Gay J McDougall (left), a leading international human rights activist, scholar and lawyer is to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of London in this year’s School of Advanced Study’s graduation ceremony. Currently vice-chair and member of the UN treaty body that oversees compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Fordham University School of Law in New York, she will receive a Doctor of Laws honoris causa at Senate House on 7 December.  

The missing score of a string quartet by the suffrage composer Dorothy Howell (1898–1982) dubbed ‘the English Strauss’ – last performed at the Wigmore Hall in 1920, and thought lost for nearly 100 years – has recently been discovered and will be played at a special concert on 1 November.

Wherever there are humans there is culture. And whether you gravitate to London’s South Bank or Strictly Come Dancing, there’s culture for everyone at this year’s Being Human festival with more than 250 free-to-attend public events on offer by more than 73 universities, research organisations and cultural and community groups in and around 50 towns and cities across the UK. 

Image: The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, Caravaggio, right, exploring shape and size using vision and touch Every year, museums have to bear the cost of repairing the damage caused to their artworks by visitors touching them. Why would people want to touch objects they can clearly see? What is it that touch provides that vision do not?