'How to be Brilliant Without Being Behaved' for International Women's Day 2026
Nuffield College's International Women’s Day speaker in 2026 was Melinda Mills, Nuffield Professorial Fellow, who spoke to a packed lecture theatre on "How to be Brilliant Without Being Behaved".
Melinda promised an unvarnished account of power, persistence, humour, and intellectual joy, and she didn’t disappoint. The audience was highly entertained by Melinda’s potted biography – including such highlights as meeting royalty, meeting Nirvana and raising prize-winning cattle – and by lessons learnt throughout a brilliant career that has nevertheless had to handle the effect of sexist attitudes and being underestimated.
Melinda’s candour, humour and advice for life stimulated lively discussion among attendees about shared experiences and the importance of building supportive community and of misbehaving when necessary!
Melinda Mills is Professorial Fellow at Nuffield, Professor of Demography and Population Health at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, and Director of the Demographic Science Unit and Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science.