Alumni news

We are always delighted to hear from members of our alumni community – whether it be career news, personal milestones or professional achievements. Here are just a few highlights from 2020/21.

1 Bob Porrer

Modern Languages, 1963

Following early retirement from his post as Director of Student Services at the University of Edinburgh, Bob was active as a consultant on university careers services (including 18 months in New Zealand with a brief to set up a world-class careers service at the University of Auckland).

He was Chair of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in Scotland, also serving as a Fellowship Councillor and subsequently Chair of the RSA’s Fellowship Council, which represents the RSA’s 30,000 Fellows worldwide. Following a move from Edinburgh to Cambridge he has been involved as a member of the local governing board of the North Cambridge Academy, a state secondary school with the highest proportion of disadvantaged pupils in Cambridgeshire. He also leads on a local RSA initiative on inequality in education and the transition to employment.

More recently Bob has taken on chairing ‘My Cambridge’, the Local Cultural Education Partnership. This brings together museums, arts and cultural organisations and the City and County Councils to spread the benefit of cultural activities, especially to disadvantaged young people – in a city found to have the widest inequality gap in Britain.

2 Christian Fischer

MSc Water Science, Policy &

Management, 2017

Christian is Chair of Water Science Policy (WSP), a global, multilingual platform for water journalism, thought leadership, engagement, and climate solutions.

Its goal is to ensure that water-curious readers – regardless of their financial or technical resources – can access thoughtprovoking analyses to form their own opinions about the biggest challenges the world faces today.

Christian adds: ‘Founded in May 2020 by a graduate cohort of the University of Oxford’s School of Geography and the Environment, WSP now comprises over 100 volunteers from more than 25 different countries. We are a powerful and thriving example of how passion, tenacity and technology can unite like-minded people across continents and time zones.’

Find out more at: https://watersciencepolicy.com/

3 Daniel Tarry

Geography, 2011

Matthew Bradbury

MEng Materials, Economics &

Management, 2011

In September 2021, Dan and Matthew completed the Deloitte Ride Across Britain (Land’s End to John O’Groats) challenge, in support of The Prince’s Trust. Collectively they raised over £4000 for this great cause.

4 David Parry

Modern History, 1965

In 2021 David received a Civic Award from the London Borough of Barnet, north London, ‘in recognition of his outstanding service to the community’.

The Award acknowledged David’s 12 years as founding Chairman of a local charity responsible for the purchase and £1.2m redevelopment of a derelict Victorian primary school in Barnet.

The Open Door Centre is now a thriving community hub offering a special welcome to older members of the neighbourhood. In the three years from its formal opening in May 2017 to its Covid-enforced closure in March 2020, there were some 40,000 visits to the Centre.

During the various Covid lockdowns of 2020, volunteers from the Centre prepared and delivered some 2500 two-course lunches to older, vulnerable members of the community. And during December 2020, the Centre hosted a socially distanced, free Christmas market providing tinned and fresh food, fresh meat, bread and cheese, cakes and chocolates, Christmas dinners and brand-new Christmas presents donated by members of the community to around 100 adults and children facing severe financial hardship.

5 Dhruti Shah

English, 2000

This year, Dhruti’s debut book, Bear Markets & Beyond: A Bestiary of Business Terms, was shortlisted in the 2021 Business Book Awards in the ‘Short Business Book’ category.

In August, Dhruti appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Word of Mouth with children’s author and poet, Michael Rosen, to discuss why personal names are so often mispronounced or misspelled, in conversation and online.

This programme was made available on BBC Sounds, here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/ programmes/b006qtnz

6 Emma Pell

PPE, 1998

Emma, who is Director of Arts Heritage and Tourism in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, for services to Heritage and the Arts during Covid-19.

7 Dr Eric Bender VSP, 1995

In December 2020, Eric was asked to audition to host GQ’s online show The Breakdown, on which real-life experts break down aspects of TV shows and movies in their area of expertise.

Eric was offered the role to discuss mental health, and this came out in February 2021.

After the filming, Eric was asked by GQ to audition for another episode and he will host a programme on psychopaths due out in the autumn of 2021.

8 Frank Vitale IV VSP, 2014

In September 2021, Frank, who came to Mansfield from Dickinson College, started a one-year Associate Fellowship with the National Library of Medicine, part of the United States National Institutes of Health.

9 Guy Hands

PPE, 1978

In November 2021, Guy publishes his new book, The Dealmaker: Lessons from a Life in Private Equity, an inside account of the world of private equity and a masterclass in the art of dealmaking.

Guy’s book provides a frank account of how a severely dyslexic child who struggled at school went on to graduate from Oxford and become a serial entrepreneur.

As the publisher reveals: ‘It takes the reader inside the previously very secretive world of private equity, explaining how this multibillion-pound sector operates and what opportunities it offers. Both insightful and page-turning, it will prove inspirational and essential reading for all those concerned with or interested in the world of investment.’

Discover more about Guy’s new book, here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/ authors/1065303/guy-hands.html

10 Joe Seddon

PPE, 2015

This year Joe was recognised with the highest accolade a young person in the UK can achieve for social action or humanitarian efforts – The Diana Award. Established in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, the Award is given out by the charity of the same name and has the support of both Diana’s sons, The Duke of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex.

Joe founded ‘Zero Gravity’, a tech start-up that digitally mentors low-income students into top universities. Joe created an app in his student bedroom with the last £200 of his student loan. Zero Gravity digitally connects university applicants from lowincome backgrounds with undergraduate mentors studying at leading UK universities. Mentees are then mentored through weekly one-to-one video sessions, all via the Zero Gravity app.

Zero Gravity has already been recognised with a social impact award from the Prime Minister, and recently picked up three European Brand Awards in the Transform Awards Europe, including a Gold Award for the ‘best visual identity in the education sector’. Zero Gravity has now partnered with organisations across the public and private sectors to level the playing field for students from low-income backgrounds. It is forecast to help 3000 low-income students attain places in top universities by 2022.

11 Dr Lucy Mahoney

DPhil Geography & the

Environment, 2009

At the end of 2020, Lucy took part in a panel hosted by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Lime (an urban transportation company) with the Mayor of Rome and the World Health Organisation’s Director of Public Health, discussing future mobility and climate.

In 2021 Lucy was elected by the Dutch cycling organisation, BYCS, to become the BYCS Bicycle Mayor of London. She also had a piece published by the City of Bogota regarding its new climate-ready cycling infrastructure.

12 Martin Stott

Geography, 1973

Martin has published two photo books in 2021. Wear a Mask! Oxford Pandemic Portraits (Signal Books) records the responses people made to the collective endeavour of tackling the Covid pandemic.

The English Worker Cooperative Movement 1980s (Café Royal Books) is a documentary record of a social movement that prefigured our concerns with economic wellbeing, the fulfilment of local needs, and the sustainable use of resources.

13 Paul Palmarozza

PGDip Educational Studies, 1980

This year Paul published his new book Cultural Cycles & Climate Change.

‘A unique historical cycle of 854 years was used in the assessment of the events in Western (European/American), Chinese, Indian and Arabic cycles over more than 2500 years. The lessons learned from the analysis prompted a recommended Nine Step Action Plan for the way forward.

‘Steps 1-3 The acknowledgement of the existing conditions including the mistakes being made and the resulting problems. SEE IT

‘Steps 4-6 More Quiet Time including meditation, mindfulness, reflection and silence, practices designed to quiet the mind and emotions so that more conscious, good decisions can be made. BE STILL

‘Steps 7-9 Living the natural human values in how we think, relate to others and act which will result in a willingness and resolve to serve the common good. One of the prime needs of humanity now is Climate Change and a recommended approach on how we can serve that need is offered. SORT IT.’

Paul notes that, after many years of research, the turning point in the writing of the book was a five-day writer’s retreat at Mansfield based in the Tower Room and living in the Guest Cottage. The book is now published in the UK and will soon be published in the US and India.

More details about Paul’s book can be found here: https://culturalcycles.timelessvalues. co.uk/

14 Paul Salez

MJur, 2010

Paul took up a new position as Seconded Official at the Reserve Bank of India in April 2021, and moved to Mumbai with his wife and children.

Paul would be happy to connect with any alumni from Mansfield or even from the wider Oxford alumni community, should they happen to also be in Mumbai.

15 Rebecca Birrell

Women’s Studies, 2013

Rebecca’s debut publication This Dark Country: Women Artists, Still Life and Intimacy in the Early Twentieth Century was published this summer and was reviewed by the Guardian.

For more details and to purchase Rebecca’s book, visit: https://www.bloomsbury.com/ uk/this-dark-country-9781526604019/

16 Samantha Ede

Jurisprudence, 1998

Samantha, who is Deputy Director of the Home Office Legal Advisers, was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for Services to the Law.

17 Sue Unerman

Modern History, 1979

In 2020, Sue published a new book: Belonging: The Key to Transforming and Maintaining Diversity, Inclusion and Equality at Work.

The book was shortlisted in the ‘Diversity, Inclusion & Equality’ category of the 2021 Business Book Awards.

18 Victoria Owens

Jurisprudence, 1979

In September 2020, Victoria published a new book, Lady Charlotte Guest: The Exceptional Life of a Female Industrialist. Victoria has an interest in engineering history, and it was her investigation of the industrial heritage of South Wales that led her to encounter Lady Charlotte, who took on the role of Ironmaster of Dowlais. She became determined to write about her. More details: https://www.pen-andsword.co.uk/Lady-Charlotte-GuestHardback/p/18000

Victoria is the winner of the inaugural 2009 Jane Austen short story competition, and a writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her novel Drawn to Perfection was published by Hookline in 2013; Amberley Publishing brought out her study James Brindley and the Duke of Bridgewater – Canal Visionaries in 2015; and her book Aqueducts and Viaducts of Britain was published in March 2019.

We welcome news from our alumni. If you would like to share it with us, please contact alumni.officer@mansfield.ox.ac.uk

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