News in brief Reach for the stars On the UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science (11 February 2021), College announced the launch of a new annual lecture, named in honour of trailblazing astrophysicist and Mansfield Fellow, Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell. Jocelyn was just 24 when she discovered a new type of star known as a pulsar, while completing her PhD at Cambridge. The significance of this discovery was recognised by the award of the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physics – but the award was given to her supervisors, Antony Hewish and Sir Martin Ryle, rather than Jocelyn. Since then, Jocelyn has received many honours, including, in 2018, a Breakthrough Prize for Physics by the Fundamental Physics Prize
Foundation. She pledged the £2.3 million prize money to help women, minority, and refugee students to follow in her footsteps and become Physics researchers. More recently, in January 2021, Jocelyn joined Albert Einstein, Edwin Hubble, and Stephen Hawking by becoming a recipient of the prestigious Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal for Astronomy, and in August was awarded the world’s oldest scientific prize, the Royal Society’s Copley Medal. She once again donated her prize
money to support students from groups under-represented in Physics. The new Jocelyn Bell Burnell Lecture will be held each November to mark the anniversary of Jocelyn’s discovery of pulsars on 28 November 1967 and aims to inspire the study of science at the highest level in all with the curiosity and commitment to pursue it. The inaugural lecture will be given on Friday 26 November 2021, by space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, who last year was made an Honorary Fellow of Mansfield.
We cannot walk alone In Trinity term, as part of Mansfield’s observance of Refugee Week (14-20 June 2021) – an annual UK-wide festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary – Mansfield was proud to host the inaugural Oxford’s Colleges of Sanctuary event: ‘Voices for Sanctuary: We Cannot Walk Alone’. Refugee Week has been particularly important to us this year, as, following a joint application with Somerville College, Mansfield achieved ‘University College of Sanctuary’ status, under the City of Sanctuary UK scheme. This recognised our commitment to nurturing a culture of inclusivity and support for those seeking sanctuary, including refugees and asylum seekers. The Colleges of Sanctuary event was hosted in partnership with Somerville, and we were delighted to welcome the Reverend Inderjit Bhogal, founder and President of City of Sanctuary UK, and Afraa Hashem, of campaigning group Action for Sama, as the inaugural guest speakers. 5
