Alumni Answers R

egent’s is proud to specialise in the humanities and social sciences, with award winning tutors fostering a lifetime engagement with the subjects they teach. In Alumni Answers we ask past students how their undergraduate studies have influenced where they are today, and in this edition, we speak with three alumni who studied History.

of contemporary geopolitics while at Oxford, including by joining the Rhodes Must Fall movement, protesting for the safe passage of migrants, acting as Treasurer for the Oxford International Relations Society and witnessing Britain leave the EU.’

Beth Davies-Kumadiro (History and English Literature, 2014) is a Manufacturing Advisor for the British Deputy High Commission in Lagos, managing an overseas development aid programme in Nigeria. Beth recently codirected her first film project, Fertile, which was selected for the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale in December 2022.

Where did the decision to study History and English stem from? ‘I have always been interested in stories about how and why the world changes, from myths to polemics. I want to know how we got to the present moment, and how we shape the future. I’m fascinated by the trends that stretch out behind and before us, like social networks and value systems in relation to economics, spirituality and the environment.’

Of her time at Oxford, Beth says, ‘It had its ups and downs. I didn’t enjoy the racism I experienced as part of the syllabus and social life, and my degree didn’t always answer the questions I had about the world. But it taught me the discipline to think, write and learn.

I loved my tutorials at Regent’s with Leif, Julian and Lynn. I loved studying the twentieth century through modernist poets, communist theorists and British cinema. I also learned about major themes

It was the structure as well as the themes of her degree that Beth sees as having laid a foundation for her future work: ‘The quality of the teaching and libraries in Oxford was phenomenal. Lots of the things I read affected me, and the discipline of essay writing was helpful too. Within my degree, I learned to quickly gather and assess evidence, structure an argument, write it down and verbally explain it. This is a key policy-making skill, which I used frequently during my time as a civil servant in Whitehall. If you think that three days for an essay is an unreasonable deadline, try having half a day to write advice to ministers on whether the UK should designate China a currency manipulator…’

Beyond her degree, Beth planned club-nights for the Isis Magazine and cofounded the student campaign Common Ground to crowdsource teach-ins about the present-day impact of imperialism. ‘In this way I learned how to turn small ideas into plans and activities. I even did my first bit of travel writing while at Oxford, following a trip to Morocco funded by Gladstone House. This was amazing, and I have gone on to plan and write about more travel, most recently a solo hiking trip off-grid in the Himalayas, in Sichuan Province, China’.

What might the future hold for Beth?

‘Looking forward, I want to think more about tools that can support equitable, reciprocal relationships, within human society and with the earth. I’m interested new civic and economic models like liquid democracy, networked cooperatives, and using blockchain to improve resource allocation. If you are too, please get in touch! Whatever your interests may be, I wish all current students and alumni the best with your dreams, thoughts, work and ideas.’

Kevin Fitzgerald CMG (Modern History, 1980, Greyfriars) is Director of the Copyright Infrastructure Division at the UN World Intellectual Property Organisation. He was Chief Executive of the UK’s Copyright Licensing Agency from 2007 to 2014 and an Independent Member of the Public Diplomacy Partners Group at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Previous posts include Managing Director of Rough Guides and running the Better World campaign for DFID. Kevin is a Patron and past Chair of the charity Prisoners Abroad. In 2013 Kevin was awarded a CMG for “services to British economic interests, particularly the promotion of intellectual property internationally and the welfare of British nationals in prison abroad”.

‘My favourite school subjects were History, Economics, Geography and French. Studying History at Greyfriars enabled me to being all of these interests together. My stand-out tutor at Greyfriars was Dr Beckinsale. He was like an elderly school master welcoming back his old boys. Like all tutors he was knowledgeable about his subject. But his stand-out qualities were that he was passionate and helped us to focus on passing the exam. His subject was historical geography and I still remember much of what he taught us – which is more than I can say about a number of the other subjects I studied’.

Being part of Greyfriars Hall was special too: ‘Greyfriars was small and had a community feel about it. We took our in-hall meals with everyone together. Tutors, friars and students. On the down-side we didn’t have in-house tutors in all subjects, but the flip-side was that we could access the best tutors across the University. I enjoyed my time at Greyfriars and am grateful for it.’

How important was studying history for his career and life after graduating?

‘As I mentioned earlier, history brought together some of my favourite subjects. History, economics and geography helped me to understand the how the world worked. French would enable me to communicate - coupled with Englishwith much of the world.

My career has combined being CEO of global commercial companies, the UK Foreign Office and the United Nations. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had to interact with clients, Ambassadors, Ministers and Heads of State, where knowledge of the history and culture from which they originate has provided a solid foundation to the discussions in hand. Nearly all of my international contacts speak either English or French; currently at the UN I have to circulate the room and flip between the two languages.’

Kevin’s advice to current students is very much based on his experiences: ‘I’ve

Rupert Abbott (Modern History, 2001, Greyfriars) is Executive Director of GiveOut, an international community foundation that supports LGBT+ rights activism worldwide. With a background in international human rights law, he previously worked with the United Nations and Amnesty International.

‘My interest in history came from my grandmother, who always had a history book open and loved talking to me about the subject. During A-levels, several teachers were very supportive and encouraged me to study history at university. I didn’t choose history with a view to a career; I did so because I loved it.’

‘One of the huge benefits of studying at Oxford is that you’re taught by some of the brightest minds in their fields - I still feel a bit guilty that I missed a few lectures along the way! I think the main difference between studying at Oxbridge and anywhere else is the tutorial system – the chance to spar with leading academics. Dr Donal Lowry brought history to life and was a lovely, warm man. It was a privilege to benefit from his guidance and teaching. Another academic who stands out for me is Dr Mark Mulholland – a brilliant tutor. I was once heading for a tutorial with him on British decolonisation, but I was early and decided to go to the Oxford Union for a cup of tea. I sat down near an older gentleman and realised who it was. I asked: ‘You’re Tony Benn, aren’t you?’ He asked me who I was and what I was doing at the Union, and when I explained he always found that going the extra mile, and putting up my hand for obscure projects has reaped rewards. It’s amazing how the networks I’ve created in these circumstances have looped back into unrelated activities in a really positive way. There are so many examples. Perhaps a good one might be when I agreed to mediate a ten-year old Delhi High Court dispute. It took a year to fix and it was very unpleasant at times. But when we had succeeded, I became good friends with the opposing parties. Indeed, they became good friends too. And years later, when I was building a school in India, one offered to contribute the books for the library and the other some equipment for the school playground. Teachers came from miles around to admire how well equipped my school was. Don’t hold back – step forward!’ asked me what my tutorial was on. Of course, he was in government during the end of empire. He asked if he could see my essay, read it, and said it was quite good. I asked him to sign it, and I still have that essay with his signature –in red ink’.

How did the study of History connect with Rupert’s career, most of which has been in the human rights field? ‘I think the connection is an interest in the world and the lessons that can be taken from history. There is hope in history, countless examples over the centuries of people struggling against the odds for what they think is right, and winning - resistance to fascism, the end of apartheid, the civil rights movement in the US – and the progress we’ve made on LGBT+ rights’.

Rupert entered the human rights sphere after training and qualifying as a solicitor. ‘I went on to work for a human rights organisation in Cambodia, a country that I had first been drawn to because of its recent and ancient history. I then served with the UN at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, and worked for several years at Amnesty International, where I was responsible for the group’s human rights investigations and campaigning in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. After consulting for a couple of years and working with a foundation supporting human rights movements in Eastern Europe, I became the first executive director of GiveOut.’

‘The focus of GiveOut is on supporting long term progress for LGBT+ rights, working with individuals and businesses to fund activist organisations worldwide that are changing laws, policies and attitudes. For example, Equal Ground, a group in Sri Lanka, recently took a case to a UN legal body which ruled that it was a human rights violation to criminalise same-sex relations between women - that legal victory could have important implications for LBT women around the world. We also fundraise to support humanitarian relief efforts, such as recently for Ukraine, and last year in response to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan - funds we raised were used by one organisation to evacuate LGBT+ people and bring over 200 to the UK. It’s not every day that we can connect donations to saving lives, but that’s one example where we really could.’