial Research Fellow in Computer Science, where he leads the Human Centred Computing Group.

This event is chaired by President of Kellogg College, Professor Jonathan Michie.

All event attendees are invited to arrive from 5pm, when tea and coffee will be served, and to stay for a drinks reception, which will immediately follow the event.

Date Wednesday 25 February 2026
Time 17:30-18:30
Location The Hub
Cost Free

Please find booking link for this event here.

From Enigma to the Human Body: Decoding Health with AI

Join us for a conversation with Dr Ping Lu about how history’s greatest codebreakers inspire today’s AI breakthroughs in healthcare.

Moderated by Xavier Laurent, Research Member of Common Room and Lead Training Coordinator at the AI Competency Centre.

Dr Ping Lu is Assistant Professor in Computer Science at the University of Leeds. She holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and completed her postdoctoral research in medical imaging and biomedical signal analysis at the University of Oxford. Her research sits at the intersection of imaging and non-imaging machine learning in healthcare and computer science.

All event attendees are invited to arrive from 5pm, when tea and coffee will be served, and to stay for a drinks reception, which will immediately follow the event.

Date Thursday 26 February 2026
Time 17:30-18:30
Location The Hub
Cost Free

Please find booking link for this event here.

Using LLMs to explore and analyse biological datasets

Join us for a conversation with Stephen Taylor, as he shows how Large Language Models (LLMs) can be used to explore and analyse biological datasets.
Understanding how diseases work and finding new treatments often involves working with massive, complex biological datasets. Traditionally, this required deep expertise in both biology and programming. Stephen and his team at the Centre for Human Genetics have developed a Multi-Dimensional Viewer (MDV) to simplify this process, and now, with advances in AI, their new tool, ChatMDV, allows anyone to explore and analyse these datasets using everyday language. This opens the door for wider participation in discoveries, improves transparency, and accelerates progress toward new therapies.
Stephen Taylor is Head of Integrative Computational Biology at the Centre for Human Genetics in the Nuffield Department of Medicine. The aim of his group is to develop state-of-the-art computational methods to break down barriers to aid the integration, visualisation, and analytics of biological datasets.

• Moderated by Xavier Laurent, Research Member of Common Room and Lead Training Coordinator at the AI Competency Centre.

All event attendees are invited to arrive from 5pm, when tea and coffee will be served, and to stay for a drinks reception, which will immediately follow the event.

Date Friday 27 February 2026
Time 17:30-18:30
Location The Hub
Cost Free

Please find booking link for this event here.

Please note:

Booking is required for all events.
Open to Members of Kellogg College, Oxford University members, the public.
Events may be photographed. If you do not wish to appear in the photographs, please let the photographer know.