Laura Ellis, Communications Manager (Maternity Cover)
Professor Erica McAlpine, A C Cooper Fellow and Tutor in English Language & Literature
Claire Parfitt, Communications Manager
Contributors
Emma Barnett KPM, Craig Hughes, Professor David Moreno Mateos, David Odhiambo, Dr Luke Parry, Kate Parsons, Dr Chloë Pieters, Rebecca Rainey, Calum Stewart, Caroline Tredwell, Dhaksha Vivekanandan, Andrew Vivian, Professor Baroness Kathy Willis
The Aularian was printed using paper from sustainable sources.
FROM THE PRINCIPAL
The 2024–25 academic year marked my seventh at the Hall, and once again it has flown by.
The spirit of the Hall remains as vibrant as ever, and I hope this is clear as you turn the pages of this year’s Aularian
Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen real progress, a deep sense of pride, and a strong promise for the future, as our community continues to flourish, both within the walls of our historic College and far beyond. Outside the library and tutorial rooms, our students have embraced all that Oxford life has to offer. The return of the #HallLife campaign for its second year (see page 14) captures this beautifully, with student photography interns documenting the everyday moments and traditions that make Teddy Hall so special. As highlighted on page 18, sport also
remains a cornerstone of life at the Hall. This year saw blades won in both Torpids and Summer Eights, the Men’s rugby team reaching the semi-finals of Cuppers, and further Cuppers’ success in croquet, hockey, triathlon, skiing, and lifesaving.
In June, the Hall community gathered to celebrate a significant milestone: the Topping Out ceremony for Norham St Edmund (NSE) (see page 8). Once complete, NSE will provide high-quality, sustainable accommodation, ensuring that all our undergraduates can live in College housing throughout their time at the Hall, as well as all first-year graduate students. This project lies at the heart of our vision for a more cohesive and supportive student community and reflects our broader commitment to excellence in every aspect of the student
“I have been deeply moved by the generosity of Aularians who have supported [the Norham St Edmund project].”
experience. I have been deeply moved by the generosity of Aularians who have supported this transformative initiative, and I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all who have donated. Every contribution is truly making a difference.
Meanwhile, on Queen’s Lane, essential improvements continue apace. Thanks to the work of our Garden Fellow, Professor Mark Williams, we’ve enhanced our biodiversity and transformed several green spaces. Over the past year, we’ve also refurbished the JCR and MCR, upgraded study facilities, and made important developments to accessibility across the Hall.
Academic life at the Hall has been further enriched by the arrival of several new Fellows, as listed on the opposite page. Later this year, we look forward to welcoming new Fellows in Economics and Philosophy - appointments that underscore our commitment to attracting leading scholars who will inspire and support the next generation of Aularians. Many of these posts are made possible through the generosity of our alumni community, whose support we are immensely grateful for.
Looking ahead, we remain dedicated to preserving all that makes St Edmund Hall distinctive while embracing the opportunities and challenges of a rapidly changing world. We are now implementing our refreshed Strategic Plan, developed by the Governing Body last year, which will build on our recent progress and sets out our ambitions for the rest of this decade.
As ever, we want this to be a collective journey, and we continue to welcome your thoughts, reflections, and engagement as we shape the future of the Hall together.
Floreat Aula!
Professor Baroness (Kathy) Willis, CBE
New faces in the Hall fellowship
Jeremy Charles: Hall alumnus (1975, Philosophy, Politics and Economics) and St Edmund Fellow
Dr Holly Langstaff: Fellow by Special Election in Modern Languages
Carlos Rodríguez
Otero: Director of Music and Fellow by Special Election in Music
Dr Sofya Dmitrieva: Non-Stipendiary Junior Research Fellow in European Languages
Professor Katie Peterson: Visiting Fellow in Poetry
Dr Reut Vardi: Junior Research Fellow in Environmental Sustainability and Rothschild Fellow at the Oxford School of Geography and the Environment
Jenyth Evans: NonStipendiary Junior Research Fellow in English
Dr Chloë Pieters: River Farm Foundation Early Career Teaching and Research Fellow in History
Reverend Andreas Wenzel: College Chaplain and Fellow by Special Election
Dr Benjamin Hess: Early Career Teaching and Research Fellow in Earth Sciences
Dr Joe Pitt-Francis: Associate Professor of Computer Science, and Governing Body Fellow
Catherine White: Hall alumna (2016, MSt Women’s Studies), author, filmmaker, actor, UN gender advisor and Honorary Fellow
Dr Kate Keohane: Career Development Fellow, History of Art and Wellbeing
Professor Anna Regoutz: Associate Professor in Experimental Inorganic Chemistry, Tutorial Fellow in Inorganic Chemistry and a Governing Body Fellow
Dr Musab Younis: Associate Professor in Political Theory, Jarvis Doctorow Fellow in Politics and a Governing Body Fellow
This academic year, the Hall warmly welcomed the following new Fellows (pictured from top left):
The importance
of giving
Our vision
St Edmund Hall is one of the oldest university educational establishments in the world and has provided an exceptional environment for teaching and research for over 750 years. In 2019, we set out a vision to become a college that is financially robust and with an operating budget focused primarily on the core objectives of the College. This financial stability underpins our additional strategic aims of fostering a stimulating intellectual environment for teaching and research; acting as a home to a vibrant and diverse community where there are no invisible barriers to entry; and becoming one of the greenest and most environmentally sustainable colleges in Oxford.
College finances and the impact of your donations
From small group tutorial teaching to living in beautiful historic buildings, studying at Teddy Hall is a truly unique educational experience. However, this comes at a significant cost to the College. We are incredibly grateful for all the support we receive from our donors. Here are a few examples of how your support is helping to bridge the gap between income and expenditure.
Education and research
Putting students through the tutorial system is expensive and Teddy Hall spends more money on its students than it receives from them. Undergraduate
tuition fees make up only 22% of the College’s income.
Fostering a thriving educational environment remains a key priority. In 2023, the Hall increased the percentage of the budget spent on teaching and research from 32% to 40%, meeting the target set out in our Strategic Plan in 2019.
In addition to this, thanks to the generosity of our donors, new Fellowships have been endowed in History, Earth Sciences, Law, Biochemistry and Neurosciences, and new funding secured for Early Career Teaching and Research Fellowships in five subjects, including Economics, History and Philosophy.
Access, equality and diversity
A university education also comes at a great cost to students and the Hall is committed to removing any financial barriers to application and continued study at St Edmund Hall.
The Hall funded over 1,000 individual awards and bursaries in 2023–24. The total funding provided by the Hall for scholarship awards and grants was £526k, of which £492k was externally funded from donations.
We also endowed graduate scholarships in Medical Sciences, Philosophy and Theology to be supported in perpetuity, and received multi-year funding for international graduate scholars from emerging and developing economies.
Culture
Since the introduction of the Hall’s Strategy 2019–2029, there have been notable successes in terms of opening up “Hall Spirit” to better represent our diverse community.
The College now hosts an inclusive range of events, including themed formals, talks and the new Conversations in Environmental Sustainability seminar series, which has been funded by generous donations. Furthermore, over £200k has been secured to support our Music, Sport and Culture funds. This includes funds for the choir tour to Pontigny and a new boat for the Boat Club.
Estates
The cost of maintaining the College estate is considerable. The diversity of ages and styles creates a complex set of challenges for annual maintenance as does the size of the estate compared to the number of students and staff.
The Hall is one of the few Oxford colleges that cannot house all its undergraduate students, which is why the development of Norham St Edmund with its 127 state-of-the-art student study bedrooms is so essential. So far, we have raised nearly £10m of a £15m target in donations and pledges. Building work is scheduled to be completed in summer 2026, with the first students moving in that autumn.
What success could look like in 2029
Our key objectives include:
• Increased funds available to remove financial barriers for students from low-income backgrounds to continue study at the Hall.
• Endowment of at least four to six more Fellowship positions, underpinning tuition and research in more priority subject areas.
• Refurbishment of the remaining student accommodation at Queen’s Lane and enhancements to the gardens and other community spaces.
It is only with your continued help and commitment that we will achieve our goal by 2029 to secure the future sustainability of our College and ensure that St Edmund Hall flourishes for many generations into the future.
Our matched funding has been generously extended into 2025 and now all new gifts received this year will benefit from a 2:1 match. Thank you for your support and Floreat Aula!
Andrew Vivian, Director of Development & Fellow andrew.vivian@seh.ox.ac.uk
+44 (0) 1865 279096
A Breakdown of Your Support
New Funds Raised
Donors by Country
Donors by Matriculation Year
Norham St Edmund Progress
Topping Out Ceremony: Teddy Hall marks major milestone
The Hall community and its Norham St Edmund (NSE) project partners celebrated the Topping Out ceremony of NSE, a traditional celebration for when a building reaches the highest point of construction, on Friday 20 June.
College Fellows, alumni, staff and project partners watched a livestream of the Principal and the Rt Hon Lord Hague of Richmond, University of Oxford Chancellor and Hall Visitor, sign a commemorative plaque which was lifted and mounted into place on the roof of the tallest building, the Villa. Representatives of the College and NSE partners took turns in helping to secure the plaque, marking the occasion together whilst accompanied by Fellow and horn player Professor Henrike Lähnemann.
Following this, everyone gathered for a drinks reception in the new Common Room to hear speeches from the Principal, the Chancellor and the SDC Construction Director, Carl Bennett. Principal Willis welcomed everyone to this milestone event in the NSE project and ended with many heartfelt thanks to our Governing Body Fellows, staff, project partners and Aularians who have so generously supported the development. The Principal concluded: “…the most important thing, for which we should all be thankful is that this whole project has, and continues to work, like a large ecosystem, where all parts work interchangeably, and as a result, the Hall flourishes.”
Due for completion in April 2026, the NSE project includes 127 ensuite study
bedrooms and spacious communal facilities, comprising of three new buildings constructed to Passivhaus standards and a refurbishment of 17 Norham Gardens. The design prioritises sustainably sourced materials and low-embodied carbon, with a prefabricated cross-laminated timber frame forming the superstructure.
This transformative project marks a major step towards supporting Hall students from lower-income backgrounds by enabling all our undergraduates to live in College accommodation for the duration of their course. With a strong focus on inclusion and sustainability, it reflects a shared commitment to a more equal and environmentally responsible future. NSE will welcome its first cohort of students in Autumn 2026.
Below: The plaque being lowered and drilled into the building
Right: (L-R): Domestic Bursar, Mark Blandford-Baker, The Rt Hon Lord Hague of Richmond, Principal Willis, Senior Tutor, Professor Robert Wilkins and Finance Bursar, Eleanor Burnett, pose with the signed commemorative plaque
Left:The Rt Hon Lord Hague of Richmond, Oxford Chancellor, signing the commemorative plaque
Photography, provided by Wright & Wright Architects
Roman brooch discovery
During the pre-construction archaeology at the site, archaeologists from Pre-Construct Archaeology (PCA) discovered a Roman brooch, dating roughly to the 1st and 2nd centuries AD (40–c. 200 AD). Unearthed by Emma Cowdell, one of PCA’s field archaeologists, the copper-alloy brooch was likely used as both a decorative and functional item to hold items of clothing together while worn.
Jon Ward, PCA archaeologist, also remarked that “The ‘bow’ shape of the brooch is typical of a Colchester derivative type, modelled on earlier Iron Age brooches found in East Anglia and popularised across England by the Romans.” Similar samples have been found across the Cherwell Valley and Vale of the White Horse areas of Oxfordshire. Importance has also been placed on the surviving delicate pin and spring of the brooch, which is uncommon.
NSE tours
Early in 2025, members from across the Hall’s community, including students, Fellows and staff, enjoyed a tour of the NSE development to see the progress in person.
With the arrival of cross-laminated structures on site, the new buildings making up the 127-bedroom development had grown at pace and the overall footprint and scale of the site are now clearly discernible.
Domestic Bursar Mark Blandford-Baker and members of the SDC construction team kindly led the tours. Visitors were shown the progress across the Villa, West House, Park House and No. 17 buildings, including key communal areas and model student bedrooms – with the opportunity to provide feedback on their design to inform improvements.
We have raised over £10m to date of our £15m fundraising target thanks to the incredibly generous support of Aularians – but we still need your vital support. Every donation we receive for Norham St Edmund protects the Hall’s endowment and all new donations received for the HALLmarks campaign in 2025 benefit from a 2:1 matched fund!
If you would like to learn more about supporting NSE or take a tour of the site to see the progress in person, please contact us at alumni@ seh.ox.ac.uk to arrange a visit.
You can keep up to date with NSE progress, including the latest developments on site and recent drone footage, on our dedicated webpage: hallmarkscampaign.seh.ox.ac.uk/latest-progress
Emma Cowdell, one of the field archaeologists, holding the newly discovered Roman brooch
The brooch, dated 40–c. 200 AD
Aularian visitors David Waring (1987, Geography), left, and Judith Waring (1986, Modern Languages) right.
Sara Browne (1983, Medicine) with Director of Development, Andrew Vivian
HALL NEWS IN BRIEF
HALL WELCOMES NEW VISITOR: CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY, THE RT HON LORD HAGUE OF RICHMOND
The Rt Hon Lord Hague of Richmond was elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford in November 2024, and took up his duties as Chancellor – and as such, Visitor of the Hall – on 19 February 2025.
William Hague was born in Rotherham in 1961 and educated at Wath-UponDearne Comprehensive School. He went on to study at Magdalen College, becoming President of the Oxford Union and graduating in 1982 with First Class honours and the College Prize in PPE. Later, he took an MBA at INSEAD in France.
After commencing a business career with McKinsey & Co, William was elected as the MP for Richmond, Yorkshire, at the age of 27 in 1989. He served for 26 years in the House of Commons in many senior roles, in particular Secretary of State for Wales 1995–1997, Leader of the Conservative Party 1997–2001, and First Secretary of State and Foreign Secretary 2010–2014. He played a leading role in the negotiations that led to a coalition government in 2010. As Minister for Disabled People he was responsible for the landmark Disability Discrimination Act of 1995, the year he was appointed to the Privy Council. He became the most widely travelled Foreign Secretary in British history and was known globally for the Campaign to Prevent Sexual Violence in Conflict, which he co-founded with Angelina Jolie.
In the intervals between his roles in government, William became well known as an author, writing biographies of William Pitt the Younger and William Wilberforce. His first book won the History Book of the Year award in 2005, and he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 2015 he decided to leave the Commons, became a life peer, and has devoted his time since then to charity, business and journalism. He has served as chair of the Royal United Services Institute 2015–2020, chair of the Royal Foundation
It’s been another busy year at the Hall – here’s a small selection of happenings. Read more college news at www.seh.ox.ac.uk/news
of the Prince and Princess of Wales 2020–2025 and is co-chair of United for Wildlife, a global effort to combat the illegal wildlife trade.
William is a weekly columnist of The Times. Since 2023 he has co-authored with Sir Tony Blair a series of reports advocating a stronger national focus on science, technology and innovation. Over the last forty years, William has maintained a close connection to Oxford, helping to design the University’s first
major development campaign in the late 1980s, and becoming an Honorary Fellow of Magdalen in 2016.
William’s wife, Dame Ffion Hague, read English at Jesus College and is an Honorary Fellow of Harris Manchester College. They are both passionate about libraries, gardens and nature conservation. William is President of the Britain-Australia Society, active in many other associations and charities, continues to travel widely, reads a great deal and is keen on martial arts.
THE PRIME MINISTER VISITS THE HALL
On Friday 21 February, we were delighted to welcome back Prime Minister, Honorary Fellow and alumnus Sir Keir Starmer (1985, BCL).
Sir Keir had a tour of the Hall, accompanied by the Principal and Emeritus Law Fellow Professor Adrian Briggs, and met with members of the Fellowship, staff and students.
ST EDMUND HALL COMMUNITY & GIVING WEEK
From 25 April to 2 May, St Edmund Hall celebrated its inaugural Community & Giving Week, bringing together students, staff, alumni and friends in a week-long celebration of community, growth and giving.
The main activity of the week was the 1317 Challenge. Inspired by the first documented reference to St Edmund Hall in 1317, we called on Aularians around the world to take part in a range of exciting activities with a focus on the College and the number 1317.
Aularians responded with enthusiasm, sending in a wide range of creative and exciting challenges. These included medieval plays, hikes, poetry, baked goods (see left) and rowing challenges. A notable highlight was a performance by current student Luke Boulton (2022, Medicine) of an original piano composition by alumnus James Harpham (1959, History), written especially for the 1317 Challenge.
The College raised funds in support of four key areas: Student Support, Access and Outreach, Sports Clubs and Music, and Arts and Culture. The fundraising campaign exceeded all expectations with over £140,000 raised for our Community & Giving Week total, surpassing the original goal of £131,700 and achieving the ultimate 1317 Challenge as a community.
More than 200 Aularians participated, spanning generations from matriculands of 1951 to present-day students, Fellows and staff. This collective effort is a demonstration of the enduring strength, enthusiasm and generosity of our Hall community.
You can see all the 1317 Challenges and catch up on the week’s events on the HALLmarks website: hallmarkscampaign.seh.ox.ac.uk/home/ sehcommunityandgivingweek/
STUDENT #HALLLIFE CAMPAIGN RETURNS FOR A SECOND YEAR
Following on from last year’s success, Hilary term saw a re-run of the popular student #HallLife campaign, with three photography interns tasked with capturing all aspects of student life at St Edmund Hall.
Chenyu Zhu (2024, MSc Theoretical and Computational Chemistry), Lily Thompson-Mouton (2022, MSci Experimental Psychology) and Lottie Newell (2022, History) were selected as this term’s interns. Their weekly updates have been shared on the Hall’s social media channels to give
prospective students an insight into what it is really like to live and study in Oxford, with the images covering a broad range from daily Hall and Oxford life – including studying and social events – to sports and cultural events, around Oxford and further afield. We hope the updates have also brought back some fond memories for our alumni!
Many thanks to Chenyu, Lily and Lottie for sharing these fantastic photographs with us – here are some highlights from their term.
DR TOM CRAWFORD STEPS INTO MATHS CORNER ON COUNTDOWN
Dr Tom Crawford, a Fellow by Special Election in Maths at Teddy Hall, joined Countdown – the UK’s longest running game show – in February for three weeks.
Tom, who is also Public Engagement Lead at the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education and a Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at Robinson College, Cambridge, was in Maths Corner while Rachel Riley MBE took a short break to work on another project. Tom is known to the internet as Tom Rocks Maths which makes elite mathematics teaching available to everyone and has a following of over 200,000 and 25 million views.
Having already spent some time with Rachel to learn the ropes, Tom began filming in December and was seen on screen alongside lexicographer Susie Dent and host Colin Murray. Sir Stephen Fry was in Dictionary Corner for Tom’s first show, with other guests including Jenny Powell and Vick Hope.
Rachel commented: “Countdown viewers are in great hands with Tom, who is a brilliant Mathematician and a lovely guy.”
Tom added: “All of my work online is about sharing my love of Maths with the world whilst trying to make it accessible for everyone. Countdown has been doing that for a generation, so it really is a dream come true to be joining this iconic show to cover Rachel.”
HALL TEAM TAKES ON UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE
St Edmund Hall once again competed in University Challenge, the longrunning quiz show hosted by Amol Rajan.
Captained by Sophia Bursey (2022, English), this year’s team included Jeffrey Liu (2023, DPhil Politics), Daisy Pendergast (2021, Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry), Robert Elkington (2018, Modern Languages & Linguistics) and James O’Neill (2022, PPE; in reserve).
The Hall team took on SOAS University of London in the first round. After a closely contested game, they
won the match with a score of 195155. In the second round, the team took on Christ’s College, Cambridge. Unfortunately, the match did not go our way, but Christ’s ended up winning the season so they were certainly tough competition! Well done to the Hall team for their performance in this series – the Aularian community is very proud of them and impressed by their breadth of knowledge!
Reflecting on the team’s appearance, Captain Sophia Bursey commented: “While the outcome of
the second round wasn’t quite what we would have hoped, it was still really fun to film. There were quite a few moments where we had the answers but buzzed in a split second too late, and unfortunately the bonuses fell so that lots of our specialisms went to the other team while we had some really tricky ones. It was a bit frustrating, but we lost to a really strong team in Christ’s and they were very gracious winners! We were super happy to have appeared on the show at all, even though it ended too soon!”
HALL MEMBERS SUPPORT NASA MISSION
MCR Vice-President Duncan Lyster (2023, DPhil Atmospheric, Oceanic & Planetary Physics) and Tutorial Fellow Professor Carly Howett (pictured) recently supported the Lucy mission’s encounter of asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson in Boulder, USA.
NASA launched the Lucy probe in 2021 as part of a 12-year mission to study Jupiter’s trojans – groups of asteroids surrounding the solar system’s largest planet. Preliminary results from the encounter show the asteroid is far from round, better resembling a peanut (8km long and 3.5km wide) and rotating slowly. More complex data analysis has started with further results expected soon.
The asteroid was named after the paleoanthropologist Professor Donald Johanson who discovered the “Lucy” hominid fossil – the first fossil discovered of an upright, walking human and the mission’s namesake. Professor Johanson also attended the encounter.
The trip was supported in part by the Tony Doyle Graduate Science Prize from St Edmund Hall.
THE TEDDY HALL SILVER SAFE
My job in the silver safe consists of putting on some music, setting up my little station and bringing all the pieces to life by adding a much-needed shine to them. It’s good fun going through each item and seeing the hallmarks tell their stories of when they were made (some several hundred years ago!). It’s almost like reading in code, trying to decipher what era, who’s responsible and where it was made.
Just like pairing wine with food, the silver gets paired with the appropriate function to really add that extra touch of detail – for example, for a rowing dinner we would prepare any trophies or donated items from previous years to display on the tables with a small card next to each piece telling its story. We have recently started cataloguing all the silver to have a very accurate account for everything we own. This was a very timeconsuming task as a picture and description were required for every item!
Craig Hughes has been Deputy Head Butler at the Hall since August 2023; prior to that he was in similar roles at Wadham and New College. His role includes assisting with the everyday operations of the Hall and Senior Common Room. He also helps the Chattels and Pictures Fellow, Professor Jonathan Yates, with the College silver.
High Table laid up with silver for a Formal Hall in June 2025
MEET THE WELFARE DEAN AND COLLEGE NURSE CLARE WOOLCOTT
College Nurse and Welfare Dean, Clare Woolcott, joined Teddy Hall in 2016. Her nursing background is as a college nurse, a practice visiting nurse, a district nurse and a tissue viability nurse.
In her capacity as College Nurse, Clare sees students for most medical problems as well as providing support and advice in all areas of healthy living and health promotion. She works closely with the college doctors and runs a joint clinic in college with them on Tuesday mornings in term time. She has extensive knowledge of the mental and physical health services available in Oxford and can direct students to these services following a thorough assessment.
Clare was born and raised in Zambia, the youngest of six children. She trained as a nurse in Oxford and has lived in London, Hong Kong, Kent and Spain, before returning to Oxford where she raised her four children and continued to work as a nurse.
Clare worked at the John Radcliffe Hospital before becoming a district nurse, tissue viability nurse and then a practice nurse before working as a college nurse. Her first college was Corpus Christi, then shortly after she combined this with working part-time at St Edmund Hall as the College Nurse and Senior Welfare Officer. In the past, she has combined her Hall work with St Catherine’s College and St Anne’s College, but over the years, the welfare needs have grown across the University and with this her role has expanded. As a result, she now works full-time at the Hall as our Welfare Dean and College Nurse.
Clare works alongside Jane Armstrong, Senior Welfare Officer, and Beenish Chaudhry, College Counsellor, and is part of the wider Welfare and Decanal Team. As a team, they are able to offer health and welfare support to students seven days a week during term.
In addition to the Decanal and Welfare Team, students can also receive welfare support from student Peer Supporters – students who have undergone training by the University Counselling Service to offer peer-to-peer welfare support.
Clare says that Teddy Hall is quite unlike any of the other colleges she’s worked at because it is such a friendly and supportive college, where all members are valued and students’ mental and physical health is as important as their academic achievements.
Clare lives in Headington with her partner and outside of work she enjoys spending time with her children and grandsons. She has two small dogs that she walks regularly on Port Meadow and at Shotover. She is a keen swimmer and particularly loves swimming at the outdoor Hinksey swimming pool and in the Isis during the summer months. She loves all forms of travel and is a keen scuba diver.
Having been at the Hall for nearly a decade now, Clare and the other members of the Welfare and Decanal Team are incredibly valued by the whole College community.
Below, top: Clare with one of her dogs, Acorn
Below, bottom: Clare with her son Charlie attending Oxford Pride with Teddy Hall students in June this year
SPORT AT THE HALL
Teddy Hall sport continues to be a vibrant and cherished part of college life, with a packed calendar of successes on the water, field, court, and beyond in the 2024–25 academic year.
Rowing once again made a splash, with standout performances across the board. In Torpids and Summer Eights, the Women’s Second Boat impressed with +2 bumps, while the Men’s Second Boat fought hard to avoid spoons with a net -3. However, it was the Men’s Third Boat that made history – with a remarkable +11 bumps they secured blades and one of the highest bump totals since Merton, marking an extraordinary achievement for the club.
In croquet, our MCR side showed both finesse and focus to win Croquet Cuppers, continuing Teddy Hall’s tradition of croquet excellence.
Elsewhere, Teddy Hall Triathlon club retained their title in the open category of Triathlon Cuppers, despite competition being particularly strong this year, with the Hall triumphing over a Corpus team comprised of three Blues.
On this year’s varsity ski trip, the Teddy Hall ski team (Ned Finney, Lorenzo Usai, Adelaide Boucher-Ferete and Stefan Martin) beat over 20 other Oxford and Cambridge colleges to retain the Skiing Cuppers trophy. After a very close semi-final against Christ Church, the team went on to beat Queen’s in the final by under one second.
The Mixed Hockey team emerged victorious against LMH/ Lincoln/Corpus Christi in the Hockey Cuppers final. An early goal from Alex Burson saw the Hall take the lead before a big penalty flick saved by goalkeeper Ollie Monbat kept us ahead going into the second half. After some stoic Teddy defence, LMH/ Lincoln/ Corpus equalised with less than two minutes to go. The Hall responded quickly with a weaving run from MOTM Jess Cottee finding Tom Rawlinson at the back post for the last-gasp winner with the very last touch of the game.
Below: The Men’s rugby team at the Cuppers semi-finals
The Men’s Cricket team reached the semi-finals of Cuppers, unfortunately losing to Magdalen and St Hilda’s despite a valiant effort.
On the rugby pitch, the Men’s team charged into the Cuppers semi-finals, narrowly falling to a strong St Hilda’s-Magdalen side after a season filled with grit and high-calibre play.
The Swimming team once again proved themselves in the pool, finishing second only to a combined Oriel-Corpus team in Cuppers, maintaining our proud reputation in aquatic sports.
In Men’s Football, the Seconds made a valiant effort and progressed all the way to the Cuppers final, where they narrowly lost to St Catz. Meanwhile, the Women’s Football team reached the semi-finals, showing their growing strength and determination throughout the season.
Another proud moment came in Lifesaving Cuppers, where the Hall claimed first place, showcasing both skill and composure under pressure.
Adding to the sporting variety this year, Teddy Hall featured in Fight Night, a charity boxing event in support of the OddBalls Foundation. Ben Carvin and Ishaan Choudhary stepped into the ring in front of a packed crowd to raise awareness for testicular cancer, putting on a spirited and good-natured bout. After three rounds, Ben took the win, and together they raised an impressive £560 – earning praise for both their sportsmanship and fundraising efforts.
Teddy Hall’s sporting spirit continues to thrive, with both established traditions and new triumphs bringing the college community together. We look forward to building on this year’s achievements and raising the bar even higher next season.
Dhaksha Vivekanandan and Kate Parsons (2024–25 JCR Sports Representatives)
Below: Teddy Croquet Cuppers Winners (L-R: Daisy Bressington, Captain Charlie Sharpe, Jasper Singh, Edward Blackman)
SCalum Stewart joined St Edmund Hall as Access & Outreach Coordinator in January 2025. He is responsible for the dayto-day running of the College’s access and outreach programmes.
o far this year, the Outreach team has worked with over 2,000 students across our link regions of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland. With Trinity and summer still to go, we’ve plenty planned to engage with even more high-achieving young people, their teachers, parents and carers to help demystify our University and encourage applications from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented at Oxford.
In September, the Outreach and Admissions Manager, Luke Maw, was joined by four fantastic ambassadors on Teddy Hall’s annual Outreach Roadshow. Travelling to 11 schools across Derbyshire and Leicestershire, they delivered interactive workshops to Key Stage 4 and 5 students, focusing on the Oxford application process. A huge thank you to Finn Galway (2023, Medicine), Jack Gillespie (2022, Geography), Jade Vohra (2023, Physics) and Molly Hill (2022, German & Russian) for speaking passionately about their subjects to a combined 640 students – who now associate Oxford not only with academic rigour, but with a friendly face.
Throughout the year, Luke and I have also welcomed school visits to Oxford, offering bright young people the opportunity to meet our students, to experience different spaces around the College, and to learn about the teaching that takes place both here and in the wider University. We also hosted visits from schools on our sustained-contact programmes: NextGen (run in partnership with Lincoln and Magdalen) and Unlock Oxford – delivering workshops on A level choices and student finance, and offering subject tasters and sessions on applications, admissions tests and interviews.
Our flagship Outreach programme, Unlock Oxford, is divided into rural and urban streams. For students on the rural stream, a visit to Oxford is supplemented with workshops delivered in school to support a competitive application. The urban strand, in turn, offers an overnight stay to highachieving Year 10 and 12 students from inner-city Derby and Leicester, allowing a greater immersion in College life. In March and April, we were able to offer places on our Unlock Oxford residentials to more students than ever before, welcoming 199 students to Teddy Hall. I look forward to many of the Year 10s returning to Oxford for the Year 12 residential after their GCSEs, and hope to see many of this year’s Year 12 cohort making applications to St Edmund Hall in October!
2024 Outreach Roadshow
(Left to right: Jade, Molly, Jack, Finn and Luke)
“Unlock Oxford was a real game-changer for all students that attended. I saw students who were intimidated about arriving in Oxford very quickly put at ease and within 24 hours telling me they would be back there one day”
Teacher, Leicestershire
“I enjoyed getting answers to literally every question I could possibly ask. I feel so much more informed about university and Oxbridge than I was before, and I feel much more confident making an application”
Y12 Student, Leicestershire
This year’s undergraduate offer-holders were invited to our second annual Offer-Holders’ Day in February. After hearing from the Admissions Officer, the College Registrar, the JCR President and the Admissions and Outreach Manager, the offer-holders and their guests had the opportunity to take a tour of the College and city.
Whilst most of our outreach work is focused on our link regions, we strive to introduce St Edmund Hall to students across the UK and beyond. Launched in 2022, our Big Think Competition has gone from strength to strength. Open to 15- to 18-year-old state school students in the UK, the Big Think Competition invites young people to answer one of our academics’ tutorial-style questions in a video essay. This gives young people a supercurricular opportunity to engage with their subject beyond the school curriculum, strengthen their Personal Statement and glean more about Oxford along the way. In 2024, applications to the Big Think Competition increased by 187% to 243. At the time of writing, our 2025 competition remains open and we’re on track for another record-breaking year. Thank you in advance to all the tutors involved in the competition for their hard work in setting interesting questions and marking our entries.
Through all these activities and more, we aim to familiarise students with Oxford, to demystify the application process and encourage hard work in GCSEs and A levels – all whilst boosting direct applications to Teddy Hall. If we can give half as warm a welcome to College as I’ve received since joining the Hall in January, I’ve no doubt we’re on the right track. But this wouldn’t be possible without our fantastic team of over 50 Student Ambassadors, who, as friendly and approachable role models, give up their time to support outreach at the Hall. We are also fortunate to have two great JCR Access Officers in Jade Vohra and Alexander Berresford, who have pioneered a STEM study day in Loughborough, which we are running this year in late June as a pilot to support bright STEM students in the run-up to applications, admissions tests and interviews.
With Open Days, another residential and inbound and outbound school visits also on the horizon, we’ve plenty to fill the calendar in the coming months to ensure that Outreach at St Edmund Hall continues to go from strength to strength.
BRIDGING SCIENCE AND BUSINESS IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY FOR LASTING IMPACT
David O. Odhiambo is an MBA student at the Saïd Business School and a member of St Edmund Hall. He is a Weidenfeld-Hoffman Trust Scholar with full scholarship from the Julius Baer Foundation. A trained pharmacist from Kenya, David worked with Novartis as a Regulatory Affairs Manager overseeing operations in East and Southern Africa before joining Oxford. He currently runs African Pharmaceutical Network (APN; africanpharmanetwork.net) a pan-African network that promotes investment in Africa’s pharmaceutical sector.
The healthcare sector – and, by extension, the pharmaceutical industry – is often viewed primarily through a social lens, centred on delivering essential healthcare services. However, behind every medical breakthrough, regulatory approval and patient-access programme lies a complex web of business decisions that shape the industry’s ability to fulfil its mission.
Having trained as a pharmacist at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), my early career revolved around trade associations and health sector boards. These engagements offered me first-hand exposure to the regulatory and policy challenges organisations face while operating across East and Southern Africa. However, one question lingered in my mind: what are the business imperatives driving these organisations in the healthcare space?
Curiosity led me to explore the commercial and strategic aspects of the industry, eventually securing a role in Regulatory Affairs at Novartis. My work focused on registering and introducing new medicines to market, providing valuable insight into the intersection of science, policy and business. While I was deeply engaged in regulatory and policy matters, I felt an increasing need to understand the economic drivers behind critical business decisions. How do companies balance innovation, market access and financial sustainability while keeping patient welfare at the core? This realisation set me on a new path – pursuing an
MBA to bridge the gap between science and business.
Embarking on an MBA at the Saïd Business School was a natural step in this journey. The school’s commitment to integrating rigorous academic research with practical business applications in addressing global challenges made it an ideal fit. However, funding presented a significant hurdle. My initial attempt to enrol was unsuccessful due to financial constraints, but perseverance led me to a second application, where I was awarded the Julius Baer Foundation’s full scholarship through the Weidenfeld-Hoffman Scholarship and Leadership Programme.
This opportunity has not only enabled me to undertake the MBA but has also immersed me in leadership development, moral philosophy and real-world business challenge engagements through the Weidenfeld-Hoffman Trust. My academic focus spans finance, organisational behaviour, operations and strategy – critical pillars for shaping the future of pharmaceutical business models.
Beyond the classroom, I have actively participated in the Impact Lab, a social impact leadership incubation programme by the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, as well as the Finance Lab and Innovation Strategy electives. These experiences are equipping me with the tools to help pharmaceutical companies drive innovation, optimise market access and ensure reliable, sustainable access to quality medicines globally.
“As the industry continues to evolve, we must ask ourselves: how do we design pharmaceutical businesses that drive both innovation and equitable access?”
Prior to joining Oxford, I founded the African Pharmaceutical Network (APN), driven by a vision to strengthen Africa’s pharmaceutical sector through workforce development, business ecosystem support and policy shaping. Over the years, APN has grown into a pan-African platform that has:
• Trained 250+ pharmaceutical professionals across three disciplines: Regulatory Affairs, Pharmacovigilance and Patient Safety, and Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Management;
• Facilitated industry discussion forums serving 5,000+ participants across 30+ countries; and
• Fostered policy dialogues and strategic partnerships advancing equitable access to healthcare.
The MBA coming along the journey has provided a unique opportunity to refine, expand and professionalise APN’s impact. Applying business school learnings, I have scaled our programmes, strengthening stakeholder engagement and optimising APN’s strategic direction. This experience has reinforced my belief that sustainable healthcare solutions require collaboration across sectors, bridging the divide between policymakers, healthcare professionals and business leaders.
Building on this momentum, I am currently developing an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered integrated pharmacy inventory management system and e-pharmacy platform with support from the Entrepreneurship Centre and the Oxford Innovation ecosystem partners. This initiative aims to:
• Enhance patient convenience by providing seamless access to medicines;
• Support community pharmacies in transitioning online to serve digitally native consumers across Africa; and
• Improve pharmaceutical supply chain efficiency, ensuring better stock management and reducing medicine shortages.
By integrating AI-driven insights with practical healthcare solutions, this platform has the potential to redefine pharmaceutical access in Africa.
A critical challenge in the pharmaceutical industry today is the growing public scepticism about the alignment of business incentives with patient needs. While scientific breakthroughs continue to transform healthcare, concerns about pricing, access and corporate ethics persist. I firmly believe that impactdriven business strategies are key to rebuilding trust in the industry.
Historically, healthcare professionals – deeply rooted in the Hippocratic Oath – have distanced themselves from the commercial aspects of healthcare. While this separation is often intended to uphold ethical integrity, it has also created misalignment in incentives between business leaders and frontline healthcare providers. If healthcare professionals are to truly champion patient welfare, they must engage in shaping the business models that determine access to care.
This is my mission: to bridge science and business for impact. I am committed to understanding and shaping the economic and strategic frameworks that drive pharmaceutical innovation while ensuring that patient needs remain at the heart of decisionmaking. The future of healthcare depends on professionals who can navigate both worlds – those who understand that sustainable businesses and patient-centred solutions are not mutually exclusive but, rather, deeply interconnected.
As the industry continues to evolve, we must ask ourselves: how do we design pharmaceutical businesses that drive both innovation and equitable access? Answering this question is not just a professional pursuit – it is a responsibility to patients, communities and the future of global healthcare.
Above: David Odhiambo participating in an Impact Lab Training Session
FORESTS THROUGH TIME: HOW NATURE GOES FROM FARMLANDS TO ANCIENT FORESTS
Professor David Moreno Mateos is Associate Professor in Physical Geography and Tutorial Fellow in Geography, and a Governing Body Fellow, at St Edmund Hall. David studies patterns and mechanisms that shape the recovery of ecosystems after anthropogenic disturbance over long periods of time (centuries to millennia).
How have ecosystems adapted over centuries or millennia to recover from human interference? In our research lab, we are analysing plants and soil microbial communities in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, the UK’s temperate forests and Greenland’s tundra to find out, and help inform and improve future restoration practice.
I am more of the thinking that no matter what we humans do, in the end, life finds its way. Plants and microbes in particular seem to have a way of surviving against it all – natural disasters, climate change, human-caused destruction – somehow, they manage to find a way through. The resilience of plants and microbes can provide a beacon of environmental hope for us all, but their struggle is also a warning.
At COP26 (the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference), 140 governments signed a pledge to end global deforestation by 2030. That was more than three years ago: since then, almost no progress has been made to meet this target. We still lose around 10 million hectares of forest per year from logging and farming activities, and a further 70 million hectares
are affected by fires, which are worsening as the climate crisis intensifies. To reverse these trends, we are looking to understand how ecosystems degraded by human activity recover over long periods of time, meaning centuries to millennia. This is difficult, because there are not many places left on Earth that have not been disturbed in some way by human activity. From urbanisation to mining, roads to railways, thriving ecosystems across every continent have been destroyed and degraded in the name of human development. But above all else, agricultural practices –some millennia old – have changed the very foundations of our world’s landscapes.
Nothing even comes close to farming in relation to land-use change and the way this has degraded biodiversity on the planet. Even the current effects of climate change on biodiversity are about one-tenth of those from farming. Locating untouched, “old growth” woodlands in the UK has been a serious challenge, but we are finding some. You can locate what are called “ancient woodlands”, but most of these are degraded by constant management, including coppicing or timber harvesting.
Our team is looking at old growth forests in the UK and in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. We are comparing the genetic makeup of specific trees and other plants, their roots and the microbial composition of the surrounding soil to those in areas that were once farmlands, hundreds or thousands of years ago, but have since been abandoned and left to recover on their own. Our hypothesis is that through time, forests that have previously been used as farmland will recover more features that are similar to old growth forests, and this feature can make these recovering forests more resilient to climate change, biodiversity loss or other global ongoing impacts.
In Brazil, we are sampling postagricultural forests that have been recovering for 400 to 2,000 years. Even with places that were farmland 2,000 years ago and have not been since, you can still see the signatures of farming today. These include different plant communities or soil chemistry. The team is looking at specific tree species within the Amazon, such as the Brazil nut tree: we sequence all the bacterial and fungal DNA that is in the roots. This is how we can observe the networks between the tree community and the microbial community in the soil. This allows a bigger, more complex picture of recovery to be painted; not only can the team see how an ecosystem is recovering regarding more basic metrics, such as biodiversity or carbon storage, but also how this diversity is working as a functional structure within an ecosystem, and how these functions are changing over time.
traits – but by doing that, other parts of the genome are reduced, which leads to a reduced capacity to adapt to other changes, making them more vulnerable.
This leads to a key question that our research is hoping to help answer: what happens once you abandon a domesticated species? Will they recover important functions that were lost during the selection process over time? And, if so, how long will this take? We expect that as species recover, they will regain high genetic diversity, meaning that they will have more genetic tools to cope with environmental change – for example, to cope with increasing drought or other kinds of stressors. And they can do this naturally by themselves, through “natural regeneration” –also called “ecosystem recovery” or “passive restoration” – without any need for human assistance, but this will take hundreds or thousands of years.
We also want to see what happens with a species that has been domesticated after being released from that domestication pressure. “Domesticated” in this context refers to a plant species that has been selectively bred by humans for a specific purpose, for example to produce bigger fruit. Species are selected to have desirable
Ultimately, we want to improve the outcomes of restoration practice. We want to be able to understand the specific actions you can take to improve the fundamental practice of restoration. It’s important to stay hopeful that things can improve. Ecosystems can recover on their own, but how can we help so that this restoration takes less time and brings an ecosystem’s complexity back? Not just biodiversity, but complexity. We don’t know it all yet, but we are working very hard to understand how to do it. We hope our research helps influence domestic and international policy on deforestation and farming practices. We need to strengthen conservation actions and stop degrading nature – because although restoration works, it takes a long time. I believe it is important that we are aware of our current limitations, but also that we cannot give up. We are still at the very beginning of the process, and have so much to learn, but even today, restoration is possible.
Explaining our research and its implications to the local communities in one of the Quilombos
Flaviane, the expedition coordinator (left), and David (right) with the elders and leaders of the Quilombo community
MOBILISING FAMILIES FOR WAR: THE FAMILY IN HISTORY
Dr Chloë Pieters is the River Farm Foundation Early Career Teaching and Research Fellow in History. Her research focuses on the European family in wartime. Chloë completed her PhD at University College London. Prior to joining St Edmund Hall, she was a Stipendiary Lecturer in Modern British and European History at Somerville and Exeter College.
Iam a historian of family life in Belgium and Britain during and after the First World War. My doctoral thesis was a social and cultural history of wartime experiences and how the experience of total, industrial warfare affected the institution of the family. My postdoctoral project focuses on the legacies of the First World War for the family and how those legislative, emotional and cultural legacies themselves came under pressure as Europe became fragmented and economically depressed, and as a second war began to loom over the course of what is now known as the “interwar” period.
My own interest in the history of families, households and domesticity was sparked as a teenager, when I found a book called The Tudor Housewife by Alison Sim at a second-hand shop. I was studying the Tudors in school and my mother kindly bought it for me. I must have read that book dozens if not hundreds of times, learning a huge amount about Tudor cookery, medicine, clothing, the wool trade, courtship and law, all the while thinking I was just learning about women’s roles as housewives. This clearly left a strong impression on my teenage self! My fascination
with the First World War emerged when my grandmother shared stories of my great-grandmother’s flight as a young child to Britain after the invasion of Belgium in 1914. It feels very appropriate to have been led to my research topic through the medium of the family story.
First World War studies is a highly comparative field, because many historians, especially on the cultural side, are preoccupied with the question of the “culture of war” – namely, asking whether the common experience of modern, industrial war and mass mobilisation across Europe also produced common cultural responses which are a consequence of war itself. Comparing Belgium and Great Britain in this period is particularly interesting because it brings into comparative relief the wartime experience of occupation, which adds an additional dynamic.
Belgium was under almost total German occupation during the war, apart from a small area in West Flanders. The First World War was often justified by belligerents as being fought for the salvation of the family and the unity of the nation. The process of wide social and cultural mobilisation went far beyond the physical
mobilisation of men for the army – economies were changed and working practices altered to accommodate the huge material needs of war, with, for example, many women entering factories as workers for the first time instead of working in traditional feminine fields such as domestic service.
This process of cultural mobilisation placed the family under significant pressure to conform to wartime ideals to justify the immense sacrifices allegedly being made on their behalf (although the war had been entered into to resolve intractable political issues amongst belligerents). However, it also resulted in states being put under pressure to provide for and support families – for example, through separation allowances paid to soldiers’ dependants on top of their pay. This generated a dynamic in which families could acquiesce, challenge and make demands of the state both in opposition to and in support of the war. Although I focus on European families in my own research, it is clear that similar processes occurred within colonised populations, who were drawn into the war because they were ruled by European empires.
My research has enabled me to look at a range of sources, from legal records covered in dust and dead spiders to bureaucratic sources with their tables, charts and itemised columns of expenses, military records and census data, newspaper articles and, of course, letters and diaries. I have also looked at graves and war memorials.
A very memorable day of research was spent taking a long walk around various Commonwealth War Grave Commission cemeteries after I saw an interesting inscription and went looking for more. It’s a compelling reminder that the landscape itself has been profoundly shaped by the experience of war and that the material world is a source of historical understanding, both profound yet also prosaic.
Researching family life is particularly compelling because the family is a useful lens to look at all kinds of social and cultural dynamics in wartime and post-war states. My research has looked at army deserters; food provision and humanitarian aid; domestic violence; love affairs between Belgian civilians and German occupiers; women who resisted occupation in the name of their soldierhusbands and lovers; and the inscriptions family members wrote on soldiers’ graves. As a researcher, I’m interested in lots of different things, and having the opportunity to research something as vast and comprehensive as “the family” is admittedly sometimes daunting, but always fascinating.
I also love teaching family history. The history of the family is challenging but ultimately extremely rewarding to teach because the family is so often taken as given – it’s an institution that is marked by truisms and assumptions (“everyone has a family”, “all families are complicated”, even “all happy families are alike”!). I really enjoy the process of talking through how the family has been historicised and shaped by convention, law, culture and education, and not just the supposedly natural emotional and material needs of families themselves. By researching families, we stumble across one of the most profound, troubling and provocative questions we can face about an institution that so many of us value deeply, but that is undeniably complicated – a source of pain as well as comfort: what are families for? Why do we organise the way we live around them? What other ways of living are there?
A wartime diary in the Belgian State Archives
War memorial in Poplar, London
JURASSIC PARK’S PARASITES
FDr Luke Parry is a Tutorial Fellow in Earth Sciences and a Governing Body Fellow at St Edmund Hall. His research aims to understand a major event in the history of life referred to as the “Cambrian explosion”, a geologically brief interval during which all of the major groups of animals first appear in the fossil record.
ossils are broadly defined as any evidence of ancient life. While ancient shells, teeth and bones often persist through the biological and geological processes that destroy organisms before they can be preserved and ultimately discovered as fossils, our record of past life is in fact far more diverse. Ancient organisms have left behind evidence of their behaviour like trackways and burrows; remnants of ancient biomolecules like lipids (fats) that can be used for understanding ancient microbes; and, in very rare cases, soft parts that would otherwise typically decay away in the hours to days after an organism dies. Such exceptional fossils can preserve fine details of the impressions of skin and cuticle, muscles, guts and even nervous systems, telling us much more about these ancient creatures than the bones and shells of the conventional fossil record. These fossils require unusual circumstances to form – the organism must be buried rapidly (often alive) into sediments where decay happens slowly due to low levels of oxygen. Parts of the bodies of these animals may then be replaced with different minerals, such as iron pyrite (fools’ gold) or calcium phosphate, which can both replicate delicate anatomical features.
Much of my own research focuses on unlocking the potential of these rare fossils to inform us about major events in the evolution of life on Earth, particularly that of animals. Animals today are extraordinarily diverse, encompassing forms that are as different as sea sponges, spiders and humans, and are classified into about 30 groups called “phyla”, each with its own “body plan”. These body plans are distinctive and there is little overlap in features between them, making it difficult to figure out how some groups are related to one another. Despite these vast differences in form, all the animal phyla share common ancestors that lived hundreds of millions of years ago. Understanding how, when and how quickly animals came to look so different from one another are major questions that the fossil record has a unique ability to address. Most different animal groups appeared in the fossil record about half a billion years ago during an event called the Cambrian explosion, suggesting a rapid period of evolutionary change that gives it its name. Almost all the animal phyla or body plans are present in the fossil record by the end of the Cambrian Period, about 485 million years ago. Only a handful of phyla are conspicuous by their absence, but they all are organisms that we might expect to almost never fossilise, even in the most
Below: The fossil acanthocephalan Juracanthocephalus daohugouensis preserved in a 165-million-year-old volcanic lake sediment (left) and a modern acanthocephalan Serrasentis sagittifer (right). Juracanthocephalus daohugouensis is about a centimetre wide and Serrasentis sagittifer is about half a millimetre wide. Serrasentis sagittifer refigured from Gonçalves da Fonseca et al. (2019) under a CC-BY Creative Commons Attribution License.
exceptional of circumstances. They include various forms of soft bodied “worms” that are either very tiny (less than a millimetre or so in length) or are parasites, spending most or all their lives inside the bodies of other organisms.
One such group is the Acanthocephala. They are named in Greek for thorns (akanthos) and head (kephale), reflecting the spines at the front of their body that they use for gripping onto the inside of their host’s digestive tract. Acanthocephalans are highly unusual animals with many adaptations to a parasitic lifestyle including a complete loss of their own digestive system – they are entirely reliant on absorbing nutrients from their host. They have an extraordinary life cycle where they first infect an intermediate arthropod host (e.g., crustacean or insect) which is then ingested by and infects the definitive host (a vertebrate such as a fish, amphibian or mammal). Although sparsely documented, they are known to dig their thorny heads into the intestines of humans who have consumed infected arthropods – a condition known as acanthocephaliasis.
How and when acanthocephalans came to develop this unusual life cycle and which other animals they are related to has been a long-standing controversy. Use of DNA sequences to figure out the animal tree of life has long suggested that they belong to a group called rotifers (the “wheel animals”), microscopic worms with a tiny jaw apparatus that is used to grasp and grind food, but which are not parasites. While this link is well established, these two groups of worms share few anatomical features in common with each other and so how a rotifer-like animal evolved into an obligate parasitic acanthocephalan is something of a mystery. Acanthocephalans had only been described from fossils of their hooks found in fossilised crocodile faeces from the Cretaceous (around 70–80 million years old). Although tantalising, these hooks shed little light on how acanthocephalans evolved. This is the sort of question that only an exceptional fossil can address.
As someone with expertise in weird and wonderful worms, I am often contacted by colleagues who have
found something unexpected, which has led to me collaborating with scientists from all around the world on strange and unique fossils with a new story to tell. In late 2023, a PhD student, Cihang Luo, and his supervisor, Professor Bo Wang, from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology in China, reached out to me with a potentially groundbreaking fossil worm from the Middle Jurassic (around 165 million years ago) that they thought could be an acanthocephalan. As soon as I opened the first image, I knew that they were on to something. The body shape looked right, and the very front of the worm had the eponymous spines. What was unexpected, though, were rows of tiny teeth all inside the front of the animal, each with rows of small serrations. These teeth are something that no acanthocephalan alive today possesses, but are situated in a similar region of the body to the jaws of rotifers. This new fossil was a glimpse into what acanthocephalans looked like on their path to becoming parasites, still retaining the jaws that they shared with their closest living relatives and providing a clear piece of anatomical evidence for what had long been inferred from evidence from DNA.
We named our new fossil Juracanthocephalus daohugouensis after the site the fossil was found in – the Daohugou biota of China. This fossil deposit is well known for exquisitely preserved insects as well as dinosaurs, lizards, pterosaurs and early mammals. The presence of the hooks for latching onto a host in Juracanthocephalus suggested that it was most likely already a parasite, although it retained some features of its free-living ancestors, but we lacked direct evidence for what sort of animal it would have infected. All we have to go on is the size of Juracanthocephalus, which at over 2cm makes it far too large to have infected any of the insects it lived alongside as its definitive host. Although we can only speculate, this large size suggests that it most likely lived inside a vertebrate host and so this new species may have made its living latched onto the intestine of one of our own early relatives or, perhaps, even a dinosaur.
AULARIANS IN… POLICING
Two Aularians who have worked in the UK policing sector talk about their experiences in the field and offer advice for those wanting to take a similar career path.
Emma Barnett KPM (1990, Geography) is a retired Deputy Chief Constable (DCC) of Staffordshire Police. Following her time at the Hall, Emma joined the West Midlands Police as a graduate entrant in 1993, moving to Staffordshire Police in 2016 as Assistant Chief Constable before becoming DCC until 2023. Emma was recognised in the 2023 New Year Honours with a King’s Police Medal
Ihad no idea where my Geography degree would take me career-wise but my love of Juliet Bravo and The Bill enticed me to give policing a go. I joined as a graduate entrant (still quite rare in those days) in my home force of West Midlands Police. From walking through the doors of the training centre in December 1993, I never looked back, and can honestly say that despite some really challenging and sometimes dangerous moments, and difficult, stress-filled days, I never stopped loving my job. The real joy of policing is working as a part of a team, whatever the role or rank you hold, and I worked with many amazing and dedicated people over the years.
My passion was to help others and do the very best I could for the public whether as a uniformed constable pounding the streets of West Bromwich, or as a Chief Officer in Staffordshire. I joined policing just after the murder of Stephen Lawrence – the consequences and impact resonating throughout my whole service – and I retired as policing was still coming to terms with the loss of public confidence after the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer. Public scrutiny, accountability and commentary have never been greater but the notion of policing by consent remains true and policing is still, in my opinion, a fantastic career.
It is true that no two days are the same, and policing offers so much variety. I always thought I’d be a detective but in fact I much preferred local policing, making a difference to a community in a particular neighbourhood or area, which I guess was the geographer in me! I rose up through the ranks in local policing roles, including a very proud moment when I became Local Policing Commander for my “home” part of Birmingham.
In 2016 having passed the Strategic Command Course, I was promoted to Assistant Chief Constable and moved to Staffordshire Police. I had to get to know a new force and how it differed – policing the badger cull was never needed in central Birmingham – and understand the amplified pressures and challenges of leading an organisation, including budgets, politics and public confidence. I
also held a national role as policing’s Lead for Victims and Witnesses. This took me to London regularly (including No.10 Downing Street), as it involved working with other national agencies and government, representing policing’s interests at the highest level.
Being a constable is a privilege: not only do you have unique powers such as taking away someone’s liberty, but you are also the person turned to when others are in trouble or at their lowest point – something I always reinforced with new recruits. For me, some of my most memorable moments came from doing things I never imagined I would do – securing a murder conviction as the Senior Investigating Officer; authorising the deployment of armed officers; commanding the policing of football matches; giving evidence to public inquiries; as well as delivering a policing service through the unprecedented Covid times and becoming Chief Constable for six months.
I retired as Deputy Chief Constable at the end of 2023 after 30 years of service. I was hugely honoured to be recognised in the 2023 New Year Honours with a King’s Police Medal and my investiture at Windsor Castle in front of my family was a wonderful end to my career. I continue to support policing by working with the College of Policing, but I am also enjoying retirement and not being on call 24/7 anymore!
Right: Emma receiving her King’s Police Medal in 2023 at Windsor Castle
Caroline Tredwell (1997, Jurisprudence) is currently Head of Oversight Governance working at the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime. Caroline supports the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, in his role as Police & Crime Commissioner, and Kaya ComerSchwartz, Deputy Mayor for Policing & Crime, ensuring an efficient and effective police force for London
The first question I get asked is “so are you a police officer, then?” To which the answer is “no”. I often see people visibly relax at that point! I work where community, policing and politics intersect. My current role is as Head of Oversight Governance, helping to coordinate a range of activities that support and challenge the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to reform. Ultimately, the aim is to provide a better police service to Londoners. Nationally, policing is on a transformation and cultural reform journey, and there’s a lot to do. On a day-to-day basis this means things like running a board of independent specialist advisors to the Mayor – experts in areas such as antiracism, financial management and community activism; briefing the Mayor about what he should be pushing and promoting to the MPS Commissioner; bringing together policy experts and MPS officers to deep dive into issues such as London’s response to child criminal exploitation; or policing Notting Hill carnival, to identify what’s working and what’s not. It was at Oxford, studying Law, where I became interested in some of the underpinning principles that play out in any criminal justice job. What’s the purpose of imprisonment – rehabilitation or punishment? How do you balance protecting the public with an individual’s right to privacy when rolling out live facial recognition or in covert policing? If the mandate for British policing is consent – the Peelian principle of “the public are the police and the police are the public” – what happens when trust and confidence in police fall below 50%, as it has done recently in London? Is consent to police broken? How do you rebuild generational mistrust that’s understandably developed in black communities as a response to the handling of the Brixton riots or the investigation of Stephen Lawrence’s murder? I’ve worked alongside policing for twenty years and it’s a career that demands integrity, commitment and a dose of optimism. There are many routes in and through policing – from frontline public order to intelligence roles in counter terrorism, forensic science and change management. So to those who are considering a career in policing, these are a few things that
I’ve learned along the way:
• Dare to take an entry-level job. I started in an administration role in a local authority crime reduction team. I was taking minutes, collating information and dealing with public queries. But it granted me access to the rooms where people made decisions about policing in the capital – I got to see how senior people operated, what the barriers were, and in turn work out what I was interested in.
• Know what’s important to those you serve. Involve those most affected in policy development. That might be those in prison, victims of crime, or people living in a community disproportionally affected by violence. Go out regularly and speak to people. Amplify their voices and ground any oversight or service design in lived experience. What is developed is much more likely to solve the problem when informed by that insight.
• Be clear on your purpose. When you are working on responses to complex social justice issues it can be a hard slog, and progress is often not linear. Be clear what you are trying to shift, why, and monitor how you know you are going in the right direction. Celebrate the little wins.
• Respect the frontline. There has been a barrage of horrifying media in recent years relating to police officers – officers involved in kidnap, rape, sexual assault, racism, homophobia and corruption – and understandably this has had a serious impact on the public’s trust. It’s a sad reality that any job role that gives access to vulnerable people can attract the wrong people as well as the right ones, which is why the focus on standards, training, supervision and vetting must continue at pace. However, in my experience, the vast majority of officers work incredibly hard, doing difficult work every day. They run towards danger that you and I would run from; putting themselves on the line to protect the public. Their effort, expertise and experience must be respected in any ambition to reform; without this buy-in efforts will fail.
ALUMNI EVENTS
As ever, there’s been a busy schedule of Aularian events around the world this year – here are some pictures capturing a few of those reunions and College events.
13 September saw Aularians from the 1990–1993 matriculation years attend their Gaudy at one of the most popular alumni events in recent years. Pre-dinner drinks on the Front Quad were followed with a four-course meal in the Wolfson Hall, and the party went on until well after midnight!
On the gloriously sunny day of 18 September we welcomed back Aularians who came up in 1964 for their 60th Anniversary Lunch in the Old
On 28 November the Principal and Director of Development hosted drinks at the Fondation Universitaire in Brussels, Belgium, providing a wonderful opportunity for alumni living in the area to meet each other.
Dining Hall, preceded by drinks on the Front Quad.
In December, the Principal, accompanied by the Senior Tutor and colleagues from the Development and Alumni Relations Office, visited New York to connect with Aularians across North America. Thursday 12 December saw a drinks reception kindly hosted by Tai-Heng Cheng (1996, Jurisprudence) and featured a “fireside chat” with panellists Congressman Jim Himes (1988, MPhil Latin American Studies) and MacKenzie Sigalos (2010, MSc Education), an award-winning journalist. The following evening of 13 December saw the 39th Annual New York Dinner take place at the Links Club, with many thanks to Justus O’Brien (1979, PPE) for hosting the dinner as well as to Bob Gaffey (1975, Jurisprudence) for his efforts and support in coordinating and championing the HALLmarks campaign in North America.
On 2 April, Aularians from 1975 celebrated the 50th anniversary of them coming up to the Hall. Drinks were held on a beautifully sunny Front Quad, followed by lunch in the Old Dining Hall, with the Buttery Bar open and a tour of the Hall’s private spaces to close proceedings.
On 21 March, we were delighted to welcome back to the Hall members of the Floreat Aula Legacy Society for an enjoyable evening to thank them for making a provision to the Hall in their wills. A lecture from Professor Filippo de Vivo, Professor of Early Modern History and Tutorial Fellow in History, on “Power and information in the early modern city” kicked off proceedings, followed by a beautiful Evensong service in the Chapel, which was at capacity. The evening continued with drinks in the Senior Common Room where Professor Mark Williams, Garden Fellow and Tutor in English Language and Literature, spoke on the Hall’s gardens. A delicious four-course dinner in the Wolfson Hall followed, with the Bar open after dinner.
Find out more about the Floreat Aula Legacy Society and join here: seh.ox.ac.uk/alumni/supportthe-hall/leave-a-legacy
In April, the Principal, Director of Development and Finance Bursar visited Asia to connect with Aularians in Hong Kong and Singapore. In Hong Kong, a drinks reception took place at the China Club, kindly hosted by Aaron Yeo (1995, PPE), and in Singapore Mark Fisher (1992, Geography) kindly hosted alumni at the Singapore Cricket Club.
ALUMNI EVENTS
In June, whilst in Tokyo for business, the Principal met up with a number of SEH alumni over drinks to bring them up to date on current activities at the Hall.
On 5 June, Akaash Maharaj (1990, PPE) and John Milloy (1990, DPhil History) kindly hosted pop-up drinks for alumni in Toronto. So far Aularians have also helped coordinate Teddy Hall Pop-Up Drinks in Nashville, Boston, Sydney, New York and beyond. If you are interested in hosting drinks in your area, please get in touch: alumni@seh.ox.ac.uk
On Thursday 19 June, the Principal and Deputy Development Director, Tom Sprent, co-hosted an alumni drinks reception in Paris, with Aularian Andy Watson (1985, Modern Languages) who kindly arranged the venue of Quartier Jeunes, an historic setting immediately opposite the Louvre.
On 25 June, Bob Gaffey (1975, Jurisprudence) kindly hosted drinks in New York to coincide with a visit from Professor Leslie-Ann Goldberg, Senior Research Fellow and Professor of Computer Science.
On the balmy evening of 28 June, Aularians gathered for the annual HALLmarks Gala: Alumni Summer Reunion. A delicious dinner in the Wolfson Hall was preceded by drinks on the glowing Front Quad, with the Buttery Bar open well into the night later on.
See our media site for the full events photo gallery: media.seh.ox.ac.uk
SPIRIT OF THE HALL
The St Edmund Hall Association’s podcast, Spirit of the Hall, started its fifth season this year. It continues to feature engaging conversations with some of the Hall’s most fascinating alumni, Fellows, students and staff.
Hosted by Olly Belcher (1999, Geography), immediate past President of the St Edmund Hall Association for alumni, the podcast provides a chance for past and current members of the Hall to share how its unique spirit has shaped their insights and experiences in politics, academia, business, entertainment, technology and more. Join us as we lead the way and shine a light on some of those who make Teddy Hall what it is.
Listen and subscribe online: anchor.fm/spiritofthehall
EPISODE 1
MARCH 2025
Al Murray (1987, Modern History)
Al came up to the Hall in 1987 to read Modern History. Since then he has become known as the “Pub Landlord” as well as appearing on TV, recording podcasts, writing history books, playing the drums with Queen and dabbling in politics.
EPISODE 2 MAY 2025
Julia Simner (1990, French)
Professor Jools Simner came up to the Hall in 1990 to read Modern Languages. Jools is now a Professor of Neuropsychology at the University of Sussex, specialising in multisensory processes and what they mean for people.
EPISODE 3
JULY 2025
Mel Stride (1991, Philosophy, Politics and Economics)
Sir Mel Stride, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, came up to the Hall in 1981 to read Chemistry but quickly changed to PPE. During his time at Oxford he was President of the Union, and he has now been in politics for almost 20 years.
UPCOMING ALUMNI EVENTS
Please save the dates for the following events in the 2025–26 academic year. Bookings usually open around three months before the date of an event, and email invitations will be sent out when they do.
Gaudy for 2011-2013 matriculands
Friday 12 September
St Edmund Hall
St Edmund Hall Choir Concerts in France
Saturday 13 September
Église Notre-Dame de Noyers, l’Église, 9 Rue de l’Église, 89310 Noyers
Sunday 14 September
Pontigny Abbey, 5 Av. de l’Abbaye, 89230 Pontigny
Alumni Weekend Drinks Reception
Friday 19 September
St Edmund Hall
60th Anniversary Lunch for 1965 matriculands
Wednesday 24 September
St Edmund Hall
St Edmund Hall Association
London Lunch
Friday 14 November
Army and Navy Club, Pall Mall, St. James’s, SW1Y 5JN
New York Drinks Reception
Thursday 20 November
The Union Club, 101 E 69th St, NY 10021
New York Dinner
Friday 21 November
Links Club, 36 E 62nd St, NY 10065
Conversations in Environmental Sustainability: Beyond Greenwashing, Seminar 6
Friday 28 November
St Edmund Hall
Carols in the Quad
Friday 5 December
St Edmund Hall
St Edmund Hall Association AGM
Tuesday 27 January Online
St Edmund Hall Association
London Dinner
Tuesday 3 February
100 Wardour Street, Soho, W1F 0TL
A B Emden Lecture
Friday 13 February
St Edmund Hall
Joe Todd Engineering Dinner
Friday 27 February
St Edmund Hall
Philip Geddes Memorial Lecture
Friday 6 March
Examination Schools, 75–81 High St, Oxford, OX1 4BG
Gaudy for 2008–2010
Friday 20 March
St Edmund Hall
A Celebration of Teddy Hall Sport
Friday 27 March
St Edmund Hall
50th Anniversary Lunch for 1976 matriculands
Wednesday 1 April
St Edmund Hall
HALLmarks Gala Dinner: Alumni Summer Reunion
Saturday 27 June
St Edmund Hall
This list is not exhaustive; please visit www.seh.ox.ac.uk/events/alumni for an up-to-date list and booking links.
Development and Alumni Relations Office, St Edmund Hall, Queen’s Lane, Oxford, OX1 4AR E: alumni@seh.ox.ac.uk | T: +44 (0)1865 279087
