Robinson College Donor Report 2020

ROBINSON COLLEGE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

DONOR REPORT 2020

THE NUMBERS THE PEOPLE YOUR IMPACT

2019-2020

PRIORITY PROJECTS

GETTING THROUGH THE PANDEMIC TOGETHER: THE ROBINSON’S PEOPLE APPEAL 2020 was a year none of us will ever forget. Here at Robinson our focus was on making the College safe for Robinson’s People – our students, staff and Fellows – and ensuring that Cambridge’s world-leading education, including the research on which the world’s health and wellbeing depends, continued. In making this extraordinary effort, Robinson was buoyed by the support of our wider community.

In May 2020 we asked our alumni and friends to help us support students struggling as a result of the pandemic and meet our commitments to our staff. By the end of June, our donors had contributed £108,790. Since then, they have contributed a further £188,995. Here are just a few examples of how this generosity has allowed us to support students suffering hardship because of the pandemic:

A STUDENT was awarded a bursary by the College to allow them to afford to buy more food during term time. This student was extremely frugal with their living expenses and had been exceptionally enterprising in finding paid work during vacations, but the pandemic made these measures impossible.

WE AWARDED £1,000 to a year abroad student faced with a bill for a two-week stay in a quarantine hotel in their year abroad location.

WE GRANTED £200 towards the £400 cost of a dyslexia assessment.

Living on the basic maintenance loan means it is a real stretch when a major cost like this occurs.

A POSTGRADUATE STUDENT near the end of their PhD lost considerable lab time, both because of lab closures but also because their partner was self-isolating for health reasons. This student is awaiting news of Government support, but we have been able to provide reassurance that we will help if this is not forthcoming, or if it falls short of their needs.

WE HAVE ALSO BEEN ABLE TO PROVIDE EQUIPMENT for online study, including laptops and noise cancelling headphones, and have provided a printing subsidy for those students who are based in College.

THESE RELATIVELY SMALL SUMS OF MONEY MAKE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A STUDENT CONTINUING THEIR STUDIES OR DROPPING OUT.

These relatively small sums of money make the difference between a student continuing their studies or dropping out.

Funds donated to the Robinson's People appeal via the Annual Telephone Campaign have enabled Robinson to better support those students whose mental health has been affected by months of lockdown and family strain.

We have been able to double our on-site counselling provision and increase the hours of our College Nurse. This extra funding will also provide additional help for specialist mental health support, often matched with the University’s Crane’s Fund and, when restrictions lift, we plan to ask our performance coach to help students who are struggling.

WE MUST CONTINUE TO KEEP OUR EYES ON THE FUTURE BUT NEVER FORGET OUR PAST.

2019-2020

PRIORITY PROJECTS THE CHANDRAKALA & MANSUKHLAL SHAH BUILDING: A NEW HOME FOR ROBINSON’S ARCHIVE The names of donors from across the world are now part of the building, and by extension of the College itself: they feature in the Reading Room, on the principal donor plaque, on paving stones, bricks, and on the building itself, which was named by a donor, Hamel Shah (Economic, 1994), in honour of his parents, Chandrakala and Mansukhlal Shah. When making his gift, Hamel said:

Hamel and Meredith DePaolo Shah

In spite of the difficulties of the past year, there was much to be grateful for, and we were delighted to watch the walls of our new archive building rise. The building is now complete and in operation, and the archive itself is safely secured within.

This would not have been possible without the help of our donors, who committed £589,252 in gifts and pledges over four years – over 70% of the total build costs.

THE NUMBERS, THE PEOPLE, YOUR IMPACT

“My path was shaped by the wisdom and guidance of my parents, immigrants to the UK by way of India and Kenya. After them, it was Cambridge that provided me with an informed outlook on the world.

In naming this new archive building in my parents’ honour, I endeavour to sustain the principles they valued — hard work, dedication, excellence. We must continue to keep our eyes on the future but never forget our past.”

‘MY PATH IS ONLY UPWARDS!’ THE WINDWARD BURSARY FUND In 2018, two Robinsonians made an extraordinary investment in Robinson’s women scientists. Oliver (Land Economy, 1999) and Jodie (History, 2001) Millican donated £50,000 to establish the Windward Bursary for Women in STEMM. The Bursary is means tested, and awarded to female undergraduates studying Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics or Medicine. The first student to receive the award was Ayanfeoluwa (‘Ayanfe’) Adebayo (Medicine, 2018), and she told us about the difference this extra funding had made: ‘This time three years ago, Cambridge wasn’t really an option for me. Although I had wanted to study medicine for a while, Medicine at Cambridge did not become a goal until the start of year 13 after I attended a shadowing day at Oxford and was encouraged by YouTubers like Courtney Daniella and also my mother, that I really considered Cambridge as an option. I come from a state school in which the last student to be accepted into Oxbridge was 10 years ago, coincidently also to study Medicine at Oxford.

Before starting at Cambridge, I had certain apprehensions and worries, both about the difficulty of the course and the culture shock that I would experience, with traditions and practices that I was not accustomed to. My first Formal was the first learning experience I had to encounter when I got here. Nevertheless, I found the first term extremely fun, I made

THE NUMBERS, THE PEOPLE, YOUR IMPACT

friends quite quickly both inside and outside College and I joined societies such as the African Caribbean Society and Gospel Choir.

These enabled me to meet a large range of people in the wider University community.

I continued with these societies for the rest of the year and used them to de-stress and as a break from work.

Academically, I have found my first year to be quite tough. I found the rapid pace of teaching, combined with my initial struggles with essay writing a shock to the system. Honestly, exam term was an especially difficult time in which I started to doubt my own abilities and whether the time I was investing would translate into a desired result during the exam. In retrospect, that year was a massive learning curve and I believe that I have improved in the management of large volumes of work and my overall resilience and persistence. >

I FOUND THE RAPID PACE OF TEACHING, COMBINED WITH MY INITIAL STRUGGLES WITH ESSAY WRITING A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM.

Ayanfeoluwa Adebayo (Medicine, 2018).

‘MY PATH IS ONLY UPWARDS!’ THE WINDWARD BURSARY FUND

The Windward Bursary has been extremely helpful during the year. My mother is currently unemployed, and my father is the only source of income for the household.

Due to other responsibilities, I was not able to receive any financial support from my parents throughout the year and I was able to support myself with student finance and the bursary.

The bursary helped me with essentials such as food and paying rent. In addition, I was also able to attend the Jesus May Ball, which was an amazing night I was glad to have been able to experience.

The support of the Bursary meant that my parents didn’t have to worry as much about my personal upkeep. I also had to be very conscious of my spending. I opted to go to Aldi rather than Sainsbury’s to do a weekly shop and cooked my own meals instead of going to the Garden Restaurant in College. Although this was cheaper, I found that it meant I was missing out on some of the College socialising and throughout the year developed closer friendships with people outside College rather than in.

I am very optimistic for second year and I have made a pact with myself to first of all: believe in and be confident in my own academic abilities, work as hard as I can to achieve the goal I have placed for myself. Although my first year was a shock in all areas, I’d like to think that the pressure has developed me and from henceforth, my path is only upwards!’

THE NUMBERS, THE PEOPLE, YOUR IMPACT

Oliver and Jodie responded: ‘We were lucky enough to be supported by our families and government funding when we were at Robinson. However, we are very aware that many young people today are not as fortunate and that this can both be a barrier to a university education and can also limit social and academic opportunities once at university.

Lack of funding is only one of the barriers to women studying science, and we were impressed by Robinson’s programme designed to encourage more women to study STEMM. We decided to launch the Windward Bursary in 2018, named to reflect the more difficult journey that women must make in studying STEMM. Since then we have been thrilled to hear about the difference the bursary has made to Ayanfe, and look forward to watching her progress on her chosen path to become a doctor. We know she has the talent and tenacity to succeed, and are glad to have had the opportunity to help her on her way.’

OUR STAFF HAVE DONE A FANTASTIC JOB AT ADAPTING TO NEW WAYS OF WORKING AND THE WHOLE COLLEGE HAS FOCUSSED ON HOW BEST TO SUPPORT OUR STUDENTS DURING A HUGELY CHALLENGING PERIOD

FROM THE FINANCE BURSAR,

FIONA BROCKBANK: FINANCIAL YEAR 2019-2020

IT WILL COME AS NO SURPRISE TO HEAR THAT COVID-19 PRESENTED SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL AND OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES FOR THE COLLEGE DURING THE YEARENDED 30 JUNE 2020 AND BEYOND.

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

The pandemic had a huge impact on our income for the year, with reductions in accommodation and catering income (as a result of the majority of students not being in residence during the first lockdown in the Easter term) and a loss of significant conferencing revenue. There is still much uncertainty over when conferencing activity can resume which is a major concern for Robinson. As a young College with a relatively small endowment we do rely on our conferencing business to help towards mitigating the loss we make on our core purpose of providing education.

The College measures financial performance primarily based on our adjusted operating profit which we see as being the best measure of how we are managing our income and expenditure each year. Pre-pandemic this figure was typically

a loss of around £0.3m/annum but for FY19/20 we recorded an adjusted loss of £1.3m. The loss would have been even greater without the cost management actions we quickly put in place at the start of the pandemic. The College has used the Coronavirus job retention scheme where appropriate and given that staff costs are our highest expenditure we have carefully planned how to make best use of our valued people, including redeployment to operational areas of most need.

The College has remained open throughout the pandemic as even during nationwide lockdowns we typically have a number of students who need to remain in Robinson (for instance international students who cannot return to their home country). Our staff have done a fantastic job at adapting to new ways of working and the whole College has focussed on how best to support our students during a hugely challenging period. >

ENDOWMENT

In March 2020, shortly before the nationwide lockdown was announced, the College decided to withdraw some cash from the endowment to ensure we had financial stability during a period of great uncertainty. At 30 June 2020 we therefore had a much higher cash balance than usual to report in our statutory accounts but post year-end we have returned some of this cash to the endowment. In spite of this withdrawal of cash, the FY19/20 accounts show that the value of our portfolio still increased year on year because the valuation of one of our investee companies increased by £14.5m. As well as being a very welcome financial boost to our endowment the success of this company is a particular source of pride for Robinson as it was founded and is still chaired by one of our alumni. We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to support his work and share in the success of the venture.

CAPITAL PROJECTS

During the year the archive building was completed as well as the comprehensive refurbishment of Thorneycreek House. The archive building project had significant donor support which was much appreciated as we feel it is very important to safely retain documents that outline our College’s history. We have a long-term rolling programme of refurbishment of our rooms such that each year we work on a different area of our estate and towards the end of the financial year we opted to continue as planned with a particularly large refurbishment of four staircases in the main College building.

This is important work to maintain our estate and we were able to give our contractors more time to complete the work in a Covid-safe manner as a result of having reduced student residency in the Easter term.

LOOKING FORWARD

We have learned a lot over the past year, as we made changes to how we work to keep our College community safe. In doing so we have recognised that some of these changes are positive and represent learning points for when we reach the “new normal”. I know we are all looking forward to a time in the (hopefully not too distant) future when we can again all meet in person as part of our vibrant College community. In the meantime, I would like to extend my gratitude on behalf of Robinson to our students, staff, and Fellows, for their commitment and hard work during a hugely challenging year, and to our donors for their support – never have we needed it more.

Fiona Brockbank, Finance Bursar

FY 19/20 - WHERE DID OUR UNRESTRICTED INCOME COME FROM?

FY19|20

Acccommodation & catering – students

Academic fees

Conferencing

Endowment return

Unrestricted donations

Colleges Fund grant

Other

27%

26%

14%

22%

4%

4%

3%

FY19|20

THE NUMBERS

£782,026

THE PEOPLE

YOUR SUPPORT £782,026

4,820

Cash received

£214,407

Number of alumni for whom we have contact details: 4,820

Bequests

£43,770

Total raised

SON COL L IN

R

| UN I V E RS

ITY

O F CAM B

THE IMPACT

% alumni giving:

17%

Total number of donors:

986

E EG

GE | RO D I B R

INCLUDING:

986 NUMBER OF DONORS Alumni

795

Friends, including parents of Robinsonians

114

Fellows & Staff, including former Fellows and Bye-Fellows

67

Corporate supporters

10

PROJECTS SUPPORTED Greatest need (Discretionary)

£287,890

Students

£237,797

Buildings

£196,289

Research

£25,000

Teaching

£22,691

Other

£12,359

ROBINSON COLLEGE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Potential students from the participation programme visit on an open day

FINDING TALENT

WHEREVER IT MIGHT BE

ROBINSON’S WIDENING ACCESS AND PARTICIPATION PROGRAMME This year, as well as continuing our regular programme of schools outreach, taster and open days and subject masterclasses, partnerships such as The Brilliant Club and events such as the Women in STEMM Festival and Teacher’s Conference, we kicked off two exciting new initiatives:

A STEP Preparation Workshop was launched in 2019 for students interested in applying for Mathematics at Cambridge. The workshop, led

by Mathematics Director of Studies Dr Chris Warner and supported by current Mathematics undergraduate volunteers, provided an introduction to STEP papers, why they are used, their format, and – crucially – how to go about approaching and solving the problems. We targeted students who may not receive STEP support from their schools and included some general admissions guidance and insight into Robinson student life. The second of these workshops was postponed, owing to the pandemic, but we aim to offer the next STEP Prep Workshop in August 2021.

In one of the first and only programmes of its kind by a Cambridge college, Robinson in 2019 began working with Swindon Council to help students in Local Authority care explore Higher Education options. We aim to host around 20 students per year for a residential programme specifically designed to address the anxieties and situations of care-experienced students.

Following the advice of our Council partners and research that shows the benefit of earlier

THE NUMBERS, THE PEOPLE, YOUR IMPACT

outreach interventions, we invite students from school years 9-11. The majority of the residential explores Higher Education: what it consists of, why people may choose to go, practical information (moving, loans, accommodation – issues that are often particularly pertinent for students in care) and help available to students in Local Authority care (including national and council-level support, and Cambridge-specific provision). We are proud to be able to welcome these groups of students to Robinson and to help improve their self-confidence and knowledge of how to access Higher Education.

The STEP Prep Workshop and Looked After Children programmes are funded by a donor gift of £20,000 to be used over five years.

In addition to these new programmes – and whatever the coming year brings – we will continue to use a blend of online and in-person outreach to engage with as many young people as we can. The College strives to give all applicants, regardless of background, the information and guidance they need to feel confident in making applications to Robinson.

THE COLLEGE STRIVES TO GIVE ALL CANDIDATES, REGARDLESS OF THEIR BACKGROUND, THE INFORMATION AND GUIDANCE THEY NEED TO FEEL CONFIDENT IN MAKING APPLICATIONS TO ROBINSON.

RESEARCH EXCELLENCE AND INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY:

DONOR FUNDED RESEARCH AT ROBINSON The past year saw research suspended as laboratories, libraries and archives were closed and grants were delayed. Despite the adversity, our donors continued to help us provide new research opportunities, contributing to Robinson’s vibrant intellectual environment.

We have supported undergraduate students as well as graduates, doctorate students and Fellows to pursue a wide range of projects. Here are some of the latest: Third-year Psychology student Emma Macrae earned the Alana Cutland Research Grant to fund a six-week internship at the Centre for Neuroscience in Education in Cambridge.

Emma explored how dyslexia is rooted in rhythmic movement, with the goal of developing an intervention for those at risk of dyslexia.

“The internship provided me with invaluable experience working in an academic lab. Before the internship, I did not know much about how research is conducted in academia but I now feel that I have a really good understanding of how everything works. This will be incredibly helpful in informing my career choices.” – Emma Macrae

THE NUMBERS, THE PEOPLE, YOUR IMPACT

Clara Bayley (Natural Sciences, 2017) was awarded a Mathers’ Research Grant which helped her to complete an eight-week placement to study the climate effects of Indonesia’s annual wildfires. Clara’s research, alongside Dr. Matt Kasoar from Imperial, shows that Indonesia’s wildfires have a significant effect on regional climate and even impact the progression of the El Niño itself. This may have wider climate implications for the Southern Pacific. Clara has now decided to pursue a MSci in Physics.

I DID NOT KNOW MUCH ABOUT HOW RESEARCH IS CONDUCTED IN ACADEMIA BUT I NOW FEEL THAT I HAVE A REALLY GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF HOW EVERYTHING WORKS

Charlotte Salf

Lucia Rubinelli

Charlotte Salf (Health, Medicine & Society, 2020) is a graduate student benefiting from College funding matched by the Cambridge Trust. Studying for an MPhil in Health, Medicine and Society, Charlotte is researching the Smart Inhaler and how its introduction could impact healthcare practice and doctor-patient relations.

Lucia Rubinelli is coming to the end of a new three-year teaching and research Fellowship in the History of Political Thought. Lucia not only brought fresh sparkle to Robinson’s HSPS (Human, Social and Political Sciences) undergraduate teaching, but also published her first book, became a regular guest on the ‘Talking Politics’ podcast and embarked on a new research project. The post at Robinson helped Lucia build her experience and CV, and she has now secured a professor role at Yale University.

“In receiving this award, I have access to the best pastoral and academic support from both the Cambridge Trust and Robinson College and I am honoured to be a part of both. I am incredibly thankful to the Cambridge Trust and Robinson College for the assistance they have provided me with in pursuing my career ambitions and I would strongly recommend Robinson College to any prospective students.”

– Charlotte Salf IN RECEIVING THIS AWARD, I HAVE ACCESS TO THE BEST PASTORAL AND ACADEMIC SUPPORT FROM BOTH THE CAMBRIDGE TRUST AND ROBINSON COLLEGE

In the toughest of years, we have shown that with the help of our supporters, Robinson continues to provide a dynamic environment of research excellence. At times when we all need something to celebrate, Robinson’s students’ and Fellows’ varied and impactful research achievements can be a source of shared pride amongst our whole community.

WHAT’S NEXT?

In 2021, we are saying goodbye to Professor David Yates, who has served Robinson as Warden for 20 years.

We are inviting our alumni and supporters to help us celebrate David’s transformative leadership by contributing to a means tested scholarship for Master’s students, enabling talented researchers, who might uncover the solution to the next pandemic, to study and thrive at Cambridge. Without additional support, their contribution to knowledge might be lost. The Scholarship will be named in Professor Yates’ honour, and will be a fitting tribute to his life and work at Robinson.

AS SOMEONE WHO BENEFITTED FROM A SCHOLARSHIP MYSELF WHEN I WAS A STUDENT IN PRE-HISTORICAL TIMES, I WOULD LIKE TO LEAVE ROBINSON CONFIDENT THAT THE COLLEGE CAN SUPPORT THOSE WHO WISH TO FURTHER THEIR STUDIES WITH US. Professor David Yates, Warden of Robinson College

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