Remembering Our Sanctuary Celebration

In 2021, Somerville College updated its historic commitment to include the excluded by becoming a University College of Sanctuary alongside our sister college, Mansfield. Sanctuary Scholarships are a vital part of this new enterprise, guaranteeing a pathway to Oxford for bright students from sanctuary-seeking backgrounds. In 2022-23, thanks to the unwavering support of our donor community, Somerville was able to bring four new Sanctuary Scholars to Somerville. To mark this achievement, we hosted a Celebration of Sanctuary in November 2022 where our scholars and guests discussed the actions we can take to support refugee communities in accessing education.

The event featured invaluable contributions from the following: Back row: (1) Erick Moreno Superlano, Sanctuary Scholar reading for an MSc in Migration Studies at Mansfield College; (2) Somerville College Principal Jan Royall; (3) Former Somali refugee and activist Sharmarke Dubow (2022, MPP); (4) TV presenter and humanitarian doctor, Dr Xand van Tulleken (1996, Medicine); (5) Lord Alf Dubs, author of the Dubs Amendment; (6) Somerville College Development Director Sara Kalim (1990, Classics); (7) Somerville Sanctuary Scholar and AfOx Scholar Mohammed Abdella (2022, MSc Refugee and Forced Migration Studies) Front Row: (1) Journalist and presenter Natasha Kaplinsky; (2) Mansfield College Principal Helen Mountfield; (3) Somerville College Sanctuary Co-Ordinator Niamh Walshe (2015, English and Italian). Inset: (1) Afghan children’s rights activist Freshta Karim (2016, MPP); (2) Ukrainian digital education researcher Andrianna Bashar (2022, MSc Digital and Social Education); (3) Ukrainian engineering student Illia Skarha-Bandurov (2022, MSc Applied Digital Health); (4) Somerville College Sanctuary Scholar Asif Salarzai (2021, History); (5) inaugural Somerville College Sanctuary Scholar Dr Marwa Biala (2020, MSc Radiation Biology)