2014/15
Mansfield
Contents Message from the Principal College news
3 4-8
Love Lane: from design to reality
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Organ appeal
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Senior Tutor’s Report
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Bursar’s Report
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JCR President’s Report
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MCR President’s Report
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A year in Development and Alumni Relations
16-17
Access Report 2015 - Growing ambitions
18-19
College life
20-25
Ride to Romania
26-29
A classical voyage: interview with Mary Beard OBE, FBA
30-32
There’s a world outside your window: interview with Bob Geldof KBE
34-35
Visiting Student Programme
36-37
On song: Errollyn Wallen MBE
38-40
Adam van Trott and Mansfield
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Playing Juliet in Japan
42-43
Mansfield College Association
44-45
Alumni news
46-47
MCBC 48 College and University prizes 2015 Examination results 2015
49 50-51
Obituaries 52-53 Fellows’ research and publications Events calendar Photo credits: Keiko Ikeuchi (all photos except where specified) Richard Waite (p11) Photovibe (Cover; p2: middle & bottom left; p33; p48: top right) Photovibe/J.Madziarska (p8; p9; p44; p45) Nobuhiko Hikiji (p42-43) Helen Brooks (p18-19) Courtesy of the authors (p14: top left; p20-22; p23: top right & bottom left; p24: top right; p25-29; p30: top left; p36: bottom left; p37; p46: top left; p47: top right & middle; p48: middle & bottom left; p52-53)
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Produced by the Development and Alumni Relations Office at Mansfield College Mansfield College Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3TF Registered Charity Number 1143860 Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at: E development@mansfield.ox.ac.uk W www.mansfield.ox.ac.uk Contents/Credits Editor: Aparajita Kashyap, Alumni Relations Officer Copy-editor: Phil Harriss Design and printing: Windrush Group
We would like to thank all of those - students, staff, alumni and friends - who have contributed to this year’s magazine. Follow us on www.facebook.com/mansfieldoxford twitter.com/mansfieldoxford www.linkedin/groups/gid=1093187&trk=hb_side_g www.flickr.com/92606800@n08/ issu.com/ mansfieldoxford
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Message from the Principal Baroness Helena Kennedy QC This has been a thrilling year at Mansfield. We have been ringing the celebratory bells for the exceptional achievements of two of our great scientists who have received the highest acclaim internationally. Professor Steven Biller has shared in the Nobel Prize for Physics. Steve has been involved for many years in the Sudbury Observatory research into the neutrino, and this year the international collaborative research was lauded as groundbreaking. Mansfield invited the Canadian team-leader, Professor Art McDonald, to join us as an Honorary Fellow and we held a congratulatory dinner here at Christmas for all who were involved. Our very own Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the world-renowned Astro-Physicist, was given the Women of the Year Lifetime Achievement award. It is acknowledged that Dame Jocelyn should have won the Nobel Prize as a young scientist in the 1960s for her discovery of pulsars. The culture at the time meant that women often did not receive the recognition they deserved, and her department head took the prize for the discovery. It was a special pleasure for me to be in the hall when Jocelyn was presented with the prize by the actress Nicole Kidman, who is playing another woman scientist Rosalind Franklin in a West End play. Franklin’s work was vital to the discovery of DNA, but received little acclaim until long after her early death. While Ms Kidman towered over the diminutive scientist she pointed out that Jocelyn was the towering presence in the room. Jocelyn went on to make the most wonderful speech about the importance of women playing their role in all aspects of life. To have such brilliant scholars as part of our academic community is inspiring to all of us and particularly our students. We have had the pleasure of receiving into Mansfield many terrific speakers. When I came to the College I felt very strongly that Mansfield should have a weekly series of talks before the Friday Guest Night dinner in the Chapel Hall and that it should be open to anyone in Oxford who wanted to attend, including the public. This means people who do not know Mansfield come, either as speakers or listeners, and see what a special place it is. This year we have had such luminaries as Professor Mary Beard, the classicist and broadcaster; Professor Steve Jones, the geneticist and broadcaster; Rosie Boycott, editor and food activist; Karen Armstrong,
the writer on ethics and religion; and, to give Photo: Ashwood Photography the Hands Lecture, the campaigner and musician, Bob Geldof. We had to hold his talk in the Sheldonian as it attracted so many people, and of course he was a triumph, speaking with passion about poverty and development and our unsafe world. We had Greg Dyke, who was Director General of the BBC and now chairs the Football Association, and coming up, we have Sir Simon Jenkins, former Editor of The Times, to give the Milton Lecture. Simon’s father studied at Mansfield. On the Love Lane building project, the news is also very exciting. It is becoming a reality! The project is named after Love Lane, which runs along the boundary of Mansfield and Wadham Colleges and was probably once a place of ill repute. It is not used and is barely wide enough to wheel a barrow, but it is temporarily the name assigned to our plans to create a new building in that corner of the grounds. As many of you already know from previous bulletins, it will provide 74 new rooms for our students to live in College and will house the Oxford Institute of Human Rights, an exciting project that will create a world-leading Institute to further human rights globally. The fundraising has gone well and the plan is to start building in January 2016 – all being well. The financing is split between the Institute and Mansfield College, but we still have a gap on the Mansfield side. Guy and Julia Hands are generously donating £2 million and offering a further gift of £1.5 million as matching funds if others will step forward with donations of any size. This means your gift is hugely increased in value to the College, so I do hope that you will help us get over this last hurdle. One of the greatest pleasures for me as Principal is spending time with such a fantastic collection of students. Every Saturday in term I have a brunch in my house and students come and eat smoked salmon and bagels, drink orange juice and a spot of Champagne, and tell me what they are thinking. It is a delight. The shared humanity, compassion, inquiry and ingenuity is what is uplifting. And it confirms for me that despite the challenges in our world, we can be confident that future generations will find solutions. Call me a cock-eyed optimist, but it helps me sleep easy at night.
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College news Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell with Nicole Kidman.
News in brief Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Jocelyn, Professorial Fellow in Physics at Mansfield, has been named one of the ‘Women of the Year’ for 2015. The award was presented to her by Nicole Kidman at a ceremony in London in October. Jane Luca, Chair of Women of the Year said: ‘Dame Jocelyn truly deserves the Prudential Women of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award to celebrate her lifetime accomplishments and her remarkable contributions to science.’ In the past year, Jocelyn has accepted the following named lectureships: Named Lectureships • J. L. Synge Lecturer, Trinity College Dublin (2014). • Founders Lecturer, University of Bath (2015). • Moon Lecturer, San Angelo State University, Texas (2015). • De Coursey Lecturer, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas (2015). She has also received the following honours and awards: • One of BBC’s ‘100 Women’ (2014). • Hon DSc: University of Manchester (2014). • Honorary Member, American Astronomical Society (2015). • Hon DSc’s: McGill University, Canada; Edinburgh Napier University; Strathclyde University; University of Hull (2015). • Medalla de Oro (Gold Medal) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Spain (2015). • Royal Medal, The Royal Society, London (2015).
Professor Alison Salvesen
Alison, Supernumerary Fellow in Oriental Studies at Mansfield, was promoted to a full professorship in the latest Recognition of Distinction exercise at Oxford University. Her new university title is Professor of Early Judaism and Christianity.
Dr Pam Berry
During the past year, Pam, a Supernumerary Fellow in Geography at the College, has been a member of the European Commission Expert Group on naturebased solutions and re-naturing cities. She was also responsible for leading the writing of the report.
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Photo: Megan Taylor
Dr David Clifton
David, a Stipendiary Lecturer in Engineering Science, has received the following grants for the year 2014/5: • DfID: ‘Improving Water Security for the Poor’ (Co-PI, OU, £15m). • Wellcome Trust / DoH: ‘Hospital Alerting via Electronic Noticeboard’ (Co-PI, OU, £1.8m). • NERC: ‘Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor’ (Co-PI, OU, £1.9m). • Wellcome Trust / DoH: ‘PICRAM Extension Funding’ (Co-PI, OU, £200,000). • Wellcome Trust: ‘Learning e-Health Systems for Developing Regions’ (Co-PI, OU, £96,000). • China Scholarship Council: ‘Doctoral Funding ‘ (Supervisor, £92,000). • IET / Balliol College: ‘Research Forum’ (PI, £7,300). • Wellcome Trust: ‘Tetanus Studies in Vietnam’ (Co-PI, OU, £4,000). • China Mobile: ‘m-Health for Intelligent Health Monitoring’ (PI, £56,000). • ARM, ‘Centre for Affordable Healthcare Technology’ (Co-PI, OU, £53,000). • Malaysia Ministry of Education: ‘Fellowship Funding’ (Supervisor, £34,000). • Microsoft, ‘Modernising Medical Microbiology’ (Co-PI, OU, US$40,000). • IET, ‘Chinese Research Forum’ (PI, £4,000). • Flanders Research Council, ‘Fellowship Funding’ (Supervisor, £4,000). • Balliol Interdisciplinary Institute: ‘Machine Learning for Tracking Infectious Disease’ (PI, £3,000). • EPSRC, ‘Vacation Project Funding’ (PI, £2,000). • Lubbock Trust Award, ‘Machine Learning for Tracking Infectious Disease’ (PI, £1,000). He has also been awarded the following prizes and Fellowships: • Microsoft Research Award, 2015. • IOP / IPEM Martin Black Prize, 2015. • Best Poster Prize, World Water Week, 2015.
College news Dr Pavlos Eleftheriadis
• Governing Body Fellowship, Balliol College, Oxford, 2014. • Best Paper Prize, International Medical Informatics Association, 2014.
Dr Michèle Mendelssohn
Michèle, Mansfield’s Tutorial Fellow in English, has been appointed the Deputy Director of the Rothermere American Institute for 2015/16. You can read more about her current projects on page 9 of Blueprint: http://issuu.com/oxfordalumni/docs/blueprint_ july2015_2
Professor Dame Marina Warner
Marina, an Honorary Fellow of Mansfield, has been awarded the 2015 Holberg Prize. This prize was established by the Norwegian Government in 2003 and is awarded annually to scholars who have made outstanding contributions to research in the arts and humanities, social science, law or theology. Chair of the Holberg Academic Committee, Mary Jacobus, commented: ‘As a storyteller and novelist in her own right, Professor Dame Marina Warner Marina Warner recognises and celebrates the alternative forms of knowledge to be found in narrative. In work that is at once dazzling and accessible, she ranges across the fields of comparative literature, mythography and folklore, popular culture and translation, the encounter of east and west, the study of art, symbols and objects, the history of science, and the role of women.’
Dr Pavlos Eleftheriadis
Fellow in Law and Dean of the College, Pavlos was an invited speaker at the third OECD Integrity Forum, which took place in Paris on March 25th and 26th, 2015.
The OECD Integrity Forum is an anti-corruption forum of policy makers, businesses, civil society, academia and other stakeholders. It aims to identify new approaches to prevent, detect and sanction corruption. Pavlos was the moderator of the second plenary session, on ‘Reaping the benefits of Investment for All: Preventing the Capture by Special Interests’. In his opening remarks, he spoke of his recent work on studying the political economy of special interests in Greece and of his experience of EU public procurement rules, which have contributed greatly to increasing transparency and integrity in the award of public contracts throughout the European Union. Further information, presentations and other materials from the third Integrity Forum are available from the OECD’s website (http://www.oecd.org/ corruption/oecd-integrity-week-2015.htm).
Dr Kathryn Gleadle, Tutorial Fellow in Modern History at Mansfield, and Dr Vicente Grau, Tutorial Fellow in Engineering at the College, were both successful candidates in the University’s recent Recognition of Distinction exercise.
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College news
News in brief • Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Faculty of Humanities Conference on Music and Technology: opening keynote (January 2015).
Dr Paul Lodge
Professor Georgina Born
Professor Georgina Born In September 2015, Georgina, Fellow at Mansfield and Professor of Music and Anthropology at Oxford, was elected as a Member of the Academia Europaea, in the Musicology and History of Art and Architecture section. This is an honour equivalent to being elected a Fellow of the British Academy. In addition, she has received the following honours in the past year: • British Academy Radcliffe-Brown Lecturer in Social Anthropology (2015). • Honorary Professorship, University College London, Department of Anthropology (2015 on). • Visiting Professorship II, University of Oslo, Faculty of Humanities (2014 on). Georgina has also delivered the following keynotes: • Royal Musical Association Annual Conference, University of Birmingham: the Peter Le Huray keynote lecture (September 2015). • Ninth Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900, Glasgow University: keynote lecture (September 2015). • King’s College, Cambridge: ‘Creative Labour(er): anthropological perspectives on the work of art’ conference: opening keynote (June 2015). • British Academy Radcliffe-Brown Biennial Lecture in Social Anthropology (May 2015). • Whitney Humanities Institute, Yale University: public lecture (April 2015). • Columbia University, conference marking the 50th anniversary of Current Musicology: keynote (March 2015). • New York University, Society for Ethnomusicology Mid Atlantic Section, annual conference: keynote (March 2015). 6
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On Monday 14th September 2015, Paul, Mansfield’s Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy, was part of a group of academics who met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The meeting was part of the formal launch of the Dalai Lama Centre for Compassion, of which Paul was recently elected a Senior Research Fellow. The Dalai Lama Centre is nonpartisan and nonconfessional, and is committed to supporting contributions bearing on compassion and related values from all faith traditions and none. Founded under the auspices of the Dalai Lama, through the work of his collaborator and translator Alexander Norman, the Centre has the primary objective of advancing humanity’s understanding of compassion and related values. To this end it conducts research that takes inspiration from the ethical systems of the world’s great spiritual traditions, while retaining the capacity to contribute to the debates of secular ethics. The Centre also supports work that situates the ethics of compassion within the worldview of modern science, and brings scientific enquiry to bear on ethical issues. • In September 2014, Paul attended a workshop organised at Princeton University on his book The Leibniz-De Volder Correspondence, Lodge, P. (ed.) (Yale, 2013). In the past year, Paul has also received a Teaching Excellence award with special mention of his important contribution to the teaching of Women in Philosophy and Women Philosophers.
Dr Paul Lodge
Professor Ros Ballaster
Professor Stephen Blundell
Stephen, Professorial Fellow in Physics at Mansfield, was a guest on Melvyn Bragg’s BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time (on the subject of the Earth’s core) on April 30th, 2015, and also appeared on the BBC World Service programme The Forum about magnetism on April 21st, 2015. Both programmes are still available on the web.
Professor Steve Biller
Professor Ros Ballaster
The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics was given for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, an effect that explains how particles called neutrinos (emitted by the sun) can change their properties as they hurtle from the sun to earth. One half of the prize was given to Art McDonald, the leader of a team in which Mansfield’s own Steve Biller played a key part. Although Nobel rules dictate that only one person can receive the prize, the award is a recognition of the dedicated work by the whole team.
From September 26th to October 5th, 2015, Ros was Visiting Professor at the Women’s University of Japan in Tokyo. She also delivered a lecture on ‘Becoming Jane: the women who wrote before Austen’ in the ‘Oxford Academics in Japan’ series at Oxford University in Japan.
Steve, Tutorial Fellow at Mansfield, and Professor of Experimental Particle Physics at Oxford, commented: ‘It’s been fantastic to have received this recognition. The experiment wasn’t easy, and sometimes the line between a complete disaster and winning both a Nobel and Breakthrough Prize can be pretty thin – it took an exceptional team of people to pull this off.’
In September 2015, Ros (Professorial Fellow in English Literature at Mansfield) was one of 13 new members nominated by Section for Literary and Theatrical Studies to Academia Europaea (the Academy of Europe). She has also been appointed to serve on the Voltaire Foundation Fund Board of Management.
Dr Richard C. Powell
Mansfield’s Tutorial Fellow in Geography, Richard was awarded the following grants during 2014/15: • Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship, 2015/16: ‘Holistic Greenland? Science, politics and a geographical imagination’ (£44,824). • Independent Social Research Foundation Mid-Career Fellowship, 2016/17: ‘Environment in the geopolitical imagination? Knowledge formations in Geopolitics, International Relations and Geography after 1945’ (£59,967). • Arts and Humanities Research Council, Collaborative Doctoral Studentship (with the Royal Geographical Society [with the Institute of British Geographers]), 2015-18, ‘International networks and cosmopolitan science: Geographical Societies and Greenland, c.1880 to 1939’ (£57,597).
Professor Jon Chapman
Jon, Mansfield’s Professorial Fellow in Mathematics and its Application, has been awarded the Naylor Prize and Lectureship in Applied Mathematics by the London Mathematical Society, for his outstanding contributions to modelling and methods development in Applied Mathematics.
Professor Peter Keevash
Peter has been awarded the Whitehead Prize by the London Mathematical Society, for his work in combinatorics, in particular his stunning proof of the existence of combinatorial designs for all parameters satisfying the obvious necessary conditions. Peter is Professorial Fellow in Mathematics at Mansfield.
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College news
Arrivals & departures Arrivals Revd Canon John Ovenden, Chaplain John joined us in October 2014 from Harris Manchester College.
Anna Grabarczyk, Library Assistant Anna joined Mansfield in early September 2015, having recently completed an MA in Library and Information Studies. She was previously at the Social Science Library.
New Honorary Fellows: Professor Dame Marina Warner, DBE, CBE, FBA, FRSL Mr Ben Okri, OBE, FRSL Ms Errollyn Wallen, MBE Mr Bob Geldof, KBE Professor Arthur (Art) McDonald, FRS
Edyta Wesolowska, Head Housekeeper
Edyta joined the Accommodation Team in July 2015. She was previously at Merton College.
Pawel Sinilo, Chef de Partie
Pawel joined the kitchen in September 2015. He was previously a Senior Sous Chef at Witney Lakes Resort.
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Elena Bancroft, Dining Hall Supervisor
Ellie joined the Catering Team in July 2015. She was previously a CafĂŠ Manager at Blenheim Palace.
Kevin Flynn, Lodge Porter
Kevin joined the Porter’s Lodge in July 2015. He previously worked at Oxford Town Hall.
Matt Brock, IT Manager
Matt joined Mansfield at the end of November 2015, from Brasenose College.
Katherine Camm, Academic Registrar
Katherine joined us in September 2015. She was previously at the Oriental Institute in Oxford.
Departures We bid farewell to the following members of staff and wish them well: Dr David Lincicum, Tutorial Fellow in Theology Dr Matti Vihola, Tutorial Fellow in Statistics Neil McCarthy, Catering Manager Helen Etty, Academic Registrar Dr Duncan Tooke, IT Manager Oliver Mahony, Assistant Librarian
College news
Portrait of an Oxford college
Mansfield College Contents: 1. Origins and Reinvention 2. The College Buildings 3. Governance and Access 4. Three Principals Look Back 5. Three Thematic Perspectives 6. College Life: Then and Now General Editors: Stephen Blundell and Michael Freeden Photography: Keiko Ikeuchi
From various perspectives, this book tells the interwoven stories of Mansfield’s past and present, its extraordinary growth and development, and its ambitions for the future. It features stunning photographs by the College’s photographer in residence, Keiko Ikeuchi, as well as never-before published pictures from Mansfield’s archive.
Specifications: Hardback, 176 pages, 270 x 230mm over 150 illustrations, ISBN: 9781906507497 Publication: July 2012 New price: £10 Copies of the book are available: Online at tmiltd.com By phone on +44 (0) 20 7336 0144 Please contact the Development Office on + 44 (0) 1865 270998 for more information.
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Love Lane: from design to reality As the start of construction draws closer, Stuart Cade, Partner at Rick Mather Architects, reports on developments in the design and planning of Mansfield’s most ambitious building project.
high-quality and flexible space for lectures, film screenings and musical performances, which can, in turn, spill out on to the adjacent external terrace. The Institute of Human Rights spaces have been developed with the College, University and Law Faculty and will be located around a double-height light well, which also forms the main entrance to the IHR. The team has been developing further detailed construction information with the newly appointed contractor, for a start on site at the beginning of 2016. Before this takes place, a team of archaeologists will be inspecting the site for any potential remnants of the 17th-century Civil War defensive ramparts, which are located to the south and west of the site. Following the investigation, the lowerground floors will be constructed. Once this is complete, a Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) frame will be installed for the four levels of student accommodation. This system is made off-site and will be assembled far quicker than a traditional concrete frame; it also represents a reduction in carbon usage over a traditional construction method. The design has developed in this way to reduce disruption to the dayto-day activities of the College as far as possible, whilst also providing a durable and energy-efficient construction. We are excited about seeing the building appear on site, and the far-reaching benefits it will have for students and staff of the College when complete in 2017.
CGI by Rick Mather Architects
We are delighted to provide an update on our designs for the new Love Lane building. The detailed design for the building has been progressing with input from the College as well as a team of specialist designers in recent months. We have engaged with enthusiastic students to develop the requirements and design for the 74 student rooms and communal kitchens, which form the top four storeys of the new building. The exciting designs for the auditorium have been developed with the College and will provide a 10 Mansfield 2014/15
CGI by Rick Mather Architects
John Ovenden, Chaplain
Organ appeal Mansfield College possesses a wonderful romantic Victorian organ, installed in the Chapel in 1890 by the firm W G Vowles of Bristol. Vowles was one of the most successful provincial organ builders in the years preceding 1914, with its reputation founded on good workmanship and mechanical reliability. The organ and its case are original features of the College Chapel and as such they are a significant part of Mansfield’s heritage. It is for this reason that we feel the time is now right to return the organ to its former glory. To that end, we are currently reviewing the costs involved with reputable organ builders. I would anticipate an estimate of at least £250,000. Accordingly an Organ Appeal Committee has been set up which will, over two years, hope to raise the necessary funds from a variety of sources.
It will, needless to say, be a mammoth task but I am confident it will be achievable. In order to raise such a substantial amount of money, it is important that we look at how the instrument will be used once it is fully restored. We also aim to raise funds by holding a series of concerts and hosting a programme of events in which the organ can feature. An organ brochure will be produced shortly, which will give further details. I would like to thank you all for your help and encouragement as we go forward with this exciting venture. I would also like to thank John Oxlade, our Director of Music, and Nicholas Thistlethwaite, Organ Consultant to the Committee, who have already given valuable advice regarding the way we should proceed.
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Senior Tutor’s Report
Lucinda Rumsey Mansfield has had an excellent year of results, with 20 of our students awarded firsts in Schools – a new record number for the College. There were five firsts in Physics, four in Engineering, three in Geography, two each in Law, Maths and Materials Science, and one each in Human Sciences and English. Mansfield came 18th in the Norrington Table, continuing our best run of Schools results in the history of the College. Sixteen first years were awarded Distinctions in Prelims, and more than 50 of our students are now Scholars and Exhibitioners. Eighteen University prizes were awarded to Mansfield students for excellent Schools or Prelims performances this year. As well as enjoying the success of our students who win University prizes, we are very grateful to the generosity of past and more recent alumni who have named and funded prizes to reward Mansfield students. This was the first year that the prize donated by Kwabena Osei-Boateng, a former Mansfield Engineering student, was awarded for the best Prelims performance in Engineering, and Kwabena came back to Mansfield recently to meet the first winner of his award. Alumni and friends have also named prizes in memory of former members of College, and in the past year we have established such awards in memory of former Theology student and tutor Lynda Patterson, former Maths tutor Bob Coates, and Adam Monk, our third year Maths student who sadly died in 2014. All these members of College enriched the life of Mansfield with their
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love of their subject, and linking their names with generations of future students who excel at that same subject seems a fitting tribute. During the past year I have been looking, with our Accountant Dawn Oliver, at our archive records of funds and prizes established over more than a century of Mansfield’s history. A few of these can no longer be used for their original purpose. The Frank Morgan (Warminster) Bequest was established to pay for a Mansfield student to preach at Warminster church. The terms of the bequest are modest: a student should only attend to preach if they happen to be in the area. The last time a student was in the area was 1972, and the fund now supports the upkeep of the College Chapel. To me, the most interesting of these older funds is the Reunion Fund, which is an offshoot of the Nathan Whitley Travel Scholarship. I am sure many of you will remember the Nathan Whitley fund, established in 1906 to enable students ‘to travel abroad in countries which have some connection with the roots of our culture’. Hundreds of Mansfield students have benefited from the generosity of Nathan Whitley and his family. This year the fund was awarded to support a group of students cycling in northern France, a student training as a yoga teacher in Darjeeling, and a student working in a school in Nablus, Palestine. Between 1939 and 1945 no trips could take place, so the travel fund was diverted to the Reunion Fund, to pay for alumni to come to Commemoration at Mansfield. This is the 70th year since Mansfield students were able to start travelling again.
Photo: Robert Trafford
Bursar’s Report Allan Dodd The academic year 2014/15 was something of a transitional period for me – a short but demanding journey from the East Range to Love Lane. Let me explain. The single biggest task that I have dealt with since arriving in 2012 – the East Range project – was completed in August 2014. We therefore embarked on the 2014/15 year with a set of fantastic new facilities: for the students, a new cafeteria and social space where the old kitchens once stood; for the Fellows of the College, newly refurbished rooms in the Tower; and for the catering staff, a new state-of-the-art kitchen. The project has been transformational for all concerned (even if the new students just assumed it was business as usual). So if you haven’t been back since – do come and see the results. Things didn’t stop there – in Michaelmas term we re-landscaped the north end of the Quad and created a beautiful new garden area next to the new terrace; and in Hilary we refurbished the Chapel, installing under-floor heating, a stunning oak floor, and new lighting throughout. As you will probably know already, the Chapel is now our principal dining space, and a magnificent one at that, while still providing a home for regular services led by our new Chaplain and other significant religious occasions. In parallel with that, we started planning for the Love Lane project. As other parts of Mansfield Magazine will show, this is probably the biggest project the College has undertaken since being established, and a huge effort will be required to deliver it. A major part of that effort has already taken place, to raise sufficient funds to commit to the project, but there is still a long way to go to fund it fully. Any financial help that anyone can provide will be very warmly received. Interestingly, I have just read in the Vice-Chancellor’s 2014/15 report on the wider University that 1,200 individual donors were involved in Pembroke’s recent project. That sounds huge, but to put it in perspective, it would take only one quarter of our known alumni for us to match that number. Setting fundraising on one side for the moment, where does the project stand? Well, we have just appointed a main contractor – Beard – under a design and build contract, and we are now working with that firm to complete the detailed design work, with a view to starting on site early in 2016. There will then follow
18 months of construction and, barring unforeseen events, the building will be ready for the 2017/18 academic year. The key benefit to students is that it will remove the need for an undergraduate cohort to rent in Oxford’s increasingly expensive property market during their second year. That is the equivalent of giving each of them a bursary of around £2,000. So, if you are ever thinking of making a donation to relieve student hardship, the most useful thing you can do is to help us build Love Lane and thereby allow our students to avoid the costs and pitfalls of the rented property market. What of other things? Despite all of the above we are keeping our financial head above water. We made a modest surplus last year, all of which is held in reserve for Love Lane. Our endowment remains way below the Oxford college median, so we have to invest fairly conservatively, but we had our best year for some time from investment income. We also persuaded the College Contribution Committee (the body that manages Oxford’s modest redistribution from rich colleges to poor) to contribute both to the Chapel project and to other more modest but essential developments such as fire alarms, electrical circuitry upgrades, and the creation of additional library workspace by conversion of the computer room (the last of these being next summer’s project). Over the past four years we have persuaded this Committee to grant the College almost £1m to meet the costs of essential development work. The Committee members make that commitment to us because they believe in what we are doing and can see that it is making a real difference. Finally, I should use this piece to remind you that the College has a fantastic team of incredibly loyal staff, whether that be academics, administrators or operational staff. I am lucky to work with them and every student who passes through Mansfield College benefits from their unstinting efforts.
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JCR President’s Report Luke Charters-Reid PPE, 2013 It has been an immense pleasure to see such enthusiasm within the JCR for student politics, during a time of much change and development at the College. I have been privileged to work alongside a dedicated group of students who have sought to give back something to the JCR, to the College, and to the University. In April this year, the East Range building was finally opened to students. It has become popular as a place to study during the day, and as a place to socialise during the evenings. As a way of expressing thanks for putting up with many terms of construction work, the College kindly put on a mini-ball (or ‘blop’ as it became known) for students in Hilary term. This was a resounding success, themed on New Orleans blue bayou, and provided an evening of respite ahead of the busy exam season. Thank you to all those involved for helping to organise a wonderful evening. The JCR has strengthened its engagement with the University student union (OUSU) over the past year. In particular, it now appoints a termly OUSU representative. Mansfield was lucky to host ‘PresCom’ in Trinity term, the conference of JCR presidents, as well as a meeting of OUSU council, the University-wide student decision-making body. Mansfield students have also been involved in a number of student campaigns during the course of the academic year. OUSU held a referendum on whether students should be able to choose whether to wear sub-fusc for examinations. I was sadly not successful in campaigning for this choice, with students voting resoundingly in favour of keeping the status quo of compulsory wearing. Several students were involved in the successful campaign run by OUSU to save Castle Mill graduate accommodation. Mansfield students have also played an integral role in founding two University-wide campaigns: ‘Mind Your Head’ and ‘It Happens Here’, which have sought to raise awareness within the
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student population of mental health and sexual violence respectively. A number of Mansfield students have expressed great excitement in a project that for many years has been on the JCR’s agenda. Created over two decades ago by OUSU, the Reach Scholarship gives talented students from developing countries the opportunity to study for an undergraduate degree here at Oxford. The JCR overwhelmingly voted in favour of a very generous contribution to (we hope) make this scholarship possible in Mansfield from 2016. However, at times, 2014/15 has been a profoundly difficult year for many Mansfield students with the tragic loss of one of our undergraduates, Adam. The kindness that students have shown to one another in these sad times is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life, and has confirmed to me that Mansfield is a remarkably special and caring place. Sorrowfully, in the same year, we lost our beloved cat Erasmus, who is best remembered for providing companionship during late-night essay-writing and studying. It follows that this has been a year to remember for the JCR, in terms of the sad, and the good times. We shall miss our recent leavers, but wish them well in their future endeavours, and hope to see them back to visit College very soon. We welcomed the new students to Mansfield in October, and look forward to the triennial College ball in February. We also look forward to the future developments in College, particularly the Love Lane project.
MCR President’s Report Peter Bergamin DPhil Oriental Studies, 2013 The academic year 2014/15 was an eventful one, indeed. We moved into our new MCR just before Freshers’ Week, getting very good feedback for both the location of the space and its new furnishings. The room offers a quiet space in College for MCR members, and is contrasted by the common room in the Rhodes-Wolfson building, which serves as a more informal area and houses the furnishings from the former MCR, including TV and games. Through this initiative we hope to stimulate more social interaction between MCR members, whether they be in College or resident in one of the many College accommodations in the Cowley Road area. In addition to all of this, The Crypt opened in September 2014, and has proved to be highly popular with MCR members, providing a space to mingle with other members of the College. Although we operated with slightly reduced numbers – this, in a year where we had a record 130 MCR members – the MCR Bench nonetheless organised a stellar array of activities for the year. We continued with MCR Brunches in the Rhodes-Wolfson Common Room; occurring several times each term, these provided the opportunity to catch up with colleagues, and to discuss welfare issues. Our new Peer Supporters have – after a period of training – been working with their MCR colleagues since Trinity
term. And, of course, there has been the usual array of parties, movie nights, exchange dinners with other colleges, and many, many feasts in our own Dining Hall: Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, and the always successful – if not a little hazy in memory – Burns Night Supper. This year, the termly Mahony lecture series saw talks delivered by three MCR members – Lucy Mahoney, Emily S Kempson, and Nada Kubikova, as well as SCR member, Joel Rasmussen. I am indebted to them all for agreeing to speak, and, indeed, for the high quality of their lectures. In June 2015, I handed over the MCR Presidency to Andrew Dwyer. Andrew sat as Vice-President on this last Bench, and having worked with him this past year, I have every confidence that his Presidency will be a resounding success, full of innovative ideas, excellent organisation, and good humour. It has been an honour and a pleasure to serve as MCR President these past two years, and I want to thank all MCR members from both of these years for their support. I wish them continued success in the future.
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A year in Development and Alumni Relations Helen Jones Development Director It has been another exhilarating year here in College – and you can see the evidence throughout this edition of the Mansfield Magazine. We have enjoyed meeting many more of you over the past 12 months at a range of events: from the Annual Hands lecture given by our newest Honorary Fellow, Bob Geldof KBE, to the various subject dinners and the University Alumni Weekend. Thank you for joining us and sharing your experiences. ‘Why be an engaged member of the alumni community?’, you might ask. The obvious response is that it offers a way to remain in touch with friends. Nevertheless, it also provides a means of meeting new and like-minded people. Yes, there are networking opportunities, but there’s also the chance simply to be part of a welcoming community with shared experiences.
For those who have supported Mansfield through making a donation this year, the ‘Donor News’ publication is a way for us to show our gratitude and recognise those who wish to be listed. It also allows us to tell you about the impact your donations have had, particularly on our teaching, student support, access work and our buildings. Thank you!
Our popular London events are great examples, where attendees are still talking to friends old and new, and from all generations, long after the drinks have been cleared away. We continue to try and vary the types of events that we hold, and many more of our alumni gatherings and College events now include a lecture, presentation or academic discussion. They offer, we hope, an opportunity to keep discovering, and to take part once again in rigorous Oxford debate.
As the Principal and Bursar have already outlined, the Love Lane Building Campaign is our most ambitious fundraising project to date. The building will help develop our facilities for the benefit of future generations of students, while fostering the College’s special sense of community. It will provide Mansfield students with modern teaching and living spaces and enable us to accommodate the majority of our undergraduate students on-site, along with housing a state of the art lecture auditorium. The building, designed by Rick Mather Architects, will also be home to the University Institute of Human Rights.
The philanthropic element of alumni support is extremely important. Alumni financial support can enable us to improve the student experience and put Mansfield on a firmer footing, but we rarely discuss how giving can benefit the donor. I firmly believe that giving should make you feel good. Every time the College publishes Finals results, updates you on the activities of our students, promotes the work of our academics, or simply shares a photo of life at Mansfield, I hope you feel proud that the College is doing well.
We are thrilled to announce that we have already raised nearly £11m in pledges from alumni and non-alumni towards the building costs of £13m, and aim to commence construction in January 2016. We are hugely grateful to all who have committed their support to the Campaign so far.
‘The Love Lane Building will help to alleviate the stresses of dealing with private landlords both in terms of the welfare and the financial need of the student. Many of the issues I saw arising last year whilst living out of College – such as struggling with contracts, retrieving deposits and paying 12 months of rent for just six months of residence – would be resolved, and in the process Mansfield would become the more accessible College it strives to be.’ Rachel Milton , PPE 2011
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Mansfield’s website now has an alumni area, allowing you to log in using the same details as the central University alumni pages. Register online to explore more: https://www.alumniweb.ox.ac.uk/mansfield/home-login We now also have a profile on the new Oxford Alumni Community portal. As a member, you can post and search for jobs, view events, and share professional insights. All alumni will have their own profiles, and Mansfield’s profile will help us communicate with you! https://oxfordalumnicommunity.org/
‘Mansfield is a busy thriving College. It is our ambition to make it possible for all our undergraduate students through the three years of their study to have the opportunity to live on-site and contribute to this rich cultural and academic ethos. The en-suite rooms looking across the Quad will be beautiful living and working spaces close to the heart of the main faculty buildings.’ Ros Ballaster, Fellow in English
CGIs by Rick Mather Architects
Importantly, the building will help sustain Mansfield into the future. The improved accommodation and facilities will enhance the College’s appeal not just to our students, but as a conference venue. A steady state income of £500,000 per annum has been projected. These funds will be reinvested into College – significantly benefiting Mansfield’s environment, its teaching and its student support and access. To reiterate the words of the Bursar, ‘enabling undergraduates to stay in College is the equivalent of giving each of them a bursary of around £2,000.’
This is an extremely exciting time and you can play your part in ensuring the building is fully funded. Donations of any size are warmly welcomed and will be match-funded, thanks to the generous support of Guy Hands (PPE, 1978) and Julia Hands MBE. Please consider your personal support to the project and to College; for more information, please consult the College website, view our film https://youtube/lpKocUzGNhc or contact me directly. We shall be sending regular updates of the building progress, funds raised and how you can get involved over the coming months. For those who receive our regular e-newsletters, you will have seen that Mansfield alumni are involved in a wide range of fascinating endeavours. Please get in touch with us to share your news. We look forward to welcoming you to College, or to one of our events in the UK and abroad in the coming months. It is an enormous privilege to be part of a team that supports the Mansfield alumni community.
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Access Report 2015
Growing ambitions Lucinda Rumsey Tutor for Admissions
Lucinda and student helpers on the July Open Day.
During 2014/15 Mansfield’s Access Officer Helen Brooks and I ran more than 130 outreach and access events, and we have just finished the fifth year of working with schools in our chosen regions. In early March 2015 we took a group of students and tutors on the road, and held four large Application Conferences for our regional schools: Bexley and Greenwich, Bromley and Croydon, Doncaster and York, and East Riding and Hull. In Oxford we hosted our usual open days for 400 Further Education and Sixth Form College students, continuing the work with FE colleges that we started in 1999. When we are sitting, tired and cold, on railway platforms on the way back from distant visits, we sometimes wonder about the impact our outreach work achieves, and how we can measure whether it is effective. So here are a few statistics. One measure of success would be to look at how many of the thousands of students we talk to each year end up applying to study at Mansfield. In 2015 our applications increased compared to 2014, but only around 50 (some 20%) of those applicants had attended one of our school or 18 Mansfield 2014/15
college events. That may be a narrow measure. We do not only do outreach work to encourage applicants to Mansfield, but to Oxford more generally, and a good proportion of the students we worked with (more than 700) applied to Oxford this year. We trust that outreach is a combined college effort, and hope that just as other colleges benefit from our work with schools, we benefit from theirs. As Mansfield admits students in a small range of subjects, and as we wouldn’t advise large numbers of students from one school to apply to the same college for the same subject, there are good reasons for our outreach work to encourage applications to Oxford rather than just to Mansfield. Nearly 40% of the candidates who did apply to Mansfield for 2015/16 entry had previously come to visit us on one of our three summer open days, so we know that seeing the College in the sunshine, and talking to our students and tutors, has a positive effect! Increasing application numbers is not the only measure of success. Oxford University has recently signed a new Access agreement with the Office of Fair Access (OFFA), in exchange for Oxford being allowed to charge the £9,000
Lucinda running a taster session on the Study Day.
Helen running a taster session on the Study Day.
Mike running a workshop on the Hull and East Riding Application Conference.
tuition fee. Under this agreement the University has to provide bursaries for students in financial need, engage in outreach work, and increase its proportion of students from groups that have not traditionally applied to Oxford. For several years Mansfield has been the college with by far the highest proportion of its UK students from the state sector, around 80% compared with the Oxford average of just under 60%, but the OFFA targets are more nuanced. There are three main targets: Target 1: increasing to 25% the proportion of students from schools and colleges that historically have had a limited progression to Oxford. Target 2: increasing to 9% the proportion of students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. Target 3: increasing to 13% the proportion of students from neighbourhoods with low participation in higher education. If Mansfield is to measure its effectiveness by meeting the targets set by OFFA and Oxford University, then it has done well. We passed those targets last year and look likely
to do so in future years. We have been very successful at encouraging applications from all three under-represented groups, and especially from schools that have high academic attainment but low levels of success in Oxford admissions. The schools in one of our regions have doubled their number of applicants to Oxford in the past three years, and more than doubled their number of successful applicants. We have not so far tried to target students according to their postcode or socio-economic background, as our link is with schools rather than individuals, but many of the regions we work with have high numbers of students who fall into these categories. I am not sure if any of these measures really captures whether our outreach work is effective. I hope that our work with schools and colleges increases the understanding students have of the options available to them, and helps them to make the best choice for their future academic life. I hope that our work is also of educational benefit: that students learn something academically useful to them. If they go on to apply to Mansfield and thrive, that’s great, but if, after attending one of our events, they know better what they want, and decide to apply elsewhere, that too seems like effective outreach. Mansfield 2014/15
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College life
Sports Report
Compiled by Mark Hattersley (Maths, 2013) Sports and Societies Officer
Rowing
Captains: Elliot Warriner Bacon Physics, 2013, Holly Leadbitter Geography, 2013 President: Matthew Bradbury Materials Science, 2011 There has been a notable increase in popularity for rowing within the College, and MCBC now boasts more than 50 active members. For the first time in history, we entered six boats into Torpids and Summer VIIIs in 2015 and pulled off some incredible results. The Men’s 1st and 2nd boats won blades in Torpids, which have been chalked up next to the Porter’s Lodge. Summer Eights saw five Mansfield crews bumping – another record! Next year there will be a new set of captains and, it is to be hoped, some more keen novices to train.
Football
Captain Mark Hattersley Maths, 2013 Continuing our successful partnership with Merton, Mansfield’s footballers made it to the quarter final of Cuppers this season, only to be beaten by a strong New College side. Our league position left a little to be desired, but we look forward to bouncing back next season. The team also gained some exciting international transfers, with new members hailing from the likes of Poland, Ecuador and Australia. These players offered us a great lifeline after many key members graduated last year. In Trinity, we had our yearly match against the Old Boys, which saw the return of 11 alumni of the team. They fought out a close match in the pouring rain only to come up short to the current 1st team. We also entered three teams into five-a-side Cuppers, with two making it through to the knockout stages. Our finest game this season was a glorious 5-1 victory over LMH in Hilary, after a courageous switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation – meticulously planned during the captain’s lectures preceding the match. Our top scorer was once again Pal Kovacs (ex Merton Barman!), and player of the year was our new Aussie playmaker Joe Constable.
Squash
Captain Tinger Wen Materials Science, 2013 Mansfield Squash has had a strong year, with the 2nd team excelling particularly in its league. There has been a great intake of freshers, which has had the effect of shuffling up the 1st team. Merton allows Mansfielders to play on its squash courts whenever they want, for free, which is a brilliant facility to have. Once again, many players have taken up the sport for the first time: a fantastic result! The captain next year will be another Materials Scientist, Angus Braithwaite.
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College life
Hockey
Captain Nicholas Tew Merton The M&Ms enjoyed a fine season in Michaelmas, only narrowly missing out on a promotion to Division 1. It all started off in rather limp fashion with a 3-0 defeat to the talented yet rather cocky St Catz. That was swiftly followed by a hard-fought loss at Magdalen, 5-3. Two games in, zero points, eight goals against and relegation was looking likely. Nevertheless, we hit back straight away, thrashing Balliol 5-0 before stuttering to a 3-1 victory against seven-man Hugh’s. In the final game of the season we were up against Oriel, a useful side who only just knocked us out of
Cuppers (1-0). A 2-0 result would have seen us promoted, but we fell agonisingly short winning 1-0 against the now Division 1 side. The Hilary season was a different story, with some new recruits helping us to achieve some great results, including beating a strong Jesus side 3-2. This resulted in our promotion to Division 1, giving the whole squad the opportunity to attend the Merton Sports dinner – a great way to end a successful year of hockey! The coming year will be a real test, as the M&Ms will be in the top division. With many players graduating, our fingers are crossed for some new recruits!
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College life
Sports Report Rugby
Captain James Costello O’Reilly English, 2013 This season of transition for Mansfield/ Merton Rugby Club started, to say the least, slowly. When the entire kit was unwittingly chucked away by College scouts, the Photo: Thomas Barnett Photography team resembled the dregs of a belowpar fancy dress party – once make-up perfectly to unleash the hard-running of Zac Keane has been sweated off and novelty hats (next year’s captain), and the nymph-like glides of misplaced. In typical M&Ms style, though, the side Jonny Mellor from deep. responded. A thrilling and unprecedented 100-5 dispatching of Pembroke helped us achieve promotion In the pack, Jay Garcia’s staggering commitment, the from Division 4 in Michaelmas term, and we also beat wince-inducing impact of Joe ‘Grond’ Sorrell, and Dan Pembroke in the first round of Cuppers, before losing Orford’s dogged bravery in the ruck explained precisely to the very strong New College in the second round. why Paddy Ferguson (last year’s captain) deemed it worth sticking around two years for his first win. Hilary saw the addition of a few key players and, from this developing squad, leaders began to emerge (mostly, of course, from Mansfield). A stylish half-back pairing of Chris Baird and Yannick Spencer combined
It was a joy to captain them, and the squad are looking forward to another year of development, victories and of course the celebrations after.
Netball
Captains: Clemi Collett Theology, 2013 Netball at Mansfield really took off during 2014/15. We had some very successful matches in Michaelmas term, including a 17-2 win again Lincoln and a 10-7 win against Pembroke. Competition for places was fierce, especially for the one male player allowed on the team. With our dashing new netball kit, everyone is looking forward to another successful year.
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College life
Pool
Captain Gianluca Bush Engineering, 2012 An outrageous performance from Mansfield against St Hugh’s at the end-of-season play-offs chalked up another victory, winning the College pool team promotion to Division 1. The team lost several prominent figures at the end of Trinity term, but our returning players are busy searching for replacements. With this break into the top division, the team is on cue for a fantastic year where we won’t have to rely on pot luck.
Basketball
Captain Ludo Lazzeretti Engineering, 2013 Mansfield-Merton basketball had a strong team this year. We played well in Michaelmas, winning most of
our games – and then we won every single one of our matches in Hilary! Sadly, we failed to emulate last year’s Cuppers success in Trinity, but throughout the year the team has shown why it is still a force to be feared in college basketball.
Badminton
Captain James Zhou Materials Science, 2013 Mansfield-Merton basketball had a strong team this year. We played well in Michaelmas, winning most of our games – and then we won every single one of our matches in Hilary! Sadly, we failed to emulate last year’s Cuppers success in Trinity, but throughout the year the team has shown why it is still a force to be feared in college basketball.
Mansfield Poetry Society
Athanassia Williamson English, 2013 Poetry Soc grows stronger every year, drawing old and new members together for our termly socials and open mic nights. Throughout 2014/15, we had five socials: simple gatherings in the bar or Old JCR for a relaxed evening of reading poetry to each other. The poetry this year was more varied than ever – ranging from Rilke to Cavafy, via some old Arabic poetry. The evenings also included poems written by members off the cuff, along with some really electric, deeply thought-out verse. Given the success of Poetry Soc last year, we have plans for more socials over 2015/16, and are floating the idea of workshops to get some collaborative pieces going. It has been a very exciting year.
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College life
Charities and campaigns Frances Thompson BA Geography, 2013 This year has been busy as usual for charities and campaigns at Mansfield, with individual students continuing to bring the causes close to their hearts to the JCR for further support. During Hilary term 2015, Mansfield students worked together across the JCR and MCR to win the Student Switch Off competition for awareness of energy efficiency and climate change. We have also built on last year’s successful Living Wage campaign, by campaigning for College to get accredited status. This will ensure that all the staff at Mansfield get a Living Wage into the future. Fundraising has also been a success. Our Auction of Promises raised hundreds of pounds for our charities account and featured students promising free portraits, three-course dinner dates and lots of cake. On International Women’s Day, a charity Life Drawing class raised money for Oxford Rape Crisis. Throughout the year we have held regular charities
Music at Mansfield
John Oxlade, Director of Music The summer concert celebrating the anniversary of Magna Carta featured two premieres by Mansfield students: Josie Bearden’s superb new piano piece entitled ‘Catch and Release’ (played by Josie) and a memorable setting of Shelley’s ‘Love’s Philosophy’ by Dennis Christensen, beautifully sung by the Choir. The event also saw the Choir perform a wide spectrum of works written through the centuries from 1215 to 2015, including music by Henry VIII, Campion, Croft, Beethoven and Elgar. Another first for the Choir was Stravinsky’s ‘Symphony of Psalms’ (accompanied by the brilliant young pianist Patrick Lillie) in the Hilary term concert, given in the Old JCR. The concert also included music by Mozart, Hummel and Rossini, and three movements from Fauré’s Requiem, sung in memory of Adam Monk. While the Chapel was being renovated, the Choir sang the weekly services in Harris Manchester College chapel, combining with that college’s choir and extending our range (and theirs) of liturgical settings – all directed by William Heywood (Trinity College). To end the Michaelmas term, our new Chaplain had devised a wonderful candlelit carol service entitled ‘From Darkness to Light’, with the Choir processing in to plainsong and leading the congregation in traditional Christmas hymns. This year the Choir, with a record 19 singers, has been most ably led by our Senior Choral Scholar, Rebecca Dellar, assisted by six other Choral Scholars: Roshan Forouhi, Shayna Solomon,
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elections, where students can encourage votes for a charity they support. Our participation in the Student Switch Off campaign this year has been incredibly enthusiastic. Students attended training sessions, got involved in photo competitions and a climate-change quiz, and came second overall in the Switch Off rankings by the end of the academic year. Students were rewarded by Switch Off for their enthusiasm with an ice cream party that the whole of the College attended. Our charities budget has also gone towards a Mansfield Sports Day organised by the Mansfield Human Rights Forum in Trinity term, which raised money for Dar Al Yasmin, an organisation helping resettle Syrian refugees in Jordan. The event was held on a beautiful sunny day and strawberries and cream were enjoyed by all who attended.
Sangjung Ha, Charley Roe, Domenico Cullura and Arthur Pander Maat. Roshan has also directed the a capella group ‘Out of the Blue’, raising huge sums for charity, as well as contributing greatly to the musical life of the College together with Peter Bergamin: my warmest thanks to them both. The Wednesday lunchtime recitals have continued apace, with musicians from College – Aaron Hanson (piano), Domenico Cullura (French horn), Kim Darrah (trumpet) and Owen Clarridge (piano) – in wide-ranging programmes. The Sunday evening recitals have also become well-established, with two song recitals by Clemi Collett and Emily Kempson, and the final concert by the exceptionally talented violinist Nicholas BushnellWye, who has recently been awarded an Instrumental Exhibition. Professional soloists from London have included The Amphion Trio (led by Jake Rea in trios by Mozart and Fauré), Madeleine Ridd (cello) and internationally celebrated artists on Friday guest nights – Catherine Wyn-Rogers (from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) and Professor George Caird (oboe).
College life
1887 Society Report 2014/2015 By Holly Leadbitter and Jessica Loring Geography, 2013 The 1887 Society is Mansfield’s geographical society – so named because 1887 marked both the formal introduction of academic geography at Oxford and the first anniversary of Mansfield College. The Society typically hosts two or three guest speakers and one social event per term. The highlight of the year is the annual four-course, black-tie 1887 Society Dinner in Trinity Term. This year, we welcomed Ian Klinke as our esteemed guest at the Dinner to give his speech ‘German Geopolitics in Europe 70 Years On’. It is great that our alumni, tutors and students have this special evening to meet up every year – and to enjoy a tasty dinner. Our Hilary social event was a spectacular ice cream party held in Cowley, which enabled us to catch up with other Geographers after Christmas. There was excitement over the third years finishing their dissertations. Trinity term kicked off with the infamous wine tasting with Tony Lemon, a most enjoyable evening for all. Our speaker events are now open to all Geography students across the University, so we advertised these in our lectures. This year, we had Dr John Gold speak about Olympic cities and their history and future, and Dr Fiona Ferbrache gave us a detailed insight into the potential plans for light rail in Oxford. We are planning a Formal for the start of Michaelmas term to welcome the new Geography freshers and are currently engaged in the search for our next guest speaker. Mansfield’s Geographers gain automatic admittance to the Society, and speaker events are open to all College members. Our Geographers form a friendly and supportive community and the 1887 Society offers numerous opportunities throughout the year to get involved academically and socially.
Mansfield Human Rights Forum Natasha Somi English, 2013 and Miranda Stock PPE, 2013 Mansfield Human Rights Forum provides an accessible platform for all Oxford students interested in activism for the protection of human rights. Our aim is to motivate individuals to engage with and challenge human-rights violations in whichever way they can – marking out each Mansfield College student as an ambassador for human rights. We understand that entirely devoting one’s self to human-rights activism amid the flurry of activity that studying at Oxford involves is unrealistic, but we have been thrilled to witness the response to our events this year. Whether that be the vibrant discussions that have taken place, the number of students rallying at the protests to close Campsfield House immigration removal centre, or the visible emotion that our film nights have prompted – such responses to these serious human-rights issues may sow the seed for further activism. The Forum has hosted a myriad thought-provoking speaker events, including: Dr Anusha Dias on the normalisation of rape; Meghan Campbell on international legal commitments for women’s poverty; Laura Hilly on the need for greater female representation within the UK Judiciary; and our very own Dana Mills on the possible relationships between art, activism and human rights. This year we successfully sent eight Oxford students to engage in case work with the death row charity, Amicus. We are extremely proud of our continuing relationship with Amicus, and the students note how worthwhile the experience is. The training involves studying US capital law, jury selection, trial and appeals process, the US Constitution, and applications to the US Supreme Court. In addition, students develop the practical skills required for capital work, including interview techniques, investigation skills and US legal research. For the term ahead we have planned many exciting events, including: a Q&A with the esteemed author and journalist, Shereen El Feki; documentary screenings; and spoken-word evenings. As the new Co-Chairs of the Forum, we would like to thank all those who have been involved this year, and encourage anyone curious to learn more about Mansfield Human Rights Forum to visit our Facebook page and get in touch. We would love to hear from you!
Holly Leadbitter - holly.leadbitter@mansfield. ox.ac.uk and Jessica Loring - jessica.loring@ mansfield.ox.ac.uk Mansfield 2014/15
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Ride to Romania Revd Colin Marsh, URC Minister (Ordinand at Mansfield, 1984-86), tells of his epic 1900-mile cycle ride from Dunkirk to Transylvania, to raise funds for a children’s home near the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. There was a short pause at the other end of the telephone when I told my brother Richard that I thought I might cycle to Romania. Then he said, ‘Have you had any other thoughts?’ ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I thought I might not do it.’ The story of this trip began in 1996, when I spent a few weeks on sabbatical helping at a children’s home in a small village near Sibiu, Transylvania. This ‘home for children with special needs’ was set up in 1993 by a (then) young English woman, to rescue at least a few children from a lifetime in one of the ‘Homes for Irrecuperables’ set up under the Ceausescu regime. The home was named ‘Little John’s House’, the first child taken in being Ionut, Little John, a four-year old suffering from inoperable hydrocephalus, ‘water on the brain’.
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More recently, the charity’s trustees have had the opportunity to extend the work by purchasing extra land on which to build additional facilities and develop a children’s farm. So, after 15 years of cycling holidays in Europe with Richard and my other brother Roger and (since retiring in 2008) two longer solo trips across France, I began to think about taking on the challenge of a longer sponsored ride to Romania to raise funds towards this new project. I felt confident physically, but was less sure about security in the eastern European countries. So I began to make contact with the Reformed churches in that part of Europe, resulting in two overnight stops in Slovakia, first with a church family who re-arranged their sleeping
accommodation to give me a room, then with a husband and wife who were joint pastors of the church in another town. Later, after my brothers joined me near Budapest for the last 400 miles, we stayed in church accommodation in Deva, Romania. The other important source of accommodation was warmshowers.org, a cyclists’ website, through which I later enjoyed overnight stays with hosts in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Other preparation included the printing of leaflets in several languages to explain my journey. (These subsequently resulted in more than 60 euros being handed over to me by complete strangers!) The trip began on April 30th, 2015, when the local mayor, town crier and vicar gave my friend David and I a send-off as we boarded the train from our local railway station (see photo) to travel to Dover for the ferry to Dunkirk. (David was planning to accompany me as far as Frankfurt, but an uncomfortable saddle forced him to return after only four days’ cycling.) The route, which I had estimated at about 1,800 miles (1,902 actually ‘clocked’), would take me through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania – mostly following rivers and canals. Only the last few days in Romania involved much climbing.
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Ride to Romania Most days over the next six weeks I spent between four and six hours in the saddle, but managed several days off. I’m almost ashamed to admit to not having spent these in several cities which really deserved seeing, but my experience of urban cycling had persuaded me to leave the sightseeing for another time – and I did have a schedule to keep, as my brothers were flying in to join me near Budapest on June 3rd. Still, I did at least see something of Cologne, thanks to Michael, my Warm Showers host, who accommodated me for two nights, showed me around the city and refused my offer of an evening meal at a restaurant to thank him for his hospitality. I later enjoyed a day in Esztergom, including the view from the top of the Basilica, and a riverboat trip on the Danube in Budapest. On June 3rd, near Budapest Airport, my brothers joined me. Eight days later we arrived at Little John’s House in the village of Cisnadioara, which nestles close to the foothills of the southern Carpathian Mountains.
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How do you sum up a journey like this? I had posted a daily blog throughout, and this is an extract from the last – my ‘epi-blog’ – written on Thursday June 18th, a few days after my return flight to England: It’s been my biggest adventure (so far): from Dunkirk through the windswept Low Countries and then Germany and the beautiful Rhine Valley; following the meanders of the River Main and the long open stretches of the MainDonau (Danube) Canal; the rainy days along the Danube; the increasingly warm weather as I left Austria and entered Slovakia; the spectacular view of the Basilica at Esztergom (see photo) as I re-crossed the Danube into Hungary; the unpredictable road conditions of Romania and the beautiful wooded Carpathian Mountains; and countless river crossings by ferry and bridge. Besides all this, I met so many hospitable and helpful people, showing that I wasn’t so much the independent traveller as one who depended very much on others. In fact, once my brothers joined me near Budapest, I was happy to take a back seat and let them deal with navigation and finance.
The village (see photo) is not a wealthy place, but by contrast some very smart new houses are being built there – it is, after all, in a beautiful setting with the background of the Carpathian Mountains. This means that land prices are increasing, so the charity trustees want to take the opportunity now to acquire a nearby plot to extend their work and cater for more children. Sponsorship donations have now exceeded £7,000, but much more is needed. You can donate online at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ ColinMarshRomania Or send a cheque payable to Little John’s House, to the Chair of Trustees: Rod Fry, 6 Hillside, Melbury Abbas, Shaftesbury SP7 0BZ.
But while all this was a great experience for me, the purpose was to raise money for the new project at Little John’s House. So it was a great moment when we arrived at Cisnadioara (see photo) and Little John’s House. The children, at present three boys and three girls, are all very well cared for by several staff, including Tinca (head of house), Eti, and Nicu (maintenance man and driver of the LJH minibus) (see photo).
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A classical voyage In June 2015, Mary Beard OBE, FBA – broadcaster and Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge – delivered a lecture at Mansfield entitled: ‘Is there a history of laughter?’ Afterwards, she spoke to Martha Rhodes (BA History, 2013) about the position of women in academia, supportive risk-taking, and why there are no goodies and baddies in history. What interests you in particular about Classics and Ancient History? Well, this is a very boring answer to a question that ought to have an interesting answer, but: I was lucky enough to do it at school, I got interested in it, I was good at it. I thought I wanted to be an archaeologist when I went to university, and I thought Classics was quite good because it was putting archaeology in a wider historical context, and I just got sort of hooked on it. I think now I would define that differently from how I defined it then: it’s something which for me isn’t about burying your head in the past, it’s about having an interesting conversation with a kind of past that’s still – you have to be very careful with the terms, because I think it’s always a bad idea to say Classics is ‘relevant’, because in some ways it clearly isn’t – but it’s having a conversation with a culture that still matters to us and which underpins so much of how we have learnt to think about things. So in a sense I think doing Classics is inevitably a kind of voyage of discovery into your own culture as much as it is into some past, ancient culture. It is somehow about power over language. You don’t have to order pizza in it! (Laughs) If you’re lucky, it takes you out into different areas. If you think about Virgil and think: what would it be like for us to look at our own literature and culture and not have anybody be able to tell us about Virgil? How would we read Dante if we didn’t know what the hell Virgil was doing in this bloody poem? Or
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who he was? And for that knowledge to be there it has to be active. It’s no good saying ‘there’ll always be a translation there if you need it’, you need people to be re-presenting it all the time for modern audiences of many different types. It’s partly for undergraduates and it’s partly, you know, for anybody. Film-goers, for example – people always say ‘I don’t know anything about Classics’ at the start, because it seems like such an elitist subject. And you think, they’ve seen Gladiator, they’ve read Asterix… they recognise much more than they’ve ever allowed themselves to believe. The year after you were made a Fellow of Newnham College in 1984, you also became the only female lecturer in the Classics Faculty. Do you think the position of women in academia has changed since then, and how? Yes I think it has – it hasn’t changed enough – now I think there’s about seven or eight women in Cambridge, but still out of about 30, and I think the Academy still feels a pretty blokeish world. I keep saying I’m lucky, but partly through support by men (not entirely, because Newnham is a great female support network). I’ve always been supported by the blokes in my faculty to help me find a voice within that. And I think the secret, for anybody working in a relatively male-dominated profession, is to find a way both to want to change that, and make it different, and want to protest it and all the rest – but also actually to find a way in which they can feel comfortable in themselves in it. Because I think that to constantly be in an embattled position is exhausting for you.
have much first-hand experience of women in science but I’m pretty sure, it’s more difficult than for women in Classics. Also, I thought that the rounding on him was ideologically correct but politically stupid. I mean, take the mickey out of him, you know! Yes, I think I saw something on twitter where there were women scientists taking pictures of themselves in lab coats and goggles and stuff, under the hashtag #distractinglysexy, to poke fun at it. Yes! He’s 72, obviously completely idiosyncratic and probably terribly politically incorrect. I wanted to write an article saying ‘Oh, it’s terrible working with men, you know, because they always bottle their anger up, and they always think you’re bound to fancy them!’ (Laughs) Your BBC Two documentary on Caligula (Caligula with Mary Beard) is described as attempting to sort the ‘truth from the myth’. What are your views on revisionist history and historical myths? It is the duty of women in universities to make people aware that there is still a big job to be done about the prospects of women in universities, it goes without saying, but they’ve also got to have a life… and a life can’t be one of solid protest. So I think the question is discovering a way in which you can find a space for yourself that is comfortable, and part of that for me was having a female-only college. Maybe that was an easy route! (Laughs) But not entirely – I’m sure that there are some pockets of discrimination against women in the Academy that are really driven by the most brutal sorts of sexism – I’m sure there are. But the bits which I’ve been a victim of, if I’ve been a victim at all, are driven by unthinkingness, they’re driven by a desire to do better, not quite understanding why the world is as it is, by having assumptions that are unexamined – they’re not necessarily a range of nasty people. So it’s a good idea to point out to them, say, when you finish a meeting, that somehow it was Mary and the secretary who carried the teacups out – and they didn’t. And you know: ‘would you like us to reflect on that, gentlemen, on what’s gone on here!’ And if you do it in a light way, you can still effect day-to-day changes. But there’s a lot more still to be done. I thought the Tim Hunt thing [a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who said that women should be banned from labs because they are ‘distracting’] was quite extraordinary, you know, in both ways – what a stupid thing to say, what a completely stupid thing to say. What it shows, I don’t
I wouldn’t describe it quite like that – BBC documentaries often get hyped in ways that those who make them would not avow… and in fact that’s not really what the programme was doing, saying this is ‘the Truth about Caligula’. We try to avoid doing that as much as possible. Revisionist history is I think rooted in ‘visionism’, isn’t it – revisionism is always another version. What we were trying to do is to show what the criteria for knowing would be. It’s not to say: ‘oh look, Caligula was a really good guy, he’s been utterly misrepresented.’ It’s to try to get people to join in the fun of thinking what your access to people in the past is. I think there’s something quite useful to saying that, in the end, history doesn’t divide into ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’. Our choice is not, in the modern world, whether to think that a particular dictator is a great friend to the West and holding up the banner of democracy in the Middle East, or being a nasty dictator who is attacking freedom of speech and imprisoning prisoners of conscience. In some ways, the very far past can be quite a useful playground to think about that. Anybody who thinks that we can say Caligula was either good or bad… partly because of the evidence, partly because nobody was entirely good or bad. One of the things I like to do when my students slip into that is to ask them, well, was Mrs Thatcher a ‘good’ Prime Minister or a ‘bad’
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Prime Minister? And instantly they see. That’s really what we’re trying to do. Both to shake up things, but also to show people that there are bits of evidence and you can look at them, you can make your mind up, you can go to these places. It’s easy! There’s a lot to be known if you want to be a good classicist, but you can join in. Even on holiday! You can go and see, you know, Caligula’s boats at Nemi – it’s an attempt to be inclusive while also showing that there is a skill here. A bit of a silly question, then, but which is your favourite figure in history? I certainly don’t have one! After that question about Caligula! (Laughs) I do not have one. I do sometimes teasingly ask my students that, and I think the answers are very interesting – which is why, of course, I’m not going to give one. They’re always self-aggrandising. You know, ‘Cleopatra’, ‘Clodia’! I would have been a slave-girl in the past… so, you know, we can’t think about us in the past. We can think about how we talk to the past, but we can’t think about ourselves in the past in that way. Except by pretending to be Cleopatra… you know, nobody would have wanted to be Cleopatra. What’s your advice for people who want to go into academia – particularly women who want to go into academia? Stick at it! Have female friends, keep a sense of humour. Remember that some of these self-confident men are actually just as vulnerable underneath, and many aren’t as smart as you are! And I think also take risks! There’s a tendency for everybody to think that what’s important is feeling comfortable, and feeling safe, and – you know, I want universities to have places where people feel safe, but I also want them to have places where people feel profoundly uncomfortable. And if I teach people, I want it to be straight up that I’ll pick up the pieces, I’ll be their mate, but they’re sometimes not going to enjoy what I say to them. And if they’ve written a crap essay, I’ll tell them that they’ve written a crap essay, and I’ll tell them why. And they’ll go away and they’ll feel small. But we’ve got a project over three years. This is the long haul, and sometimes learning is an uncomfortable process. And learning to think, when you’re thinking about things that you’ve never thought of before, is tough. Anyone who thinks that you swim through your career at university just getting As and it all being lovely isn’t right. There’ll be a few tears – whether in the lab or not! (Laughs) But the question is what happens at the other end.
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I think there’ve been times in universities when there’s been terrible bullying. I’ve not seen it, but I’ve heard tell of it, and I’m sure it still goes on in some parts. But I’m not talking about bullying, I’m talking about supportive risk-taking. What’s university supposed to do? If it doesn’t feel odd to have your assumptions challenged, they haven’t been properly challenged! But, you know, mostly stick at it. And there’s people behind you. I’m always seeing students and they’re terribly nervous and they always have the idea that you’re their enemy – you’ve been their friend, and now you’re their judge and enemy. They always look amazed when you say ‘I want as many of you to get firsts as possible’. What is going to please me most is that you do well. I’m not sitting there trying to say ‘going to mark her down, or him down’ – we’re actually on the same side. We want you to do well, but sometimes it’s cruel to be kind still, as unfashionable as that might be!
An exclusive venue for conferences, corporate meetings and fine dining Are you looking for a unique alternative to hotel accommodation? Have you considered an exclusive fine dining experience for you and your guests in the magnificent College Chapel or Hall? Interested? For further information and booking, please contact Lynne Quiggin, Domestic Bursar Mansfield College 01865 282888 lynne.quiggin@mansfield.ox.ac.uk www.mansfield.ox.ac.uk
Set in the heart of Oxford with its beautiful Victorian buildings, Mansfield College provides the perfect location for any event. The College offers a fabulous venue where visitors can enjoy their conference or event in friendly and welcoming surroundings. Weddings at Mansfield
Please note that as we are about to begin the exciting construction of the Love Lane Building – which will house student accommodation, lecture auditorium, and the Oxford Institute of Human Rights – we shall be unable to take wedding bookings at the College for the foreseeable future.
Mansfield College OXFORD Mansfield 2014/15
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‘There’s a world outside your window…’ In 2015 Bob Geldof KBE was made an Honorary Fellow of Mansfield College in recognition of his commitment to international development and human rights. The ceremony followed our annual Hands Lecture, at which he was the keynote speaker, held at the Sheldonian Theatre in recognition of the special occasion. Bob Geldof’s work extends way beyond his public profile as a celebrity activist, and the speech that he gave in May 2015 was a testament to the breadth and depth of his commitment to combat poverty. He was introduced to the audience by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Principal of Mansfield, who writes: ‘Geldof has put his talents to a wider use to improve the lives of others – a very inspirational message to students at the start of their own working lives. And he has retained his curiosity and desire to learn. We are proud to have him as part of our Fellowship.’ Exactly a week after the 2015 General Election, Geldof’s politically diverse and in-depth speech was poignant. The Oxford undergraduate community was swept up in politics, the Mansfield College bar heaving on election night, as well as during all election debates. Geldof spoke of the need for a balance between global action and
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change on our doorstep – a call increasingly important in the weeks and months that have followed the election. When asked during the Q&A, ‘if everyone here sitting in the Sheldonian could go away and do one thing today to make you happy, what would it be?’ Geldof replied that it was simply ‘all too huge’ to do something in a day. He expanded on how important it is to avoid being reductionist: we need to foster creative thinking rather than hasty action. The powerful extent of Geldof’s work in the field of international development is indisputable. In 1984, along with Midge Ure, he founded the charity Band Aid, fundraising for famine relief in Ethiopia. Together they organised the charity super-concert, Live Aid, the following year.
Geldof currently serves as an adviser to the ONE Campaign, an Africa advocacy group founded by Bono, with two million campaigners worldwide. Both he and Bono moved from charity fundraising to the topic of debt cancellation, and the deeper structural causes of poverty. Their Drop the Debt campaign grew into the Make Poverty History campaign and the Live 8 concerts of 2005. Throughout, Geldof has had the ability to encourage millions to care, to donate and to take action. It is therefore not hard to believe the telephone conversation he recalled in which a former Prime Minister told him, ‘you do the people and I’ll do the politics’. Geldof’s speech was filled with interesting observations: he compared Confucianism in China to Islam and discussed how the end of World War II marked the codification and secularisation of human rights, which were then imposed as a homogenised framework upon the globe. He told his audience that globalisation should be a motor for the mobilisation of the poor and yet this hasn’t happened: populist parties instead its product. And he urged us against tweeting – a phenomenon that allows us to trivialise what we cannot comprehend and to justify condensing what we want to say into just 140 characters. Geldof has achieved phenomenal success in fundraising by being a bold, outspoken and at times, controversial individual. There was a moment in his speech when many of the students of Mansfield looked to each other with slight discomfort, caused by Geldof’s statement that, in poverty, whilst women ‘have a purpose in procreation,’ men often turn to fighting. In conversation with Helena Kennedy after his speech, Geldof argued that the right to life was an absolute human right. Kennedy, however, postulated that the right to life is qualified by other individuals’ right to protect themselves – and that the only absolute right
is the right not to be tortured. With the opening of the Human Rights Institute in the years to come, Mansfield can only continue to benefit from submersion in such interesting debates, conversations and events. Today’s undergraduates might well envy those students who will be joining Mansfield in the future. Alongside his honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II, and his Man of Peace title, which recognises those who have made an ‘outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace’ – not to mention his 2005 Brit Award – Bob Geldof is now an Honorary Fellow of Mansfield. We welcome him to a College committed to enabling change in the world around us, in accordance with our Nonconformist foundations.
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VISITING STUDENT PROGRAMME
Mansfield’s Visiting Student Programme, 2014/15 Helen Lacey, Director of the Visiting Student Programme at Mansfield, reports on this year’s developments, including welcoming our first student from Indiana’s DePauw University. In the summer, we hosted the farewell reception for the class of 2014/15, which gave us a chance to recognise their huge contribution to the life of the College community. As well as reaching new heights of academic achievement, our visiting students took part in College sport, drama, choir and a myriad other activities. Prizes for academic excellence were awarded to David Friedman (Northwestern), Jay Garcia (Haverford) and Clara Gutwein (Barnard).
We welcome the arrival of the class of 2015/16, with students from universities including: Barnard College, Boston, Wellesley, Colby, Amherst, Wheaton, Kenyon, Haverford, William Jewell, Dickinson, Holy Cross, Santa Clara, George Mason, Northeastern, Case Western Reserve, Skidmore, DePauw, Georgetown, Stanford and Sao Paulo. The new admissions round for the 2016/17 academic year is soon to open and we look forward to another successful year!
Our visiting student alumni have also maintained their links with Mansfield, and several of them returned to the UK in the autumn to take up places on prestigious graduate courses. In particular, we are pleased to welcome back Margaret Woods (VSP 2012/13) and Emily Glassford (VSP 2013/14) to start MSt courses at Oxford. Congratulations also to Julie Yue (VSP 2013/14) on her scholarship from SOAS, University of London and to Esther Brot (VSP 2012/13) on starting her PhD at the University of Cambridge. We would love to hear from our visiting student alumni about what they are doing now. Do drop us an email with any news: vsp@mansfield.ox.ac.uk In Michaelmas term we greeted our first student from DePauw University (Greencastle, Indiana) after establishing a new link with the help of Professor Meryl Altman, who held a Visiting Fellowship at Mansfield in 2014.
Visiting Student profile Beba Cibralic VSP, 2014 What is your subject and your home town? I am a Philosophy and Political Science major coming from Wellesley College, USA. I hail from Sydney, Australia, but was born in Sanski Most, Bosnia-Herzegovina. What drew you to Oxford and Mansfield College specifically? I viewed studying at Oxford as my opportunity to immerse myself in philosophy. I originally planned on going abroad to Russia or somewhere in Latin America in order to improve my language skills, but after deciding that I wanted to pursue graduate study in philosophy, I realised that the best place for me to study would be at an institution like Oxford. The history, the learning environment, and the resources… 36 Mansfield 2014/15
Helen Lacey took up the position of Director of the Visiting Student Programme in Trinity term 2014. She is Supernumerary Fellow in Late Medieval History at Mansfield, with publications including The Royal Pardon: Access to Mercy in Fourteenth-Century England published by Boydell & Brewer in 2009.
not many places can compare! I chose Mansfield College specifically because it is known for its inclusiveness and egalitarianism. Mansfield places a lot of emphasis on making the Oxford education available to anyone with academic potential, regardless of socio-economic background. I knew that if I went to Mansfield, I’d feel at home. How have you found the experience different to that at American universities? The most striking difference between a college in the US and Oxford is that the Oxford education is based on the tutorial system. Although I have a prescribed reading list, tutorials are very much student-driven. Additionally, there is a serious expectation that the student will come to tutorials not only having read the material, but having formed well-developed opinions which must be defended over the course of the tutorial. Tutorials are intense and somewhat scary at first, but incredibly rewarding.
VISITING STUDENT PROGRAMME
At home abroad: the journey of an American student to Mansfield College David Friedman VSP, 2014/15, Northwestern University When I first arrived in Oxford in October 2014, I never could have imagined the experiences I would have in the coming year. From my first night to the last day of the year, Mansfield College proved to be an exceptionally welcoming environment. In our biweekly formal dinners, our monthly ‘Champagne and chocolate’ galas and our special social events (the entire ‘freshers’ week’, as well as Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners come to mind), Mansfield’s student body was consistently social and sociable. An avid student of European history, I was thrilled to have an opportunity to engage with renowned scholars at one of the world’s oldest universities, but did not know what to expect. Oxford’s seemingly opaque tutorial system, the University’s unfamiliar jargon (societies are ‘socs’, to take a course is to ‘read a paper’, etc), and the subtle distinctions between British and American culture posed a novel challenge to an outsider like myself. However, these worries quickly evaporated as I soaked in the richness of Oxford’s intellectual life. In Mansfield College, I found the perfect combination of scholarly rigour and flexibility. Throughout the year, my tutors consistently challenged me to produce timely, insightful work in the form of weekly essays. Each day, I dove into the stacks of the Bodleian Library to answer my tutors’ questions about interwar European diplomacy, Soviet
How would you describe your residential life at Mansfield? I am housed in an apartment complex reserved for thirdyear Oxford students and visiting students. I love having my own room, being right in the heart of Oxford, and feeling like I’m part of the broader community. Being independent has its drawbacks, though – while I like to think I’m an excellent and versatile cook, the truth is that I live off quinoa, red beans, and Greek yoghurt. What other activities are you involved in? I volunteer at the Gatehouse, a not-for-profit organisation that runs a drop-in centre for homeless and poorly-housed people. Not many people know that Oxford has one of the highest homelessness rates in the UK. I also sing in the Mansfield College Choir, which I absolutely love because of the great people involved. Most of my weekends and holidays are spent exploring London or visiting neighbouring countries with friends. I had an amazing time visiting the
Communism, the German Empire, and the Cold War – and in the process discovered more about my own predilections and abilities. The erudite, intellectually challenging atmosphere of my weekly tutorials complemented the frenetic pace of student activities in the University. Within days of arriving, I found myself pleasantly overwhelmed by the sheer variety of appealing groups. In the Oxford Union, in the Law, German, and Russian societies, and in the Oxford Guild, I discovered outlets for my interests outside of the classroom. Only at Oxford could I have met with German diplomats who helped reunify their country in 1990 and end the Cold War in Europe. Only at Oxford could I have discussed the October Revolution with a member of Russia’s oldest surviving noble family while sipping Champagne and eating caviar at a Russian society event. Experiences like these form the bedrock of my recollections of my year at Mansfield. From the incredibly talented students I met, to the friends I made, to the astounding variety of distinct teas available for purchase (seriously, the tea in Oxford is way better than it is in the US) – I was thoroughly impressed by Mansfield’s community and the wealth of resources in Oxford. Although I was 5,500 miles away from home, Mansfield and Oxford’s amazing students, tutors, and staff made me feel as if I had never really left.
Netherlands with a friend currently studying abroad in London. What’s your favourite part of your daily routine? After I’m done with lectures and tutorials, I like to go to Blackwell’s Bookshop where I spend some time either curled up reading a book that’s hard to find at the library (like Vivienne Westwood’s new biography) or catching up with a friend in the café upstairs. Blackwell’s is successful enough that the staff are extremely welcoming, even to students who loiter without buying any books. What surprised you most? Everyone told me that I had to prepare for the awful weather in the UK. I knew that it rained frequently but was pleased to discover that, although the rain can be bothersome, it doesn’t usually last for a long time. Going for a run through Christ Church Meadow right after it stops raining is both enjoyable and therapeutic. Mansfield 2014/15
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ALUMNI
On song On a February evening in 2015, the Mansfield community came together to celebrate the internationally renowned composer and musician Errollyn Wallen MBE. An intimate evening of music and performances marked her election as Honorary Fellow. Mansfield is pleased and honoured to welcome into the College Wallen’s special and distinctive musical voice. Michèle Mendelssohn (Tutorial Fellow in English) reports.
Fellows and students crowded into the Old JCR at Mansfield for the opportunity to see – and hear – Errollyn Wallen perform, and be conferred as an Honorary Fellow of the College. Invited guests included Ben Okri OBE FRSL and John Oxlade (both Honorary Fellows of Mansfield). The awardwinning pianist Dominic Harlan and the well-known cellist and baritone Matthew Sharp also delighted the audience with their performance of Wallen’s works. Georgina Born, Professorial Fellow of Music and Anthropology at Mansfield, delivered the citation. ‘Pursuing a life as a composer is not for sissies,’ Born said of Wallen. ‘Fewer than five per cent of British composers earn sufficiently well to make a living from their art. To make it as a composer is therefore necessarily to be the possessor of deep wells of talent, along with iron self-belief and determination. But talent above all, along with versatility.’ Errollyn Wallen is blessed with a rich supply of all these qualities.
Dr Michèle Mendelssohn Photo: courtesy of Blueprint
Wallen was born in Belize and grew up in London, studying music and composition at Goldsmiths’ College, King’s College London and at Cambridge University. Her compositions move with ease between rapturous, enigmatic and powerful qualities drawn from western classical music to virtuosic yet effortless leaps such as bass piano riffs and blue-note bends. She draws influence as much from blues as from the string writing of Bartok and Britten. The tally of her works and collaborative projects is a long and distinguished one. She has had commissions from the BBC, the Royal Opera House, Welsh National Opera, Opera North and Almeida Opera. In 2007, the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Leipzig Ballet asked her to write a new score for a ballet of The Tempest. The same year, she was awarded an MBE for her services to music in the Queen’s birthday honours list. In 2012 she composed the music for the Opening Ceremony of London’s Paralympic Games. Her music was heard live by 80,000 people and broadcast to a global audience of one billion. In 2013 she was awarded the FIPA d’Or for Best Original Television Music as well as the Ivor Novello Award for Classical Music – the first woman recipient. Unusually, she has combined a successful career as a ‘serious’ composer with a life as a singer-songwriter, releasing several albums of her songs. Purism can be rewarded as a composer, but it’s a high-risk strategy. For every Harrison Birtwistle, George Benjamin or Thomas Adès supported by recognition and commissions, there are many young composers who must give up because of lack of recognition, encouragement and financial support. In presenting the Honorary Fellowship to Wallen, Professor Born pointed out that over the 20th century, the high end of modernist music composition took a route into pure abstraction and sonic esotericism that defeated most audiences – a route that was also gendered and raced. It systematically excluded references to those vital, expansive traditions of African and African-American influenced music that were coeval with it. ‘John Cage famously denied that his advocacy of works attentive to the improvisational elements of performance as well as the rich timbral qualities of sound itself had anything to do with the influence of jazz,’ Born observed. ‘This stance was later repeated by one of his
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L to R - Dominic Harlan, Errollyn Wallen, Helena Kennedy, Matthew Sharp, Ben Okri
disciples, the composer Christian Wolff, and by numerous other so-called “experimental” composers of the late 20th century.’ But while these politics are significant, so are their aesthetic consequences. Born explained that the historical record shows an almost total inhibition in western art music composition over the last 50 years against using melody, tonal harmony, rhythm and pulse. The challenges that Wallen and other contemporary composers face today are several. How to reconcile traditions that have been woefully divided? To take up this challenge is not to succumb to some kind of fuzzy musical relativism: rather, it is to head straight into the historical wind and try to create a vibrant musical language fit for our cosmopolitan world histories. This is the challenge that Wallen’s music encompasses: originally, sensuously, poetically, expressively, personally, at ease with and drawing on both art music idioms and instrumentation, as well as on the melodic, rhythmic and sonorous vitality of popular idioms. Wallen has shown outstanding versatility in adapting to the great historical and musical challenges that face composers today. But professional life as a composer is also marked by patterns of inclusion and exclusion that make it even more difficult for some. Collaboration is a feature of Wallen’s music. Her work with the esteemed Brodsky Quartet is a key example. The Brodsky collaborate with Björk, Sting and Elvis Costello: they have commissioned Wallen and premiered a number of her songs, as well as chamber music pieces. She has also collaborated with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, founded by Simon Rattle. They commissioned Are You Worried About the Rising Cost of Funerals?, her
song cycle for soprano and string quartet, which was later recorded on Wallen’s CD, The Girl in My Alphabet. Opera is another foundational element of Wallen’s work. It is a profoundly collaborative but also an expensive and highly political form. Wallen has composed no less than 13 operas so far, the last one ANON in 2014 for Welsh National Opera. ANON is an adaptation of Abbé Prévost’s Manon Lescaut and is a study of the exploitation of young women across the world. Her current projects include collaboration on another opera with the leading opera director David Pountney. Wallen’s Another America: Earth fused her experimental spirit with political engagement. The opera was commissioned in 2003 jointly by the Royal Opera House and Nitro, Britain’s oldest black theatre company. They opened up Covent Garden to the influence of black musicians and artists. The opera was accompanied by debates, family events and song recitals. It generated enormous interest. As the BBC’s Tom Service remarked at the time: one of the messages of Another America: Earth was to be a symbol ‘of the growing number of works by black composers’. Service was cautious about what this meant for the future, however, adding ‘It remains to be seen if this is the first step in a real engagement by the Royal Opera House.’ With its large-scale, collective authorship and extended performance ensemble, opera is a social form of music. ‘It invariably intensifies exclusions of gender and race,’ Professor Born explained. ‘That Wallen has persistently sought to work in opera testifies to her ambition, admirable tenacity and insistent pressing against the exclusionary forces that still permeate western art music and its institutions.’ Mansfield 2014/15
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On song
..continued
Speaking on behalf of the Mansfield Fellowship, who had unanimously elected Wallen, Born noted that the conferment of the Honorary Fellowship was a token of the College’s high esteem for Wallen’s achievements: ‘Our Fellowship is limited to a terrestrial one, yet Wallen has already transcended this. In 2006, she co-wrote a song with the Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean while he was orbiting earth in a space shuttle!’
Q&A What are your three favourite songs on your iPod? I have three iPods and an iPhone, but I can’t remember the last time I listened to any of them! I recently had to transcribe James Brown’s ‘Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud’ and Osibisa’s ‘Sunshine Day’ to play in a concert. I’m also extremely partial to Henry Purcell’s knockout aria from his opera, Dido and Aeneas ‘When I am Laid in Earth’. What would you tell your 18-year-old self if you could sit her down and have a conversation about music and her career? ‘Don’t be scared to ask!’ Who were your role models? I didn’t have any living ones. I very much had to steer my own course without a great deal of guidance. When I started composing, all my ideas came from within me, from
L to R - Dominic Harlan, Errollyn Wallen, Matthew Sharp
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imagined sound. But I have always had J S Bach, who is my supreme inspiration, comfort and joy. Did going to Cambridge – or going to university for that matter – change anything for you as a composer? Most composers are fundamentally self-taught, but being around other musicians in a learning environment is a must. I loved my year at King’s, Cambridge, and I was most inspired by my fellow postgrads who were from a range of disciplines. I was awestruck that they had the same dedication to their subject as I had to music. Is the world too full of sound for you? Does ambient music – in restaurants, lifts, etc – annoy you? Like most musicians, I am highly sensitive to sound, so the constant stimuli of our noisy world can be very distracting. I always want to know how music (any music) works and I can go off into a dream world – even in the supermarket! Sometimes, though, noise and everyday sounds lead me into new pieces. I remember incorporating the rhythm of my washing machine and the sound of a train into my Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra. But composers do love – and need – silence. Who are your inspirations (alive or dead)? J S Bach, Ella Fitzgerald, Stravinsky, Ravel, Nelson Mandela.
Adam von Trott and Mansfield Graham Avery Member of Senior Common Room Adam von Trott zu Solz, born in Potsdam in 1909, was a central figure in the conspiracy to kill Hitler, and was put to death in Berlin in 1944. He trained as a lawyer in Germany, and was invited to Oxford in 1929 by the Principal of Mansfield, where he studied Theology and Politics. He wrote that this experience helped him to learn the meaning of democracy. He returned later to Oxford to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Balliol College as a Rhodes Scholar. Adam von Trott’s life was shaped by his experience of Oxford, and he is commemorated by memorials in the chapels of Mansfield and Balliol. The Adam von Trott Memorial Appeal was launched in 2004. It organises an Annual Lecture and supports the Adam von Trott Scholarship, which brings German students to Mansfield to study for a Master’s degree in Politics or International Relations. Among Patrons of the Appeal are the Principal of Mansfield and the German Ambassador to the United Kingdom. The Appeal is managed by a Committee of which I am Convenor. Since 2010 there have been three Scholars: Diana Koester, Bernhard Clemm, and currently David Hagebölling. The Scholarship is awarded by Mansfield jointly with the Department of Politics and International Relations, and with the support of the Adam von Trott Memorial Appeal Fund. The German Foreign Office has announced that it intends to support the Scholarship financially, and its generous support commencing in academic year 2016/17 will help to secure the Scholarship on a sustainable basis.
The Annual Lecture is given by a distinguished scholar on a theme relevant to the life and ideas of Adam von Trott. Recent lectures have been given by Professor Sir Ian Kershaw on ‘How Popular Was Hitler’s Regime?’ (2010), Professor Michael Freeden on ‘Supporting a State: The Peculiarities of Political Commitment’ (2011), Professor Philippe Sands on ‘The Origin of International Crime: A Personal History’ (2013), Professor Martin Conway on ‘The Heirs of von Trott: Post-War Western Europe’ (2014) and Professor Margaret MacMillan on ‘Varieties of Resistance’ (November 2015). Further information about the Adam von Trott Scholarship, and details of our lectures and other activities, can be found at http://www.mansfield.ox.ac. uk/alumni/adamvontrott
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Playing Juliet in Japan With help from Mansfield, Helena Wilson (English, 2013) travelled to Tokyo and Saitama with the Oxford University Dramatic Society, where she took a lead role in Shakespeare’s classic tragedy of star-crossed lovers.
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This summer, I was given a wonderful opportunity to play Juliet in the OUDS International Shakespeare Tour production of Romeo and Juliet, produced in association with Thelma Holt Ltd. We performed the play 24 times in total – beginning at the Said Business School in Oxford in late July, before travelling to London, Stratford, Hatfield House, Tokyo, Saitama, and finally to Guildford in early September. I am extremely grateful to the Mansfield Association and the Nathan Whitley Travelling Scholarship fund for the generous awards I received to take part in the tour, and made sure that Mansfield College received thanks in the English and Japanese programmes. It is fantastic to be a member of a college that emphatically supports its students’ extra-curricular endeavours and I was proud to represent Mansfield over the course of the tour. Playing Juliet in Japan was an incredible experience. The formidable work ethic and adeptness of the Japanese technical team, with whom we worked via an interpreter, was hugely impressive. This allowed us to take full advantage of the professional lighting and sound equipment after a shorter amount of technical rehearsal time than the norm. All of our performances sold out, leading to us receiving special coins and notes of thanks from the directors of both venues: the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre and the Saitama Arts Centre. The atmosphere of collaboration and commitment was extraordinary, and has inspired me further to work in the professional theatre in the future. The Saitama Arts Centre was built in honour of Yukio Ninagawa (Saitama is his home town). Ninagawa is the leading proponent of Shakespeare productions in Japan and a pivotal figure in Japanese theatrical culture. We were able to see actors rehearsing his production of Macbeth, which was extremely interesting in terms of thinking about how Shakespeare ‘translates’ on stage. A group of interns from Tokyo Met accompanied us on our day trips to Saitama, and were extremely hospitable and helpful throughout the trip – it was great to be able to talk to them about their interests and studies, as well as to discuss the play. As an
English student I found it fascinating to talk to an intern called Owie about how the multiple Japanese alphabets were combined to create an equivalent to ‘Shakespearean’ language, with its mixture of familiar and alien words, in the surtitles. It was wonderful to be able to meet audiences after the shows and discuss the play with them. I was pleased to talk with two representatives from the Oxford Japan Centre, as well as Tokyo citizens from all walks of life, in a ‘meet and greet’ event after opening night. We held a workshop for drama students from Yokohama University, in which the cast of Romeo and Juliet learnt about finger, hand, and arm posing. I also enjoyed the Q&A discussion with audience members after the matinée in Tokyo; one of the actors from Ninagawa’s Macbeth asked a very pertinent question about the Nurse, which has got me thinking about the comic form as part of my preparatory work for the Shakespeare portfolio I need to submit in Hilary term. We had a few days of free time, in which I explored the different districts in Tokyo (Shibuya, Harajuku, Roppongi). I especially liked the Meiji Jingu shrine. A group of us also took a JR train to Kamakura, a small seaside city in Kanagawa Prefecture, about 30 miles south of Tokyo. Although the lights and bustle of Tokyo are astonishing, I’m very glad I managed to see the wildlife and landscape of the beach and hills in Kamakura. We also saw the Great Buddha, a mighty bronze sculpture dating from c.1252. As well as sightseeing, everyday activities such as taking the metro and ordering food in a restaurant (from an iPad!) were fascinating introductions to Japanese culture. In particular I was struck by the unrelenting kindness and hospitality of our hosts, especially the interns and our interpreter Su. We had a lovely meal together on the last evening – cast, crew, interns, and even the Technical Director of the Tokyo Met – which confirmed the atmosphere of friendship and generosity that had underpinned the creative collaboration throughout the trip. We were all very proud of the production we had created together; the trip has consolidated my view that theatre really is a powerful tool for cultural dialogue.
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Looking back and looking ahead Dan Seiderer (MBA, 2007), President of the Mansfield College Association, reviews the highlights of the Association’s year in its work to support the College – and he predicts a fruitful future. Looking back at 2015, I realise how lucky I am to live in London. London obviously has lots to offer in any respect. And it’s not far from Oxford, which allows me to go back to the city of dreaming spires on a regular basis. The trip is always worth it, whether to browse through the books at Blackwell’s, to have a pint at the Turf, listen to a concert at the Holywell Music Room or to visit an exhibition at the Modern Art Oxford museum (the Kiki Kogelnik exhibition was fantastic!). The highlight undoubtedly though is when there’s an event at Mansfield College.
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For me, Mansfield has always been a special place. Special because of all the stories connected to it. I could tell dozens of tales about the year I spent in Oxford as a student at Mansfield College – and I’m sure all who read this have a fund of their own anecdotes to relate about the College. A place of great memories! And then there are the stories about Mansfield’s heritage and history, and the extraordinary people connected to it. One such person is Donald Macdonald, legendary president of the Boat Club, who not only survived a mutiny but then also led a crew that was perceived as inferior to a memorable victory in the 1987 Boat Race. It was amazing to hear
him speak at the dinner on the day of the Mansfield Summer Garden Party. The Garden Party, as always, was a superb event. I had the pleasure and honour of presenting the Student of the Year awards to Peter Bergamin and Tom Blower on that day. Both of them are not only great students but, more importantly, also great people. They have in selfless ways contributed to the life and community at the College. Peter has been an incredibly active MCR President, while Tom has impressed everyone with his charitable work. And with their musical talent, which we were able to witness throughout the garden party, they have certainly enriched the music scene at the College. If you haven’t been to the Mansfield Summer Garden Party for a while, I certainly encourage you to attend the event next year. It’s well worth it! And if you can’t make the Garden Party, try coming to one of the many other events. At a recent gettogether, I met the students who conducted this year’s telethon. It was great to see their enthusiasm at being able to help the College receive support from its alumni – support that it needs and deserves. Given all of that enthusiasm, I’m not surprised to hear that the telethon went really well. A big ‘thank you!’ to all the alumni who have made a pledge or donation. It is wonderful that more and more alumni are donating. If you haven’t done so yet, why not join them?
Alternatively, think about how you can support the College in non-monetary ways – for example, by providing free venues for events (ever wondered how a crowd of Mansfield students and alumni could make your office space look so much better?); or by coming to Mansfield to give career guidance to the students; or… If you want to contribute or have a new idea, please get in touch with the ever-friendly people at the alumni office. One obvious way of supporting the College and its students is to help the work of the Mansfield Association. I’m proud to say that, once again, we have helped numerous students to realise their dreams by providing financial support for study trips, cultural, musical and sports activities, as well as supporting those students in need. From the Association’s point of view, I’m also happy to say that our efforts in diversifying the committee have been fruitful. I very much welcome our new committee members: Peter Bergamin, Joseph Morris, Gerald Moule, Daniel Tarry and Bethany White. I look forward to continuing the work of the Association with them, and I’m sure that we, as well as the College, will have another successful year ahead. To a tremendous 2016!
Daniel Seiderer with the recipients of the Student of the Year Awards, Peter Bergamin (middle) and Tom Blower (right).
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ALUMNI NEWS
Utah Hero
Ultimate success
Paul C Burke VSP 1991,
Harry Mason Engineering, 2011
General Counsel for Ray Quinney & Nebeker (RQN), has been recognised as a ‘Utah Hero’ for his legal work defending the rights of gay and lesbian teenagers, and for his public advocacy of equality for Utah’s LGBT citizens. The award citation states that ‘his tenacity, zeal, and compassion have made him a champion of the underserved and most disadvantaged in our community.’
In 2007, I started playing Ultimate (Frisbee). A teacher at my state secondary ran the club at lunchtimes. A couple of years later, some of my friends made it into the GB U17 Ultimate team. I remember being incredibly jealous of them – but not resentful. They were much better than me, at the time. Fast-forward to December 2014. I was trialling for the GB U23 team. Thanks to the supportive atmosphere of Oxford Ultimate players, I had improved immensely. The competition was much stiffer now, and much more athletic than for my old school friends. But, after two trials, I make the cut. In summer 2015, fitting training, tournaments, and a trip to Switzerland around the final year of my Engineering degree, I represented Britain at the World U23 Ultimate Championships in London. We ended up coming fifth via some unlucky three-way ties, with victories against Japan, Australia (who finished second), Taiwan, South Africa (and others!), and narrow losses to Canada and the USA. It was a traumatic and wonderful experience, and a great reminder of the world beyond the spires.
Paul received the Utah Hero award at the Grand Marshal’s Reception at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City in June 2015. He was also honoured during the Utah Pride Parade. In addition to representing abused LGBT teens, Paul led a team of RQN attorneys, including former US Attorney Brett L Tolman, John W Mackay, and Mica McKinney, in filing an amicus brief at the US Supreme Court on behalf of the Utah Pride Center and a national coalition of equality groups in the cases addressing the Defense of Marriage Act and California Proposition No. 8. He was also recognised for co-authoring a series of columns in the Salt Lake Tribune advocating equal rights for LGBT Utahns.
Martin Stott Geography, 1973
has lived in Oxford for more than 35 years, working in sustainable development for local government and taking on the roles of City Councillor, school governor, campaigner and activist. He has made good use of his time in the city by writing the recently published Cowley Road Cookbook (Signal Books, 2015). Subtitled ‘Culinary Tales and Recipes from Oxford’s Most Eclectic Street’ the book contains more than 65 recipes (both historic and contemporary) that reflect the flavour of this multicultural hub and its richly diverse food culture.
Revd Dr Chigor Chike MTh Applied Theology, 2003 published his work on African Christianity earlier this year, entitled The Holy Spirit in African Christianity (Paternoster Biblical & Theological Monographs, 2015). The book focuses on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, answering questions such as: Do African Christians have their particular way of understanding the Holy Spirit? Are there differences in the understanding of African Christians depending on their church denomination? Does their traditional world view as Africans influence their understanding? His book is available on Amazon.
Dennis Brown MLitt Theology, 1980 has
written a new A-Level textbook with a colleague (Mark Coffey of Regent’s Park College) called Ethics for OCR Religious Studies: The Complete Resource for AS and A2. It was published by Polity Press in April 2015, and is available on Amazon.
Martin also writes a regular blog as ‘Lord Muck’, discussing food, growing and gardening: http://martin-stott.com/blog/
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ALUMNI NEWS
In January 2015, Keith Powell VSP 1991 received the rating of ‘AV’ from the Martindale-Hubbell peer ratings service for lawyers. Martindale-Hubbell facilitates peer reviews on a continuous basis in two key ways: conducting reviews on randomly selected attorneys/judges and by surveying names of legal professionals that lawyers nominate as references. Donald Norwood Theology, 1959 authored a book entitled Reforming Rome: Karl Barth and Vatican II, published by Eerdmans in 2015. Donald can be contacted at donald@ oxfordecumenics.wanadoo.co.uk After Mansfield, the Revd Andrew McLuskey Theology, 1988 held pastorates in Egham (Surrey) and South Croydon. In August 2015 (following a break back in teaching) he was officially welcomed into the West London team ministry of the URC at a wonderful service in Queen’s Park. Andrew comments: ‘A goodly number of old friends turned out for the occasion – including some I had not seen for a long time.’ Andrew would love to hear from any folk who remember him. His address is 17 Diamedes Avenue, Stanwell, Staines TW19 7JE (01784 248294/ andrewmcl@editor.plus.com). Paul Fleming PPE, 2006 was elected as local councillor in May 2014 for the Labour Party in Southwark Borough, Faraday Ward. He is presently working for Equity Trades Union, organising artists in theatres in London. Alongside working as a full-time trades union official, he is also an associate research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London.
Nearly 20 years ago, Martin Wiggins English, 1981 conceived the notion of documenting the full corpus of drama written in the British Isles in the 11 decades between the English Reformation and the English Revolution. His objective was to create a chronological ‘map’ of the material that would enable a reader to see, quickly, what every play is about, what resources it requires to perform it, and what is known if its early history both on stage and in writing. The aim was also to present familiar and hitherto little-known works in juxtaposition with one another, showing how the richness of this period doesn’t begin or end with Shakespeare and the handful of others who are routinely encountered on university English courses. The project entailed reading, closely, all the surviving plays of the period and all the known evidence about them, including those whose text has been lost. The result is British Drama, 1533-1642, a ten-volume work which began to appear in 2012. The publication has received some very good reviews, and has now reached Volume 6, which came out on Bonfire Night 2015. The remaining volumes will be published between 2016 and 2018. Martin has also recently become the Senior Scholar of The Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon.
Isabel Thomas Human Sciences, 1998 is a science writer specialising in books and outreach resources for children. Her latest title is The Misadventures of Charles Darwin (Oxford University Press, 2015), which Isabel describes as ‘the story of the adventurous and accident-prone scientist behind that famous bushy beard’. You can read more here: http://www.oxfordtoday. ox.ac.uk/opinion/how-i%E2%80%99vewritten-100-books
Christopher Joll Jurisprudence, 1969 tells us: ‘In 2013 I wrote the text for the bestselling coffee-table book, Uniquely British – A Year in the Life of the Household Cavalry, with a foreword by The Queen. I followed this up with the publication, on April 1st, 2013 (the date is significant), of the first of a ten-volume series, The Speedicut Papers, which is a bawdy romp through the second half of the 19th century, endorsed by Stephen Fry, Michael Portillo, Philip Mould and others (www. jasperspeedicut.com). Since then I have been publishing the subsequent volumes every six months and, by the time Mansfield next hits my doormat, I will have published six out of the ten volumes of the popular series. Mansfield 2014/15
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MCBC
MCBC celebrates its half century The year 2015 marked the 50th anniversary of the founding of Mansfield College Boat Club, and to commemorate the landmark, the Friends of MCBC held a celebratory weekend to coincide with Summer Eights. A great number of alumni, representing the entire history of the Club, travelled from far and wide to mark the occasion, and the event was a resounding success. The weekend started with a relaxed get-together in the splendid new courtyard in the Quad – where memories were shared and a few old friends reunited. We then made the time-honoured journey down to the river to watch the Mansfield crews of 2015 compete for the 50th time. A great week of racing for the whole Club was capped with a bump outside Long Bridges for M1.
Carol proudly wearing her finisher’s medal.
The celebrations began in earnest with a formal dinner in the Chapel, attracting a record attendance of more than 150 guests. The atmosphere and camaraderie among
current students and alumni generated much positive energy for the future of the club. Huge thanks to all those in Mansfield’s catering team for the marvellous feast. Special mention must go to the effervescent Carol (Mahoney) Greatorex, for her dedication and efforts to raise funds for the MCBC. At the dinner, Carol appealed to all members past and present to sponsor her run at the Windsor Women’s 10K. Having set herself a target of 1.5 hours, she succeeded in completing the course in 1 hour 25 minutes! Very many thanks to all those who responded to Carol’s request for sponsorship. The Club’s first 50 years have been wonderfully captured by Carol’s booklet, which collects stories and photographs from oarsmen and women throughout MCBC’s history. It is available to purchase through the Development Office, with funds going directly to the Boat Club. The weekend was a true success, with all attendees greatly enjoying the festivities. Thank you to all those involved and see you again soon. Freddie Overton Geography, 2009 Dan Harvey Maths, 2005
Another feat for MCBC: Oxford to London row, 2016 Athanassia Williamson English, 2013 Two mixed crews of Mansfield College Boat Club rowers are currently gearing up towards attempting an impressive long-distance row from Oxford to London. From April 6th to 9th, 2016, the crews aim to cover a distance of 180km, split over the course of four days of hard rowing. The plan is to finish at Putney Bridge on the 9th. To celebrate the feat, a dinner will take place on the last day, with current MCBC members and alumni. We shall send out more information as things are finalised. The crews will train and fundraise for the event throughout Hilary term. Follow the run-up on Facebook or @MansfieldRowing on Twitter.
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2015 PRIZES
College and University prizes 2015 Scholarships Fielding, Frederick Gong, Jiajin Schnyder, Ulysse Dunk, Kirstine Parsons, Elizabeth Spiers, Emily Baird, Christopher Clarridge, Owen Dax, Joseph White, Joseph Jamart, Louis Braithwaite, Angus Peters, David Todea, Marius Violet, Jack Wang, Zichao Grodecki, Max Thornley, Elliott Lu, Yang McGuire, Stephanie
Mason Lowance Prize in memory of Stephen Wall for the best distinction level performance in English finals Luke Rollason Mahony Prize for best 2nd-year performance in History William Ferris Sarah & Peter Harkness Prize for Prelims Not awarded College Essay Prize Thomas Bates (Law) Henty Prize for outstanding 2nd-year work in Geography David Smith
A. J. Herbertson Prize for the best Human Geography dissertation Lucy Long (Geography FHS) J.C.A. Meldrum Essay Prize for excellence across option essays Lucy Long (Geography FHS) Armourers & Brasiers’ Company / Tata Steel Prize for best Team Design Project Pieran Maru (Materials Part I); share of prize
Visiting Student Prize for 2013/14 Clara Gutwein (Santa Clara)
J.C.A. Meldrum Essay Prize for excellence across option essays Emma Nelmes (Geography)
John Sykes Prize for best Part I Materials results Katherine Danks
J.C.A. Meldrum Fieldwork Prize for written work Emma Nelmes (Geography)
Adam Monk Scholar Marius Todea
Davis Prize for highest mark in History Prelims Joseph White (History, Year 1)
Exhibitions
Bob Coates Prize for Mathematics Mark Hattersley
Ristic-Smith, Aleksandar Sethi, Sarab Huang, Chutian Brown, Imogen Tan, Natalie Stephenson, Keziah Freedman, Rebecca
Kwabena Osei-Boateng Engineering Science Prize Jiajin Gong
COLLEGE PRIZES
Armourers & Brasiers’ Prize for best 2nd-year Materials Selection poster Tabitha Jones, Lev Chechik, Rusheb Shah (Materials Part I)
UNIVERSITY PRIZES Gibbs Prize for dissertation Andrew Allan (MMaths Part C) Pinsent Mason Prize in Taxation Law Thomas Bates (Law FHS)
Worsley Prize for Law Thomas Bates and Hector Craft
Armourers & Brasiers’ Company Rolls Royce prize for outstanding Prelims Angus Braithwaite (Materials Prelims)
Horton Davies Prize for best 2nd-year work in Theology Elliott Thornley
David Witt Premium Prize for best overall Engineering Part C project Alexander Brant
Mason Lowance Prize in honour of John Creaser for best 2nd-year English essay Athanassia Williamson
Pusey & Ellerton Junior Prize for FPE Biblical Hebrew Ella Davidson (Oriental Studies Prelims)
Mason Lowance Prize in memory of Malcolm Parkes for best distinctionlevel performance in English prelims Elizabeth Parsons
Gibbs Book Prize Louis Jamart (Human Sciences Prelims)
Gibbs Prize for performance in MPhys Leong Khim Wong (MPhys Part C) Johnson Memorial Prize for MPhys project in Astrophysics Leong Khim Wong (MPhys Part C) Nomination for national prize: IOM3 James S. Walker Award for best Polymers project Yida Zhao (Materials Part II)
Commendation for BA project Amy Francis (BA Physics)
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EXAMINATION RESULTS 2015
DOCTORATE (DPhil) English Pass Geography Pass
Anna Cairns Ryan Hogarth
History Pass
Alan de Bromhead
Law Pass
James Grant
Materials Pass
Robert Clough Roberto Lo Nardo
Mathematics Pass Bary Pradelski Obstetrics & Gynaecology Pass Bryn Kemp Michelle Potter Oriental Studies Pass Kelli Bryant
MASTERS/GRADUATE DEGREES MPhil Economic & Social History Dist Ruairi Cullinane MPhil Law Dist
Kamille Adair Morgan
MSc Mathematics & Foundations of Computer Science Dist Michelle Kovesi
BCL Pass
MSc Politics Research Pass Michael Norton
MASTER OF ENGINEERING (MEng)
MSc Social Science of the Internet Pass Amba Kak Jessica Mason Ashwin Menon MSc Water Science, Policy & Management Pass Arjan Braamskamp Mo Li MSt English Pass Elizabeth Bingham Louise Campion Camilla Chen MSt History Pass
Thomas Adamson-Green Josephine Pickard Hamish Roberts Timothy Ross Stephanie Tracy
MSt Women’s Studies Dist Eleanor Jones Emma Kelley Alasdair Thanisch
MPhil Politics Pass Brandon Tensley
MSt World Literatures in English Pass Ellis Bolle
MPhil Theology Dist Emily Kempson MSc Applied Statistics Dist Rui Ming Daryl Chia Linlin Yang Pass Teodor Caculidis-Tudor
MBA Dist Pass
MSc Clinical Embryology Dist Nada Kubikova Pass Katarina Mitrovic
Master of Public Policy Dist Yannick Spencer Pass Sangjung Ha
MSc Computer Science Pass Maxime Godon
MJuris Dist Pass
MSc Integrated Immunology Pass Thomas Koller
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Seamus Coleman Gregory Kahn Andrew Le Grice Nora Petty Caitlin Hearn Matthew Zuckerman
Marian Husar Gabriela Navarro Delmonte Anqi Tang Dorine Verheij
Nissim Massarano Tian Hui Tan
Engineering Science Class I Alexander Brant Nicholas Hooton Benjamin Janoff Class II.i Harry Mason Daniel Orford Materials Science Class I Ina Sorensen Yida Zhao Class 2.ii Katherine Lumley Materials, Economics & Management Class 2.i Matthew Bradbury
MASTER OF MATHEMATICS (MMath) Mathematics Class I Andrew Allan Lothar Krapp Class 2.ii Bianca Iordache
MASTER OF PHYSICS (MPhys) Physics Class I Class 2.i
Thomas Jollans Franziska Kirschner David MacDougal Leong Khim Wong Chun Hei Alex Li
BACHELOR OF ARTS (BA) Engineering Class I Zhi Yuan Wong English Language & Literature Class I Luke Rollason Class 2.i Thomas Blower Kathryn Butterworth Lucy Cullen Toni Goodall Eleanor Layhe Eleanor Newis Lauren O’Neill
EXAMINATION RESULTS 2015
Jonathan Tullett Tamsyn Woodman
Geography Class I Class 2.i
Emma Nelmes Christopher Speller Alice Willcox Rebecca Dellar Lucy Long Natalie Muldoon Philippa Reid
History Class 2.i
Joanna Hawkins Victoria Hawley Rebecca Hird Catriona Jones Eleanor Lacey Ping Loh Ariane Moshiri Kirtan Patel
History & English Class 2.i Grace Wyld History & Politics Class 2.i Matilda Slight Human Sciences Class I Karolina Kalinowska Jurisprudence Class I Thomas Bates Hector Craft Class 2.i Kate-Ann Major Mathematics Class I †Thomas Babb †Jack Violet Class 2.ii Jonathan Woodward PPE Class 2.i Florence Bates Alexander Botham Adam Deane Hannah Dewhirst Oliver Feltham Aaron Hanson Alexandra Jennings Saira Khan Philosophy & Theology Class 2.ii Edmund Ho
Physics Class 2.i Class 3 Theology Class 2.i
Iain Mandale Amy Francis Luke Cornelius Nastassia Dhanraj Patrick Ferguson
MODERATIONS Jurisprudence Dist Jonathan Mellor Pass Lisa Robertson Jonathan Sorrell Jurisprudence (English Law with Law Studies in Europe) Pass Nicholas Bushnell- Wye Emma Calder Polymnia Efstratiadi
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS English Dist Pass Engineering Dist Pass Geography Dist Pass
Kirstine Dunk Elizabeth Parsons Emily (Laura) Spiers Sian Bayley Emma-Jane Hampsheir-Gill Alice King Katherine Lewthwaite Laura McReynolds Joseph O’Neil Jiajin Gong George Caddy Max Forman Sam McCumiskey Aleksandar Ristic- Smith Hon Lam Yu Christopher Baird Owen Clarridge Claire Gibson Natalie Harrison Annie Johnston Benedict Nother Madeline Wild
History Dist Pass
Joseph Dax Joseph White Toby Chapman Domenico Cullura James Harrison
History & Politics Pass Robert Cheah Piers Neill Human Sciences Dist Louis Jamart Materials Science Dist Angus Braithwaite Pass Imogen Brown Natalie Tan Mathematics Dist David Peters Marius Todea Zichao Wang Pass William An Dennis Christensen Arthur Pander Maat Joshua Vaughan Oriental Studies Pass Ella Davidson PPE Pass
Eloise Abbott Dillon Lancaster Kiran Modi Joseph Roberts Charlotte Stephens Keziah Stephenson
Philosophy & Theology Dist Maximilian Grodecki Physics Dist Pass
Yang Lu William Bate Timothy Conn Zachary Keane Zhiyuan Li
Theology Dist Pass
Stephanie McGuire Rebecca Freedman Mary Townsend
†Staying on for 4 year MMaths
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OBITUARIES
Adam Monk, Mathematics, 2012 December 16th, 1993 – December 30th, 2014 Adam Monk, who died suddenly at the end of December 2014 while on holiday, was one of Mansfield’s best ever mathematics students, with very many friends both in College and back home. Adam came to us from King George V Sixth Form College in Southport. He shone at his Mansfield interview and began his mathematics degree in October 2012. It was apparent from the start that he was exceptionally talented. He was virtually never beaten by a problem. He was a very insightful thinker and wrote and expressed himself with great clarity – his work was a pleasure to read and, from a tutor’s perspective, to crib from! Tutorials with him were a delight. In fact Adam made tutorials quite taxing, as he really understood the basic material and always challenged his tutors with deeper and more interesting questions. At the same time, he was very modest about his mathematical ability and very generous in his support to his fellow students in their studies. In his first year Prelims he was placed sixth out of the 178 candidates doing the Mathematics and Mathematics and Statistics degrees in the whole University. Mansfield awarded him the Principal’s prize for outstanding academic performance across all subjects. He sustained his strong first class performance in his second year Part A exams in which he obtained an extraordinary 100% on his Topology paper – he is pictured wearing a Klein Bottle hat in a Topology tutorial. He was clearly on track for a good first in his third year Part B and his degree overall. The College has created a scholarship in Adam’s memory to be awarded annually to the Mathematics (and Statistics) student with the best performance in Prelims. Adam’s academic successes are even more impressive given his broad range of interests and his great overall contribution during his time at Oxford. A huge fan of music and football (Liverpool FC!), Adam was an extremely likeable character, and a very sociable member of the College community. A very modest and kind man, he always had the time to ask how others were and show a genuine interest in their wellbeing. Mansfield was all the richer for having Adam around. Besides his studies, Adam loved travelling. He spent the summer before his third year hitchhiking around Europe and then travelling around India for six weeks, with Mansfield friends Chris and Lettie. He spoke of these as some of the best experiences of his life. While at Oxford, Adam was involved in many student volunteering projects, most notably serving as a member of the Committee of Enactus, a social enterprise organisation run by students at the University. Adam made a huge contribution, especially to the Street View project, which aimed to improve the lives of local homeless residents by training them to become professional tour guides. To have shown such dedication whilst maintaining his superb academic record demonstrates his incredible enthusiasm and selflessness. Adam was an inspirational member of the College community, and is sorely missed by all at Mansfield and beyond. By Derek Goldrei (Fellow in Mathematics, Mansfield College) and Tom Bates (Law, 2012)
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Marcus Borg Theology DPhil, 1965 March 11th, 1942 – January 21st, 2015 I just missed meeting Marcus Borg, the distinguished New Testament scholar and Mansfield alumnus, who died in January 2015. He was working on his DPhil with Principal George Caird, while I was doing research elsewhere. But I always felt that I knew him personally. When George became my own supervisor he advised me to read Borg’s thesis, which I called up to the Duke Humphrey. (No Oxford student should turn down an opportunity to spend a few hours in that awe-inspiring setting.) Conflict, Holiness and Politics, eventually published by E Mellen in 1984, was a model of what a DPhil should be – clarity and reasonableness in the text, with the required ‘interaction with scholarly literature’ discreetly relegated to nearly a thousand footnotes. I used to own a copy but must have lent it to a Mansfield student (send it back, whoever you are, and all is forgiven). That thesis contains all the ideas about the life and words of the historical Jesus that Borg went on to popularise in a series of best-selling books, particularly Jesus: a New Vision (1987) and Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time (1994). According to Borg, Jesus preached a divine Kingdom in opposition to Roman imperialism, and a concept of holiness as mercy in opposition to Pharisaic holiness as separation; his was a mystical and ethical message for this world, not an apocalyptic prophecy of its imminent end. Borg’s biography, like that of many an academic, was not particularly eventful. Born and raised in a traditional Lutheran home in Minnesota, he read politics as his first degree and published a book on Conflict and Social Change (1971), which provided the perspective from which he approached his New Testament studies. After non-tenured posts in Mid-West colleges, he was appointed professor at Oregon State in 1979 where he stayed for the rest of his career, becoming Head of Religion in 1989. However, the department was soon to be shut down and he was moved into Philosophy; his publications since then have reflected this move, with his advocacy of ‘panentheism’ and interest in Buddhism. He was married to Marianne, an Episcopal priest, and he joined her church himself in 1983, as a more congenial home for a theological liberal. He came to the notice of the US public through his association with the notorious ‘Jesus Seminar’, whose members voted (with a colour code) on the likely historicity of Jesus traditions – though he was less sceptical than most of his colleagues, and more reassuring to church people in his evident devotion to the figure of the Jesus he believed he had uncovered. I have often wondered what it would have been like to overhear the conversations that must have taken place in our SCR in 1922 between Albert Schweitzer, who was delivering the Dale lectures, and the then Yates Professor of New Testament at Mansfield, C H Dodd. Schweitzer was the proponent of ‘consistent eschatology’ – Jesus as preacher of the imminent end of this age, and the arrival of a new age of resurrection, with the coming of the Son of Man on the clouds. Dodd was the great advocate of ‘realised eschatology’ – Jesus used apocalyptic language metaphorically to dramatise the present moment of decision or foreseen historical events, like the fall of Jerusalem. I have also wondered what it would have been like to meet Marcus Borg in the College 50 years later and have the same conversation, probably with a similar outcome; but we would then have been able to agree to go into the Quad and smoke our pipes. By the Reverend John Muddiman (Emeritus Fellow, Mansfield College)
OBITUARIES
Dr Elaine Kaye, Theology, 1992 February 21st, 1930 – October 20th, 2015 Elaine Kaye was the daughter of a Congregational Minister, and first came to Mansfield in the 1940s when she was an undergraduate at St Anne’s (then) Society. As a member of the Congregational Society she relished the inspirational leadership of the chaplain, Erik Routley, and the High Genevan worship in Mansfield Chapel led by Principal Nat Micklem. She taught in several girls’ schools, ending her teaching career as headmistress of Oxford High School for Girls. Throughout that distinguished career, she encouraged many girls to apply to Oxbridge, with high success rates. Elaine was a trustee of Mansfield before it became a full college in 1995. She wrote a doctoral thesis, published as Mansfield College, Oxford: its origin, history, and significance. Among several books, perhaps that which brought her widest recognition and acclaim was Daughters of Dissent, co-written with Mansfield alumni Janet Lees and Kirsty Thorpe, telling the story of women’s ministry in the Congregational and United Reformed Churches. Elaine taught church history, primarily to several generations of those training for the ministry at Mansfield. As well as instilling her knowledge, she was also a strong support. She sang regularly with the Mansfield singers for many years, turning up week after week for the good of the College, utterly reliable and helpful. Outside Mansfield, Elaine was a member, and Elder, of Summertown United Reformed Church, and had served as President of both the United Reformed Church History Society and the Friends of the Congregational Library. She was a strong supporter of women’s rights, a robust advocate in the cause of peace, and an advocate of relations between Christians and Jews, through which she learned much. Elaine was wise, intelligent, knowledgeable, courteous, reliable, and kind. Would that there were more people from that mould today. By the Revd Michael Hopkins (Theology, 1998) Along with Kenneth Sears and The Revd Geoffrey Beck, Dr Kaye was a founder member of the Adam von Trott Memorial Appeal. In January 2014, she was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, for her efforts to foster peace and understanding.
Maurice James Husselbee BA Theology, 1954 February 6th, 1930 – February 13th, 2015 Maurice Husselbee’s calling to ministry led to a particular responsibility, even before he entered College. When he did his national service, his fellow conscripts knew that Maurice was to train to be a minister and decided that he was the right man to look after their supply of beer, while they were away on exercises.. Maurice grew up in Newport, Shropshire, and was educated at Adams’ Grammar School in Newport. During his time in the army, he was in the Education Corps, helping illiterate soldiers to learn to read. He was accepted to train for the Congregational ministry at Mansfield College, but spent his first three years in Oxford at St Catherine’s College, studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He found one year at St Catherine’s very stressful and took time off, working in a tree nursery. He was ordained in 1958 to the village Congregational churches of Potterspury and Paulerspury, within the North Buckinghamshire Congregational Union, for which he also served as secretary.
Just before he was ordained, Maurice married Sylvia Dudley. They had three sons, David, who died from motor neurone disease, Andrew and John. In 1962, Maurice moved to Penn Congregational (and later United Reformed) Church, Wolverhampton, where he spent 24 years. During this time, he worked with the Wolverhampton Marriage Guidance Council (now Relate), and was Synod Clerk to the URC’s West Midlands Synod. Sylvia died in 1984, soon after they had celebrated their silver wedding anniversary. In 1986, Maurice married Lesley Beale and went to live in Coventry, where she was minister at West Orchard United Reformed Church. Maurice later served at Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and at Alexandra Park, north London. He retired in 1995, and was for a short time Clerk of Thames North Synod. Lesley and Maurice moved to Manchester in 2001, when Lesley became a tutor at Northern College, and they became members of Chorlton Central Church. In his later years, Maurice suffered a number of health problems which restricted his movement, and left him housebound for the final year of his life. When he could no longer get to church, Bible studies were held at his home. The quiet ministry that Maurice undertook in later years was much appreciated. Many were grateful for his wisdom in helping them explore issues of faith, and for his thoughtful guidance in matters of church life and mission. By Reverend Bob Day
Kenneth Albert Edgar Sears Adam von Trott Committee member June 22nd, 1927 – November 9th, 2014 Ken Sears did so much for Mansfield that Lucinda Rumsey, our Senior Tutor, my wife Margaret and I, were surprised to learn at his funeral thanksgiving service in Sheerness that he had time for many other activities as well. These included acting as a guide to Canterbury Cathedral, writing learned articles for the United Reformed Church History Society, conducting services as a lay preacher, church leader in the local ecumenical partnership, delegate to various committees, and keeping in touch with the Ypres Veterans, some of whom came from Belgium to give thanks for all he did for them and for so many. We could not imagine he ever had time for a day job! He did: in the Education branch of the Civil Service. It was doing a DipEd that brought him to Mansfield in the 1940s after undergraduate studies at Lincoln College. He never forgot either College and showed his gratitude by acting as faithful steward and treasurer of the substantial finds accumulated by the Mansfield Association. But his best memorial he shares with his Mansfield alumnus hero, Adam von Trott, one of that courageous group of German dissenters who risked their lives to try and rid the world of Hitler in the July Plot of 1944. It was Ken who pleaded for a memorial plaque in the Chapel and Ken who was one of the chief initiators of the Mansfield Adam von Trott Memorial Scholarship Fund, which to date has funded three students from Germany for a two-year Masters Degree in International Relations, and organised some very fine lectures in Adam’s honour. Ken leaves behind him one of the best and shortest biographies of Adam, published in 2009, 2011. The book benefits greatly from the fact that Ken, being Ken, took much more trouble than most to get to know von Trott’s wife and daughters, visiting the family home near Göttingen a number of times. They loved him for it. So do we all. He was, says his Church Secretary at Sheerness, a very caring man. By Donald W Norwood, Secretary Mansfield College Association and von Trott Lecturer
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Fellows’ Research and Publications
Ros Ballaster Professorial Fellow in English Literature
Stephen Blundell Professorial Fellow in Physics
Analysis’, in British Medical Journal Open 5, e007376 (2015): 1-7.
‘Rochester, Behn and Enlightenment liberty’, in Augustine, M. and Zwicker, S. (eds.) Lord Rochester in the Restoration World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015): 207-230.
‘Anisotropic local modification of crystal field levels in Pr-based pyrochlores: a muon-induced effect modeled using density functional theory’, Foronda, F. R., Lang, F., Möller, J. S., Lancaster, T., Boothroyd, A. T., Pratt, F. L., Giblin, S. R., Prabhakaran, D., and Blundell, S. J., in Physical Review Letters 114, 017602 (2015).
‘Health Informatics via Machine Learning for the Clinical Management of Patients’, in Yearbook of Medical Informatics 10 (2015): 38-43.
‘Spectroscopy Methods for Molecular Nanomagnets’, Baker, M. L., Blundell, S. J., Domingo, N., and Hill, S., in Structure and Bonding 164 (2015): 231-292.
‘Extending the Generalised Pareto Distribution for Novelty Detection in High-Dimensional Spaces’, in Journal of Signal Processing Systems 74 (2014): 323-339.
‘Philosophical and oriental tales’, in Garside, P. and O’Brien, K. (eds.) The Oxford History of the Novel in English: Volume 2: English and British Fiction 1750-1820 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015): 353-369. ‘Satire and embodiment: allegorical romance on stage and page in mideighteenth-century Britain’, in O’Quinn D. and Gillian Russell, G. (eds.) special issue of Eighteenth Century Fiction. Georgian Theatre in an Information Age: Media, Performance, Sociability, 27.3-4 (SpringSummer, 2015): 631-660. Pam Berry Supernumerary Fellow in Geography ‘Cross-sectoral interactions of adaptation and mitigation measures’, Berry, P. M., Brown, S., Chen, M., Kontogianni, A., Rolands, O., Simpson, G. and Skourtos, M. in Climatic Change, 128 (3) (2015): 381-393. ‘Incorporating crosssectoral effects into analysis of the cost-effectiveness of climate change adaptation measures’, Skourtos, M., Tourkolias, C., Damigos, D., Kontogianni, A., Harrison, P. A. and Berry, P., in Climatic Change, 128 (3) (2015): 307-321. ‘Concepts and methods in ecosystem services valuation’, Gómez-Baggethun, E., Barton, D., Berry, P., Dunford, R., Harrison, P., in Routledge Handbook of Ecosystem Services Potschin, M., Haines-Young, R., Fish, R. and Turner, R. K. (eds.) (London and New York: Routledge, 2015). ‘Integrated assessment of China’s adaptive capacity to climate change with a capital approach’, Chen, M., Sun, F., Berry, P., Tinch, R., Ju, H. and Lin, E., in Climatic Change, 128 (3-4) (2015): 367-380. ‘Integrated assessment of China’s agricultural vulnerability to climate change: a multi-indicator approach’, Li, Y., Xiong, W., Hu, W., Berry, P., Ju, H., Lin, E., Wang, W., Li, K. and Pan, J. in Climatic Change, 128 (3-4) (2015): 355-366.
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Georgina Born Professorial Fellow in Music and Anthropology Gender, Music and Technology, Born G. and Devine K. (eds.), journal special issue of the Contemporary Music Review v.34 (forthcoming, 2015). Music, Sound and Space: Transformations of Public and Private Experience, Born G. (ed.) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013). Interdisciplinarity: Reconfigurations of the Social and Natural Sciences, Barry A. and Born G. (eds.) (London and New York: Routledge, 2013). David Clifton Stipendiary Lecturer in Engineering Science ‘Whole-Genome Sequencing for Prediction of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Drug-Susceptibility and Resistance: A Retrospective Cohort Study’, in Lancet Infectious Diseases (in press). ‘Intelligent Electronic Health Systems’, in Eren, H. and Webster, J.G. (eds.) Telemedicine and Electronic Medicine (CRC Press, 2015): 73-97. ‘Multi-task Gaussian Processes for Multivariate Physiological TimeSeries Analysis’, in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 62 (1) (2015): 314322. ‘“Errors” and Omissions in Paper-Based Early Warning Scores: The Association with Changes in Vital Signs – A Database
‘Predictive Monitoring of Mobile Patients by Combining Clinical Observations with Data from Wearable Sensors’, in IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics 18 (3) (2014): 722-730.
‘A Review of Novelty Detection’, in Signal Processing 99 (2014): 215-249. ‘Non-contact Video-Based Vital Sign Monitoring Using Ambient Light and Autoregressive Models’, in Physiological Measurement 35 (2014): 807-831. ‘Probabilistic Novelty Detection with Support Vector Machines’, in IEEE Transactions on Reliability 63 (2) (2014): 455-467. Emma Howard Career Development Fellow in Economics ‘Measuring industry coagglomeration and identifying the driving forces’, Howard, E., Newman, C. and Tarp, F., in Journal of Economic Geography (in print, 2015). David Leopold Tutorial Fellow in Politics and John Milton Fellow ‘Karl Marx and British Socialism’, Leopold, L., in The Oxford Handbook of British Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century, Mander W. J. (ed.) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014). ‘Scientific Socialism: The Case of Robert Owen’, Leopold D., in Demetriou, K. N. and Loizides, A. (eds.) Scientific Statesmanship, Governance and the History of Political Philosophy (New York: Routledge, 2015).
Fellows’ Research and Publications
‘Marx, Engels, and Other Socialisms’, Leopold D., in Carver, T. and Farr, J. (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to the Communist Manifesto (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015). Paul Lodge Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy Locke and Leibniz on Substance Lodge, P. and Stoneham, T. (eds.) An edited collection of papers with an introduction (Routledge, 2015). ‘Heidegger on the being of monads: lessons in Leibniz and in the practice of reading the history of philosophy’, in British Journal for the History of Philosophy (2015). ‘Corporeal substances as monadic composites in Leibniz’s later philosophy’, in Nita, A., (ed.) Between Continuity and Transformation: Leibniz on Substance and Substantial Forms (Springer, 2015). ‘Created substance and occasionalism in Leibniz’, in Lodge, P., and Stoneham, T., (eds.) Locke and Leibniz on Substance (Routledge, 2015). ‘Leibniz: strange monads, esoteric harmony and love’, an interview with Richard Marshall for 3am Magazine (2014). James Marrow Professorial Fellow in Materials Science ‘Method for the explicit insertion of microstructure in Cellular Automata Finite Element (CAFE) models based on an irregular tetrahedral Finite Element mesh: Application in a multi-scale Finite Element Microstructure MEshfree framework (FEMME)’, Saucedo-Mora, L. and Marrow, T. J. in Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 105 (2015): 56-62. ‘FEMME: A multi-scale Finite Element Microstructure MEshfree fracture model for quasi-brittle materials with complex microstructures’, Saucedo-Mora, L. and Marrow, T. J. in Engineering Fracture Mechanics (in press, 2015). ‘In situ observation of the strains within a mechanically loaded polygranular graphite’, Marrow, T. J., Liu, D., Barhli, S. M., Saucedo-Mora, L., Vertyagina, Y. and Collins, D. M., in Carbon (in press, 2015). ‘Time-resolved synchrotron tomographic quantification of deformation-induced flow in a semi-solid equiaxed dendritic Al-Cu alloy’, Cai, B., Karagadde, S., Rowley,
D., Marrow, T. J., Connolley, T. and Lee, P. D. in Scripta Materialia 103 (2015): 69-72. ‘Yield behavior beneath hardness indentations in ductile metals, measured by three-dimensional computed X-ray tomography and digital volume correlation’, Mostafavi, M., Collins, D. M., Cai, B., Bradley, R., Atwood, R. C., Reinhard, C., Jiang, X., Galano, M., Lee, P. D. and Marrow, T. J. in Acta Materialia 82 (2015): 468-482.
Colin Please Professorial Fellow in Mathematics ‘Models for the effect of rising water in abandoned mines on seismic activity’, Fowkes, N., Hocking, G., Mason, D. P., Please, C. P., Kgatle, R., Yilmaz, H., and van der Merwe, N., in International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 77 (2015): 246256. ‘Influence of constraints on axial growth reduction of cylindrical Li-ion battery electrode particles’, Chakraborty, J., Please, C. P., Goriely, A., and Chapman, S. J., in Journal of Power Sources 279, (2015): 746-758. ‘Integration of computational modeling with membrane transport studies reveals new insights into amino acid exchange transport mechanisms’, Widdows, K. L., Panitchob, N., Crocker, I. P., Please, C. P., Hanson, M. A., Sibley, C. P., Johnstone, E. D., Sengers, B. G., Lewis, R. M. and Glazier, J. D., in The FASEB Journal (2015): fj. 14267773. ‘Combining mechanical and chemical effects in the deformation and failure of a cylindrical electrode particle in a Li-ion battery’, Chakraborty, J., Please, C. P., Goriely, A. and Chapman, S. J., in International Journal of Solids and Structures 54 (2015): 66-81. ‘Computational modelling of amino acid exchange and facilitated transport in placental membrane vesicles’, Panitchob, N., Widdows, K. L., Crocker, I. P., Hanson, M. A., Johnstone, E. D., Please, C. P., Sibley, C. P., Glazier, J. D., Lewis, R. M. and Sengers, B. G., in Journal of Theoretical Biology 365 (2015): 352-364. Richard C. Powell Tutorial Fellow in Geography
‘Notes on a geographical canon? Measures, models and scholarly enterprise’, in Journal of Historical Geography 49 (2015): 2-8. ‘History and philosophy of geography II: the future history of the geographical propaedeutic?’, in Progress in Human Geography 39 (4) (2015): 486-496. Review of Tracie Lea Scott Postcolonial Sovereignty? The Nisga’a Final Agreement in British Journal of Canadian Studies 28 (1) (2015): 134. Alison Salvesen Supernumerary Fellow in Oriental Studies Foundations for Syriac Lexicography IV: Colloquia of the International Syriac Language Project, Heal, K. S. and Salvesen A. G. (eds.). Perspectives on Syriac Linguistics 5 (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2013). ‘A user’s view of Michael Sokoloff, ed., A Syriac Lexicon: A Translation from the Latin: Correction, Expansion and Update of C. Brockelmann’s Lexicon Syriacum (2009)’, in Taylor, R. A. and Morrison C. E. (eds.) Reflections on Lexicography: Explorations in Ancient Syriac, Hebrew, and Greek Sources. PLAL 4 (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2014): 101-106. ‘Exodus’, in Aitken, J. K. (ed.) T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint (London/ New York, etc: Bloomsbury, 2015): 2942. ‘Jacob of Edessa’s version of Scripture in relation to his exegetical interests’, in Le sacre Scritture e le loro interpretazioni, Orientalia Ambrosiana 4. Baffioni C., et al (eds.) (Milan: Biblioteca Ambrosiana/Bulzoni, 2015): 239-56. ‘Scholarship on the margins: biblical and secular learning in the work of Jacob of Edessa’, in Doerfler, M., Fiano, E. and Smith, K. (eds.) Syriac Encounters: Papers from the Sixth North American Syriac Symposium, Duke University, 26-29 June 2011. Eastern Christian Studies 20 (Leuven: Peeters, 2015): 327-344.
‘The study of geography? Franz Boas and his canonical returns’, in Journal of Historical Geography 49 (2015): 21-30.
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Events Calendar 2016 Events held at College unless otherwise specified
FEBRUARY
Mathematics Student Dinner Date TBC A few alumni spaces will be available. Further information will be sent out in due course. Saturday 27th Mansfield College Ball – ‘The Doors of Perception’ http://mansfieldball2016.co.uk/ Alumni can book tickets online.
MARCH
Tuesday 1st London Drinks Reception Venue TBC Further information will be sent out in due course. Saturday 5th Old Boys’ Rugby Match and Dinner Further information and invitations will be sent out in due course. Sunday 27th Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, London
JUNE
Saturday 25th Summer Garden Party, Commemoration Service, and Mansfield Association Dinner Our annual event to celebrate the end of another academic year. Open to all alumni, students, College staff, SCR members and all family and friends of the College.
SEPTEMBER
Friday 16th to Sunday 18th Meeting Minds: Alumni Weekend in Oxford Please visit https://www.alumni.ox.ac.uk/alumni_home for programme and booking. Mansfield’s Gaudy (1976-86) will be held on Saturday 17th - further information and invitations will be sent out in due course.
NOVEMBER
The Adam von Trott Annual Lecture and Drinks Reception Date and Speaker TBC London Drinks Reception Date and Venue TBC
APRIL
Thursday 7th New York Alumni Drinks Reception Further information and invitations will be sent out in due course.
DATES OF TERM FOR 2016
Friday 8th to Saturday 9th Meeting Minds: Alumni Weekend in North America Washington, DC Please visit http://www.oxfordna.org/Review2014AlumniWeekendinNY.htm for programme and booking.
Hilary 2016: January 17th to March 12th
Mansfield’s Alumni Drinks Reception will be held on Saturday 9th - further information and invitations will be sent out in due course.
Mansfield Lecture Series
Trinity 2016: April 24th to June 18th Michaelmas 2016: October 9th to December 3rd
As well as all these exciting events, please don’t forget our regular lecture series, every Friday at 5pm during term time. More information on speakers will be announced on our website.
MAY
Old Boys’ Cricket Match vs. M&Ms First XI Date and Venue TBC Please note this event is provisional and dependent upon sufficient prior interest being expressed. Please get in touch with the Development Office as early as possible if you would be interested in taking part. Saturday 7th The 1887 Society Annual Dinner The annual Dinner of the Society of current and former Mansfield Geographers.
Our events calendar is always subject to additions, which we shall keep you informed about via e-Newsletter and on our website. For further information on any of these events, or to book a place, please contact the Alumni Officer, Aparajita Kashyap:
Annual Hands Lecture Date and Speaker TBC
Email: alumni.officer@mansfield.ox.ac.uk Telephone: 0044 (0) 1865 270 998
Saturday 28th MCBC Eights Week pre-race Drinks Reception and Dinner
We look forward to seeing you!
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