Student news

from Mansfield Magazine 2020/21

Obituaries

1 Ana Stambolic VSP, 2019

In April 2021, Ana was awarded a full fellowship to begin an interdisciplinary master’s degree in China Studies at Yenching Academy of Peking University in China. Ana is focusing on the extensive study of Chinese Foreign Policy.

2 Caitlin Corrigan

Jurisprudence, 2018

This year, Caitlin was awarded an Astbury Scholarship, one of Middle Temple’s major awards. The Astbury Scholarship offers members of Oxford and Cambridge universities an opportunity to practise at the Bar of England or Wales. Successful candidates show both strong intellectual capability and a motivation to reach the Bar.

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple is one of four Inns of Court that give education and support to students and barristers throughout their careers.

3 Harry Twohig

History, 2019

In August 2021, Harry was presented with a Vice-Chancellor’s Social Impact Award, in the Undergraduate & Integrated Master’s category.

These annual awards are presented by the Vice-Chancellor to students who’ve demonstrated an exceptional commitment to positive social change while at Oxford.

Harry is involved with a variety of youth projects both within the University and beyond. He amplifies youth voices as a member of the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Policy Steering Group of the British Youth Council.

In addition to his election as President of Target Schools, the @OxfordStudents access scheme, Harry is an Ambassador for the Young Trustees Movement.

4 Mary Whittingdale

Theology & Religion, 2019

Mary is President of Womxn in Theology (WIT), a society for both undergraduate and postgraduate female-identifying students studying Theology & Religion at Oxford. The society has three goals: to provide a space to support womxn’s perspectives in the Faculty; amplify womxn’s voices in Theology; and network with other female-identifying students to foster solidarity and mentorship.

As President, Mary has tried to maintain both the social and academic vision of the society’s founders. Social highlights have included a Black Lives Matter discussion with guest speakers Ijeoma Ajibade and Evie Vernon, as well as a fantastic evening with the queer feminist theologian and poet, Rachel Mann.

A number of Faculty members and alumni have also joined WIT for academic discussions – with speakers such as Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Kirsten Macfarlane, Bethany Sollereder, Jessica Frazier, and Jennifer Strawbridge, who illuminated how to navigate the discipline as womxn.

In Trinity term 2021 WIT also launched its first blog, which can be found at http:// www.womxnintheology.com.

WIT is always looking to highlight new voices and perspectives, so please do get in touch to contribute.

5 Mitchell Marshall History, 2019

In Hilary 2021, Mitch worked at the Oxford Blue as its Current Affairs Editor, and subsequently became an Editor-inChief in Trinity term. The Oxford Blue is a digital news publication, founded with the aim of encouraging budding journalists by providing opportunities for students to develop their journalistic skills, regardless of their background. It strives to give new writers every chance to flourish, and it was this ethos that first attracted Mitch to the Blue as a fresher in early 2020.

Mitch has greatly enjoyed being part of an impressively skilled group of students from across Oxford this year, including several other amazing Mansfielders in various sections of the newspaper.

6 Rachael Chan

Geography, 2018

From June to July 2021, third-year geographer Rachael Chan participated in a tree census in Wytham Woods – a mixed deciduous piece of woodland located just outside Oxford’s city centre. The census, which consisted of measuring living and fallen trees within an 18-hectare plot, is an ongoing project by the Oxford Ecosystems Lab led by Prof Yadvinder Malhi.

As most field projects were cancelled during the pandemic, this initiative offered a rare opportunity to carry out fieldwork locally without posing significant risk to our surrounding communities. The census required intense focus because the team had to locate and measure 20,000 trees that were recorded in the 2016 census. This year’s census was also significant as the area has been subject to the tangible effects of ash dieback. Ash dieback is a fungal infection that causes 80% mortality of ash trees. As ash grow at extremely fast rates compared to other species, their deaths are particularly poignant; each measurement is a form of remembrance. The data will be made publicly available on the Global Earth Observatory network.

‘The census requires teamwork and camaraderie. We hope that it will be helpful to ecologists and scientists for future research.’ Rachael Chan

7 Rachel Cheung and Tami

Davidson

Jurisprudence (with Law in Europe) 2017, Oriental

Studies (Jewish Studies) 2020

Throughout the year, Rachel and Tami were student representatives for SolidariTee. As they explain:

‘SolidariTee is the largest student-led charity fighting for change in the refugee crisis. On 1-7 February, SolidariTee teams across UK universities led a Week of SolidariTee, full of initiatives and events to raise awareness of the refugee crisis. Within Mansfield we sold SolidariTees [T-shirts] – the proceeds of these support the work of several legal-aid NGOs who work to help asylum seekers make successful asylum applications. We also hosted an online talk about “Gendered Experiences of Exile”, and hoped that students learnt more about how gender can frame issues within the refugee crisis. Posters were hung up around Mansfield detailing the notoriously arduous and protracted process that asylum seekers have to go through in order to successfully claim asylum in the UK.’

8 Richa Nahata

Engineering, 2017

Earlier this year, Richa published a paper on ‘Assessing and Explaining Collision Risk in Dynamic Environments for Autonomous Driving Safety’. Richa’s paper is a result of a year’s work on the safety of autonomous vehicles, under Prof Lars Kunze of the Oxford Robotics Institute. Richa has since presented the paper at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Intelligent Transportation, which took place in Indianapolis on 19-22 September 2021.

9 Rhiannon Hawkins Geography, 2020

Rhiannon is actively engaged in investigating the impact that climate change has on young people’s mental health. This year she worked with the Royal College of Psychiatrists as a Youth Representative for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). In this role, Rhiannon represents young people across the UK, expressing their views surrounding mental health. Rhiannon also spoke at the Royal College’s recent Winter Institute conference highlighting the links between climate change and mental health. As a result of this extraordinary work, she has been interviewed by the Guardian (www. theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/20/ half-of-child-psychiatrists-surveyedsay-patients-have-environmentanxiety), and featured in a Royal College of Psychiatrists podcast (https:// podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ecodistress-in-children-and-young-people/ id1440489120?i=1000499448411).