MESSAGE FROM THE MASTER I Jesus College Annual Report 2022
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Message from the Master Last year, Fellows and staff ensured a safe return to a wide range of intellectual, social, sporting and creative experiences for students. The College’s Pandemic Strategy Group, who supported colleagues throughout the pandemic, disbanded at the end of Lent Term. It was a privilege to work with such committed colleagues. We look forward to welcoming everyone back to our Halls and to a refreshed Pump Court, resplendent with York stone, tulip trees and a fabulous new stone staircase giving direct access to the Hall. When I first visited the old kitchen, I marvelled that our chefs consistently produced some of the best food in Cambridge (in my opinion, the best) from such a constricted space. Our chefs will continue this tradition in a transformed space, fit for the next few hundred years. The new kitchen and Caff are filled with light and are ergonomically designed with meticulous attention to detail. Jesuans will be proud of the project’s environmental credentials, which include ground source heating. Thanks to the team who have overseen this huge project. The Forum and Forum Upper Hall, our dining home since 2020, will next year be incorporated with the Frankopan Hall to enhance our West Court conference complex, enabling us to attract even more interesting and dynamic thinkers from academia and beyond. The foundation of intellectual life at Jesus is the large programme of events organised by our Fellows. Dr Julian Huppert leads the Intellectual Forum (IF) team, who have fully embraced the potential to reach a global audience through hybrid events. Highlights of last year included Professor Bill Sherman’s 2022 Lisa Jardine Memorial Lecture on ‘Erasmus and the Reader’s Eye’; a conference about healthcare in
refugee and conflict zones in the Middle East and North Africa (with a live stream from the regions); a conversation with Professor Mary Beard; Lord Bernard Hogan Howe’s lecture ‘Should the police use more facial recognition?’ Visiting Fellow Sharon Dodua Otoo read from her new novel Ada’s Realm, and a symposium on the artistic practice of Shahzia Sikander followed her exhibition in our West Court Gallery. The IF also went on its first road trip, taking over a stage at the Cambridge Club Festival. Campers listened to some of our world-leading academics, alongside other headliners Diana Ross and Nile Rodgers and Chic! It is a pleasure to be Master of a College which is so dynamic. Last year, one day particularly stood out thanks to three notable events. On 27 October 2021, we hosted the first Universal Ownership Summit which brought together Fund Managers who control investments worth hundreds of billions of pounds, to discuss how to make the world a better place. We also held a launch event for the Jesus College Careers Programme, which this year expanded our mentoring platform Jesus Connect to
