MCR Report

design and evaluation of complex interventions to serve the needs of rural populations globally. Shobhana is also investigating healthcare workforce issues. Shobhana is involved in projects relating to preterm birth in India and Indonesia, climate change and health, and childhood malnutrition, as well as supervising students/interns researching task-sharing for healthcare workers in the NHS and a review of healthcare workers in the Pacific Islands.

Ludovic Scyboz works in the Physics Department, modelling the way that fundamental particles interact at high energies with a view to improving the interpretation of data from high energy colliders such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Ludovic is a member of the PanScales collaboration and has given a number of invited talks. Whilst some of these have been online, it is a sign of increasing return to normality that he also delivered invited talks in Pisa and Dubrovnik.

Robert Hein reports that the detection of ions – small, charged molecules – is of the utmost importance in a wide range of technological, environmental and medical scenarios, but remains underdeveloped. To address this challenge, his recent work has focused on the development of a range of electrochemical and optical anion sensors. This includes the development of a novel electrochemical ion-sensing methodology, enabling real-time continuous ion detection under flow (patent pending), as well as more fundamental studies of novel intermolecular interactions for anion recognition and sensing. In addition to these electrochemical detection approaches, his work has successfully explored optical methodologies for the sensing of environmentally relevant anions in water. He further contributed to the development of a novel electrochemical assay for the ultrasensitive detection of disease-relevant biomarkers; some of this work was presented at conferences in Mainz, Germany, and in Visegrad, Hungary, as well as at a Somerville JRF Symposium

DR STEVE RAYNER, Senior Tutor

Our 2021/2022 year marked the gradual re-emergence of normality from a tumultuous year of Covid and lockdowns, but was accompanied with tumult all of its own – not least of which was serving my portion of the term of office remotely from Hong Kong!

The beginning of the new executive term saw a mixed set of priorities from the structural to the practical. On the structural side, we had a particular focus on making the MCR more compliant with contemporary data privacy practices, including bringing much of the MCR’s activity within the college’s IT protection and promoting the use of systems that would prevent the copying or retention of materials that should not be retained after a term of office has ended (regardless of whether they would be stored at Mar-a-Lago).

Other large issues were a listening period and application to amend the Travel Grant scheme to better match graduate student schedules, and a major outreach on collaboration with the JCR. On this latter goal, the MCR and JCR were proud to work together on the activities of Refugee Week, as well as on a jointly written proposal for an extended close to Trinity term containing numerous formal dinners and social events to help to enhance the experience of those students who had not got the full Somerville experience over the years of the pandemic. Sadly, for this last activity, however, a resurgence of the dreaded lurgy put paid to the extension plans. Nonetheless, the collaborations produced a close and highly enjoyable working relationship that we hope will be maintained and continued well into the future.

On more practical fronts, the MCR also took the opportunity of a physical return to College to finally implement many refurbishments and enhancements that had been planned for many years but had yet to be achieved. The first of these was a much-needed reupholstering of the MCR couches and chairs, with excellent results. Funding for several other projects, including the replacement of the MCR’s non-functional piano, was also authorised. The year also saw the re-opening of the Associate Membership programme after a hiatus, and we were pleased to see so many eager applicants flocking back to the MCR in this capacity. We were also proud to re-initiate the disbursement of the Barbara Craig awards, which had been sorely missed in the previous year.

Unfortunately, working remotely for a community that was very quickly returning to in-person activities meant that the arrangement of the MCR executive proved difficult once the new academic year had started, making it untenable for me to continue while a return to Oxford was at the mercy of Coviddelayed UK visa and ATAS processes. As a result, the MCR was fortunate to have the steady leadership of Shreya Dua for an interim period before the former MCR social secretary Joel Pollatschek was elected to the presidency.

Joel’s contributions to the social life of the MCR were already deeply appreciated during the earlier parts of the year, and in his presidential capacity (amongst his other goals and achievements) he further enhanced an ambitious social calendar for the MCR, with no expense spared.

In all, it was a year with its full complement of challenges and more than its full complement of presidents – but most importantly it was proof positive that, no matter the times, the fundamentals at the heart of the Somerville MCR are unchanging.