The Homertonian is Homerton College’s alumni magazine. It is published once a year. Contact us in the Development Office on Telephone: 01223 747251 or Email: alumni@homerton.cam.ac.uk with feedback, news or letters. All our publications are available to read online on the Homerton Website: www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/ alumni-and-supporters/publications
Thank you to all our contributors and those who supplied images. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of Homerton College, Cambridge. Cover Photograph: Stephen Bond Design and print management: H2 Associates, Cambridge.
My opening gambit during my Charter Dinner speech was meant to be bold, assertive but with a healthy dose of humility.
“Ladies and gentlemen”, I began, “after 19 wonderful months of being Principal here at Homerton, I can honestly say, that I now know what I’m doing”… long pause, sideways glance at the Senior Tutor… “Okay, okay. After 19 wonderful months of being Principal at Homerton… I think I know what I’m doing”. Howls of laughter, but crucially a message had landed.
I do increasingly feel honoured and confident about what my role is here at Homerton. At one level I’ve got to keep this well-oiled, well-organised ship running: housing and feeding many hundreds of students. And in an often too intense academic bubble, I’ve got to make sure that student wellbeing is a very high priority. I’m always reminded by my great team of Fellows that teaching, alongside welfare, is
our core business. And we want to do that, along with engaging in some of the most exciting research, to the very best of our ability.
And alongside the welfare, the teaching and the research, there’s something else that all our Fellows fully agree on: that at Homerton we don’t just want our students to have a world-class degree, but also a strong and decent character. My superhero Dr Martin Luther King Jr summed it up beautifully when he said,
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”
And what might we mean when we talk about character? There are many components to character, but, if I was to pick three for our students, they would be Humility (no matter what, not thinking you are better than others). Decency (being kind, thoughtful, understanding). And Selfbelief (having a quiet self-confidence that you can change the world).
These facets of character, along with a world-class Cambridge degree, are, we believe a formula for great success.
My role, therefore is to ensure that our College culture, and programmes like Homerton Changemakers, help deliver that.
As I closed my Charter Dinner speech I said: “My superhero Dr King, passed the baton to my other Civil Rights hero (and Homerton Honorary Fellow) Reverend Jesse Jackson. He has passed it on to many others including me, and I in turn have in my office 1200 batons, to pass on to our 1200 Homerton students, so they too can change the world”.
David Johnson
David Johnson
An insightful symposium on working-class experiences
OVERCOMING CLASS BARRIERS AT CAMBRIDGE
The symposium “Overcoming Class Barriers at Cambridge” was convened by Dr David Clifford, Associate Professor in English at Homerton, and addressed the role of social background as it affects Cambridge students and academic staff.
“There are many academics at Cambridge with working-class background,” said David, “but their origin stories are usually well concealed from students behind academic titles and a couple of decent pairs of shoes. The relative invisibility of social background –and, to be frank, the residual undercurrent of shame it still seems to harbour –
REVEREND AL SHARPTON AND HOMERTON
IInFebruary, Homerton hosted American civil rights and social justice activist, Reverend Al Sharpton, who gave a penetrating and inspiring talk to students. Lord Woolley has known “Reverend Al” for 30 years, and campaigned with him in the US and UK for voter registration.
In 1991, Rev. Sharpton founded the National Action Network (NAN), a leading civil rights organisation which works within the spirit and tradition of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr to promote a modern civil rights agenda and NAN is dedicated to the empowerment of marginalized communities, fostering dialogue and collaboration, and creating a more equitable society for all.
He told students “At the end of your life no-one will care how many degrees you had or how many cars you had.
They will remember those who served more than themselves. Service is the real reason to be alive.”
The audience experienced the power of Rev. Sharpton’s rhetoric at first-hand, and he brought his audience up short by observing, “Sharpton was not our name – it was my great-grandfather’s owner’s name. I don’t know my name. And you have the option of being bitter, you have the option of being angry, you have the option of getting revenge, or you have the option of taking the country the other way and choosing not to duplicate that [hate] within yourself.”
In April, at Rev. Sharpton’s invitation, Lord Woolley spoke in the prestigious annual NAN convention, ‘Dealing with the Dream Under Threat’, in New York, which featured a keynote speech by
means that working-class academics and students often think they’re alone, when they’re in fact surrounded by others with similar stories”.
Participants in the seven panels included Homerton students, Fellows and alumni, and senior academics from across the university. The themes discussed included attracting more working-class students to apply and supporting those already here; the issues faced by working-class women academics; changing the culture of the University and class barriers faced by ethnic minorities at Cambridge.
the US Vice-President, Kamala Harris. Simon’s participation in the convention underscored Homerton College’s commitment to social justice, diversity and promoting positive change.
Simon commented “The struggle for race equality is global. The challenge is of global unity and global allyship that seeks to ensure we recognise the kaleidoscope of challenges for all communities and come together as one.”
David Johnson
Stephen Bond
DEBORAH GRIFFIN MAKES RUGBY HISTORY
Homerton College’s former Bursar is set to make history. Deborah Griffin OBE has been elected to become the first female President of the Rugby Football Union (RFU). Deborah, Bursar of Homerton from 2012– 2022, was a key figure in the early days of Women’s rugby, playing in the first official women’s game and competing for England in the World Cup in 1991. She later ran the RFUW (as the women’s club was then called), spearheading the merger with the men’s sport, and was the first woman elected to the board of the RFU.
Whilst at Homerton, Deborah championed sport as part of the student experience. She wrote a strategy for sport at Homerton, found a permanent, fully equipped home for the College Boat Club, HCBC, and worked with St Mary’s
Mariah
Whelan is a poet, teacher and interdisciplinary researcher. She has been the College’s inaugural Poet-inResidence, a position generously funded by Dr Norman Bardsley in memory of his wife, Jacqueline, who attended Homerton from 1960–62. Mrs Bardsley was a lifelong writer and lover of poetry. Mariah has
School to develop sports facilities that are among the best in Cambridge.
Deborah explained “The ethos of team sport is so important for mental health and wellbeing. The need to be attentive and present in the moment is crucial for team sports, and sport can be
the antidote to over-working, which is not good for health, mind or work itself. Being physically active, particularly in the open air, is good for body and spirit.”
In June, Deborah joined Homerton College Boat Club to launch their new boat, christened ‘Griffin’ in her honour.
PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW
degrees from Queen’s University Belfast, the University of Oxford and a PhD from the University of Manchester.
Mariah’s residency ends in August and she has reflected on what her time at Homerton has given her:
“The Homerton residency has been amazing because it’s given me the time and space to develop my methods and approaches. I am so lucky to be able to come to Homerton for a few days each term and dedicate my time to practicing my craft. The poems I’ve written as part of the residency have been published in literary journals and shortlisted for poetry prizes and I have been able to finish the manuscript for Michael, my third book of poetry which was published in 2022.”
“In addition to taking the time to work on my own writing, my job is to create poetry for, and with the College community.
This means I get to work with students, alumni, staff and the Fellowship on all sorts of poetry-related projects. I’ve been commissioned to write specific poems for particular occasions, … I also ran a series of workshops open to everyone. Now we are out of the pandemic, they remain an important space where people can engage in creativity outside their studies. Playing with language and images nourishes the mind and soul. It gives us ways outside the everyday world of work to grapple with who we are and how we want the world to be. Something that is really important at Homerton.”
“The richness of thought at Homerton combined with the compassion and genuine care people have for the community is just such fertile ground for creativity to take place. That is rare and I have valued every moment of it.”
David Johnson
David Johnson
THE GLENNIE CONCERT ALUPHONE
Honorary Fellow Dame Evelyn Glennie CH has generously loaned an extraordinary musical instrument to the College. The Glennie Concert Aluphone, which Evelyn helped develop, is a tuned percussion instrument made up of coneshaped aluminium bells mounted on a frame. Evelyn famously played the Aluphone in the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympic Games in 2012.
Evelyn Glennie is the first person in history to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist, performing worldwide with the greatest conductors, orchestras, and artists. Profoundly deaf from the age of 12, Glennie often performs barefoot, feeling the music through her body. Evelyn has made over 30 solo recordings, has commissioned more than 200 percussion pieces and is a composer
Michelle Mitchell OBE, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK (CRUK), was sworn in as an Honorary Fellow of Homerton College in June.
Michelle has led CRUK, the largest independent funder of cancer research in the world, since November 2018, the culmination of a career dedicated to public service. She has previously led charities, including the MS Society and Age UK, with distinction.
She served as a Non-Executive Director of NHS England, the King’s Fund, the Power to Change Trust and the Fawcett Society. She grew up in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, where
in her own right. She is a double Grammy winner and BAFTA nominee; she joined Homerton College as an Honorary Fellow in 2016 and was appointed a Companion of Honour in 2017.
Positioned on display in our new Dining Hall, the Aluphone gives visitors rare access to this iconic instrument, as well as inspiring students to learn to play it and write original repertoire. This year’s Homerton Composing Competition invited students to compose pieces for the Aluphone, and the May Week Concert featured the winning composition, Entropy Bells by King’s College student Jack Robinson, and the runner-up, Blast Shadow by Homerton student George Wise.
MICHELLE MITCHELL JOINS AS AN HONORARY FELLOW
she attended a comprehensive school. She was the first in her family to go to university. Issues of social mobility, social change, and social justice have always motivated her, and in every organisation, she has worked to realise the potential of people from all sorts of backgrounds.
In 1997, Michelle joined the democratic change campaign Charter 88, and while there, met Simon Woolley, then a volunteer for the organisation. Simon and others set up Operation Black Vote from within Charter 88 in 1996.
Lord Woolley said: “I have known and respected Michelle Mitchell for nearly three decades, and I am so pleased she is joining our community here. What stands out is not just the energy and the
dynamism she brings to everything she does, but the level of decency and integrity, which resonate so strongly with our values at Homerton”.
Michelle Mitchell said: “I am delighted to join Homerton – not only to make common cause with Simon Woolley again, but because of Homerton’s values of fairness, openness, responsibility and excellence, and the unique position Homerton has forged for itself, since becoming a full College in 2010.”
Michelle is the 15th person to be elected to an Honorary Fellowship at Homerton, a number which includes Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, chair of Cancer Research UK, and formerly ViceChancellor of the University of Cambridge.
David Johnson
Jane Liechty
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF …
As Executive Head Chef, Bill oversees the kitchen teams. The new, open kitchen is integrated into the award-winning new dining hall and buttery, and creating decent working conditions for the kitchen staff was a key objective in the move from the Great Hall. Bill takes us through a typical day in his job.
BILL PROUDFOOT
Stephen Bond
6.30am
My working day starts early as I tend to do a morning shift. I open up the kitchen and check in with the chefs on duty that shift. I have worked at Homerton for 11 years, starting as a Sous Chef and working my way up. Before that I worked as Head Chef at another Cambridge College, and before that at a small Cambridge hotel: I’ve been a chef for nearly 40 years.
The staff and I are really pleased with the new kitchens and facilities. It was a big change as we moved to a completely electric kitchen having always worked with gas. However electric is much cleaner for working and better for the environment. It did take the chefs a little while to get used to the induction hobs as they provide very fast, indirect heat and so it was a learning curve for the first couple of months with a few burnt sauces!
7am – 10am
I focus on the food deliveries coming in today. Our food is sourced from local suppliers where we can: our butcher, greengrocer and prepared vegetable company are all local. We are also part of a couple of consortiums which enable us to bulk buy with other Cambridge Colleges, so it’s all as efficient as possible.
I check all the orders – 12 to 15 each day –making sure that they are delivered correctly, and that the food has come in at the right temperature. A kitchen porter will put the food deliveries away.
10am
At 10am we always have the Catering and Conference Huddle - a five-minute get-together of all the staff working Front and Back of House. Fully staffed we have nine chefs, five kitchen porters and a few casuals in the main kitchen, and on the Front of House side two Managers, three Supervisors and more casuals. They are a great team. Just like the rest of the hospitality industry, we have some staff vacancies: we currently only have five chefs working for us and use agency workers to fill the gaps. I prepared and cooked the breakfasts this morning, and I will always step on to the tools if needed.
At the huddle we go through the shifts for the day as well who is on site – the duty chef and supervisor, plus we identify the fire wardens and first aiders, and we doublecheck the requirements of any conference clients we have today.
10.10am
Catering tea break
10.30am – 11.30am
I do the ordering for the next day. We order a day in advance, so on a Monday, food is ordered to be delivered on a Tuesday, for preparing & serving on the Wednesday. It wouldn’t be possible to have delivery and prep on the same day just in case something is delayed. It gives us a chance to rectify any errors in advance and to change menus and reorder if necessary.
11.30am
I always allow time to check that our allergen labels are correct for the counter lunch service. Every menu, dish, dessert, and salad item must have all allergen details on display. These details are checked and doublechecked before service. Where possible, we will always cater for special diets including vegan and gluten-free options.
I confirm with the chefs that they are happy with lunch and advise them on other dishes to prepare should they get very busy and need more food.
I also always check in with the kitchen porters. A kitchen is only as good as the kitchen porters: they are the unsung heroes of our department. You don’t get to see them very much, but they are the champions of the kitchen and do an amazing job.
One of the aspects which I like most in my role is making sure I have a happy team. I find that if my team is happy, then I get a lot more from them. I get on well with the team and they know I always have an open door, and I will do anything I can to support them.
12pm
We have a conference meeting every week, and I also meet with the Assistant Bursar, the Head Chef, Front of House Managers, & Catering Supervisors on a regular basis.
1pm
The new shift team arrive and I get them set up for the evening. I have a 15-minute handover with Lewis, the Head Chef, discussing forthcoming menus, what ordering has been done and so forth. We plan our daily menu over 6 weeks. We cater for breakfast, lunch and dinner all yearround for students, staff and conferences. We all work a shift pattern so I will work on planning rotas, and I finish off with the fruit and vegetable order.
2pm – 2.30pm
Lunch time for us!
We are constantly looking at reducing food waste. All food is recycled and picked up by a waste food company, and we recycle all our cardboard which is collected along with other recyclable packaging. Waste oil is collected and recycled into biodiesel.
2.30pm
The Catering Managers Committee meet to discuss procurement every month and there is also a quarterly Head Chef committee for Cambridge Colleges. A meeting like that might be the end of my shift, or I might be working on a special event like the Charter Dinner, which is planned 8 months in advance. Lewis will create the menu and there will then be tasting sessions with a small group of Fellows, the Bursar and the Principal Lord Woolley to finalise the menu and marry up the wines for the evening, which is a highlight of the College year.
Evening
Once I am home, I will often cook for my family although my wife sometimes queries how many I think I’m catering for – and she reminds me that there are no other chefs or kitchen porters at home to help or clean up!
Daily Hospitality at Homerton by numbers
In term time
80 for breakfast
300 for lunch
Up to 300 for dinner
200 each for Formal Halls every week of term
200 each for Postgraduate Formal Hall’s three times per term
Conference business
Catering for arrival and midmorning coffee, a conference lunch, afternoon tea and possibly dinner.
Upwards of 700 meals a day!
BUILDING BELONGING THROUGH MUSIC
The Great Hall was packed out for the 2023 Kate Pretty Lecture “Building Belonging Through Music”, given by Sonita Alleyne OBE, Master of Jesus College and Chair of the Centre for Music Performance. The audience were also treated to a performance by singer-songwriter Eliane Brechbuehl, a PhD student at the CRUK Cambridge Institute.
Sonita Alleyne’s lecture was all at once personal, celebratory and challenging. Sonita described her school days, full of eclectic music from Mozart to Funkadelic, and the narrowing that was imposed on her musical identity as a student in Cambridge where, as she put it, “there are 29 organs but you sometimes struggle to find a working drumkit”.
Music, she said, had huge power to promote wellbeing, citing a survey showing that 85% of schoolchildren said that music “made them happy”. This made it even
more important that all students could enjoy and practice “their music” at Cambridge.
The Centre for Music Performance, Sonita explained, has inclusivity at its heart –providing opportunities for music-making at every level of expertise, for every audience both town and gown, and of every genre from orchestral to grunge and gamelan. She recounted the expansive variety of activities the Centre had instigated in its first year, reported the positive testimony of participants, and sketched out some of its future work.
David Johnson
MAKING CHANGE HAPPEN
Najib Sharifi is currently completing a PhD in Molecular Chemistry, having been an undergraduate from 2015–18.
Originally from Afghanistan, Najib found his undergraduate course in Chemical Engineering allconsuming, and it wasn’t until he started his PhD that he became more involved in College life. He invested more time in meeting people and in particular in Homerton Changemakers, which has supported him to co-found a charity, UniArk, helping those from persecuted communities to access education.
What was your motivation to engage with Changemakers?
“One of my reflections is that I had felt quite disappointed with my undergraduate experience: I was passionate about my course, but having grown up in an environment of politics and conflict in Afghanistan, I felt rather detached at College, as if I was living in a bubble isolated from the rest of the world. I was interested in how to navigate this different academic world and was actively looking for a means to contribute to my community in Afghanistan in a positive way, but those kinds of conversations did not take place for me at undergraduate level. I felt that the brilliant minds at Cambridge could be applied to find solutions to real world problems.”
“Besides being very passionate about science and academia, I have always been driven by the interests of my community, a persecuted and oppressed ethnic minority, the Hazara. The thought of contributing to a positive change, no matter how small, is what influences most of the key decisions I make. I have not only learnt a lot from the
Changemakers programme, but I also met amazing and inspiring individuals who are passionate about solving the big problems. I have gone on to join Changemakers as an ambassador so I can continue to work with like-minded people and develop myself further so I can help oppressed communities like my own.
The Homerton Changemakers programme seeks to develop insight, leadership, knowledge and skills; amplifying academic learning and empowering students to create positive change in the community and the world at large. It was developed in 2019 by Fellow Dr Alison Wood. Changemakers is supported by Associate Fellow Dr Soraya Jones and a Student Ambassadors Group and also draws on a network of innovators, academics, philanthropists, professionals, and entrepreneurs.
Najib took part in the 2019 inaugural Changemakers Residential and was impressed by the discussions about creating positive change.
“Alison had bought in external speakers, and there were workshops on public
UniArk
speaking, entrepreneurship and leadership skills. The community environment is one of the aspects I value most about Changemakers. It shifts your mindset to make you feel that you have a role to play in change, big or small. There is a danger of isolation at Cambridge, in the library or in our own work, whereas Changemakers takes us away from purely an academic focus. The Changemakers environment energises, and the call to make positive change resonates with everyone.”
“Events back at home have had a big influence on me. Last year there was a suicide attack which killed more than 50 female students at an Afghan education centre where hundreds of students had gathered to sit a practice test for university admissions. The attack affected me deeply and I arranged a candlelit vigil in their memory at Homerton supported by Senior Tutor Penny Barton and Changemakers.”
“Changemakers is a product of Homerton College and of its people. The right people like Alison and Soraya make Changemakers what it is. Alison is amazing and both she and Soraya create a great learning experience. Simon Woolley has also been a huge support. It’s the full environment at Homerton that allows change to happen.”
Najib has co-founded the charity UniArk with fellow Changemaker Goncalo Araujo Regado, Shukria Rezaei and Sebastian Abby Pratama. UniArk exists to help those living in persecuted communities in India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Ghana and elsewhere to get access to education abroad.
“In many countries students might be denied access to education because of their gender, sexual orientation or ethnic group”, says Najib. “Students risk violence and death to get an education. We wanted to contribute to helping those students."
“Three years on and we have about 40 volunteers working for UniArk. We have raised around £45,000, provided financial support to students, and advised them on how to get scholarships. We have helped a girl leave Afghanistan and get into a university abroad and supported a student from Indonesia who has got a place at Cambridge to do chemical engineering next year. UniArk also provides a network of supporters who can help. We make connections with schools and build alliances.”
In 2022, UniArk was awarded the first-ever Seed Fund by Changemakers. www.uniark.org
SASHA GRANTHAM
Sasha studied Education with English and Drama and he has just graduated. Having been set on a course following in his father’s footsteps to Oxford, his plans changed, and he took two years out teaching at his old school instead. At Homerton Sasha threw himself into student life having a transformative impact on football and men’s mental health. At graduation he received the 2023 Westall Prize for the student who has contributed most to student life.
When I finally arrived at Homerton I was older than most other students. However, the gap years had given me experience and real-world perspective. There seems to be a bit of a stigma against it, but I think the more experiences you have that you can bring to Cambridge, the better.
I started my degree in 2020 in the midst of Covid, which was a strange experience. Here at Homerton during Michaelmas Term we had to deal with the notorious West House Lockdown with all freshers locked in for two weeks because we had so many Covid infections after Freshers’ Week. It was a very tough start for me and my peers, coming in thinking “this is going to be my home for three years, this is a safe space” but unfortunately because of factors out of anyone’s control it couldn’t be. I know College staff and porters found it equally challenging. Lent Term was spent at home remotely, but summer term was normal, and we were all back. This experience made us all quite tight knit as a year group. We only really knew each other as we had been segregated together and there were no societies or clubs or chances to explore Cambridge. So, when it came to the second year, we were trying to manage a second-year workload with first-year curiosity.
Football
My sport is football. Unfortunately (as anyone who has ever seen me on a football pitch will know), I can’t play, but I like to think that I am quite adept at managing, coaching and administration. Homerton is a very strong sporting College and there is a large student body. We are one of the only Colleges with three men’s football teams and a women’s team. During my first year we only managed one match which took place at Halloween – played by a third team affectionately known as the ‘Homerton Fourths’. They were known for being a bit of a joke team, they mucked about, and the captain didn’t know what the offside rule was. I thought we could be a little more ambitious, so I asked to take it over and I sat down with the captain of the other teams and said, ‘We are the largest College in terms of numbers and our first
team is one of the best. We can make something special here and the first thing I want to do is to get the Homerton Fourths promoted from Division 6 (where they had been languishing for some years). The best thing we can do is get them up.’ I proposed creating a sense of momentum and community; I started to turn up to matches each week in a threepiece suit and I’d stand on the sidelines. I set up a social media account for the team and created film posters to promote the match fixtures (on one we replaced a photo of Harry Potter’s head with that of our striker). We got fans down to support at matches, and at the end of the season the Fourths were promoted to Division 5 for the first time in student memory.
My second year (2021) coincided with the opening of our new College sports facilities which are the envy of all the other Colleges. We have 4G and astroturf pitches, netball and tennis courts and a clubhouse. It raised our game, and over the summer we decided to change the structure of football at Homerton. We had three men’s teams and a women’s team (Hemmerton) which was joint with Emmanuel. We knew we could improve and have more continuity in the face of student turnover. So, we set up HCAFC, a unified club for the College. One of the first things we did, and the social achievement I am proudest of in my time here, was to field a Women’s and NonBinary College team (only the second one to exist at the University of Cambridge). They are in the 2nd division of the Women’s League.
Mental Health
Increasingly, as student group, we felt there was not enough awareness of mental health, not just in Homerton, or the University, but in society in general. We were particularly concerned about men’s mental health, as mental health issues in young men can often go undetected. In a place like Cambridge, which can be very pressured, and isolating, awareness is so important. We reflected that it was not just up to the College to facilitate support, but as friends and peer groups, we also needed to be able to offer support student to student.
This led us to set up Let’s Get Men Talking (LGMT) in 2022. It began as an informal event; a safe space for ‘those kind of conversations’, where students could talk to others about how they were feeling, but only if they wanted to. We aimed to create an environment to promote habits that are good for your mental and physical wellbeing. LGMT has gone from strength to strength, and we got students involved across year groups, subject groups and throughout the College.
We have hosted events with external speakers, collaborated with other Homerton societies and held a charity event for Cambridge Nightline. It has been a slow process as mental health is still seen as a bit of a taboo subject, but the crucial thing has been being very open and approachable.
The University wellbeing team have been watching our work and have asked us to create a blueprint for other Colleges to use as we are the first to have such a group in place. I was involved in the recruitment process for the Wellbeing Co-ordinator at Homerton and there has been an enormous amount of support from the College for non-academic pursuits. You do get out of it what you put in, and the number of people who want to stay at Homerton is a testament to the environment which has been created and to the people. Simon Woolley has been a great new Principal and we are proud to have him. Students know that his door is open.
What’s next?
Cambridge is a challenging university experience academically. I feel proud and privileged to have had that experience. In an ideal world I would like to pursue a career in sports management, in representation or as an agent – that’s the dream.
Homerton College want to you to explore the city and yourself, to speak to people, make new friends and explore diverse perspectives. Everything is on your doorstep here and there are plenty of opportunities to figure out who you are and what you want to do, so take them. The worst possible thing at the end of three years would be to have an enormous amount of academic knowledge and no self-knowledge.
Stephen Bond
WHEN THE UNIVERSE WAS YOUNG FELLOW IN FOCUS
When the Universe was very young, or so the theory goes, it cracked, leaving one-dimensional cosmic strings that may be with us still. It’s a hypothesis, a conjecture, and one that absorbs Homerton’s Dr Amelia Drew. Amelia’s work on predicting the mass of these theoretical defects in spacetime may end up helping to prove whether they do, in fact, exist.
Amelia is a Junior Research Fellow, who came to Homerton in 2020, fresh from finishing a PhD in Cosmology at Gonville and Caius College.
Most Cambridge Colleges have some number of Junior Research Fellows: postdoctoral researchers who are employed by the College, and affiliated to an academic department of the University. The reverse is far more common: there are over 4,000 postdocs in the University, funded by research grants in their department, while at any one time a College like Homerton might have only a handful of JRFs.
The three JRFs in the 2020 cohort at Homerton are Dr Sofia Singler, JRF in Architecture, Dr Meredith McLaughlin, a JRF jointly funded by The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute, and Amelia.
Amelia’s department is Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, which
was Stephen Hawking’s home for most of his career. Amelia is Hawking’s doctoral grand-daughter: he was the PhD supervisor of her PhD supervisor, and she met him at Department seminars.
The effort to understand cosmic strings is global, and Amelia is part of a European co-operation effort on Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (endearingly known as WIMPs). Her part is to make accurate predictions about mass, so that theory can be tested against observations. The observed range of mass then informs experimental design. Experiments are expensive, so accurate theoretical predictions of mass are important before undertaking the experiment.
Amelia explains, “My job is to formulate the theoretical model: there are others within the big international collaboration who look after the experimentation.”
It seems likely that Amelia was destined from the cradle to become a mathematician. Certainly, there is a phone video of her, aged five, saying “Maths!” when asked about her favourite subject. Nevertheless, there were at least two sliding-doors moments which could have led elsewhere. When she came to Cambridge as an undergraduate it was not as a Mathematician, but as a Natural Scientist, and by that time her preference had meandered towards biology. The Natural Sciences course at Cambridge is very broad and allows later specialisation, and slightly to her surprise Amelia ended up taking all physics options after the first year (“because they were the hardest”, she says, demonstrating the strength of her intellectual curiosity). But as a mathematician might put it, course ≠ career, and in fact, she says, “I actually thought when I was an undergraduate that I was going to be a professional violinist. I’ve played in lots of
orchestras, and I sang in Gonville and Caius College choir in my first year. I was in a band called The Explorers’ Society – we wrote a track called Cosmic Strings and I’m proud to say it’s still there on Spotify!”
Because a JRF is an early career position, they are designed to help move people to the next stage in academia – just as for students, a JRF’s Cambridge career can be “blink and you miss it”, such is the pace of work. In October 2023 Amelia, Sofia and Meredith will start their last year at Homerton, and be looking for the Next Thing.
At Homerton, Junior Research Fellows are full members of the Governing Body of the College. Amelia is reflective about the benefits of being funded by the College rather than through her Department: “it’s a key difference. I get support from Homerton relating to career development but not specific to my discipline. And it provides a community totally unrelated to my research, and adds an important dimension.” Amelia tells of attending a Homerton research seminar by a Kazakh sociologist on the Fellowship, “just out of curiosity”, and meeting PhD students there whom she’s now advising on their postdoctoral applications – clearing the pipeline for new researchers to rise and seize their opportunities.
Stephen Bond
OUR DONORS
1 July 2022 – 30 June 2023
The Principal, Fellows, students and staff of Homerton College wish to thank alumni and friends who have generously made donations to the College over the last year. Every effort has been made to ensure this list is accurate; do contact us if you believe we have made an omission.
Alumni
1943
Mrs Kathleen Hayward (d)
1948
Mrs Mary Dowse
Mrs Coral Harrow
Miss Elizabeth Rainsbury
1950
Mrs Dorothy Elven
1952
Mrs Shirley Haslam
1953
Mrs Elizabeth Tunnicliffe
1954
Mrs Pauline Curtis
Mrs Sheila Mackenzie
Mrs Penny Marshall
Mrs Ruth Orr
Mrs Sheila Pearce
1955
Mrs Gwenda Ackroyd
Mrs Christine Grainge
Mrs Gillian Hewin
Mrs Doreen Hobbs
Mrs Wendy Oakley
1956
Mrs Elizabeth Benning
Mrs Alice Severs
1957
Mrs Julia Davis
Mrs Gillian Figures
Mr Gordon Gaddes in memory of Mrs Pamela Gaddes
Mrs Christine Lincoln
Mrs Josephine Sutton
1958
Mrs Patsy and Mr John Blythe
Miss Freda Crispin
Mrs Diana Hadaway
Mrs Jill Hicks
Mrs Vivien Ivell
Mrs Beryl Izzard
Mrs Wanda Kielbinska
Mrs Rachel Macdonald
Mrs Judy Manson
Mrs Beatrice Pryce
Mrs Patricia Stott
1959
Mrs Dora Beeteson
Mrs Carole Evans
Mrs Ann Hardie
Mrs Ruth Jerram
Mrs Diana Lucas
Mrs Annmarie Mackay
Miss Gill Rogers
1960
Mrs Rosemary Allan
Lady (Gill) Baker
Dr J. Norman Bardsley in memory of
Mrs Jacqueline Bardsley
Mrs Jean Clarke
Mrs Sue Dickinson
Mrs Jenifer Freeman
Mrs Rosemary Hill
Mrs Val Johnson
Mrs Jennifer McKay
Mrs Rosemary Rees
Mrs Jacqueline Swegen
Mrs Janet Valentine
1961
Mrs Katie Abbott
Mrs Jan Campbell
Mrs Marilyn Clare
Mrs Anne Hulse
Mrs Joy Kohn
Mrs Susan Lovett
Mrs Sue McFarland
Mrs Jean Thorman
1962
Mrs Adrianne Ashcroft
Mrs Carol Bowen
Mrs Diana Dalton
1968
Mrs Kathy Down
Dr Anne Martin
Mrs Robyn Mitchell
Mrs Lynne Parsons
Mrs Anne Rogers
Mrs Pemma SpencerChapman
Mrs Marilyn Stansfield
1969
Mrs Patricia Colyer
Mrs Tricia Coombes
Dr Joan Fraser
Dr Vicky McNeile
Ms Anne Reyersbach
Ms Tessa Robinson in memory of Miss Bridget Robinson
Ms Hilary Stokes
Mrs Sarah Taylor (d)
1970
Mrs Patrica Bradley
Ms Fiona Cook
The Revd Claire Heald
Mrs Lynn Dowson
Mrs Marion Foley (d)
Mrs Carole Girdler
Mrs Gwendolyn Williams
1963
Mrs Jean AddisonFitch
Mrs Andrea Caish
The Revd Dr Anthea Cannell
Mrs Christine Macpherson
Mrs Janet Mayo
Mrs Kate Ryder
1964
Mrs Maggie Meredith
Mrs Sue Rescorla
Mrs Jill Taylor
Ms Marjorie Thorley
Mrs Jane Woodford
1965
Dr Tricia Cusack
Mrs Wendy Dunnett
Mrs Annie Illingworth
Mrs Judy MartinJenkins
Mrs Dorothy Nicholls
Mrs Sue Pinner
Mrs Janet Webb
Mrs Dilys West
1966
Mrs Wendy Farmer
Lady (Marilyn) Fersht
Mrs Margaret Funnell
Mrs Judith Queripel
Mrs Margaret Robbie
Mrs Jill Russell
Mrs Cheryl Trafford
Miss Lorraine Welch
Mrs Jan Wilkinson
1967
Mrs Marjorie Caie
Mrs Miriam France
Mrs Avril Growcott
Mrs Marion Pogson
Mrs Netti Smallbone
Mrs Ann Muston
Mrs Jo Newman
Mrs Zena Tinsley
1977
Miss Sheila Berry
Mrs Lalli Draper
Ms Jane Edwards
Mrs Ann Jackman
Mrs Helen Mitchell
Mrs Louise Mursell
Mrs Clare Myers
Mrs Jane Pearson
Mrs Lesley Thomas
Mrs Angela Wimbush
1978
Mrs Vicki Addey
Mrs Marianne Billitt
Ms Jackie Blackmore
Mrs Ruth Briant
Mrs Sandra Burmicz
Mrs Annette Cameron
Mrs Clare Danielian
Mrs Dee Davey
Mrs Caroline Hanton
Mrs Mary McCosh
Dr Roz Sendorek
Mrs Denise Shakespeare
Mrs Sue Smith
Mrs Helen Wood
Mrs Mary Wyatt
1971
Dr Jane Clements MBE
Mrs Patty Darke
Mrs Denise Few
Mrs Anne Moller
Mrs Mal Reid
Ms Helen Sandle-Baker
1972
Mrs Ros Allwood
Ms Catherine Beavis
Mrs Sarah Flynn
Ms Margaret Howell
Ms Anne Kennedy
Ms Jane Lewin Smith
Mrs Helen Malcolm
Mrs Caroline Melrose
Mrs Valerie Mills
Mrs Penny Riley
Mrs Annie Ryder
Mrs Angela Swindell
Mrs Maureen Weston
1973
Mrs Sheila Martin
Mrs Jane McLean
Mrs Dilys Murch
Mrs Heather Wilkinson
1974
Mrs Elizabeth Rose
1975
Mrs Alyson Baker
1976
Mrs Judy Clarke
Mrs Joan Gibson
Ms Jill Grimshaw
Miss Amanda James
Mrs Ann Kirkby
Mr Tony Little
Mrs Mary Powles
1979
Mrs Oyinkan Ade-Ajayi
Mrs Jane Bishop
Mrs Rachel Bond
Mrs Leonie Hyde
Mrs Brenda Thompson
Mr Chris Tottman
1980
Ms Victoria Brahm
Mrs Jo Broughton
Mr Ian Copeland
Mrs Catherine Hicks
Mrs Sarah Holmes
Mr John Turner
1981
Miss Anna Chapple
Ms Liz Clifford
Mrs Amanda Edwards
Mrs Cordelia Myers
Ms Sara Wolfson
1982
Mr Mark HanleyBrowne
Mr Brian Howarth
1983
Mrs Theresa Atal
Mrs Alison Brinklow
Mr Jez Crook
Mrs Susan Hill
Mrs Karen Miranthis
Mrs Sarah Palmer
Ms Emma Rawson
Mrs Frances Surridge
1984
Ms Cathy Graham
Ms Gek-Ling Lee
Ms Alison Mesher
1985
Dr Kirsty Byrne
Mrs Karen Coombs
Mrs Sally Jaspars
Mrs Anna Williams
Key: (d)* = deceased blue = 1768 Society
OUR DONORS cont...
1986
Mrs Keren Cooke
Ms Nansi Ellis
Miss Samantha Taylor
Mrs Yvonne Wiggall
1987
Mrs Kim Chaplin
Mrs Michaela Khatib
Mrs Keeley Rayner
Mr James Thomson
1988
Mrs Tamsin Austoni
Mrs Katie Mayne
Ms Phillipa Rushby
Mr Giles Storch
Miss Jen Svrcek
1989
Mr Tarquin BennettColes
Miss Lucy Bradley
Ms Fran Harrison
Mr Carl Howarth
Mrs Charlotte Irving
Mrs Penny Lee
Mr Simon Ray
The Revd Wendy Wale
1990
Mrs Naomi Baynes
Mr Phil Coldicott
Mrs Karen George
Mrs Fiona Gruneberg
Mr Ian Hodgson
Mrs Sharon Holloway
Mrs Sarah McWhinnie
Dr Susi Pinkus
Dr Helen Price
1991
Mrs Joy Bensley
Mr David Chapman
Miss Claire Corkran
Mrs Elizabeth Sartain
1992
Dr Simon Camby
Mrs Sarah Haines
Mrs Diane Rawlins
1993
Dr Steven Chapman
Miss Helen Diggle
Mrs Helen Morgan
1994
Mrs Claire Brooks
Mrs Torie True
Mrs Emma Vyvyan
1995
Ms Nicola Abery
Mrs Carol Carlsson Browne
Mr Mark Thomas
1996
Mr Ian Bettison
Miss Jo Cullen
Mr Ian Frith
Mrs Audrey Hinnells
Mr Christopher Shephard
Mrs Louise Tomlinson
1997
Mr Matt Buck
Ms Sadeka Choudhuri
Ms Vicky Silver
1998
Mr Alastair Chipp
Mr John Moore
1999
Miss Dawn Alderson
Dr Neil Hennessy
Mr Richard Marshall
Mrs Denise Mieszkowski
Mrs Laura Penrose
Dr Louisa Tipler
Mrs Zoe Yeomans
2000
Mrs Sue Aldred
Miss Rebecca Bauckham
Mrs Angela Clark
Mrs Abby Deeks
Dr Richard De Orfe
Dr Rekha Elaswasapu
Mrs Emma Holt
Dr Tom Kitchen
Mrs Amy McDonnell
Mrs Annabelle Payne
Mrs Cheryl Smith
2001
Miss Emma Cosby
Mrs Lesley Crooks
Mrs Julie Dear
Miss Lidia Fesshazion
Mrs Amy Fleming
Mr James Frecknall
Mr Paul Jones
Mrs Sandra Stapleton
Miss Emily Tattoo
Mrs Mandy WarnerBradshaw
2002
Mr Chris Adams
Mr Ali Azeem
Dr James Croft
Mr Sam Farmer
Mr Sutherland Forsyth
Mrs Carys Gladdish
Mr Chris Kellaway
Mr Remi Moynihan
Miss Krista Pullan
Mr Tim Scott
Dr Lisa Sessions
Mrs Sharron Shackell
Mrs Stephanie Shelmerdine
Mrs Helen Smith
Mrs Angela Woodruffe
Mrs Rhiannon Wynne-Lord
2003
Ms Susanna Bellino
Mr Louis Budworth
Mr Raymond Cilia
Mr Gregoire Hodder
Mrs Anne Howell
Mrs Catherine Kitchen
Mrs Aleishia Lewis
Mrs Elizabeth Mansfield
Mr Daniel Roberts
Mr Jonathan Ross
Mr Tim Rothwell
Dr Tovah Shaw
Mr Jean-Paul Skoczylas
Mr Tristan Stone
Miss Stephanie Tillotson
Mr John White
2004
Mr Laurence Ball
Mrs Emily Davies
Mr Colin Ferguson
Miss Natasha Gray
Mr Richard Hopkins
Mrs Nadine LLoyd
Mr Ravi Raichura
Mrs Kimberley Rayson
Dr Jeptepkeny Ronoh
Mrs Sian Shaw
Miss Jennifer Sneyd
Mrs Sarah South
Ms Verity Worthington
2005
Dr Enyi Anosike
Mr Nicholas Bebb
Mrs Katy Coles
Mr Andy Gard
Miss Sian Mawditt
Mrs Rebekah Perry
Dr Oliver Rupar
Mrs Liz Sharp
Ms Nadia Syed
Mr Han Tu
2006
Miss Aniko Adam
Dr Theresa Adenaike
Mr Andrew Blackburn
Miss Katherine Bluck
Mr Thomas Dix
Mrs Sophie Harrison
Dr Joshua Jowitt
Miss Afaf Nourallah
Miss Chloe Orchin
Mrs Dawn Pavey
Mrs Lynne Richardson
Mr Tom Robinson
Mr Luke Shepherd
Mr Azam Taiyeb
Mrs Liza de Uphaugh
2007
Mrs Rhiannon Baxter
Mrs Tracey Harjatanaya
Mr Tom Horn
Mr Joshua Jenkins
Miss Teresa Li
Mr Duncan Loweth
Mr Michael Lynch
Miss Nic Pollard
Mr Matthew Thomas
Miss Beth Wattleworth
Dr Susan Wishart
2008
Mr Luke Clarke
Mr Felix Danczak
Mr Mike George
Mr Matthew Linsell
Mr James Lugton
Miss Amy Munro-Faure
Mr Ikenna Obiekwe
Mr Gershwinder Rai
Mrs Emily Roberts
Mr Like Robins
Mrs Jessica Shingfield
Mrs Sarah Talland
Mrs Emma Turner
Miss Rebecca West
2009
Mr Adarsh Bala
Mr Daniel Beresford
Ms Shruti Chaudhri
Miss Danielle Eley
Miss Alice Esuola-Grant
Mr Jack Euesden
Mrs Denise Heal
Mr Gregory Hill
Miss Christine James
Mr John Keene
Mr Christopher Morgan
Mrs Sue Morley-Souter
Mr Joseph Randall-Carrick
Mrs Rebecca Rowe
Miss Xiaoye Shan
Mr Michael Thorp
Miss Isabel Webb
Ms Rhiannon Williams
2010
Miss Emma Bowell
Mr Nahum Clements
Miss Alexandra Courage
Mr Vasilis Eliades
Mr Gabrielius Glemza
Mr Paul James
Miss Sian Jones
Miss Suzannah LangdonShreeve
Dr Dirk Mersch
Mr Rok Nezic
Mrs Helen O’Hara
Mr Stephen Pates
Miss Heather Plumpton
Miss Bella Radenovich
Mrs Jessica Taylor
Miss Megan Trimble
Dr Wei Yang
2011
Mrs Cordelia Brown
Mr James Chicken
Mr Richard Fitton
Mr Jack Hooper
Mr George Jenkins
Mr Laurence Pritchard
Mr Thorben Schaefer
Mr Alex Shellum
2012
Mr George Clarke
Mr Radley Cunliffe
Dr Caia Dominicus
Miss Maureen Gisseleire
Ms Louise Holyoak
Mr Hansley Narasiah
Mr Douglas Porter
Miss Ruth Taylor
Dr Samantha Spratley
Mr Theepan Tharmarajah
2013
Mr Tristan Colaco
Mr Daniel Dennis
Mr Harry Draper
Mr Hachimi Maiga
Mr Chris Wellings
2014
Mrs Alexandra Annett
Miss Harrie Gooch
Mr Nigel Ironside
Mr Richard Jones
Mrs Anna Nye
2015
Miss Olivia Buckland
Mr Daniel Burdett
Miss Sally Dickens
Mr Adam Dobson
Professor Vincent English
Miss Emily Jones
Mr Justin Maroy
Miss Sarah WitkowskiBaker
2016
Miss Mille Fjelldal
Mr Mitchell Hayden-Cook
Mr Graham Robertson
Mr George White
2017
Dr Neil Papworth
Mr Joseph Saxby
2018
Miss Karen Castle
Miss Melissa Green
Mr Alexander Lister
Mr Michael Sanchez
2021
Miss Imaan Bhaiji
Dr Pavel Cejka
Miss Georgina Quayle
Friends of Homerton
Mrs Hinna Azeem
Mrs Jean Ball
Mrs Frances Barrett
Miss Patricia Cooper
Mr Douglas Coombes MBE
Mr Norman Donkin
Mr Fabio Galantini
Mr Roger Green
Dr Lesley Hendy
Dr Liz Hook
Professor Chris Imafidon
Dr Louise Joy
Dr Anthony Metcalfe
Mr Matthew Moss MVO
Miss Amy Reeve
Dr Peter Warner
Mr Aaron Westfall
Cavendish Circle
Dr J Norman Bardsley
Ms Victoria Brahm
Mrs Annie Illingworth
Mr Justin Maroy
Macaulay Circle
Mr Gordon Gaddes
Mrs Coral Harrow
Mrs Kate Ryder
Mrs Dilys West
ALUMNI REUNION WEEKEND
FRIDAY 22 TO SUNDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 2023
We are delighted to host our annual Alumni Reunion Weekend. The best way of booking is via our Alumni Events page on the College website. Alternatively, please contact Sally Nott on alumni@homerton.cam.ac.uk or by phone on 01223 747251
You are free to attend as much or as little of the weekend as you like. We look forward to welcoming you back to Homerton!
PROGRAMME
Friday, 22 September
6.15–7.30pm Donor Reception (By invitation)
7.00 for 7.45pm Drinks Reception followed by Dinner
Saturday, 23 September
9–9.30am Registration
9–9.45am Coffee
9.45–10.30am Welcome address by the Principal and the HUS President
CAN’T MAKE THE ALUMNI REUNION WEEKEND?
We have Drinks Receptions in London during the year and have recently launched the City Network for London-based alumni working in finance and related professions. Please email alumni@homerton.cam.ac.uk for further details.
10.45– 11.45am Talk on the Changemakers Programme Tour of the College gardens Tour of student rooms
12–1.30pm Lunch
1.45–2.45pm Panel discussion: Overcoming Class Barriers at Cambridge
3–3.30pm 'Decades Out’ celebrations
3.45–4.45pm The New School film and discussion
4.45–5.30pm Performance by The Charter Choir
2–4pm Tea & Cake
Sunday, 24 September
Noon Tour of The Fitzwilliam Museum
David Johnson
ALUMNI BENEFITS
As a lifelong member of Homerton and the University of Cambridge you are entitled to a number of benefits. You are very welcome to visit Homerton and use the College Library, Buttery and Bar, and to dine at Formal Hall. Subject to availability, you can also book overnight accommodation at preferential rates and book function rooms for private dinners and events.
For more information email alumni@homerton.cam.ac.uk
You can take advantage of great deals at a number of Cambridge hotels, bars, restaurants and retailers by using your CAMCard (issued by the University). You will also receive automatic membership to the University Centre and free entrance into most of the Cambridge Colleges. To request a CAMCard visit: www.alumni.cam. ac.uk/benefits/camcard
Jane Leichty
KEEPING IN TOUCH
By email
Have you been receiving our email newsletter? If you haven’t seen an e-newsletter recently, send us an email at alumni@homerton.cam.ac.uk to make sure we have your current contact details.
Social Media – follow us for the latest College news
www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/alumni/benefitsandevents
Visit the College website for full details of our alumni events and benefits. You can read College publications online and update your contact details when you move house or job.
Will you help Homertonians to flourish?
Gifts from alumni directly impact our students, by helping them afford their degree, supporting them when times are tough – with provision ranging from funding to pastoral care and on-site counselling – and by ensuring they can grasp the amazing opportunities that being part of Homerton offers. We have come so far together, and with your support, we can continue shaping future generations of compassionate, responsible, diverse talents, no matter their background or circumstances. Support a student’s future with a gift to one of our key funds here. We, and generations of current and future students, thank you.
www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/donate or phone Christopher Hallebro on 01223 747280
Tel: +44 (0)1223 747251
Email: alumni@homerton.cam.ac.uk
www.homerton.cam.ac.uk
Homerton College is a Registered Charity No. 1137497 HOMERTON
