Annual Report 2007
Contents 02
Foreword
04
Achieving excellence
06
Global reach
08
Supporting students
10
Teaching for tomorrow
14
Connecting with communities
16
Culture and society
20
Groundbreaking discoveries in medicine
24
World-leading partnerships
26
Innovating for the future
28
Transforming society
30
Recognising achievements
34
Charting progress
35
Annual Reports of the Council and the General Board
45
Reports and Financial Statements
Mahalia Miller (Downing College), MIT exchange student
Foreword Welcome to our Annual report for 2006–07. The following pages offer a glimpse of life at Cambridge over the past year and give an insight into the University’s careful stewardship of its capital assets. Permeating the particular accounts of activities and achievements in this report are a set of values and ambitions that, in my view, define the character of the institution: the pursuit of excellence in all we do; commitment to education as well as research; determination to seek out and attract students of the greatest talent, achievement and potential, regardless of background; and an active engagement with society here in the UK and, more and more, around the world. By our best estimates, we have over 200,000 alumni, with more than 40,000 of them outside the UK. Over the past year I have been able to visit just a tiny fraction of our alumni, partners, friends and supporters around the world, with my travels including visits to Australia, Hong Kong, China, Canada and the USA. I look forward to further travels over the next year. We approach our 800th anniversary in 2009, and that will be a time of celebration. But Cambridge remains, indefatigably and proudly, a work in progress. Although our history has formed us, the distinction of our future will be determined by how we respond to, participate in, and ourselves shape, the society of which we are a part today. This report gives just a flavour of what has been accomplished this year.
Alison Richard Vice-Chancellor
Gonville and Cauis College, looking through the Gate of Humility into Tree Court
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Achieving excellence Cambridge continues to be placed at the top of the world’s university ranking tables. In the 2007 UK Good University Guide, it comes top of 113 universities for 35 of the 46 subjects for which it is ranked. Cambridge remains in the top five in the Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s 2007 world rankings, the highest placed European university. Cambridge was ranked as the best university in the UK for the tenth consecutive year in the Sunday Times Good University Guide, where it was also named University of the Year. The Cambridge 800th Anniversary Campaign, at just past its mid-way point, has raised
£663 million of the £1 billion fundraising target, which will provide collegiate Cambridge with vital additional resources and investment capability. The growing Cambridge Endowment is now being managed by the newly formed Investment Office, which is working to diversify the University’s investment portfolio. The endowment fund is crucial to the University’s continuing ability to attract and support talented students and staff; preserve its collections and architectural heritage for future generations; and develop the financial independence that underpins its freedom to discover.
The Stephen Hawking Building, Gonville and Caius College
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Vice-Chancellor Professor Alison Richard has been named as the CASE* Europe Leader of the Year. The award recognises her exceptional initiative to promote and support education, acknowledging her vision, attitude and management style. *Council for the Advancement and Support of Education
Several new professorships, fellowships, studentships and teaching posts have already been established as a result of gifts to the Campaign. The new Sir Evelyn de Rothschild Professorship of Finance, funded by a gift from The Eranda Foundation, will support the accelerated development of existing finance programmes at Judge Business School. The QUALCOMM Research Studentship in Computing has also been established in perpetuity as part of the University Computer Laboratory Research Students Fund. These gifts and endowments, together with the many more received over the course of the past year, ensure that the University can maintain and enhance its teaching and research provision. Cambridge is above all a collegiate institution, and the provision of College accommodation, facilities and support is an integral part of the student experience. Downing College is set to build a new theatre, thanks to a £7.2 million donation from The Howard Foundation; Trinity Hall has completed its most ambitious building programme to date; Queens’ College is extending the Cripps Building to accommodate the new Stephen Thomas Teaching and Research Centre; and the Stephen Hawking Building at Gonville and Caius College has opened, funded by donations from over 2,000 Caians and friends of the College. All of these developments are set to enhance collegiate Cambridge.
The plaque to mark the official opening of the Stephen Hawking Building was unveiled by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, when he spent the day at Cambridge to mark the 30th anniversary of his Chancellorship. This landmark was commemorated with a full day of activities including a ceremony in Senate-House and the inaugural lecture from the first Prince Philip Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tim Clutton-Brock. The Chancellor also took the opportunity to visit Hughes Hall, which has recently received full University College status, 121 years after it was founded. Much of the work of the University goes on out of the public eye: a strong infrastructure is essential to academic and teaching success. For example, developments to the University’s institutional systems and procedures continue steadily. The first phase of the Cambridge Human Resources System has successfully gone live and a wide range of policy matters have been addressed, including disability and gender equality schemes, pension provision, age discrimination and fixed-term working. Work has also begun on leadership and management development programmes to be introduced in 2008. Dr Timothy Mead retired after 10 years as University Registrary. The University is grateful to Dr Mead for his many contributions and welcomes his successor, Dr Jonathan Nicholls.
“The thirty years during which I have had the honour to serve as Chancellor are like the blink of an eyelid in the long history of the University, yet I suspect that there have been more radical changes in Cambridge during that time than in all the previous 770 years.” HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in an essay written for University staff on the occasion of his 30th anniversary as Chancellor
Global reach A significant area of recent development for the University has been in its relationships with India. The connection stretches back more than 150 years, and has received new financial support with the launch of the UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI). This partnership is backed by the UK and Indian Governments, and by corporate champions BAE, BP, GSK and Shell. It will forge stronger educational links between India and the UK and is already delivering thriving research collaborations. India is one of several regions that are a particularly active focus for the University. A Regional Advisory Group for the sub-continent has recently been formed, together with groups for East Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. An International Activity Database is being set up by the International Office to map the many and varied projects across the University and to ensure that opportunities for collaboration are not missed. Exchange schemes continue to expand, including a new research exchange between Emmanuel College and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, made possible with support from the S H Ho Foundation, a new partnership for PhD students from Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research, and a partnership agreement between Cambridge and the National University of Singapore. The University also signed an academic agreement with Canterbury University in New Zealand, made possible with funding from the Erskine Foundation, and in the Summer of 2008, Cambridge will, in collaboration with a number of other partners from the International Alliance of Research Universities, be
launching the Global Summer Programme, a unique initiative that will facilitate exchange between students from ten of the world’s leading research-intensive universities. In the past year the Vice-Chancellor, accompanied by senior academics, has visited China, Australia, the USA and Canada. In 2008 she will make her first official visit to India. These trips serve many purposes. They are an opportunity to meet and reconnect with alumni, as part of a broader effort to build and reinforce a sense of Cambridge community. Such visits also foster and encourage academic collaborations, open new avenues for learning and teaching opportunities, and help relationships to be built with key leaders in government and the private sector. The visit to Australia included the second annual meeting of the International Alliance of Research Universities, of which Cambridge is a founding member. The international dimension of higher education has been a topic of much debate within Government and in June the Vice-Chancellor was invited to give evidence to a cross-party Commons Education and Skills Select Committee. The main inquiry has been looking at the future sustainability of the higher education sector but has developed an increasing international focus. The Vice-Chancellor reiterated the need for further investment in higher education if the UK is to remain a world leader; she also warned that quality of higher education and research must not be undermined by the drive to raise student numbers. These are areas that Cambridge is working hard to address: sustaining its pre-eminence in UK higher education and continuing to develop its position as a world-leader in teaching and research.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Professorship of Indian Business and Enterprise has been established at Judge Business School following a £3.2 million endowment from the Government of India. This professorship will be supported by a new Centre for Indian Business, initiated by a gift from the BP Foundation.
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Olayemi Oyebode (Peterhouse College), MIT exchange student
Supporting students Cambridge offers a diverse and active programme of widening-participation and aspiration-raising activities, with more than £3 million invested in this area each year.
as this will ensure that students get the most from their time at Cambridge and will provide added reassurance that support is in place for anyone thinking of applying.
The Students’ Union (CUSU) Shadowing Scheme goes from strength to strength, enabling around 200 Year 12 students each year to get a taste of undergraduate life. CUSU is still the only Students Union in the UK to have a full-time access officer, and each year between 600 and 1,000 students volunteer to help with access schemes.
Additional financial measures have been launched to support students. The University has significantly raised the income thresholds entitling undergraduates to bursaries. In 2008 a third of students enrolling will receive some form of bursary support. This extension of the bursary scheme, run by the Newton Trust, made Cambridge the first university to match new Government grant arrangements.
University activities this year included the first ever Information Day for FE students, open days, summer schools, and Challenge Days for students in Years 8, 9 and 10. Teachers and higher education advisers also had the chance to learn more about Cambridge at an annual two-day conference, while school children from across the country visited Cambridge Colleges and departments to experience life at the University. Cambridge doesn’t only attract young people. A new preparatory course for mature students has been launched to enable them to improve their study skills before embarking on a Cambridge degree. The PREP course, funded initially by a grant from the Sutton Trust, will help ease the transition to Cambridge degree courses. The University already has a 98 per cent completion rate, the lowest drop-out rate in the country, but initiatives such
In total, 100,000 pupils and 6,000 teachers took part in face-to-face activities run by the University and Colleges in 2006–07.
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The Goldman Sachs Foundation is supporting a far-sighted project at Cambridge which will work with disadvantaged schools to develop mathematical and problem-solving skills and raise educational aspirations. It will deliver training to hundreds of maths teachers working in these schools and will give 120 GCSE-age pupils the chance to study maths in Cambridge at intensive residential courses. The programme will be run by two award-winning divisions of the University: NRICH, which is part of the Cambridge-based national Millennium Mathematics Project, and the University Group to Encourage Ethnic Minority Applications. Children as young as 12 were also given a taste of University life at a special summer school; the event was hosted by the universities of Cambridge and East Anglia, and is part of the newly formed Excellence Hub programme. Part of the National Programme for Gifted and Talented Youth, the Excellence Hubs provide enrichment opportunities for students identified as gifted and talented, with a special focus on those from families who have not traditionally gone on to higher education.
As a pupil at a South Tyneside sixth form college, Simon Burdus had not even wanted to visit Cambridge: “All those posh people … I wasn’t keen. But my school said two of us could apply for the Shadowing Scheme and my mam said – ‘just go and have a look.’ I spent three days shadowing an undergraduate: I lived in College, went to lectures, socialised and discovered for myself what life is really like as a Cambridge student. It was awesome – I just fell in love with it. People say Cambridge is stuffy, but it’s not.”
Simon Burdus, CUSU Business Manager
Teaching for tomorrow Small-group instruction and supervision remain the cornerstone of teaching provision at Cambridge, but academics continue to work hard to enhance their teaching methods and practices. The Learning Landscape Project is mapping teaching and learning provision in the University and Colleges. It will provide information about how students learn and will serve as a basis for new initiatives. The Pedagogy Project in the Department of Plant Sciences was launched in 2005 and has now
The University has launched a new course in media and film studies. The interdisciplinary MPhil in Screen Media and Cultures is based in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, and has the support and participation of faculties and departments throughout the University.
Professor David Trotter, Course Director, with students on the MPhil in Screen Media and Cultures, Media Centre, Sidgwick site
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been awarded first place in the British Education Research Association SAGE Awards 2007. Working with the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies, the project team investigated how the teaching and learning experiences in the department could be improved; greater student engagement with their subject, easier access to resources and greater guidance from supervisors on successful essay writing were identified as key factors. As a result of the project, virtual resources have been put together featuring online course notes, podcasts, animations and electronic teaching resources.
The project is part of the Teaching for Learning Network, a collaboration funded by the Cambridge MIT Partnership to develop evidence-based approaches for innovation in teaching practice, and is a prime example of the type of initiative being advocated in the new Learning and Teaching Strategy. The Strategy, finalised in 2007, has two over-arching aims: to maintain and enhance excellent student learning opportunities at both graduate and undergraduate level; and to provide a stimulating environment in which good teaching is recognised and rewarded.
As part of this intense focus on undergraduate education a University-wide consultation on the Tripos has been set in train to ensure that the integrity of the Cambridge approach to teaching and learning is maintained but that opportunities for progress are not overlooked. Course structure and delivery are being examined to increase flexibility and student choice, and to attract prospective applicants.
A major review of graduate education has been completed, looking at procedures for admission, fees, provision and bursary support. Work is now beginning to implement the recommendations, which include the re-organisation of Postgraduate Admissions, more part-time Master’s programmes and support for more interdisciplinary collaborations. The Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities has established a new Centre for Disciplinary Innovation (CDI) as part of a fouryear project funded by the Andrew W Mellon Foundation. The CDI will be a focus for collaboration and innovation at graduate level and beyond. It will encourage disciplinary innovation and support collaborative teaching fellowships. Crucial to all of these graduate reforms and initiatives is the continuing effort to provide improved scholarship support, which is essential to attracting the finest graduate students from the UK and across the world. It is one of the four primary goals of the 800th Anniversary Campaign. The first students from the award-winning two-year postgraduate Notarial Studies course have now graduated. This Professional Studies course at the Institute of Continuing Education uses an innovative approach to learning, combining short periods of intense study at the University and a virtual learning environment which allows online interaction and discussion with tutors on the course. The Department of Chemical Engineering is also using virtual technology to enhance learning and this
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year launched the UK’s first ‘weblab’. It is the first time a live, physical experiment has been controlled remotely and the principle has huge implications for the sharing of resources in the future. A project involving collaboration between the Faculty of Education and University of Cambridge International Examinations has been launched to provide accredited professional development to international teachers. This collaboration will include the development of new programmes, such as the International Advanced Certificate in Educational Research and a Master’s in International Education. Outstanding teaching at the University is recognised annually by the Pilkington Prizes. Awarded following nomination by peers and students, the prizes acknowledge exceptional contributions to the development of teaching. Dr Toke Aidt has transformed several undergraduate courses in the Faculty of Economics and has been a driving force in restructuring the Macroeconomics teaching syllabus. Dr Helen Thompson is a dedicated innovator whose work has transformed the teaching of Politics to undergraduate students. Dr Jonathan Silverman, Associate Clinical Dean and Director of Communication Studies in the School of Clinical Medicine, has played a major role in the development of medical education in Cambridge. He has made an outstanding contribution to the Clinical School and his work is recognised nationally and internationally through his development
of the Cambridge Calgary method for teaching communication skills, a method which has been adopted widely in medical schools throughout the world. Other recipients of the 2007 Pilkington Prize include: Dr James Carleton Paget (Divinity); Dr Neil Dodgson (Computer Laboratory); Professor Charlie Ellington (Zoology); Dr Mike P Hobson (Physics); Dr Tom Hynes (Engineering); Dr Gabriel Paternain (Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics); Dr Dan Tucker (Veterinary Medicine); and Dr James Warren (Classics).
Dr Thompson has led the design and delivery of a new undergraduate programme in the Department of Politics and has conceived and taught a wholly original course, described by one of her students as “the most engrossing, fascinating, accessible and challenging learning I have done.�
Dr Helen Thompson, Senior Lecturer, Department of Politics
Connecting with communities The outreach activities of the University are wideranging and diverse. A recent HEFCE survey placed Cambridge first in the country for free-ofcharge public lectures, with huge turnouts giving Cambridge a 42 per cent higher attendance than any other university in the UK. Sharing expertise, enthusiasm and knowledge beyond the boundaries of the institution is a vital component of the University’s activities. A major new initiative was launched this year to give early-career researchers and aspiring academics training for public communication and educational outreach activity; Rising Stars was the first course of its kind in the UK.
In a triumph of skill and expertise, the Fitzwilliam Museum has completed the restoration of three seventeenth-century Chinese vases, smashed in an accident in 2006. The vases are back on public display in a specially designed case.
In a new partnership with the City Council’s Children and Young People’s Participation Service, the University held a summer programme of children’s activities designed to encourage participation in sport and learning. The events were so successful that a continuing partnership has now been agreed, reaching out to communities that the University has not traditionally worked with. The annual Science Festival continues to thrive, reaching more than 23,000 people through
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the Schools Roadshow, Science on Saturday, Masterclasses and Spotlight lecture series. For the first time Science Festival podcasts were produced; presented by Carol Vorderman, four podcasts were downloaded by more than 70,000 people in the first two months alone. The Festival also received the Public Body Award at the inaugural Directory of Social Change Awards. The award recognised the Festival’s contribution to the community, acknowledging its work to achieve shared social objectives. In 2008, the University will be launching the Festival of Ideas, its first arts, social sciences and humanities festival. In 2006–07 the Active Community Fund (HEFCE funding administered by the University) allocated nearly £60,000 to community initiatives at collegiate Cambridge. Projects included The Triple Helix, a new student society to facilitate science debates in schools, and continuing support for the Community Sport Scheme at Fenner’s. Initiatives supported by the fund make up just a fraction of the community work undertaken. It is estimated that more than 8,000 staff and students give up their time each year for voluntary and outreach work, providing a cumulative total of more than 370,000 hours. The range of activities is vast. For example, local primary school children investigated DNA and genes with Professor Andrea Brand from the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience; and young archaeologists, on a dig in Essex with Carenza Lewis from the Department of Archaeology, unexpectedly unearthed a mysterious woman who could be more than 1,000 years old. Local pupils also worked with the Botanic Garden to create the new Schools’ Garden, which will now become a resource for schools across the region.
Dan Friess, Rising Star and PhD student in the Department of Geography
Culture and society Academic research at Cambridge contributes significantly to the social, political and cultural fabric of society. Dr Wendy Pullan, Department of Architecture, is leading a project to investigate how cities that have been torn apart by ethnic unrest or war can regenerate. The five-year project will involve scholars from Cambridge, the University of Exeter and Queen’s University Belfast, supported by contributions from researchers in other countries
Dr Mark Goldie, Faculty of History
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in Europe and the Middle East. Funded with a £3.1 million grant from the Economic and Social Research Council, the project will focus on Jerusalem and Belfast, but will also look at the structure, layout and life of other cities such as Mostar, Beirut and Berlin. Dr Pullan’s research in this area has already been recognised with a Royal Institute of British Architects President’s Research Award.
“I would like to thank Cambridge University and its partners, the Coexist Foundation and the Weidenfeld Institute for Strategic Dialogue, for hosting this important conference. As many of you will know, The Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme is at the forefront of innovative teaching and research in terms of the study of world religions, their inter-relations and their relations with secular society.” Tony Blair, former Prime Minister, speaking at the Cambridge Inter-Faith Conference held at Lancaster House, 4 June 2007
Deeply rooted in scholarship, The Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme (CIP), part of the Faculty of Divinity, plays an active role in encouraging dialogue and advancing understanding between Islam, Judaism and Christianity. CIP this year established an exchange programme between Cambridge and the Al-Azhar University in Egypt. Egypt’s highest-ranking Muslim official, the Grand Mufti Dr Ali Goma, spoke at the Faculty and explored possible future relationships between Christian and Muslim scholars. CIP also organised a major international two-day conference. Involving key policy-makers and leading figures from
“The Entring Book has such an enormous scope that it tells us about far more than the politics of the time. It also covers publishing, plays, business, military and religious matters. We hear about foreign affairs, public opinion, London life, gossip and rumour, plays and coffee houses, books and censorship.” Dr Mark Goldie, Faculty of History
around the world, the conference explored many issues around Islam in the present day and focused on the relationship between Islam and the non-Muslim world. There is also much to learn about the way we live today by understanding more about the past. Roger Morrice’s Entring Book has been painstakingly restored by an international team of academics, led by Dr Mark Goldie from the Faculty of History. The team has spent seven years working on the project and even had to recruit a specialist code-breaker to decipher the author’s seventeenth-century shorthand. Virtually forgotten since the 1700s, the book is the longest and richest diary of public life in England during the later Stuart Age; now published for the first time, the six-volume work gives an invaluable insight into life, politics and opinions in Restoration England. Whilst interest in Roger Morrice may be a relatively new phenomenon fuelled by the recent availability of his diary, public interest in Captain Scott continues. Heart-breaking final messages written by Scott to his family went on public display for the first time this year at the Scott Polar Research Institute. Scott’s last letters were given to the University by descendants of the famous explorer; the collection also includes messages sent by his wife and young son.
Interest in Charles Darwin (Christ’s College, 1827) continues unabated in the run-up to 2009, which marks the bicentenary of his birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. Following the successful online publication of the entire works of Charles Darwin, his diary from the Voyage of the Beagle has been serialised on BBC Radio 4. Each reading was introduced by Dr John van Wyhe, the Cambridge historian of science who is leading the Darwin Online project. As part of this project, the diaries of his wife, Emma Darwin, can now also be found on the internet, chronicling 60 years in the life of the Darwin family. In addition, 5,000 letters written by and to Charles Darwin are now available online. This diverse and varied correspondence provides insight into Darwin’s life and work, as well as illuminating our understanding of Victorian science and society. Dr David Norman from the Department of Earth Sciences and the Sedgwick Museum has led a trip to the Galapagos Islands tracing the journey of Darwin. Specimens collected on the trip will be used for an undergraduate research project and will also form part of a new permanent exhibition – Charles Darwin the Geologist. The exhibition has been awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of more than £500,000 and is due to open in 2009 as a centre piece for the Darwin and Cambridge 800th Anniversary celebrations. Other lesser known collections and artefacts have also been brought to prominence thanks to research at Cambridge. Dr Gilly Carr, an affiliated scholar in the Department of Archaeology and a lecturer at the Institute of Continuing Education, is the first scholar to fully investigate the artefacts made by Channel Islanders during World War II. She is piecing together a detailed picture of how the islanders quietly refused to acknowledge German rule and how they made life as tolerable as possible in times of great uncertainty and hardship.
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Dr Paul Russell has led a project to restore and publish a set of early medieval Irish glossaries neglected since the nineteenth century but now at the forefront of Celtic scholarship. More than 100 letters and other documents written by the notorious acid bath murderer John Haigh are also now available to scholars at the Institute of Criminology. Academics hope that the documents will provide fresh insight into his mental state and inform ongoing research into the causes of crime and into the assessment of potential re-offenders.
Research Assistant Sytske Besemer at the Institute of Criminology
American criminologist Lawrence Sherman has become the fourth Wolfson Professor of Criminology at the University. World-renowned for his work in identifying crime ‘hot-spots’ to be tackled with intensive policing and his pioneering experiments using science to promote justice, his research at the Institute of Criminology focuses on crime prevention strategies and restorative justice in the UK.
Groundbreaking discoveries in medicine The grants and prizes awarded to University researchers are testament to the contribution they make to medical understanding and new therapies. Dr Dennis Bray, Department of Physiology, Development and Neurology, has won the £170,000 Royal Society and Academie des Sciences Microsoft European Science Award, one of the largest prizes in science. His innovative use of computer simulations in research on bacteria has been seminal in the growth of computational biology, which has now become an essential discipline for processing the vast amount of data available to scientists. Dr Bray is using his prize to set up a computational facility for his department, which will provide much needed computational power for his work and that of others. Dr Dino Giussani has won the highly competitive Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. The five-year Award is given to individuals of proven outstanding research ability and is designed to help universities retain internationally recognised scientists. Dr Giussani’s work in prenatal physiology has led to exciting possibilities for preventative medicine in the womb.
In collaboration with colleagues in Scotland, India and Japan, researchers from the Department of Pharmacology have, for the first time, been able to film the interaction between a bacterial enzyme and a DNA strand from an attacking virus. The real-time footage of these nanoscale events has marked implications for scientists looking for new cancer treatments.
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The Cambridge Institute for Medical Research has been awarded a £4 million grant by the Wellcome Trust for research into how diseases arise and for training tomorrow’s academic doctors and medical scientists. Veterinary teaching and research have also been enhanced thanks to a £10.7 million Wellcome Trust initiative to encourage students to pursue research careers in veterinary medicine. The programme is a partnership of the seven UK veterinary schools, and will include several new fellowships and a range of scholarships. On the Cambridge Biomedical Campus at the Addenbrooke’s site, the research excellence of the University works in synergy with the clinical infrastructure provided by the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and other organisations such as the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK. The Government has recognised the contribution made by these partnerships, as well as the potential for more, and the Campus has been designated as one of the UK’s five Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centres. The Centre will receive substantial new research and development funding from the National Institute for Health Research and will address major health priorities such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurosciences, metabolic disorders and transplantation.
Final year graduate student in Professor David Neal’s laboratory at the Li Ka Shing Centre
HM Queen Elizabeth II at the opening of the Li Ka Shing Centre
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Research into cancer is advancing rapidly in the Schools of Biological Science and Medicine. An international team of researchers, led by Cambridge scientists, has conducted the world’s first largescale ‘whole genome search’ for faulty genes that increase breast cancer risk. They studied the DNA in nearly 50,000 women and isolated five regions of the genome containing genes which can increase the risk, opening up exciting new research directions. Research in the Department of Pathology has also revealed new findings in the battle to understand breast cancer. Cancer research at Cambridge has been further boosted with the official opening of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute. Housed in the new Li Ka Shing Centre and opened by HM The Queen, the Institute is a unique partnership between the University and Cancer Research UK, dedicated to research into the causes of cancer, and to developing new treatments and bringing them to the clinic. The generous philanthropy of Sir Ka-Shing Li, Chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, together with other donors, has helped bring this project to fruition. The Li Ka Shing Foundation has also funded the Li Ka Shing Professorship of Oncology, which is held by Professor Sir Bruce Ponder.
Research led by University scientists has identified for the first time a gene linking Crohn’s disease and type 1 diabetes. The studies were part of the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, the largest ever study of the genetics behind common diseases. Although much work is still needed to investigate this link, the discovery is being heralded as a promising avenue to understanding these debilitating diseases. A breakthrough in understanding multiple sclerosis has also been made with the discovery of new genetic variants associated with the disease; this landmark discovery has ended three decades of research frustration. In other success stories Cambridge researchers have developed a novel strategy to tackle neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease: encouraging an individual’s own cells to ‘eat’ the malformed proteins that lead to the condition. Research carried out at the Brain Mapping Unit may now result in more effective treatment of depression, paving the way to a personalised approach in the future. The University Autism Research Centre (ARC) has also been involved in the development of a new DVD to help young children with autism to recognise human emotions. The Transporters has been produced by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, based on the latest research from the ARC.
“We now have a far stronger service for patients than we had five years ago and one that integrates surgery, pathology, radiology, and cancer medicine through new multidisciplinary teams. These deliver first-class care and are the foundations for our research. The overall aim is to bring world-class research to bear on medical problems. We can make earlier diagnosis which will in turn mean better treatment.” Professor Sir Bruce Ponder, Li Ka Shing Professor of Oncology and Director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute
World-leading partnerships Academic collaboration is becoming increasingly important. The multidisciplinary Cambridge Neuroscience partnership was launched in 2007 with a three-day symposium. The new initiative extends across the University and affiliated institutes, and has partnerships around the UK and the world. Cambridge Neuroscience already has nearly 300 international collaborations in 29 countries. It is aimed at maintaining Cambridge’s position as a leading international centre in this field. It will build upon the last 50 years of neuroscience research at Cambridge, including some of the most fundamental discoveries of the twentieth century. Cambridge Neuroscience is encouraging and facilitating collaborations and is set to strengthen Cambridge’s position as a world-leading research and teaching centre. Research activity increasingly brings Cambridge academics into partnership with scientists from other universities and from the private sector. The University has signed a new partnership agreement with Nokia that will see an extensive and longterm programme of joint research projects initially focusing on collaboration with nanoscience and electrical engineering. An association between the Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics and Carl Zeiss SMT will give University researchers access to the latest electron-beam imaging equipment and expertise.
Microsoft Research Cambridge celebrates 10 years of research and co-operation. Now one of five facilities of its kind, Microsoft Research Cambridge was the first Microsoft research centre to be set up outside the United States. The University is also part of a £6 million research collaboration in quantum physics. Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial College London will work together on this Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council funded project to improve understanding of the quantum world and to develop fundamental new technologies in nanoscience. A pioneering Kavli Institute of Cosmology is to be established following a multi-million dollar endowment from the Kavli Foundation. The Institute will bring together researchers from the Department of Physics, the Institute of Astronomy and the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics to engage in distinctive research addressing fundamental questions about the early universe.
A team of astronomers led by Cambridge has taken pictures of the stars that are sharper than anything produced by the Hubble telescope, at a fraction of the cost. Researchers from Cambridge and the California Institute of Technology have achieved these remarkable results using a technique called ‘Lucky Imaging’.
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Graduate student Sharvari Dalel at the Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics
Innovating for the future The Cavendish Laboratory is leading a new Carbon Trust funded project in collaboration with The Technology Partnership and Cambridge Enterprise. Using plastic instead of silicon to create solar cells, the group has developed a more cost-effective solar panel. A prototype panel that can power a calculator has been built and the team is now working to advance the technology for large-scale production. If the project achieves its objective of deploying more than 1 gigawatt of power by 2017, it could deliver CO2 savings of more than 1 million tonnes per year. The University is increasingly active in the area of climate change and the environment. Dr Chris Hope, University Reader in Policy Modelling at Judge Business School, has been recognised for his groundbreaking work on climate change over the past 15 years. He has received the prestigious 2007 Aspen-EABIS Lifetime Achievement Award for his influential contributions to the field: he played a crucial role in developing the PAGE (Policy Analysis of Greenhouse Effect) model which is used to calculate the financial cost of global warming; the model formed a major part of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change.
The University joined more than 70 leaders from Cambridge schools, businesses, churches and community groups to launch the Cambridge Climate Change Charter. The purpose of the initiative is to stimulate, coordinate and communicate action across Cambridge to address the causes and consequences of climate change.
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Dr Terry Barker and colleagues at 4CMR (the Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research) have also contributed to the Stern Review and addressed influential international conferences. Dr Barker appeared before a Joint Committee of the House of Lords and House of Commons to give evidence on behalf of the Royal Society in the Committee’s consideration of the draft Climate Change Bill. He also made substantial and significant contributions to the Reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore. The award recognised “their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about manmade climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.” A Cambridge Centre for Energy Studies has been established at Judge Business School, complementing and supporting the raft of environmental initiatives already underway at the School, and across the University. Acting as a bridge between the academic and business worlds, it will examine key issues relating to energy security and global warming, with implications for public policy. Research on biofuels in the quest for a sustainable, carbon neutral fuel is being conducted by the Department of Biochemistry. A new lecturer has been appointed to the Department of Geography thanks to a gift from James and Jane Wilson. Dr Michael Herzog’s expertise adds to the growing interdisciplinary teaching and research strengths at Cambridge in climate modelling and the environment. The Centre for Mathematical Sciences hosted the first international Summer School on Climate Modelling, reaching the next generation of climate scientists. Junior scientists from the UK, Japan and other countries were taught the latest theories and methods in climate modelling and heard from some of the pre-eminent practitioners in the field.
Dr Terry Barker, Director, 4CMR
Transforming society Cambridge Enterprise helps University academics to develop their discoveries and innovations commercially. First set up as an independent office in 2004, it has now been established as a limited company, wholly owned by the University. The company provides access to commercial partners, investors, mentoring and early stage funding, as well as supporting academics in their consultancy activities. A gift from The Hauser-Raspe Foundation is enabling the construction of the Hauser Forum which will provide a new home for Cambridge Enterprise and new common room facilities for other University staff based on the West Cambridge site.
Pocket-sized projectors capable of screening movies from a laptop or mobile phone could be on the market within three years following a licensing agreement between the Department of Engineering and Alps Electric Co. Ltd. The investments made by Cambridge Enterprise over the years continue to pay dividends, with the benefits felt across the University, business and society. Solexa, established as a spinout in 1998, has this year been acquired by US-based company Illumina for US $600 million, becoming one of the biggest commercial success stories to emerge from the University. Spinouts DanioLabs and Plastic Logic have also found further success this year: DanioLabs has been acquired by Summit plc, a leading UK biotechnology company, creating a major player in the pharmaceutical industry that will help get products through development, testing and to patients; and
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Plastic Logic has raised over US $100 million to build a manufacturing facility. This is one of the largest agreements in the history of European venture capital financing and will enable the pioneering technology of Plastic Logic to be produced on a commercial scale. At the other end of the spectrum, new ideas are just beginning to germinate. The Varsity Pitch competition – a showcase for the best entrepreneurial ideas from Cambridge and Oxford students – was won by the Cambridge TouchSight team. The winning invention went on to take first place in the international Next Generation Entrepreneur Forum and had already achieved success in the Cambridge University Entrepreneurs £1k Business Ideas competition. Developed by final-year engineering students Pete Davies, Karan Keswani, Samaan Rahman and Jessi Baker, the TouchSight Vision Mitt is set to improve the lives of millions of blind and visually impaired people across the world. Cambridge Temperature Concepts (CTC) had success in the Cambridge University Entrepreneurs ‘Where Angels Dare’ competition, securing the £15,000 first prize as well as a £17,000 Proof of Concept Grant from the East of England Development Agency. CTC has since gone on to win the Enterprise Educators UK National Business Plan Competition. Company founder, Shamus Husheer, is now setting up trials for the product which helps women determine when they are ovulating in order to increase their chances of conception. Other budding entrepreneurs showcased their ideas at the Institute for Manufacturing Design Show. The highlights of an impressive range included SpeedSmart, an intelligent ‘speed calming’ system, and the Braille Belt, a pocket-sized device that can capture text and translate it into braille.
In fiscal year 2006–07 Cambridge Enterprise: • generated knowledge and technology transfer income of £6 million and returned more than £5.3 million to academics and University departments • closed 60 deals to commercialise research and intellectual property • assessed 118 new invention disclosures and 44 UK or US priority patent applications filed • concluded 95 consultancy agreements, reflecting the demand for academics’ technical advice and expertise.
Pioneering technology from Plastic Logic: ‘take anywhere, read anywhere’ flexible displays using E Ink® Imaging Film
Recognising achievements The achievements of the institution are first and foremost the achievements of individuals. These are recognised every year by the many awards and accolades that are bestowed on members of the University. It is impossible to feature them all, and here we offer just a small selection.
The University water polo team in action
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Seven Cambridge academics were elected to the Fellowship of the British Academy: Dr Zara Steiner (Senior Fellowship), Professors Paul Binski, Robert Foley, Christopher Hill, Boyd Hilton, Ian Roberts and Richard Smith. A further five have been made Fellows of the Royal Society: Professors Mike Bickle, Barry Everitt, Bill Harris, Peter Littlewood and Robert Mair. Former Cambridge academic and Christ’s College alumnus, Sir Martin Evans, was jointly awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize for Medicine in recognition of his discovery of embryonic stem cells. Current academics Drs Richard McMahon, Mike Irwin and Nic Walton from the Institute of Astronomy, and Dr Nelson Nunes from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics were jointly awarded the 2007 Gruber Cosmology Prize. Professor Gehan Amaratunga was presented with the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Silver Medal; and Dr Adam Tooze and Dr Chris Clark were awarded Wolfson History Prizes. Professor Peter Bayley was made a Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques – France’s highest academic honour. Professor Ekhard Salje was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, first class. In the New Year and Queen’s Birthday Honours Lists the following people have been recognised: Lord Martin Rees, Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics and President of the Royal Society, has been appointed as a member of the Order of Merit; Professor Ann Dowling has been made a Dame and Professor Christopher Bayly has been made a Knight Bachelor. Professors Andrew Hopper, Azim Surani and Myles Burnyeat, and Dr Pamela Ewan have all been awarded the CBE.
Jo da Silva, a graduate of the Department of Engineering and now a lecturer on the MPhil in Sustainable Development was named ‘Individual of the Year 2006’ (British Expertise awards) for her role in a UNHCR project following the Asian tsunami. Sporting achievements also contribute to the success and reputation of the University. Alex O’Connell and Anthony Crutchett have been selected for the British Fencing team to compete in the World University Games in Bangkok. Sam Cutts has been named University Sports Woman of the Year in the annual Ospreys Awards and also triumphed in the inaugural International Student Horse Race at the historic Longchamp racecourse in Paris. The Cambridge women’s eights won the flagship Championship Eights event at the British University Sports Association Regatta and have now been selected to represent Great Britain at the European Universities Regatta; the Cambridge men’s eights triumphed in the 153rd Boat Race, preventing an Oxford hat-trick and extending the Cambridge series lead to 79 victories to 73. Success was also achieved in many hard fought Varsity contests throughout the year, including penalty success in the men’s football, victory against the odds in the men’s Varsity Rugby Match and a clean sweep in the athletics and in the swimming pool. The men’s water polo team also claimed victory in the annual Tilsbury Tournament.
The University bestows Honorary Degrees each year in recognition of the recipient’s outstanding contribution in his or her field. This year eight eminent individuals were honoured. Four people became Honorary Doctors of Law. Swedish-born diplomat and politician Dr Hans Blix is former head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission. He was educated at the University of Uppsala and studied for a PhD at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. From 1981 to 1997 Dr Blix oversaw inspections of Iraq’s nuclear programme, and presided over the re-introduction of inspectors in 2002. Ann Cotton is the founder and director of CAMFED (Campaign for Female Education), a charity that raises money to educate girls in Africa. Beginning as a stall on Cambridge market, selling food to pay for girls in Zimbabwe to attend school, CAMFED now reaches more than 427,000 children. Ann’s achievements in girls’ education have won her a series of awards, including an OBE. Philosopher Baroness O’Neill is President of the British Academy and chair of the Nuffield Foundation, one of the country’s best-known charitable trusts. From 1992 to 2006 she was Principal of Newnham College. Onora O’Neill is a leading authority in medical ethics and has written widely on political philosophy, international justice and bioethics. She became a Life Peer in 1999. Alumnus and Honorary Fellow of Peterhouse, Sir Nicholas Stern was the Chief Economist and Senior VicePresident of the World Bank from 2000 to 2003. He is now an economic adviser to the British Government. In 2005 he was appointed to lead a review of the economics of climate change, which led to the publication of the Stern Review. He was knighted in 2004. Two eminent scientists were presented with Honorary Doctorates in Science. Renowned palaeo-anthropologist Dr Richard Leakey has
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spent much of his life in Kenya. Fossils discovered by his team include the 1.6 million-year-old Turkana Boy, one of the most complete examples of Homo Erectus found. Dr Leakey has authored and coauthored more than 100 scientific articles and books, including the Origin of Humankind. He has been active in Kenyan politics and in 1997 was elected to the Kenyan parliament. Developmental biologist Sir John Gurdon is known for his pioneering research in nuclear transplantation and cloning. Cloning experiments he carried out in the 1960s led to the development of tools and techniques still used today. In 1989 he was a founding member of the Wellcome Institute for Cell Biology and Cancer in Cambridge, which was renamed in his honour in 2004. From 1995 to 2002 he was Master of Magdalene College. Two individuals became Honorary Doctors of Letters. Most famous of all contemporary British artists, David Hockney began his career at Bradford School of Art, winning a place at the Royal College of Art in 1959. Developing a distinctive modern style, he moved to the USA to become a key figure in the Pop Art movement. He has worked in photography and stage design, producing sets for the Metropolitan Opera in New York and Covent Garden in London. Prize-winning biographer, Claire Tomalin has explored the life and times of many eminent figures, including Mary Wollstonecraft, Jane Austen and Samuel Pepys. Her most recent book is Time-Torn Man: A Life of Thomas Hardy (2006). She was educated at Newnham College and worked in publishing and journalism, becoming literary editor of the New Statesman and the Sunday Times. Claire is an Honorary Fellow of both Newnham College and Lucy Cavendish College, and an Honorary Member of Magdalene College.
The 2007 Honorary Graduands with Vice-Chancellor Alison Richard and the University Chancellor HRH The Duke of Edinburgh
Charting progress Full-time students 2006* Undergraduates Men Women
5,896 5,686
Postgraduates Men Women
3,493 2,770
Colleges and departments organised over 100 open days for students, parents and teachers throughout the year. In one week alone in July, 14,000 people came to Cambridge for open days.
* Full-time equivalent student load for year of entry as published in Reporter, Special No. 9, Tuesday 22 January 2008
Undergraduate admissions statistics**
Postgraduate admissions statistics*
2003 UK Maintained UK Independent Other and overseas
2003 Home** Overseas
1,046 896
2004 Home Overseas
1,363 960
2005 Home Overseas
1,400 1,167
2006 Home Overseas
1,400 1,114
1,643 1,360 432
2004 UK Maintained UK Independent Other and overseas
1,588 1,268 437
2005 UK Maintained UK Independent Other and overseas
1,630 1,287 467
2006 UK Maintained UK Independent Other and overseas
1,554 1,340 445
Undergraduate applications for 2006 exceeded 14,000; 3,339 were accepted.** **Acceptances by type of school/college by year of entry or deferred entry for the following year
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*Includes all graduate and postgraduate courses by year of entry ** ‘Home’ includes students from the EU and other overseas countries paying the home rate of fees and students paying the ‘island’ rate of fees