Speaker: Liam Watson Title: Khovanov homology and mutation Abstract: This is the first in a two-part series of talks about joint work with Andrew Lobb. I will give some background on Khovanovfs homological invariant of knots, which categorifies the Jones polynomial\in the sense that this polynomial invariant is recovered as a graded Euler characteristic. The talk will focus on examples and definitions, taking the problem of mutation invariance as a running narrative. In particular, I will attempt to overview what is known about the behaviour of Khovanov homology under Conway mutation, which will touch on some of my joint work with Artem Kotelskiy and Claudius Zibrowius.