Stephenson College Year in Review 2023/2024

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Stephenson College Change Starts With Us

Principal’s Letter

I am delighted to welcome you to our Year in Review 2023/24. As I reflect on the last year, I feel very proud of what the College has achieved. Our students and staff have not only lived up to our values of curiosity, responsibility, inclusivity, courage, and kindness and demonstrated these in so many ways, but also supported each other as a community.

Living our values and developing a strong community has been at the heart of College life over the last year. For our students, being part of an inclusive community has helped build a sense of belonging and has enabled them to come together to support each other, themselves and their environment.

Our students have continued to show a strong sense of service, which was very much recognised at the Durham University Volunteer Awards when we were awarded Volunteering College of the Year. Awards were also given to our students for the Outstanding Newcomer, Best Environmental Effort and Best Cultural Effort, as well as Volunteer of the Year. Our students have also raised money throughout the year for local, national and international causes.

Being part of and contributing to the local community is also an important part of who we are, and we continued to support local organisations, not only through our volunteering work but arranging trips for our students through ‘Community Connections’ to local places of interest. We have also worked hard at encouraging students from the region to come to study at Durham, partnering with local schools and The Brilliant Club as well as welcoming the local community into College.

We have students from around the world at Stephenson and we make every effort to engage with the global community.

One of our goals is to help all our students become active global citizens and we have organised a range of international programmes and events in College. This year we were also delighted to host staff and students from Zaporizhzhia University, Ukraine and two groups of students from California State University –Los Angeles and Tamil Nadu in India.

Our community came together over the year to participate in and support our sports teams and we saw success winning the Men’s Football Final and the Rugby Plate. Our students also performed superbly at the College Festival of Sport and the annual Varsity.

You will see as you go through the Review the enormous range of activities and events our students engaged in and contribution they made to the College, University, local and global communities.

While the College is very much established in our home on Howlands Farm in Durham, we haven’t forgotten our roots in Stockton, and 2025 is the bicentenary of the Stockton to Darlington railway line and the world’s first passenger train designed and built by George Stephenson. We look forward to engaging with the programme of events planned to celebrate this important achievement.

Our priority for the coming year is to support our students to become active global citizens and develop a strong sense of service. We will continue to do this through our enrichment programme ‘Connections’, helping our students develop their graduate attributes and working closely with the JCR and MCR.

We will also have a proactive focus on our students’ health and well-being and provide them with the best support and tools they need to thrive at Durham and beyond.

Over the coming year we will also take forward our alumni engagement work as we look ahead to 2026 when the College celebrates its 25th Anniversary. We will be planning several events to mark this occasion and look forward to welcoming our alumni back to Durham.

I would like to thank the JCR, MCR, the College Advisory Board, and our College team for their wonderful work and support.

I hope you enjoy reading about the outstanding things our students have done over the last year and you get a sense of what a unique and special place Stephenson College is.

Professor Rob Lynes CMG Principal, Stephenson College

JCR President: Emily Longman

The JCR’s impact this year has been wide-reaching; as well as representing student voice, we have been able to provide wellrounded, engaging, and exciting activities and events within the College’s wider student experience programme. Despite the cost-of-living crisis still being an ever-present concern for both our students and the JCR, we have managed to keep the cost of participation low and have focused on creatively engaging our college community, ensuring everyone feels welcome in the JCR.

Greeting our new students back in September was definitely a great way to kick off the year. Working with College, our incredible Freshers’ Rep Team, our sports and societies presidents, and the wonderful JCR Exec Committee, to create a jam-packed induction week for our first years was a challenge and a joy. For the first time in Freshers’

Week history, we were able to offer two alternate events every evening, meaning there was a space for every student to socialise and have fun. From mocktail mixology classes to silent discos, and ghost walks to club nights, we really tried to make sure there was something for everyone.

This community-oriented approach is something that has kept its momentum throughout the year too. In line with our College strategy, we focused on creating a consistent calendar of events, so students could have a space to connect every week. Whilst keeping up with our well-established Sunday night quizzes and Thursday night dinners, this year the JCR introduced Friday Music Nights, an opportunity for all sorts of performances to take place every single week in Stephenson Central. Highlights this year have been our Charity Karaoke, Jazz Band Showcase and Acoustic Open Mic Nights.

Our sports clubs, societies, and committees are such a huge part of the JCR. We are particularly proud of each groups’ performance in their respective leagues this year, with some of our college teams even being picked to represent the University at national varsities! From Rocket Theatre to Grow

Soc, to the Feminist Society and our newly introduced Book Club, we are glad to encourage students to get involved in whatever capacity suits them. We have enjoyed providing facilities, funding, equipment, and opportunities to our student groups this year, and we loved celebrating their achievements at our Honours Formal in June.

This year’s Oktoberfest, Halloween Party, Christmas Party, Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Celebration, and St Paddy’s Day were great successes. In June, we also hosted a Pride Celebration, Charity Fashion Show, Stevo Day, and we saw the long-awaited return of Varsity against Josephine Butler. Our Winter and Summer Balls have also been major successes, receiving great feedback from attendees. Being able to attend affordable and engaging events is one of the biggest benefits of college life, and the JCR works hard every year to ensure we can provide this.

Middle Common Room

MCR

President: Adam Stone

As we come to the end of another remarkable year in our Middle Common Room (MCR), I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the incredible journey we’ve had together and celebrate our collective achievements.

Throughout the year, our MCR has been a vibrant hub of activity, hosting a diverse range of events designed to foster community, connection, and fun. From bowling nights to creative paint and sip evenings, from spirited bar crawls to sophisticated wine and cheese gatherings, our calendar has been packed with opportunities for members to come together, unwind, and enjoy each other’s company.

Our JCR Exec has worked incredibly hard with each of their teams this year. Our JCR Welfare team has consistently hosted craft events, advice sessions, and created great social content on issues like drugs and alcohol, housing, and sexual health. Our JCR Volunteering and Outreach team has also done an awesome job this year, logging over 1,500 hours of volunteering and making a really positive impact in the local community.

Although there is always more to be done, I am pleased to have been JCR President this year and I am proud of what has been achieved by the JCR Exec and wider team. Thank you to everyone who gives their time to the College community. I can’t wait to see what next year has in store for Stephenson!

One of the most gratifying aspects of this year has been the overwhelming participation and enthusiasm from our members. Whether it’s been joining in on events, volunteering to help organise them, or simply bringing their unique energy and spirit to our gatherings, each one of you has contributed to making our MCR a warm, inclusive, and welcoming community.

Our MCR’s success this year is indebted to our committed executive team. Under the leadership of Freya Alldred as Chair and Will Howling as VP, our initiatives have thrived. The seamless coordination of events owes much to the efforts of Lauren Mealing, Amy Fenwick, and Mathilde Arnaa, our Events Officers. Leo Thomson as Treasurer ensured our finances were optimally utilised and Devang Nadiyana, our International

Officer, fostered an environment of inclusivity and diversity, enriching the experiences of all students. Their collective dedication has transformed our MCR into a lively and inclusive community.

Looking onward, we are committed to building on the momentum garnered this year. Whether through fun events, impactful initiatives, or meaningful connections, we remain focused on ensuring that our MCR remains a place where every individual feels proud to be a part of.

I extend my gratitude to every member of our MCR for their involvement and engagement in the MCR and hope that next year will be as good as this one.

Volunteering and Community Outreach

It has been an exceptional year for volunteering and outreach within College. Students and staff have volunteered over 1,500 hours in the local community, which is a fantastic achievement! Student events and activities have raised thousands of pounds for charity, including our Pink Week and Charity Fashion Show raising over £2,500 for St Cuthbert’s Hospice.

But logged hours aren’t everything; the impact our volunteering has on our volunteers, partners and beneficiaries is what really matters. Our volunteers have made friendships across the county and we look forward to building on those next year.

Lunar New Year Schools Outreach Project

Between November 2023 and January 2024, Stephenson students volunteered in six County Durham schools to deliver a fun and exciting Lunar New Year activity programme to local classrooms! East Asian students shared their culture and traditions through art, food, music and dance. In partnership with Durham County Council, this outreach project culminated in a fantastic Lunar New Year Event in Durham Town Hall, where welcomed in the Year of the Rabbit alongside the local community. The school children loved the opportunity to learn and perform a wide range of songs and dances from our East Asian students, and our students enjoyed the experience of getting to know the local community and its people through the promotion of their culture.

“The children have absolutely loved working with you and were all quite sad when the project finished! I would like to say how impressed I have been with the amount of dedication and preparation you have put into this project; you are remarkable young people who have given our children a wonderful insight into another culture.” Jackie Lombard of Wingate Primary School

Environmental Outreach

Our volunteers have partnered with Riverscapes and Seascapes twice a month, clearing huge amounts of rubbish from the River Wear and the sea at Crimdon and Seaham. The Riverscapes team have been hugely appreciative of the time and commitment shown by the volunteers, and as a result the

Brilliant Club Scholars Programme

Through our partnership with The Brilliant Club, Stephenson students have welcomed local school pupils from Ribbon School, Tanfield Lea Primary School, Moorside Primary Academy and Alwoodley Primary School into College as part of the Brilliant Club Scholars Programme.

whole Stephenson volunteering team were invited to St. John’s College high table in May in recognition of their contribution. Marija Huljak, Residential Business Manager at St. John’s is part of the Riverscapes community and clears rubbish from the river on her paddle board. Volunteers and local members of the Riverscapes community rounded the year off with a fun paddleboarding session on the Wear!

Stephenson volunteers have established a new partnership with City of Durham Parish Council, planting trees as part of their Viaduct Gardening Project and supported St Cuthbert’s Hospice Xmas Tree Recycling Collection in January and February 2024, collecting trees from across the county.

In College, volunteers have collaborated with the Stephenson Grow Society to build a bug hotel offering much-needed wee hidey-holes for beneficial insectssuch as butterflies and bees - that help to pollinate flowers and create comfy nooks for bugs that control unwanted garden pests.

Students have also run some fantastic weekend activities for local Beaver and Cubs groups from Belmont over the last year. The children worked towards achieving a very special Stephenson College environment badge by planting their own seeds, completing a science trail in the Botanic Gardens and creating some wonderful art with leaves and twigs!

The Scholars Programme helps less advantaged pupils develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to progress to the most competitive universities. Through graduation events held in College, Stephenson students have shared their subject knowledge and passion for learning with small groups of pupils aged 8-18.

We look forward to meeting more Brilliant Club Scholars next year!

Sherburn House Intergenerational Project

To mark our joint twentieth anniversary, Stephenson and John Snow Colleges established Sherburn College Intergenerational Project in 2021. This has been a wonderful befriending project where students and elderly residents from a lovely, scenic, retirement community on the edge of Durham come together and enjoy each other’s company on a Wednesday afternoon. Our friends from Sherburn House visited College in October 2023 and volunteers visited them at home throughout the year. To celebrate the end of each term, there was a Christmas concert complete with choir and jazz band in December 2023 and in June 2024 students and residents enjoyed an afternoon tea party with gentle game of boules on the large lawn and also some soft drinks and fizz! The residents at Sherburn House really enjoy spending time chatting with students and this project gives us a real chance to make a positive impact in the lives of local people.

Durham University Volunteer Awards 2024

Stephenson College had an incredible evening at the annual DU Volunteer Awards, held at Trevelyan College on 6 June 2024.

First year student Sakura Doody won the Outstanding Newcomer Award for her dedication to volunteering this year,

Merryoaks Community Hall

Stephenson College volunteers had great fun supporting Merryoaks Community Hall this academic year. Merryoaks Community Hall is the new venue for all community events for the residents of Neville’s Cross and surrounding area.

Volunteers have delivered craft sessions, cress planting and pebble painting workshops for local children during school half term holidays as well as a fantastic Murder Mystery Burns Night for the local community in January 2024! Our volunteers helped prepare dinner in the kitchen and were the actors on the evening – dodgy Scottish accents may have been featured! The event raised £944 for the Hall.

“People commented on how friendly everybody was (getting on well with the oldies) and how the actors really got into the spirit of it. Those serving really helped me in the kitchen too, I just could not have done it on my own.” Susan, Merryoaks Community Hall Coordinator

the second year a Stephenson student has won this award!

Myles Foy won the Volunteer of the Year Award for his volunteering with Code Club.

Flynn Edwards was shortlisted for an amazing three awards, including Volunteer of the Year, Volunteer Leader of the Year and Longstanding Volunteer

Stephenson College was awarded the Best Cultural Effort Award for our Lunar New Year Schools Outreach Project and

The following students were also awarded Student Volunteering Certificates for their commitment to volunteering throughout their degree:

Award

volunteering hours)

• Victoria Woodhouse

Award (90 – 119 volunteering hours)

• Yee Lam Hester Poon

Award (60-89 volunteering hours)

• Clara Lam

• Sakura Doody

• Sarah Bithell

• Dora Yong-En Leong

• Siobhan Osman

Christmas volunteer cheer at DASH

On 13 December 2023, the Stephenson staff team volunteered at DASHDurham Action for Social Housing, an independent charity that provides accommodation with support to people who are homeless or are about to become homeless.

DASH has been making a positive intervention on single homelessness since 1972 through:

• the provision of Supported Housing

• a project specifically for vulnerable women facing multiple complex needs

• enhanced housing management services

• and the provision of affordable shared housing for homeless people and people in housing need.

Staff spent the morning wrapping Christmas hampers and presents for DASH residents as well as getting to know the staff and hear about the work of this wonderful local organisation.

Best Environmental Effort Award for our environmental outreach. We were also thrilled to receive the College of the Year Award 2024! Huge congratulations to all of our amazing volunteers!

Award (30-59 volunteering hours)

• Ella Wolstencroft

• Grace Dobbie

• Ho Chi Denise Yip

• Lois Sourbutts

• Maxime Holtrup

• Myles Foy

• Phoebe Case

• Shannon Riley

• Tegan Hunter

• Yilin Dai

• Alice Theakston

Arts and Culture

The Flaming Steamos

President: Harsh Mehta

It has been another fantastic year for The Flaming Steamos! The jazz band has grown this year, comprised of musicians from varying degrees of musical background who want to bring music to the forefront of our College’s reputation. Whilst primarily a jazz band, they incorporate a wide range of

different music into their ever-expanding repertoire and welcome all to the jazz family! Whilst this is only their second year as a band, they have worked extremely hard to make a name for themselves and enjoy a fantastic working relationship with a number of other jazz groups across the University. This year the band has ran charity events as well as performing at large scale events such as the DU Global Awards and Stevo Day. Well done to everyone!

Rocket Theatre Company

President: Emily Browning

Throughout 2023/2024, Rocket Theatre Company retained its status as the centre of student drama in Stephenson College and strengthened its reputation for innovative programming and artistic excellence.

Rocket Theatre Company produced two fantastic shows this year. The first was Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, performed at City Theatre from 11 – 12 November 2023 and the second was Milk Teeth by current second year undergraduate Maariya Khalid. The latter was performed at the Assembly Rooms Theatre as part of the AR student-written double bill in collaboration with First Theatre Company from 29 – 30 April 2024.

Both shows had fantastic reviews, a testament to the hard work and talent of the cast and crews!

“Not enough praise can go the entire creative and production team for constructing such an elaborate set, which felt entirely intentional, and aided key moments of the plot. The set and costume designer (Abdullah Lutfi) deserves the greatest recognition for pulling off such a tricky job; so many diverse props were used in each scene, and the set as a whole felt incredibly polished for a student production.”

Niamh Williams, DST Reviews

“Maariya Khalid’s ‘milk teeth’ is a play that captivates and haunts. The portrait of a young woman slowly losing her grip on reality is brilliantly realised through outstanding writing, perfectly pitched cast performances, and clever directorial choices. It is a play I cannot stop thinking about.”

Jude Battersby, The Bubble

Congratulations to first year undergraduate George Davies for being awarded the Art Third Place Prize and £250 in the University’s Student Art Prize competition!

Durham University’s annual Student Art Prize was launched in October 2019 to expand opportunities around the visual arts within the University and to develop a new permanent student art collection. This year’s theme was Paradise.

We were proud to see Stephenson students in both cast and creative roles in both productions, and people worked in their first directing/ tech roles, which the Rocket exec committee provided support and training for.

Both shows were incredibly important to RTC members since the texts and creative visions championed diverse theatre. The casting process for both shows reflected RTC’s belief that theatre should reflect our contemporary world, and thus our casts were made up of actors from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Rocket intends to continue such practice in the coming academic year.

Through the above, we were proud to generate such a high volume of involvement in theatre from such a diverse range of people. It continues to be of utmost importance to RTC to facilitate high quality theatre, whilst also allowing creative opportunities for those who have been previously uninvolved with Durham Student Theatre.

In addition to RTC’s success this academic year, congratulations are also in order for RTC’s President Emily Browning, who was awarded a Full Palatinate for her Outstanding Contribution to Theatre and Matilda Prescott-Jones who was awarded a Half Palatinate for Best Individual Offstage in Music at this year’s DU Performing Arts Awards. Well done, Emily and Matilda!

“I always loved drawing and painting when I was younger, like lots of kids, but just never wanted to stop as I got older. I’ve used most painting mediums but finally settled on oils, and my favourite subjects to paint are wildlife and landscapes. I’ve always tried to paint in both a traditional and realistic way, but I try to use compositions and colour to make my paintings still feel contemporary. This was especially true for the art prize as I felt the theme ‘Paradise’ perfectly suited me and I already had lots of ideas for what to paint. I decided on a scene from a local nature reserve at dawn to create a peaceful, warm feeling that reflects paradise. I also included birds including Canada geese flying past, as this reserve is a small patch of paradise for the birds there, despite its proximity to urban areas and a paper mill.”

Spotlight on Societies

Grow Society

President: Theo Harper

Grow Soc are a group of amateur gardeners who grow and maintain a variety of fruits and vegetables around College. We regularly do a bit of weeding and watering on Wednesday afternoons as well as hosting a range of friendly socials such as plant pot painting, picnics and walks around our local environment.

Quiz Society

Presidents: Adam Wells, Charlie Downing and Elliot Derbyshire

The Stephenson Quiz Society has gone from strength to strength over the last twelve months, with the three coPresidents writing original, engaging, and interesting quizzes each Sunday in Central - we believe (and hope) that we haven’t done too bad of a job, and the success of the Stephenson Pub Quiz has continued!

Across the year, we’ve had over 100 regular members at each quiz with 35 unique teams! Most recently, an impressive and dedicated group of Freshers in ‘Pilfered Coasters’ came out on top of the Epiphany term leaderboard - we’re really happy for them and grateful to anyone and everyone that ever came to our quizzes! It’s been

LGBTQ+ Society

President: Libby Smout

The LGBTQ+ Society has run many great events this year, including successful karaoke nights, a movie night, themed bar crawls and many intercollegiate events, including the first ever Intercollegiate Queer Prom in June 2024. The society is proud of its work with other colleges and creating a positive atmosphere for students across the university, as celebrated at the end of year Pride event.

Grow Soc’s plant sale was popular amongst students living in College once again. The sale is a culmination of all the work to plant, maintain and harvesting our produce and raises funds which go straight back into buying seeds and equipment for next year.

Grow Soc has also enjoyed the introduction of a new greenhouse this year as well as building their own bug hotel to support biodiversity around College!

amazing seeing Central so busy and get busier by the week. The year culminated in a successful Varsity quiz – it looks like those Sunday nights paid off as we beat Butler’s team!

One of our greatest achievements this year has been in providing a platform for charity to help local and global causes. The society has ran two charity bingo nights, each raising around £100 for Solidaritee Durham and Marie Curie.

We have all had a fantastic time running the quiz this year!

Debating Society

President: Emily Scott

Feminist Society

President: Anna Ao

It has been another busy year for FemSoc! The society aims to promote gender equality, diversity and inclusion within the College. This year we hosted regular events and discussion groups that aim to raise awareness on feminist issues, including a talk focusing on FGM as part of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence campaign.

Most importantly, we have continued to build a strong and supportive community for femme people and likeminded feminists. We have thoroughly enjoyed hosting our ever popular “Paint n Sip” events as well as a joint-college bar crawl with other FemSocs!

In my first term at Durham University, I joined the Stephenson College Debating Society. The university-level equivalent had a controversial reputation and was financially inaccessible to me, a reason why the then-President Frazier Clements advocated for Collegelevel debating. College-level sport prioritises accessibility, affordability, and community – so why was there no debating equivalent?

At the end of my first year, I was elected as Debating Society President. I realised that out of 17 Durham colleges, Stephenson was the only one with a College-level debating society. Why was it fair that Stephenson students were the only Durham students with access to debating outside the University society monopoly? And so, the idea for Durham University’s Inter-Collegiate Debating Tournament was born. A tournament which is open to all Colleges and all students, irrespective of background and course.

We are so fortunate to have had 70+ participants this inaugural year. We were also lucky enough to have the wonderful insight of our guest judges, Maria Dimova-Cookson and Grace Carter– who I cannot thank enough for their value in the day, their knowledge, and their help in running everything smoothly.

Whilst the day was a success, with three rounds of debates and one grand winner, it is not to say that there weren’t hiccups. Our charity partnership couldn’t make it on the day, we couldn’t find a camera for

Christian Union

President: Anna Thomas

Stephenson-Butler Christian Union is a welcoming group and space for anybody who is Christian, interested in Christianity or wants to find out more about faith.

The group have been as active as ever over the past year, meeting every Friday at 6:15pm to chat, play games and study the Bible in Saltwell.

the first hour and 3 teams not turning up meant the need for a reshuffle of people and questions. But I learnt so much about thinking on my feet, how to run an event, and how to talk to people – and importantly, I learnt how to improve for the future.

Reflecting on the day, I am proud of what was achieved but I acknowledge the help I had along the way. I’m so grateful for co-organiser Caroline Miholich, always cool in a crisis and this event could never have run so smoothly without her. I want to thank Stephenson College JCR and Emily Longman for their help in organising the day; Matthew Evans-Jenner, Aidan Woodley, and Millie Frosdick for their help in running things; and Harsh & the Flaming Steamos for their wonderful lunchtime jazz performance.

I particularly want to thank every single debater who attended the event, you were all incredible. Every single round was a close call, and every argument was well articulated and thought out. I would like to give a particular mention to the debaters from St John’s & Josephine Butler. Whilst they were not in our final three teams, their attitude towards the event was amazing and they truly put 110% into everything.

On that note – congratulations to our final college teams, Castle (with a Hild Bede volunteer!), St Aidan’s & St Mary’s. Well done to our winners: University College!

A really important lesson I learned from this year is if you want to make something happen, then do it. I hope this leads to an increase in accessible debating in Durham and we can’t wait for next year!

During Easter Term 2023, the CU held a sports day with the other Hill college CU groups where they competed against each other on the racecourse! This academic year, the group has run a delicious waffle hour where they gave out free waffles to people in college when they sent in a question about Christianity! Members would answer any questions when delivering the waffle; members have really enjoyed this as a group due to the great conversations they’ve had with students in both Colleges.

Stephenson-Butler CU’s other main event has been movie night where they watched The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and had a really good talk towards the end on the gospel. Everyone enjoyed the movie and learned something from the discussion!

The group has also enjoyed socials throughout the year such as pizza nights and going to Spoons, which is always great fun!

Book Club

This year we created a new Book Club, meeting monthly to provides a fantastic opportunity to focus on reading for pleasure and embedding a habit of reading that brings a wide range of benefits. We look forward to seeing the group grow over the coming academic year.

Spotlight on Sport

Participation in College sport has gone from strength to strength this academic year with 37 JCR sports teams on offer, including a running club, boat club, rounders and tennis. Team Stephenson placed 5th overall in the College sport league, a fantastic achievement! Students have access to Howlands Gym and the newly opened Walker gym on-site for personal use to support their wellbeing.

Annual Varsity vs Josephine Butler College

On 11 June 2024, Team Stephenson faced Josephine Butler College in the longawaited return of our Varsity match. It was a great day of sport on a sunny Tuesday with some great results for both teams. Wining 9-5 overall, Stephenson brought home the silverware! Well done to all teams and players involved.

Men’s Rugby

Presidents: Sam Howie and Mac Ryder

Captain: Keelan Sloan

After being denied promotion after last year’s undefeated season due to a league restructure, the Mound Rugby men were keen to make their mark. This year, we placed a massive focus on a strong Floodlit Cup run.

Mixed Lacrosse

President: Patrick Miles

It has been another great year for Stephenson College Mixed Lacrosse. Achieving promotion last year meant they started their first-ever Premiership league campaign. The team was chosen as the second team to represent Durham’s Colleges at our first College Varsity event against York.

For the first time in club history, Stephenson Lacrosse reached the finals of the newly branded Mixed Lacrosse Trophy Cup (replacing the Floodlit Cup). Unfortunately, they fell short of winning their first chance at silverware, but these are two historic achievements for the club, and we are so proud of all our players who have stepped up to represent the best of Stephenson Lacrosse.

One highlight is their significant goal tally, scoring over 100 goals in all competitions! As always, it’s so great to see new and experienced players getting stuck into the sport and representing Stephenson College. The team is always looking for new recruits and looks forward to its prosperous future.

Badminton

President: Emily Aldridge

Captains: Ben Peacock and Chloe Almond

It has been another great year for Stephenson Badminton! All four of our teams have been competing in the top league and have experienced wins throughout the season. A highlight this year has been our joint socials with other college badminton teams.

The first round of the Cup was against Collingwood A. After an incredibly tight and physical battle, the team unfortunately came off second best. However, the dream of silverware was not over. All eyes were now on the Floodlit Plate.

The first round saw us get our revenge on Collingwood by cruising past their Bs. The next round was our biggest challenge to date, Hild Bede, a very strong and physical team. After a hard fought and entertaining battle, the Mound came out on top!

Now, all that stood between the mighty Mound and silverware was Hatfield B. After their As were beat the night before in the Cup final, we knew Hatfield B wouldn’t leave anything out on the pitch. Unfortunately for them, the physicality, flair and depth of the Mound was far too strong! As the final whistle blew, the score stood at 64-10. The Floodlit Plate came home to the Mound!

Flying high from their Plate win, the team then went on to become the College Festival of Sport Rugby 7s champions. Congratulations to the team on all of their success!

Men’s Basketball

Captain: Finley TaylorRichardson

The Stephenson Men’s Basketball team was established in the 2021/2022 season and placed in the bottom league. The team has been promoted nearly every term since and are recognised as one of the top competitor teams in the university. The team finished the 2022/2023 season in second place in League I and this year secured their sport in the highest college league! They also reached the quarter finals of the play-offs, sadly losing in a very close game. The team finished the season midtable – well done to all players.

Women’s Hockey

President: Eleanor Roberts

Captain: Elsa Scott

In blink of an eye, the 2023/24 season has come to an end! Stephenson Women’s Hockey Club finished 4th in Division I with 8 games; a respectable 3 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses. It’s easy to say we’ve never had a season like this.

Despite the table standings, Stephenson was probably the second-best team in this league after the unbeaten Cuths, scoring a total of 23 goals and conceding only 6. Bearing in mind the last three seasons have not seen a win for the team

and an average of two goals per season, it is safe to say the skills of our freshers alongside the dedication of returning veterans has given this team the passion and ability it’s been needing!

The Floodlit Cup campaign was phenomenal, with the team advancing through the first two rounds to reach the quarter finals for the first time ever.

A highlight was beating Van Mildert (the top team in the Premiership in an intense penalty shootout 3-0 after a 1-1 draw. In summary, everyone loves an underdog and expectations have been far exceeded; the future looks bright for Stephenson WHC.

Volleyball

President: Toby Ashurst

Captain: Armaan Sekhon

The Stephenson Volleyball A Team went undefeated in the Premiership this season, enjoying a fantastic evening at the College Sport Dinner of Champions in June where they were presented with their trophy.

New players such as Alan Mendy and Julia Davies were chosen to be a part of the DU Volleyball Development Squad, joining Armaan Sekhon, Olivia Harrison, Weber Chen, Theo Stewart, Diptanshu Beura, Degwel Hunting-Morris, Toby Ashurst, Marcel Latwinski and Beth Hoskins on the squad representing Durham University at BUCS level.

Stephenson Volleyball Bs and Cs also had a great year, with the B team finishing 3rd in Division 1 and the C team finishing 4th in Division 2.

Futsal

Captain: Jack Moyse

Stephenson Futsal was founded last year where they competed in Division 2. Now competing in the Premiership, they have had a memorable season with great success and sportsmanship. With highs and lows, from a heroic 4-3 comeback victory against Trevelyan after being 3-0 down at half time, to suffering a heartbreaking one goal defeat against champions Van Mildert, the team finished a respectable 4th place in the Premiership. A shoutout must go to their top scorer for the season Riley Brooke, who found the back of the net 25 times! Since they were top of the league after Michaelmas term, the team was selected to represent Durham in the varsity against Loughborough University. It was not to be on the day, however, and they were defeated by a strong Loughborough team. Nevertheless, it was a great day and a privilege to represent Stephenson at University level!

Women’s Football

Captain: Kathryn McCafferty

This year started with six weeks of Saturday morning training before our league games began. Snow, rain and low numbers meant our only pre-Christmas match was our Floodlit Cup game against John Snow, where many of our players made their debut footballing performances. Despite some brilliant support, including from our fabulous Phoenix Cheer, and some super play all round, we did not make it to the second round – but we are hopeful for next year. Post Christmas we played our eight league games, including two weekends of double matches, and really came together as a team.

Team socials have included the Team Stephenson bar crawl and quiz night (fruit themed!), a bake-off competition (an excuse to eat a lot of cake), a movie night (an excuse to eat a lot of popcorn), watching some of the DU Women’s football games at Maiden Castle and chill nights in Stephenson Central.

Our greatest achievement this year was our final weekend of games where we beat both John Snow and Hatfield/ St. Aidan’s - the two teams who finished the season at the top of our league! There is nothing else that could so clearly show the progress we’ve made as a team and the incredible improvements made by so many of our players. The dedication and energy everyone has brought has been amazing.

Ultimate Frisbee

Captain: Isaac Bates

Michaelmas Term was mostly comprised of league games and despite all the delays from the weather, the Ultimate Frisbee team were able to complete all their matches and scraped a place into the playoffs by point difference.

In Epiphany Term, the team played a few knockout games. They won the first one but unfortunately came up against a very strong team in the second round so were knocked out earlier than they would have hoped. The team finished a respectable 6th in the league – well done to all players!

Men’s Football

Captains: Zak Iqbal (A) Kavin

Muhunthan and Joe Siddle (B), Sam Harrison (C), Louis Hammond (D), Olly Wood (E)

It has been a successful year for all five men’s football teams this year, with great sportsmanship shown throughout!

The men’s A team had a fantastic year, being crowned Men’s Football Champions beating Collingwood in the finals!

The men’s D team have also had another fantastic year. Following on from last year’s Best Sports Team Award at the College Honours Formal and going undefeated to win our Division, this year’s squad had a lot to live up to. However, they can proudly say that they have outshone previous seasons by not only winning their league but winning the league with a perfect record! Winning 10 out of 10 matches, the team scored 52 goals and conceded just 11. As a result, the team has been promoted to the Third Division.

The men’s E team have held weekly training on the MUGA, playing games on alternate weeks. The team has seen a great increase in team size and attendance!

Phoenix Cheer

President: Emma Whitehouse

Captain: Rhianna Ayson

Phoenix Cheer have had another exceptionally busy and successful year!

The club is currently the biggest it has ever been within its seven-year history. This year we currently have five different teams, four which competed and one that performed at various events.

We started the year off with a bang, raising £226 in Michaelmas Term for Breast Cancer Now and Movember. In Epiphany Term, we raised over £100 for the charity Halo at our annual Charity Showcase.

Socials have included a team meal, the famous (or infamous) ‘egg night’ and a Mario Kart social to maintain tradition.

Squash

President: Charlie Boyle

Captains: Jamie Smallbone, Adam Stone and Freya Hunter

Last year saw the promotion of the men’s A team to the Premiership where they performed to a high standard and have subsequently confirmed their spot in the Premiership for the next season. Following the resounding growth of the society, a men’s B team was introduced this year, who did brilliantly in Division 1. The club now also has a full women’s team which has gone from strength to strength.

The club now has around twenty members who are committed to showing up to training sessions and attending regular socials.

The club has continued to hold all current titles at Durham Inter-Colligate Cheer Competition, as well as gain some new trophies!

• 1st Place All Girl Full Routine (3rd year in a row!)

• 1st Place All Girl Stunt Group (3rd year in a row!)

• 1st Place Pom Routine (highest mark of the day!)

• 4th Place Co-Ed Stunt Group

We have also been proud to perform at various Floodlit Cup games, including John Snow vs Stephenson, as well as Stevo Day and Stephenson Charity Fashion Show in June.

Another amazing year, we can’t wait to see what 2024/2025 has in store!

Netball

President: Ellie Shepherd

It’s been a great year for Stephenson Netball, which has expanded to include two women’s teams and one mixed team for the first time!

The A team finished 7th in the Premiership and the B team placed 8th and the mixed team finished joint 3rd in their respective leagues.

The team have held a number of charity events throughout the year, including a charity netball match against Mound Rugby which raised £285 for Movember.

Student spotlight Ben Alderson, DU Waterpolo

Living at home during my first year at Durham University has come with a few challenges, such as the daily commutes and meeting new people. However, everyone at the university has been extremely welcoming, especially the staff all around campus.

Playing Water Polo for Durham University Men’s 1s allowed me to meet lots of new undergraduate and postgraduate students from a range of different backgrounds, showing how welcoming and diverse the university is. The highlight of my year for Durham would have to be winning the BUCS Championship Finals whilst winning Man of the Match.

Outside of Durham, this year I competed in two international competitions (in Czechia and Bosnia) and one international training camp (in Spain) for Great Britain. Gaining this international experience and singing the national anthem was definitely a highlight of my international career so far! I am a local student, so I also play for Sedgefield Water Polo Club, where this year we won the league undefeated and gained promotion to Division 2 for the first time in our history!

Overall, this year has been one of the best years I’ve had for sport as I’ve not only been able to improve and play international Water Polo, but I have been able to meet new people who I’m glad to call my friends.

Connections Grants

Stephenson College provides Connections Grants of up to £250 to enable students to undertake aspirational activities that further their personal development beyond the requirements of their degree. Students can apply as individuals or as a group. This year, we have awarded 36 grants to undergraduate and postgraduate students to pursue a range of development activities, including:

• A study tour to the European Parliament in Brussels

• Participation in the BUCS 8 Ball Pool Tournament

• DU Rifle Club trip to Bisley Training Camp

• Performing at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2024

• Participation in BUCS Swimming Championships 2024

Alex Booth – Learning Arabic in Jordan

With the help of the Stephenson Connections Grant, I travelled to Jordan to study Arabic for a month in August 2023.

Having already lived in Amman for the first four months of my year abroad, I was more prepared than most wideeyed tourists stepping off the plane into the 40-degree heat which welcomed us to Queen Alia International Airport. However, I wouldn’t have likened myself to a local either.

I had class every day of the working week, which is Sunday to Thursday in the Arab world - the weekend being Friday (the Islamic holy day) and Saturday. With my lovely teachers, Dima and Hadeel, I covered a variety of reading, speaking, listening and grammar covering topics like Arab women in sport and Jordanian history, as well as lighter topics like what I do in my free time and my favourite films.

I visited the Amman International Film Festival and saw a screening of a British/ Palestinian film called A Gaza Weekend directed by Basil Khalil. It was a satirical comedy about a new pandemic taking over Israel, with the only safe place from the virus being Gaza and the West Bank.

My time in Jordan really challenged my view of the world and certain global issues. This film in particular, in a very comical and accessible way, showed me the importance of being a critical thinker and learning to form my own opinions of issues such as historic conflict and religious discrimination. I am grateful for any experience to engage in meaningful discussion about challenging topics and always eager to hear different opinions and learn more. Living in Jordan means experiences like this are not hard to find.

According to the US Foreign Learning Institute it takes 2,200 hours to be competent in Arabic, whilst languages such as Spanish take just 480 hours. During my stay in Jordan there is no doubt my language skills improved and the hours I put it got me closer to that magic number of 2,200. But it was my confidence in using the language which improved the most.

In my opinion, confidence is half the battle for language learners. Communication and cultural exchange don’t require fluency in a language, you just need to be confident enough to have a go.

With each conversation my language skills got better, but also the act of meeting new people and learning about

Chloe Almond – BUCS Canoe Polo Player

Having spent the week intensively training, we were feeling suitably prepared to travel down to Nottingham!

We began day one of the British Universities and Colleges Sport tournament with a 06.00 start, 07.30 captains’ briefing followed by an 08.00 game. We warmed up well with a 5-0 win against Exeter. We defended well, had a strong overload and found the necessary gaps to ping in 5 clean shots.

Our next game was against Bath. They had a far stronger defence that our jostlers struggled to break, but we found a gap about 5 minutes into the first half. We had a similarly unbreakable defence and managed to hold off Bath.

These two wins lead to us winning our group and took us to our final match of the day against Bristol. We were strong in the knowledge that this was a knockout so had to be patient and not let the pressure get to us. We came in strong with two early goals, an underpressure Bristol managed to equalise, spurring us on for a final goal so to keep a comfortable lead and then pass the round comfortably. A strong end to day one with no losses and a respectable goal difference, knowing we were getting BUCS points as we were in the top 8.

us conceding an early goal, but we came back fighting leaving the goal line 1-1 at half time. Unfortunately, we conceded 3 goals in the second half but had plenty of good play to be proud of. Some notable binning and solid defending to be proud of, as we lost one player to an unfortunate carding decision. Loughborough chased well and withheld their reputation.

Our next game was Manchester. Both teams failed to score in the 16 minutes of play due to some excellent defending and keeping. This led to a golden goal, with a second following soon after!

The 5th/6th playoff was against Liverpool. We came in all guns blazing with goals on our first two attacks. We kept calm and played the safe game, unfortunately conceding a goal. Giving it everything we ended on 2-1. A very pleasing game to end the weekend!

I am incredibly proud of the team and of my personal level of training this year.

their culture and everyday lives, gave me a new perspective and awareness of the world and put me on the path to becoming a better global citizen.

My favourite word in Modern Standard Arabic meaning crisis. Interestingly, the same word in Jordanian dialect (or Jordanian ammiya) means traffic. It is obvious why and a smart and amusing use of borrowing from MSA.

In summary, my August in Jordan was unforgettable. While the growth in my language skills is undeniable, the confidence, critical thinking skills and resilience I gained are priceless as I move forward to finish my degree and start to contribute to global society as a graduate.

Being in a country not as a tourist but instead integrating into everyday life shows a completely different side of the place and I am very grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to build on my understanding of Jordanian culture. More importantly I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the Connections Grant. While the grant didn’t cover my whole trip, it pushed me to go in the first place and gave me more freedom to be able to explore Amman and Jordanian culture in general.

The next day was a 05.30 wake up as the men’s team had a 07.30 match followed by another 08.00 for us against Loughborough. The game started with

I now play for the Tees Tigers, a local team who play in the division above the Durham University team. My Connections Grant funded kit purchases this year and the additional warmth of the cag has certainly helped with turning up with a smile and willingness to take the time to work with the team! I have plenty of summer tournaments to look forward to as well as Yorkshire local league and BUCS next year. I started playing canoe polo about 18 months ago and I am very proud to have been chosen to captain the team so early on. Thank you to Stephenson College for supporting me!

Dom

Winter Mountain Leader Training

During February 2024, I attended a Winter Mountain Leader Training (WMT) course in Ballachulish, Scotland. The Connections Grant from College helped cover the cost of travelling to heart of the Scottish Highlands to attend this course. This course is designed to teach the candidate the relevant knowledge and skills to lead a group in Scottish winter conditions. The course was six days long based out of the Joint Service Mountain Training Centre. The Winter Mountain Leader scheme is one of Mountain Training’s qualifications which allows its holders to lead groups in the great outdoors. Its schemes span from Lowland Leaders who can lead groups out on the moors to Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor which allows you to lead groups on winter climbs and instruct mountain leader courses.

Having completed my Summer Mountain Leader Award in April 2022, the next step in my progression was to move into the winter environment and push myself out of my comfort zone.

This course was an amazing opportunity to develop my skills in the winter environment. Whether it be walking in crampons, assessing avalanche risk or my leadership skills this course offered the opportunity to work on these. With instructors that lead their field, or so they liked to tell us, and the amazing equipment and facilities provided by the Joint Service Mountain Training Centre I was able to push myself out of my comfort zone and learn new skills.

Hodkinson –

Freya Alldred –Seaweed Identification and Collection Course

The Seaweed Identification & Collection course delivered at the Plymouth Marine Station was an excellent and engaging course for an introduction into phycology (the study of algae). Over four days several lectures, fieldtrips and lab sessions were delivered to introduce various aspects of taxonomy and identification of a variety of species. This expanded my knowledge of the brown species Laminariales and Himantothallus grandifolius as well as introducing me to the Rhodophyta (Red) & Chlorophyta (Green) orders.

The fieldtrips to various beaches were brilliant. It was interesting seeing the different assemblages across the intertidal zone and see the diverse range

Ellie Fisher –Coding Course

With my Connections Grant, I completed the CS50P Introduction to Programming with Python online course and received certification.

There are a range of amazing courses online to supplement your degree or expand your knowledge on an area of personal interest. I chose this coding course to solidify the coding skills I use frequently in my Physics degree as well as to add value to my CV as I apply for internships.

I really enjoyed the course and found it very valuable in the computing project I completed during Michaelmas Term. I felt much more confident in my coding skills

and found the course to be engaging and beneficial in many other areas aside from my academic work, such as my time-management and self-motivation skills. These were vital to completing the course and I developed both through taking the online course.

I also referenced the course in several internship applications and interviews I completed throughout the term. I’m thrilled to have been accepted into a summer analyst job in 2024 and believe the skills I demonstrated having done the course were a key contributor to my success.

Overall, I’m so grateful to have been given the opportunity through the Connections Grant to complete my online course and think online courses are a great tool for students to use!

of species. Tinside was a particularly good site for Laminariales many were growing in ~30 cm water depth at low tide. The instructors showed the varying structures between L. hyperborea and L. digitata such as the more rigid stipe and lack of epiphytes on L. hyperborea. The field trips were also a good opportunity to identify invasive species such as

work and keen to learn about my own. In August 2023, I analysed the carbon and nitrogen isotopic values for a specimen at the Natural History Museum she had collected. It was brilliant to show her the data for this specimen during this course. Juliet Brodie explained the genomics work for the South Georgia Himantothallus specimens indicate they

Christine Maggs gave a very interesting talk on seaweed life history, this was particularly useful to my understanding of the triggers for blade growth.

Undaria pinnatifida – this was abundant at Tinside and commonly confused with Saccharina latissima (Sugar Kelp). I hope to sample Sugar Kelp in Svalbard and the course taught me how to identify this species more easily in the field. I was surprised how many invasive species were collected throughout the week –many of the texts provided on the course now include information on invasive species.

Christine Maggs gave a very interesting talk on seaweed life history, this was particularly useful to my understanding of the triggers for blade growth (e.g., daylength and temperature). From this talk I found several papers relevant to my PhD on frond development in Laminaria hyperborea linked to daylight hours published in the 1970s. Christine Maggs was also helpful in suggesting the book Biology of Marine Plants by M. Dring to build on the life history she touched on in her lecture. I have since downloaded a PDF of this book and look forward to reading it. Juliet Brodie’s lecture on the brown seaweeds was very engaging and a very well summarised introduction to the major genotypes and characteristics. Most relevant to my work was her discussion on the Himantothallus sp. from South Georgia. I particularly enjoyed talking with Juliet Brodie during the week; she was passionate about her

Grace Ellis – UniSlam

I joined the Poetry Society’s Slam Team at the beginning of my second year and it was here that I learned about UniSlam. It is one of the biggest poetry competitions, with universities from all over the UK coming to perform their poems and compete against each other. As someone who had only ever performed my poems once before, I initially didn’t think it would be for me. However, after an open mic night at The Holy GrAle in December, I realised just how much I loved spoken word poetry. And so, I applied to be one of the five Durham University poets to compete in UniSlam.

could be a different species to those I sampled whilst on the peninsula. The literature regarding Himantothallus sp. is limited and so it was brilliant to talk to someone with experience of working on this species. Further collaboration with the Natural History Museum would be a fantastic opportunity as Juliet Brodie has additional South Georgia specimens that could be used for isotopic analysis. I would also like to conduct some genomics work on my specimens from the Peninsula to better understand the morphological differences between the Antarctic and the Sub-Antarctic islands Himantothallus

Overall, this was a great training course, all the instructors were passionate about phycology and enthusiastic about sharing their work. It has been a great benefit in consolidating my current understanding of phycology. I am grateful to the British Ecological Society for providing funding to attend the course as well as Stephenson College for funding my travel & accommodation costs to Plymouth.

This year, the competition was held in Birmingham’s Hippodrome, and so we all had to travel down on the Thursday 14 March.

I attended two workshops on the Friday, the first with poet Rishi Dastidar on memory and the second with Yomi Sode, a poet who was so enthusiastic and wonderful to learn from. This was a great day where we got to meet some amazing established poets and learn from them, and we also met a lot of different poets from other universities!

On the Saturday, we had our first round of competing which was a very scary but exciting experience. For our first heat, we were against University of Leeds, Imperial College London and Cardiff Met. Our judges were the fantastic Casey Bailey, Bohdan Piasecki and Amerah Saleh. I was so lucky to be able to perform and felt so supported the whole way through by the Slam Team. It was so great to watch all the wonderful performances from the other universities. In this round we came second, and it was such a great feeling! All of us had the opportunity to get professional feedback from Amerah Saleh, and it was helpful to see her response and has prompted me to think a lot more constructively about my own writing. As well as that, I was lucky that Casey Bailey also told me that he really enjoyed my poem!

An hour later, we had our second heat. We were against University of Oxford, University of Worcester and Trinity College Dublin, with the judges being

Hester Poon –Fieldwork in Mull

This summer, I’ve completed a 6-week geological fieldwork, with the support from Stephenson College.

Amy Acre and Yomi Sode. I was so lucky again to be able to perform another of my poems and it was a lot less scary than the first time. Everyone in the team did such a fantastic performance and they all went up together to perform such a beautiful collab poem. It was so amazing to be there and support them. In this round we came third.

After a meal at Wagamama with the whole Slam Team, we went back to the Hippodrome to see who was announced as semi-finalists. Unfortunately, Durham didn’t make it through, but we were all very proud of ourselves as it was a really tough competition.

On Sunday, we got the chance to see some performances from the country’s top youth poetry collectives. These were Barbican Young Poets, Birmingham Hippodrome’s First Steps Poetry, Hive South Yorkshire, The Poetry Society’s Young Poets Collective, Southbank New Poets, and Writing East Midlands’ Speak Easy Collective. They were all fantastic and I’m so grateful to have seen them all perform!

That weekend at UniSlam will always stay with me and has truly inspired me to work harder to pursue a career in the arts and to get my own poetry published. I am so grateful for my teammates, every single person in the Slam Team, and Stephenson College for this experience.

The fieldwork took place at Bunessan, Isle of Mull. Isle of Mull is a beautiful island off the west coast of Scotland, and is the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides.

Over the six weeks, I had been mapping an area in Bunessan, which includes making field observations, taking measurements, and thus interpreting the geological history and processes that occurred in Isle of Mull.

Throughout the fieldwork, I was able to develop my field and mapping skills, ability to observe and analyse, and perseverance. This allowed me to grow personally and professionally as a geologist-to-be.

Fieldwork is an amazing opportunity to put all we have learnt into practice, but it can also be quite costly. Not only did the grant allow me to enjoy the opportunity without a financial burden, but also showcased that Stephenson is committed to opportunity and accessibility for all students. I would like to take this opportunity to show my gratitude towards College and to encourage more people to apply to this grant scheme.

Participation Fund

In response to the rising cost-of-living, Stephenson College and JCR established a new Participation Fund in 2023. Students can apply for a grant from the Fund to enable them to engage in student enrichment activities and the wider student experience, which for financial reasons they may not otherwise to be able to engage with. We have awarded 103 grants this year, enabling students to engage and enjoy the following activities:

• Engagement in JCR clubs and societies

• Engagement in Durham Students’ Union societies

• College gym pass

• Signature College/JCR events

• JCR/MCR levy payments

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Global Citizenship

Twinning Partnership with Zaporizhzhia University, Ukraine

We were delighted to host staff and students from Zaporizhzhia University, Ukraine throughout this academic year.

ZNU is located in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast region in the Southeast of Ukraine, close to the centre of the conflict zone. Seven undergraduate students joined Stephenson in Michaelmas Term and two postgraduate researchers in Epiphany Term.

The twinning scheme aims to provide tangible and collaborative support to Ukrainian universities in the short and medium term, and also in the long term as the country’s universities look to rebuild. The developing connection with ZNU also offers us both the opportunity to develop equitable research collaboration in specialist areas and share in experience and best practice.

A Memorandum of Understanding between Durham and ZNU underpins our partnership and enables ZNU to access additional support from both the UK and Ukrainian higher education systems.

Tamil Nadu SCOUT Exchange, India

From 9 – 16 June 2024, we welcomed a delegation of students from Tamil Nadu, India who were selected to visit Durham through the British Council’s Great Scholars for Outstanding Undergraduate Talent (Scout) scheme. This joint initiative is aimed at offering students with little access to international education, an opportunity to learn essential skills in data analysis and artificial intelligence and to increase their employability.

Around 100 undergraduate students from colleges in Tamil Nadu were trained in data analysis and artificial intelligence over a period of weeks. The School of Education and Stephenson College welcomed 25 students who were shortlisted to attend an overseas exchange following a competitive process. A big thankyou to Trevelyan College for hosting the students for breakfast, lunch and dinner each day. The students thoroughly enjoyed their insights into the Durham collegiate experience across our two Colleges!

It was a fantastic experience to host such a wonderful group and we hope to see them back in Durham in the future.

First Generation Scholars Exchange with California State University, Los Angeles, USA

In June 2024, we were proud to host Durham’s first ever International FirstGen Writers’ Workshop as part of a two-week study abroad programme for first-generation university students from Durham University and California State University, Los Angeles!

This exchange is hugely important for both Stephenson College and CSULA as it aims to:

• Address equity gaps within higher education by increasing access to global education opportunities for first-generation university students;

• Connect first-gen students across spectrums of cultural identities, linguistic backgrounds, academic interests, and professional goals to:

- cultivate awareness of common first-gen experiences and identities as well as foster appreciation for difference and diversity;

- build students’ sense of institutional belonging by emphasizing the unique forms of social and cultural capital first-gen students possess;

- create support networks for sharing academic success resources and co/extracurricular opportunities.

• Develop students’ writing abilities through process-oriented approaches to drafting, revising, and editing essays;

• Provide publishing opportunities for students to:

- understand the impact their writing can have on public audiences;

- promote global awareness of firstgen experiences and identities;

- demonstrate academic achievement on future job and/or graduate school applications;

- Help students to recognise and circumvent patterns of oppression and privilege that limit access to higher education around the world.

18 students from CSULA and 15 students from Durham University participated in daily writing workshops over the two-week period, honing their writing skills and sharing their experiences. The workshops were facilitated by Dr Danelle Dyckhoff Stelzriede, Assistant Professor of English and Director of First-Year Writing at California State University, Los Angles, who guided workshop participants through the process of drafting personal narratives exploring first-gen experiences and identities.

Students also participated in a daily cultural enrichment activity, including trips to Holy Island, Beamish Museum. Ushaw Historic House and Housesteads Roman Fort.

The students’ narratives are centred around the following two themes: FirstGeneration Experiences and Identities and First-Gen Joy. Excerpts were shared by each author during the Writer’s Showcase on Friday 28 June at the end of the exchange. Everyone showed such courage in sharing intensely personal pieces. From poetry in Armenian and letters to your thirteen-year-old self, to reflections on missed opportunities, parental sacrifice, resilience, and the connection to indigenous ancestral lands inspired by a visit to Holy Island, the showcase featured so much talent and passion.

All narratives will be published to Text & Type a CSU Open Journal sponsored by the English Department at CSULA and circulated widely.

This exchange was hugely inspiring and we look forward to Stephenson students hopefully visiting Los Angeles in 2025!

Global Citizenship

Durham Global Week

Global Goals Summit

On Saturday 24 February, Stephenson College hosted the second Global Goals Summit to kick off Durham Global Week 2024. The summit saw 50 student delegates from Durham University, Durham International Study Centre and Durham Sixth Form Centre come together to learn about the UN Sustainable Development Goals and why they are important through an opening talk and panel discussion. Delegates then had the opportunity to work on innovative solutions related to SDG 6 – clean water and sanitation through a condensed Game Changer activity in the afternoon, facilitated by Enterprise Manager Rachel Bickerdike. Delegates heard from subject matter experts including Dr Chris Davis (Dept of Archaeology, Durham University, currently working on water projects and research in Kathmandu and a member of UNESCO-sponsored archaeological investigations in the natal landscape of the Buddha), Katherine Purvis (Digital Content Manager at WaterAid), Claire Grissafi (Global Programmes Advisor, Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor & academic at Cranfield University) and Dr Cat Hirst (Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at Durham University).

The winning Game Changer team, comprising of students from Stephenson, St John’s, St Mary’s, St Chad’s and Durham Sixth Form Centre developed a proposal for Hydropath, a system which put local communities at the heart of water management through data access and GPS technologies for monitoring and maintenance. The team were presented with their certificates at the Durham Global Awards Dinner (hosted at Stephenson College) on Friday 1 March.

Language Detectives Outreach

Stephenson and Josephine Butler Colleges hosted a Language Detectives Outreach Day with the School of Modern Languages and Culture on 28 February. Secondary school students from ten local schools participated in a College information and activity session in the morning followed by afternoon sessions in MLAC. The pupils put their language skills to the test in a code-breaking exercise, learned about how languages are linked, what careers a modern languages degree can lead to and how translation works. They also had taster sessions in Arabic, Mandarin, Italian, Russian and Spanish, so they could discover what studying these languages at university is like.

Stephenson Ideas

In 2024, more than half the world’s population will go to polls—4.2 billion citizens across approximately 65 countries. From Taiwan to Bangladesh, from the UK to India, from Pakistan to Russia, these national elections will prove consequential for years to come. Not to mention, the elephant in the room; the U.S. presidential race culminating in November.

Given that 2024 is such a significant year, it was great to see such a fantastic turnout at our Stephenson Ideas x Global elections panel discussion on 27 February. 85 students engaged in a lively discussion with Dr David Andersen, Dr Kyriaki Nanou, Professor Thom Brooks and Dr Avishek Parui titled “Change or Chaos? What will the 2024 Global Elections mean for the World?” Watch this space!

Global Awards Dinner

Stephenson College hosted the annual Durham Global Awards Dinner on 1 March 2024, a celebratory dinner recognising individuals and teams who have made a significant contribution to furthering international collaboration and understanding across the University and wider community.

Stephenson College’s Global Goals Summit was highly commended in the Global SDG Award category. Congratulations to all involved!

Community Connections Trips

Our Community Connections trips enable Stephenson students to explore and connect with the local community around them. The North East of England is a place of big adventures, breathtaking beauty and strong cultural heritage and we want to ensure that all Stephenson College students have the chance to enjoy it. Students have enjoyed trips to Arbeia Roman Fort in South Shields, the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, The Auckland Project, Beamish Museum and Locomotion in Shildon. The trips are fully subsidised for students and hugely popular!

An inclusive community

Ashura

In July 2024, we welcomed members of Durham’s Shia Muslim community into College for Ashura, an important day of commemoration in Islam. Shia rituals span the first ten days of Muharram (the first month of the Islamic calendar), culminating on Ashura, a day of mourning for Shia Muslims. Prayer congregations were held each evening alongside refreshments.

Wear Red Day

Team Stephenson proudly wears red all year round but especially so on 21 October for #WearRedDay 2023, in support of Show Racism the Red Card. Our sports teams showed their support for this fantastic initiative and the work SRtRC do to fight racism, injustice, and hatred in sport.

Holocaust Memorial Day

On Friday 26 January 2024, Stephenson College alongside DU Chaplaincy and DU Jewish Society welcomed social anthropologist and oral historian Dr Bea Lewkowicz into College to share the emotional and thought-provoking stories of three female survivors. Dr Lewkowicz is the co-founder and director of two major oral history archives: the AJR Refugee Voices Archive and the Sephardi Voices UK Archive.

The Association of Jewish Refugees provides social and welfare services to Holocaust refugees and survivors nationwide. About 70,000 refugees, including approximately 10,000 children on the Kindertransport, arrived in Great Britain from Nazi-occupied Europe in the 1930s. Founded in 1941 by Jewish refugees from Central Europe, the AJR today extends membership to anyone who fled a Nazi-occupied country as a Jewish refugee or who arrived in Great Britain as a Holocaust survivor.

After Dr Lewkowicz’s talk, we came together for a simple candle lighting ceremony and read the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust’s statement of commitment together.

Stephenson Ideas

It has been another successful year for our Stephenson Ideas talk series, which has seen an excellent range of speakers come into College on a Monday evening. Each talk aims to inspire, challenge and develop the intellectual curiosity of our students. The talk series features motivational and inspiring speakers with a story to tell, sometimes academic in nature, sometimes not, but always providing an opportunity to discuss innovative and engaging topics. The talks are open to all members of the Durham University community.

Institute of Advanced Studies Fellows

Every year we host Visiting Fellows from a broad range of academic disciplines through the Institute of Advanced Study. Each researcher has made an outstanding contribution over a sustained period of time in their research field, and we were thrilled to host Dr Urs Buettner from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and Dr Avishek Parui from IIT Madras as our IAS Fellows this academic year.

On Monday 13 November 2024, Dr Buettner delivered a fascinating lecture on “The Invention of the Public: globality and contemporaneity in the late 18th century.”

In the German language, the term „Das Publikum“ (the public) came into use in the late 18th century. Immediately, a debate arose between Johann Gottfried Herder and Friedrich Just Riedel about the issue of reference. The question was how to conceptualise an audience that, unlike the spectators in a theatre play, was no longer gathered in one place, and what could constitute the unity of readership. Both agreed that it was no longer a physical space that created this unity, but rather

being contemporaries. However, they differed in their views on the practices of contemporaneity in reading. This lecture dealt with the enlargement of the reading audience during the Enlightenment, the opportunities, and dangers that its growing cultural heterogeneity poses, which in turn allows literature to be perceived as offensive.

On Monday 12 February 2024, Dr Parui gave a fantastic lecture titled “Memory, Trust, and Touch: the postpandemic perspective.”

This lecture examined the ways in which the experience and memory of the COVID-19 pandemic have shaped our notions about trust and touch and how the move towards digital transactions may be read as a complex reflection of the same. In doing so, Dr Parui aimed to highlight how the post-digital in the post-pandemic may be seen as a method through which human trust apropos of touch may be monitored and minimised and how the material ontology of digitality may be seen as an anxious and an accelerated mechanism that also corresponds to notions about hygiene, safety, and sanitisation. The lecture highlighted works in phenomenology and philosophy of mind, also examining recent research on touch and memory in cognitive psychology. In its philosophical scope, it offered a complex study of the cultural condition post-pandemic and how the materiality of digitality corresponds to the entanglement of trust and tactility that also creates new notions of safe and unsafe identities.

Enterprise and Employability

Talks this year have featured:

• An all-female panel discussion with Dr Victoria Showumni (Associate Professor at UCL), Dr Fiona BartelsEllis OBE (former Global Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at the British Council) and Lexi Amoakohene (Stephenson JCR People of Colour Rep and DPOCA College Rep Chair). The panel focused on “Gender and race in leadership: imperative or irrelevant?” This panel discussion was chaired by Seun Twins, current Durham PhD student and former President of Durham Students’ Union.

• Professor Sue Black delivered an inspiring talk titled “Can you have a successful career regardless of your background?” Professor Black leads the pioneering #TechUPWomen programme retraining women from underserved communities into technology careers and is well known for championing Women in Computing, promoting women in STEM and running the successful campaign to save Bletchley Park in 2011.

• In partnership with Ideas Matter, Dolan Cummings led a thought provoking and interactive panel discussion and debate on “Freedom then and now: what can we learn from….? Martin Luther: Freedom of Conscience.” Dolan is the author of the Letters on Liberty pamphlet Taking Conscience Seriously.

• Arthur Snell shared his experiences as a UK Foreign Office diplomat from 1998 - 2014 and challenged us to think about “How Britain Broke the World - Britain and the collapse of the global order.”

• A lively panel discussion with Dr David Andersen, Dr Kyriaki Nanou, Professor Thom Brooks and Dr Avishek Parui titled “Change or Chaos? What will the 2024 Global Elections mean for the World?” as part of DU Global Week 2024.

Durham Blueprint Challenge Finalists

Alexander Kemmeni, Conall Lacy and Harrison Hurst all reached the final of the Durham Blueprint Startup Challenge in June 2024, winning cash prizes for each of their respective start-ups!

Over the last six months, all three students have been working closely with the Durham Venture School, a pre-accelerator which brings together exceptional Durham students to explore significant problems facing industry and society.

Conall and Harrison are co-founders of Flair Labs, a company aiming to make vaping cleaner and safer.

Alexander is co-founder of Erudite, a tool aimed at revolutionising how you discover, understand, and analyse academic papers. Erudite facilitates the creation of semantic connections between papers, simplifying the literature review process by enhancing paper comprehension.

Erudite was awarded £2,500 and the One to Watch Award and Flair Labs was awarded £1,000 and the Spotlight on Product Development Award at the annual Durham University Celebration of Enterprise Dinner 2023. We wish Alexander, Conall and Harrison every success in the future!

Career Connections

This year Stephenson SCR member and Placement Manager for the Faculty of Social Sciences and Health Dr Barbara Dick delivered a range of interactive sessions in College supporting students with their employability skills. The series included interview technique and CV workshops which received very positive feedback from attendees.

Next year we will be delivering workshops throughout the year in partnership with Durham Leadership Academy and Stephenson alumni who want to share their knowledge and experience with current students. If you are interested in delivering a workshop related to your current role and/or sector or being a careers coach, please reach out to stephenson.alumni@durham. ac.uk. We would love to hear from you!

of the Year –

Congratulations to Masters student Leo Thomson on being awarded the Leadership Award at the Student Employee of the Year Awards 2024 Ceremony at Durham Town Hall. The awards recognise outstanding students who work alongside their studies. Leo was a Blueprint Challenge Finalist last year and returned to Stephenson as a postgraduate in September 2023, so it has been great to see his company Local Energy Systems progress over the last year!

College Events

JCR Balls

The Night under the Stars themed Winter Ball was the first flagship event in the calendar, taking place in the last week of Michaelmas term. Set at the beautiful Beamish Hall Hotel, 350 students celebrated the end of term over a three-course meal. As always, entertainment ran throughout the evening, with dancers, live bands and of course a DJ and dancefloor!

The JCR Summer Ball was just as successful, held at Hardwick Hall on a beautiful sunny June evening. Attendees celebrated the end of the year in a fabulous ballroom, having fun on the fairground rides and dancing the night away!

Stevo Day 2024

Stevo Day is always one of the most fun days in the calendar and this year was no exception. Students fully embraced a Mammia Mia theme this year, complete with disco balls and Super Trouper cocktails! We all enjoyed glorious sunshine, inflatables, market stalls, lots of food and eleven hours of live music including the amazing Abba tribute band Donna and the Dynamos!

Pride and Intercollegiate Queer Prom

The College community came together for Pride on 3 June with a wonderful event to celebrate our LGBTQIA community. Opening with a dinner in Saltwell, attendees enjoyed a fun evening of music and karaoke in Stephenson Central. On 19 June, Stephenson and St Mary’s LGBTQIA+ Societies were proud to host the first ever Intercollegiate Queer Prom in Stephenson Central. A fantastic night was had by all, with students enjoying performances from Cache Out and Basement Jazz, a performance from DU Pole Society and DJ Jacquetta Stevens.

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Stephenson College Charity Fashion Show

Building on last year’s success, our third Stephenson College Charity Fashion Show was held on 4 June 2024, raising over £2,000 for St Cuthbert’s Hospice. This year’s show was held in College for the first time, with Platforms 1 and 2 transformed for this year’s In Bloom theme!

The Fashion Show exec and models worked tirelessly to deliver a brilliant showcase of sustainable fashion from a range of up-and-coming designers, as well as St Cuthbert’s Hospice charity shops, with over twenty independent brands featured on the catwalk!

George Stephenson Birthday BBQ

Staff, students and friends of College came together on a lovely afternoon at the annual George Stephenson Birthday BBQ on 10 June. Over 250 attendees enjoyed a delicious BBQ in honour of our namesake!

Community Dining

Stephenson students have enjoyed some fun dining experiences this year, including a Burns Night Supper with a fantastic address to the haggis by Stephenson alumni Fraser Logue and a very romantic Valentine’s Day dinner!

We also held a fantastic journalism and media themed Connections Dinner in Michaelmas Term. These dinners provide students with a great opportunity to discuss their interests and potential future career paths with someone who works in the field. Sitting on a table with other students and a guest speaker, it was a great way to meet subject matter experts including Sky News correspondent Inzamam Rashid, as well as fellow students interested in connecting with like-minded people, all over a delicious two course meal!

We ended the year on a high at our annual Honours Formal, a fantastic evening where current students and staff came together to celebrate students’ achievements across all aspects of College and JCR and MCR life over the last twelve months. We also marked the handover of the JCR and MCR Executive Committees.

Principal’s Awards were awarded to:

• Spirit of Stephenson Award –Flynn Edwards

• Unsung Hero Award –Tom Stoneham and Alice Henman

• Stephenson Ambassador Award –Dora Leong

JCR Honorary Life Memberships were awarded to:

• Emily Longman

• Alice Theakston

• Ella Wolstencroft

• Kaya Allen

• Eleanor Roberts

The Adrian Darnell Community Award was presented to Theo Harper and the Stevo Spirit Award was presented to Olivia Doody.

Congratulations to all the aforementioned as well as the many individuals who were awarded full and half colours for their respective sports and society activities. Well done!

Atmospherics as a tool for enhancing the college environment

Our last Year in Review showcased the fantastic facilities that are open to all members of our College community and support student activities and development. This year’s issue gives James Burland’s insight into how our College site was designed and developed over 30 years ago. It is a good time to reflect on our roots as we mark our fifth year in Durham since moving from Stockton and as we begin to plan for our 25th anniversary in 2026/2027.

It was a blustery autumn evening as I headed into Durham. I was tired and to break my journey south from Edinburgh to Hampshire I decided to visit a scheme that I had worked on some 30 years ago, a new college at Howlands Farm. As I turned into the site, a few students were flying kites from the top of a man-made mound. They were perched above a striking curved grass roof that I didn’t recognise. I parked and walked up to the summit. The kite flyers had gone. I felt somewhat restored by being alone with the view.

The sun was setting to my left, falling out of a ceiling of storm clouds. Straight ahead, on the axis of the entrance road, the low sun was picking out the top of the Cathedral’s central tower, lighting it up against the dark sky behind. With the 360-degree view from my vantage point I could see the small first phase of student houses that we had built and then the later phases that had been redesigned in a very different architectural style and scale. My disappointment that the original scheme wasn’t finished, whatever the challenges, was undeniable. took in the view to the heart of the city. It was just as I’d imagined in my drawings, but I hadn’t anticipated the atmospheric power the sunset would add. I must have visibly drifted into a world of emotional memories. A voice behind me asked, “are you alright?”

Startled into the present and thinking that I was being collared as an intruder, I launched into an explanation about how, an exceptionally long time ago, I had worked on the plan of this spot. It turned out that my new acquaintance was not a security guard, he was a postgraduate. With significant empathy, he told me how he often walked up here in the evening, particularly in

times of stress, and was calmed by the atmosphere, whatever the weather. Any resentment about the later changes to the architectural designs, evaporated in that moment.

A week later, I contacted Stephenson College’s admin office. The Principal, Professor Rob Lynes, called me back. I told him my story and asked if I could make a study of the atmospherics of the college. I would use it to revisit the

inception of the project and the validity of the design approach we had taken. Afterall, it had been the design approach that won the two-stage international competition held by the University to select an architect.

Back then, in 1993, I had been pursuing a career at Arup Associates, a firm of architects, engineers and quantity surveyors working together in one room. Our first stage submission was an editorial of the blend of ideas that came forward from the shared feelings about a design for the site. It was quite different from the individual contributions by each profession in so-called multiprofessional design meetings. In our office environment there was a constant exchange which inevitably led to a shared instinct for a way forward.

I decided to risk submitting a set of freehand drawings and sketch models.

I wanted to present our thoughts in an open-minded style because the outcome of our discussions was going to break a fundamental condition in the brief. The “Planning Permission in principle” for the new college was on the condition that the building was located out of sight in the valley to the east of the farm. We perceived this as an ‘out-of-sight, outof-mind’ approach that would isolate the new college from the city.

Instead, we sketched a village with a main building close to the road. Through this would be a necklace of discrete houses with small clusters of student rooms. We strung the houses pragmatically along the contours of the sloping land, an idea as old as the hills but a useful one I had learnt during my time working for the Australian architect, Philip Cox. (In Google Earth find Cypress Lakes, NSW. You will see the similarity in approach to using the natural lie of the land in the aerial view.) The houses would be cut into the contours and surplus excavated soil saved on site to form a hill in the centre of the scheme. The height of the terrain would be enhanced with semi-mature fast-growing trees that would protect slower growing oaks and create a typical rural horizon.

This would have been a problem for the kite-flyers, but, having broken the planning condition, we needed the combination of embedding the buildings into the land and the enhancement of the contours to give a diminutive scale to a complex of 600 rooms. The college’s social and administration building would form an entrance on the axis of the approach drive and the hilltop, a ley-line to be discovered and remembered.

We had tapped into the aspirations of the University’s project champion, former Principal of Trevelyan College, Deborah Lavin. We made it through to stage two. In my mind, Deborah had concurred that the City’s planning condition would run the risk of the scheme becoming institutionalized by its isolation. I also believe that Deborah’s first-hand experience of the location, from her service at Trevelyan just across the road from the site, she knew the importance of connections to nearby colleges and the benefit of a safe walking distance to the city. She would have also surely known the budget constraints of running a college and the importance of year-round revenue. Any proposal should be capable of hosting residential conferences between semesters while still being suitable for post-graduates living there full-time. Hence the appeal of the inherently flexible planform of a village and a separate main building which could be developed in detail after the competition.

The competition brief had a second and equally emphatic aspiration which, in today’s context of a much greater awareness of a climate emergency, now seems ahead of its time. Targets were

set for energy conservation. I admit we suspected this was more likely driven by running costs. In 1993, climate change though already certain, was still on the edges of mainstream architecture. But not for the way we worked, it was a chance to be bold. And we took it.

We split each house around a south facing glazed staircase which we connected to a south-west orientated wind tower. This hinge helped sit the houses on the curvature of the site contours. In the winter, the stair would generate heat from the sun. The wind tower would push the warm air through to the student bedrooms. Negative pressure on the lee side of the tower would extract the vitiated air via a heat exchanger to raise the temperature of the incoming supply. In the summer, the stair would be fully openable to expel unwanted heat gains.

In essence, this was the scheme that we eventually developed in detail. There were other competition ideas that were dropped by the University very soon after we won the commission. Practical constraints had hardened when the university estates department became our immediate client. One concession regret was the abandonment of offsite construction. The competition drawings suggested modular timber clad bedroom pods that could be factory made. On-site contractors would have prepared the ground works ready for the superstructure to be delivered and erected in days. I don’t recall the reasons why we pursued a more traditional form of construction. Like the wind towers, back then these aspirations were ahead of their time.

Fast-forwarding to my recent visit in November 2023, I spent a day at the college to make my pilot study of its atmospherics which I could then use to revisit the 1993 competition scheme. The study gathers data in one-to-one conversations that draws out very personal perceptions of the atmospheres, both existing and desired, from the college environment. Across six quite different people with distinct roles I used my experience and my recent degree work to interpret and crossreference the personal responses. There were common atmospheric descriptors; ‘natural’, ‘social’, ‘contrasting’, ‘sanctuarising’ and ‘unique’.

The first phase of the original scheme is at the heart of Stephenson and exhibits all five descriptors. This isn’t too surprising as they are based, not on my view, but what I heard in conversation. What is encouraging is that the descriptors were present in the competition scheme. I believe this to be firmly attributable to the way the design team worked together and how it engaged both the vision and technical aspirations felt by the key University people, Deborah Lavin and the University Estates project manager, Peter McEwen. From my short description of the competition scheme, I can name architectural elements that relate to each descriptor. I hope you will agree that all five descriptors were present in the original design and that they survived to a greater or lessor extent in your college.

The pilot study should really be extended across both colleges to include Josephine Butler if it is to reach a wider conclusion for the entire site. Such a study could provide simple guidelines to the benefit of future maintenance or other interventions. These can be big or small such as alterations and additions to the buildings and landscaping or as simple as the colour to choose when redecorating. One thing is certain, it would enhance the combined atmospherics of the two colleges.

Site model of the scheme after design development
Notes from the pilot study of the college atmospherics

Student Support and Wellbeing

It has been another great year for student support at Stephenson College, building on existing connections and initiatives to support wellbeing amongst the College community.

We welcomed Elize Davies as our new Student Support Administrator in August 2023 and Frankie Hall as our Assistant Principal in December 2023, joining our part-time Assistant Student Support Officer Laura Grant.

We’ve continued to work closely with a number of colleagues across the University to bring information, resources and support into College, to try and improve awareness and accessibility across our student body. We’ve held roadshows for sexual health, drugs and alcohol and money management and worked closely with our JCR Welfare team on proactive wellbeing initiatives.

This year saw the introduction of SSIMS – the new Student Support Information Management System which will improve the way we support students across the University going forward.

We’re very much looking forward to building upon the team’s fantastic achievements over the last year and are excited to see what 2024/25 brings for student support.

JCR Welfare

This year, the JCR Welfare team has worked hard to provide informative and fun peer-led support. We have collaborated with other members of the JCR and third-party organisations to continue the amazing work of last year’s Welfare team.

From craft sessions to charity events and (many) petting farms, we hope that anyone who attended our events enjoyed themselves and felt supported through our posts, campaign weeks, and drop-ins. We would like to say a big thank you to those of you who frequently engaged with our events and social media. It is always lovely to see a good turnout at events!

Your attendance and interaction allow us, as a team, to better tailor our campaigns and posts to the student body here in College and assist us in being present at the wider Durham level. This has allowed the Welfare team this year to be involved across college life, from our Valentine collaboration with the events team to our volunteering and charity fundraising with both the volunteering team and the music society.

Throughout the year, we have been present online, with the continued success of our Instagram (@ stephenson. welfare), where we share information posts during our campaign weeks. We aimed for these campaigns to cover a range of topics relevant to us all as students: from navigating Durham’s housing situation to Mental Health

Awareness Week, as well as the return of SHAG week (Sexual Health And Guidance). Most recently, we hosted our Stress-Less week, aiming to support other students in practising healthy work/life balance in the run-up to exams.

Through your involvement and feedback, we have been able to become more involved in centralised DU wellbeing initiatives. Through this the Welfare team have been able to be involved in a multitude of projects across the university, such as…

• the Student Mental Health Charter

• giving feedback on the rollout of Suicide Awareness training

• joining a Task and Finish Group for the upcoming review of the university’s Code of Practice on Controlled Drugs.

As Senior JCR Welfare-officer, I have deeply enjoyed my time in this role. I am very grateful for the support from the entire JCR Welfare team this year, with special thanks to Matt, Rosie and Grace for their ongoing assistance and enthusiasm. I would also like to thank the College’s student support team for their guidance over the year; so thank you to the wonderful Frankie and Laura.

A huge thank you again to everyone who has been involved with and helped JCR Welfare achieve everything we had hoped for this year. It isn’t possible without student involvement and participation, so thank you again!

Huge Welfare Love, Millie and the 2023-2024 JCR Welfare team x

Alumni and Friends

It was fantastic to catch up with many of our recent alumni at our informal afterhours event at The Counting House, London in November 2023. Hosted by the Principal, it was a great opportunity to come together and update alumni on recent developments at Stephenson College, enable them to reconnect with fellow alumni, and discuss our plans for the future.

Stephenson now has a lifelong global community of over 7,000 alumni. Whether you graduated last year or in 2001, we’re always happy to hear from you and to keep you connected to the College and to each other. Through our regular communications and events, we endeavour to make you feel as much a part of Stephenson as you might wish to be, and to keep you informed about

Get involved

25th Anniversary Working Group

It’s an exciting time as we begin to plan our 25th Anniversary. If you are interested in sitting on our newly formed 25th Anniversary Working Group chaired by Stephenson alumni Darren Sweetland (class of 2003), please contact the Principal on robert.c.lynes@durham. ac.uk

Inspire the next generation

We are proud of our reputation as one of the friendliest Durham colleges and we aim to constantly provide opportunities for our students, staff and alumni to meet, engage, teach, learn, and inspire. There are opportunities for Stephenson alumni to deliver talks and workshops in College, as well as support students through more informal networking and employability focused activities such as our Connections dinners.

All Stephenson alumni are eligible to join our Senior Common Room. We would also welcome any alumni members who are interested in becoming development

coaches to current Stephenson students, helping them make the most of the opportunities available to them whilst at University and prepare them for life after university. Email stephenson.inspired@ durham.ac.uk to find out how you can be involved.

Creating opportunity

Stephenson College is committed to ensuring that all students can take advantage of every opportunity during their time in Durham. No student should feel prevented from studying at Stephenson because of their financial background, or experience hardship while studying here. By making a gift to Stephenson College, you are creating an opportunity for a talented young person to not only explore their academic interests at a world class institution but to also experience all that Stephenson and Durham have to offer. Any gift, of any amount can have a huge impact on the life of a Stephenson student. If you are interested in supporting Stephenson students financially, do get in contact.

many of the extraordinary events and activities that happen throughout the year. We will be celebrating our 25th anniversary in 2026/2027 so do look out for upcoming communications on how you can get involved!

Alumni community

Events

Stephenson alumni events provide an opportunity for members to reconnect with their peers, as well as opportunities for networking and mentoring. Our upcoming alumni events are advertised in the monthly Newswire email as well as via our alumni mailing list.

Keeping in touch

Please keep us up to date with your contact details by emailing stephenson. alumni@durham.ac.uk so that we can let you know about news and events. We’d also like to hear any news of your achievements, appointments, publications, honours, or events such as a marriage or a new baby, so that we can include it in our Year in Review.

Visiting Stephenson College

We’re delighted to welcome Stephenson alumni visiting the College at any time of year. Please email stephenson.alumni@ durham.ac.uk to arrange a time.

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