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Annual Review 2014 â€“ 2015

Contents Welcome

Highlights Past... and Highlights Ahead

Our Undergraduates

Our Graduates

6 Gender Equality Festival (page 12)

Research and Discovery

Transforming St Hildaâ€™s

Our College Community

JdPâ€™s 20th Birthday (page 2)

Applause 14

Financial Overview

Degree Day, October 2015

St Hilda’s College Annual Review 2014 – 2015

Welcome

from the Principal Welcome to the first edition of the St Hilda’s Annual Review where the College reflects on achievements and events of the past year and its focus for the year ahead. The College’s academic and research strengths are discussed in some detail; the Senior Tutor comments on the pleasing outcomes for St Hilda’s in the recent Finals results and on the comprehensive support programme and encouragement which are the foundation for this and future achievements. Our Research Working Group provides important practical and financial support for a range of interdisciplinary research events and activities. Details of these are on page 8. They have enriched the intellectual environment in the College for all. This year, with the recent appointment of five Junior Research Fellows, who will take up their posts over a two year period, the College will increase the scope of its research activities and provide additional support and mentoring for our graduate students and undergraduates.

“This year... the College will increase the scope of its research activities and provide additional support and mentoring for our graduate students and undergraduates.”

With the appointment of a Communications Manager in January of this year, we have given priority to the redevelopment of the website, to promote the College’s activities effectively and position St Hilda’s more prominently through the deft use of social media. Our buildings and our site will now be a major focus for the College’s forthcoming 125th Anniversary; more details on the plans which will transform St Hilda’s are offered on page 10. Although the College has invested more than £5 million on new, bespoke graduate accommodation buildings over the past four years, we cannot rest there. While we share many similarities in our College profile with the group of former women’s colleges in Oxford, we lag behind them in terms of the accommodation we can offer to prospective undergraduates. Inevitably, in a city which has the ‘least affordable’ housing in the UK, private rents are increasing and this puts pressure on student budgets. We seek to offer a room to all undergraduates who wish to live in College accommodation – which means we must provide up to 100 additional rooms. These are ambitious plans, and will require significant investment and support from our alumnae and friends; but we know that every new room we can offer to a student is as effective as a bursary and ensures that the student is close to the outstanding support and facilities offered by St Hilda’s.

SIR GORDON DUFF Principal

Highlights past… Financial Profit

Norrington Table Success

The unaudited Statement of Financial Activities and the Balance Sheet at 31 July 2015 show an increase in the net assets of the College during the year of £6.7 million, up from £55.7 million at 31 July 2014 to £62.4 million at 31 July 2015.

In 2015, 98.2% of St Hilda’s Finalist undergraduates obtained at least a 2.i in their degree. This is 5.5% better than the average figure across other colleges of the University for this measure, and St Hilda’s was equal top of all colleges in this regard. The results are St Hilda’s best for 23 years.

Professor Cooper-Sarkar wins Chadwick Medal

Outstanding Tutors

Professor Amanda Cooper-Sarkar has been awarded the 2015 Chadwick Medal by the Institute of Physics. She has also delivered a paper on the future of physics at the Large Hadron-electron Collider, at CERN Geneva in June 2015. (Read more on page 9)

Professor Maike Glitsch, received an OUSU Teaching Award in the Outstanding Tutor MSD (Medical Sciences Division) category. Dr Helen Appleton, English Lecturer, was amongst those nomminated for an award.

98%

of St Hilda’s Finalist undergraduates obtained at least a 2.i in their degree.

Six Years of Medical Students This 2014/15 academic year was the first in the College’s history to have all six years of students in medicine studying at the same time after admitting clinical students in 2012. JdP 20th Birthday

Far right, Zanny Minton Beddoes (PPE, 1986) is the first ever female Editor of The Economist. (Read more on page 14) Georgie Daniell appears in reserve women’s boat at Boat Race History was made this year as the women’s Boat Race was awarded the same recognition as the men’s. St Hilda’s undergraduate, Georgie Daniell (Experimental Psychology, 2013), second from left, was part of the winning female reserve boat in the Newton Women’s Reserve Boat Race!

Oxford’s most intimate music venue was opened to the public in 1995 and has been a dedicated concert hall and creative meeting space ever since. We would like to take this chance to thank all donors and supporters.

20th Birthday

St Hilda’s College Annual Review 2014 – 2015

…and highlights ahead The Jacqueline du Pré Music Building will conclude its 20th Anniversary year with concerts by acclaimed JdP patron Steven Isserlis CBE Over the last 20 years, the JdP has secured its position as a first-class concert venue, a hub of creativity known for its unique contribution to the cultural life of both the University and Oxfordshire. Throughout the anniversary year, there have been special concerts to bring back many who helped to establish the JdP. The special programme draws to a close on 12 and 13 February 2016 with the great British cellist Steven Isserlis giving his first-ever survey of the six Bach cello suites in concert form. The appointment of new Fellows Five new stipendiary Junior Research Fellows will take up their posts over the next two years. The new Royal Literary Fund Fellowship offers students individual appointments to discuss all aspects of their writing, such as structuring an argument and improving style.

Keys to success

International Design Competition – Transforming St Hilda’s With the College’s 125th anniversary in 2018 approaching, St Hilda’s is seeking innovative responses from architects to transform the quality of the main gateway to the College from Cowley Place. The development will improve and increase the accommodation, tutorial and seminar space that it offers to students and Fellows. (Read more in the Transforming St Hilda’s section on page 10)

Development of the Fulford House, Stockmore House and Iffley Rd properties to become a graduate centre for St Hilda’s The final stage of a five-year project to raise the quality and the number of rooms for our 200-strong graduate community is underway. Plans will be submitted in 2016 to turn these College properties into an integrated centre, sharing a garden and offering bespoke flats and rooms close to College. The redevelopment of these buildings will add 20 new rooms, renovate the existing rooms and communal areas to suit the needs of today’s students.

Upcoming events These are just a handful of our forthcoming events. Please visit our website www.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk or call our events team on 01865 276 828

12/13 FEB

MARCH

An academic environment which allows all students to thrive

APRIL

JUNE

Steven Isserlis JdP 20th Anniversary concert ASM London Tea Talk on ‘Inferno a cultural history of Hell’ by Dr Margaret Kean, Dame Helen Gardner Fellow in English American Friends of St Hilda’s Dinner Venue: Cosmos Club, DC Garden Party & Reunions Reunions for those who came up in 1950-52 1986, 1996, 2006, MCR 2006-8

Our Undergraduates The motto of St Hilda’s of course is excellence and equality. What this sums up is a very clear and powerful focus on supporting our students to be the best they possibly can academically, in an environment which allows them to thrive, whatever their background. We put a great deal of effort into mentoring and providing other assistance to those students who strike difficulties – personal, academic, or financial. The success of our approach is shown by the fact that amongst our 2015 finalists, over 98% of students achieved a result of at least a 2.i. This was a much better performance than the University average on this measure and demonstrates the extent to which we seek to support all our students. In terms of helping those from less traditional backgrounds to come to Oxford, we have recently more clearly focused the way we approach access issues. With a newly re-defined position of School Programmes and Recruitment Officer (to which Ms Hannah Rolley, formerly deputy head of sixth form at Banbury Academy, has been appointed), the College is seeking to take a very targeted approach to supporting students from state schools in our allocated outreach region of Surrey. This will be through developing new in-school programmes and educational ‘hubs’ supported by the College in key schools in the area, to give these students the skills as well as the aspiration to apply to Oxford and other Russell Group universities.

The composition of the undergraduates in terms of their secondary schools at the point of applying to the College was 46% UK maintained schools, 38% UK independent schools, and 15% non-UK schools. The examination performance of undergraduates in 2014/15 was very good, with 27% of finalists achieving 1st class degrees, 71.2% 2.is and 1.8% 2.iis, with no 3rds or unclassified degrees. The College was placed 17th on the interim Norrington Table, which is the best result for the College since the Table took on its current form in the mid-1980s. But what we are particularly excited about is providing a solidly academic, enjoyable, and highly supported foundation for success by all our students. I want to sincerely congratulate all our finalists for their fantastic efforts this year and across the whole of their degrees, whatever their final result.

“What we are particularly excited about is providing a solidly academic, enjoyable, and highly supported foundation for success by all our students.”

DR MARC BRODIE Senior Tutor

Geographic origin Undergraduates

Geographic origin Postgraduates

Achievements and Performance The number of enrolled students during the year was 599 across the full range of disciplines, of which 395 were following 3or 4-year undergraduate degree courses, 121 were carrying out research for Doctorates, 14 were studying Clinical Medicine, and the remaining 69 were following 1- or 2-year graduate courses. The geographical origin of current students is shown in the tables.

307

Other EU/EEA

Overseas

TOTAL 395

TOTAL 204

St Hilda’s College Annual Review 2014 – 2015

Olly Jackson 3rd Year Classics Over the summer of 2014, I was entered into a competition for the Diana Livesey Prize for writing, where the task was to produce an essay on the title ‘Found’. The only idea I could come up with for approaching this essay was to explore where the word ‘found’ comes from, etymologically speaking; I am a Classics student, and one of my passions in the subject is linguistics. So in due course I wrote a piece winding my way through the history of ‘found-related’ words, throwing in a few jokes and generally having a fun time writing. I didn’t really have any conception of winning; I was just writing for the sake of writing. So I was surprised, but ultimately delighted when I got presented with the prize by that year’s judge, Mary-Kay Wilmers (the esteemed editor of the London Review of Books). It was a wonderful way to start the year! Olly as Lee Scoresby in the stage version of His Dark Materials, 2015

Rumana Ali 2nd Year History Rumana Ali successfully achieved a place on Oxford University’s highly competitive exchange scheme with Princeton University. Rumana is spending September to December 2015 at Princeton, before returning to Oxford to complete her studies. The Princeton-Oxford Exchange Programme is for Oxford students studying History, Engineering or Biochemistry – for a History student, this means swapping the first term of their second year at Oxford for a 15-week term at Princeton. There were only three places for all second-year historians at Oxford, so this is a fantastic achievement and opportunity for Rumana. Speaking after she had been awarded her place on the programme, Rumana said: ‘I’m super-duper excited about the whole thing, and all my tutors at Oxford have been so supportive. Getting into Oxford has further persuaded me to grab every opportunity and run with it. I’m hoping to study 20th century Japan and the Middle East (writing a 9,000 word thesis), as well as some British poetry under the Princeton English faculty.’ Congratulations to Rumana!

James Russell 3rd Year Engineering As one of the students to be awarded a Diamond Jubilee Scholarship by the Institution of Engineering and Technology while in his first year at St Hilda’s, James has continued to build on his success. As a second-year Engineering student, James was awarded a Fozmula Bursary by UK based sensor specialists Fozmula Ltd and the Department of Engineering Science. Fozmula Bursaries are awarded to give talented students from the UK a chance to enter a career in engineering. Eligibility is based upon proven academic ability and a commitment to the profession of engineering. During his intensive placement, James made a significant contribution to several projects. Most notably, he was able to employ his electronic and mathematical skills to help improve the compensation algorithms used in a new high-temperature variant of Fozmula’s flagship fuel level sensor. Many congratulations on these impressive achievements!

Our Graduates PHILIPPA HULLEY

St Hilda’s now has just over 200 graduate students drawn from all academic fields. These include a growing number of students with Rhodes, Marshall, Ertegun, Harvard and other scholarships. In 2015-16, we look forward to the first Clarendon Dr Mary Frances Wagley Scholars arriving. Thanks to an endowed scholarship fund from Dr Wagley, the College has been able to partner with the prestigious Clarendon scholarship programme and has established three new fully-funded graduate scholarships for the sciences. These are the first shared awards with the University under the Clarendon scheme. We attract many top international students and have close working relationships with several of the elite Doctoral Training Centres within the University of Oxford. The MCR Committee co-ordinates an active social and peer support group. Following on from the very exciting series of MCR research events held in both 2013-14 and 2014-15 (www.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk/researcharchives/graduate-students-research-forum) the current St Hilda’s MCR have organised open research presentations in both Michaelmas Term 2015 and Hilary Term 2016, with 6 speakers per event ranging across the disciplines. The popular poster competition held before the Graduate Supervisors’ Dinner will also be held again in Trinity Term 2016. The venue is the Vernon Harcourt Room, overlooking the river and Christ Church Meadows, and will be attended by the Principal and SCR members as well as MCR. Senior Members are welcome to these events, please contact the Development Office for details and to register.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR PHILIPPA HULLEY Fellow in Biomedical Sciences and Tutor for Graduates

MCR Overview: Fairness and Conscience 2014-2015 has been accompanied by ever-growing apprehension about the political climate amongst the national student community, and that has had an impact on my job as student representative as well. Two moments of successful collaboration with University students as a whole stand out to my memory: when the University’s graduate accommodation at Castle Mill came under siege and when the University committed to divest from coal and tar sands. In our Common Room, things have been comparatively peaceful. St Hilda’s continues to invest in its graduate accommodation, and now has some of the best accommodation offered to graduates in Oxford. Relationships between the MCR and College are excellent, which has led to many small improvements in accommodation and Common Room facilities, as well as to some structural changes too, for instance the room distribution system. I am very happy that the College is planning to provide a larger common room in the future. I hope that St Hilda’s will continue to stand for fairness and conscience and that graduate students will play a more active role in the creation and defence of those ideals. Most importantly, I hope that more graduates will find a way around departmental and lab-related temporal constraints to become involved with our Committee. In safeguarding that future, I hope MCR members will have as fulfilling and stimulating a time at St Hilda’s as I have had. From the report by

JOHANNA SCHNURR MCR President 2014-15

Total number of graduate students:

204 F

104 FEMALE

100 MALE

55%

NON UK = GRADUATES

Different nationalities for graduates

St Hilda’s College Annual Review 2014 – 2015

Current MCR Committee Academic Officer Daniel Kohn wins the poster prize at the ISNA conference in Madrid This summer, I had the pleasure of being able to attend the International Symposium of Novel Aromatic Compounds (ISNA 16) in Madrid. In my field of organic chemistry this is one of the biggest and most exciting conferences. There was a vast array of international speakers and attendees spanning 50 countries and totalling nearly 600 people. I presented a poster detailing the research I have undertaken in the 1st year of my DPhil entitled ‘Porphyrin-Polyyne Polyrotaxanes’. I was awarded the poster prize at this conference as well as a cash prize and a year’s subscription to two journals. It truly was an enriching experience and allowed me to really expand my chemistry horizons. It also gave me the chance to talk with some of the biggest names in my area of chemistry. I was proud to represent Oxford University and St Hilda’s College on the international stage. All of this was possible thanks to a generous award from St Hilda’s to go towards my registration fee and travel and I am very grateful.

DANIEL KOHN (current DPhil in Organic Chemistry)

St Hilda’s DPhil graduate wins BMVA Thesis Prize Every year, the British Machine Vision Association and Society for Pattern Recognition (BMVA) awards a prize for the best thesis brought to its attention amongst those examined in the previous calendar year. Dr Mattias Heinrich has been awarded the 2014 prize for his thesis, ‘Deformable lung registration for pulmonary image analysis of MRI and CT scans’. Dr Heinrich was at the CRUK/EPSRC Cancer Imaging Centre at Oxford, working under the supervision of Professor Julia Schnabel, before becoming Junior Chair at the Institute of Medical Informatics at the University of Luebeck in Germany.

DR MATTIAS HEINRICH (Junior Professor at Universität zu Lübeck, Germany)

2014 EFLA Award for best thesis on European Law Congratulations to St Hilda’s alumna, Dr Anzhela Yevgenyeva, who was awarded the 2014 ELFA Award for the best thesis on European Law. Anzhela recently completed her doctorate on direct taxation and the internal market. The ELFA (The European Law Faculties Association) award is a prestigious international prize granted to an outstanding doctoral thesis on the subject of European law, including comparative law aspects. The jury consists of renowned academics. The official Award ceremony took place on 1 October 2014 at the European Parliament in Brussels.

DR ANZHELA YEVGENYEVA (Research Fellow at Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation, Saïd Business School)

Research & Discovery “We have been able to offer stipendiary appointments to five outstanding young researchers who will join us as Junior Research Fellows over the next two years. Part of their role will be to help sustain the intellectual environment offered by the College.” PROFESSOR ANNE EDWARDS

Supernumerary Fellow and coordinator of the St Hilda’s Research Working Group

Research is an important part of Fellows’ lives, it underpins the excellent teaching our students receive and helps create the intellectual environment of the College. St Hilda’s research in subject specialisms is outstanding and highly regarded internationally; but being part of a college community also gives the opportunity to talk across subject boundaries. Therefore, over the last year we have been taking advantage of the breadth of our research strengths by funding and encouraging inter-disciplinary research collaborations. Examples among several include Music and the Brain, which brings together medicine, music, philosophy and psychology; and Minding the Gaps, a study of the meaning and value of equality, which draws on criminology, history and law to examine a theme that is central to St Hilda’s mission. Professor Sir Gordon Duff, Principal of St Hilda’s College, was appointed Chair of the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council. Dr Robert Paton, Fellow in Organic Chemistry, received a Royal Society of Chemistry 2015 Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize. St Hilda’s College has had two successes in the University of Oxford’s 2015 Recognition of Distinction exercise. Warmest congratulations to Professor Selina Todd and Professor Susan Jones, who have each received a Recognition of Distinction Award and with it the title of Professor. ‘The People: The Rise and Fall of the Working Class 1910–2010’ (John Murray) by Professor Selina Todd, Vice Principal and Fellow in Modern History, was one of seven books shortlisted in the Paddy Power Political Book Awards in the Political History category. Professor Susan Jones was Spring Fellow at NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts and gave the inaugural Talks on Ballet events in New York on ‘Grace in the Twentieth Century’.

Professor Alison Noble, Fellow at St Hilda’s College and Director of the Institute for Biomedical Engineering at the Department of Engineering Science, was awarded the inaugural Laura Bassi award for Outstanding Female Researcher of the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE). ‘The Oxford Handbook of Greek Drama in the Americas’, co-edited by Professor Fiona Macintosh, Director of the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD) in the Classics Faculty, Professor of Classical Reception, and Supernumerary Fellow of St Hilda’s, was published by Oxford University Press in June 2015. Professor Daniel Wakelin, Jeremy Griffiths Professor of Medieval English Palaeography, was joint winner of the DeLong History Book Prize 2015 by SHARP (the Society for History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing) for his book, ‘Scribal Correction and Literary Craft: English Manuscripts 1375-1510’ by Cambridge University Press, 2014. ‘The Oxford Handbook of Numerical Cognition’, co-edited by Dr Ann Dowker, University Research Lecturer at the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford and Psychology Lecturer at St Hilda’s College, was published by Oxford University Press in July 2015. Dr Rachel Condry, Associate Professor of Criminology, gave an invited paper in Finland in June 2015 to a symposium organised by Professor Martha Nussbaum (University of Chicago) and philosophers from the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki. The theme of the symposium was ‘Reconciliation and Forgiveness’ and Rachel’s paper addressed the topic of forgiveness and anger at the personal and family level and its implications for criminal justice. Read more about research at St Hilda’s online.

St Hilda’s College Annual Review 2014 – 2015

Professor Amanda Cooper-Sarkar 2015 Chadwick Medal and Prize awarded to Professor Amanda CooperSarkar by the Institute of Physics – reflections on her achievement

Edith Coulton (1973, Physics) writes:

Professor Cooper-Sarkar is one of the world’s most distinguished high energy physicists working in the area of deep inelastic scattering experiments. Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) is analogous to the use of an electron microscope. A high energy electron strikes a proton to reveal its inner structure. Winning the 2015 Chadwick Medal and Prize is richly deserved and Professor Cooper-Sarkar’s award is significant in a number of important ways. Whilst there have been innovative women scientists involved in many of the key stages in developing our understanding of the nucleus, they are relatively few. Marie Curie (1903) and Maria Goeppert Mayer (1963) are the only female recipients – so far – of a Nobel Physics Prize. The Chadwick Medal was instituted in 2008 and Professor Cooper-Sarkar is the first woman to be awarded this prize. As an undergraduate, I was tutored by Christiane Wilkinson, whose specialism was nuclear physics and I can remember the sense of excitement at the discovery of a

whole host of new subatomic particles. That excitement continues today and Amanda Cooper-Sarker plays a leading role in the ATLAS groups at CERN that are making new measurements of the proton structure function, thereby ensuring that new generations are able to use the techniques that she has devised. Her work contributes enormously to that human striving to answer the ‘big questions’. I have spent my professional life endeavouring to convey my excitement at what Physics can offer to the enquiring minds of young people. The largest part of my career has been spent teaching girls (I retired from Oxford High School in August 2015) and my aim has always been to show them that ‘girls can do Physics’. Recent surveys have shown that (i) at A-level, only 8% of students in computing were female and 22% in physics (ii) the UK proportion of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) jobs is just 9% (iii) 77% of girls believe that the science and technology sector lacks high-profile female role models. Professor Cooper-Sarkar’s award will go some way to redress that balance.

“We were delighted with the response from the architectural practices we approached and appreciated the care they took with their submissions. The practices that won through did so because of their depth of analysis and connection with the College’s values. This will be a defining project for the College – energising and inspirational – giving St Hilda’s the opportunity to make an assured architectural statement and contribute to the much-celebrated Oxford cityscape.” PRINCIPAL SIR GORDON DUFF

Transforming St Hilda’s The College seeks to transform the architectural quality of its public entrance with a new building to frame St Hilda’s exceptional setting on the river Cherwell. The project, which is linked to the College’s 125th anniversary in 2018, will improve and increase the accommodation for students and Fellows, as well as providing new social and teaching spaces.

The teams will produce their concept designs by 15 January 2016. There will be a period of review followed by jury interviews and a report. During February, there will be a exhibition period for alumnae and friends to view the designs. Follow the progression on the St Hilda’s website (www.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk/ college/redefining-st-hildas).

Step One: international design competition An international design competition began in August to help select architects with the vision and expertise to develop the site. The search is led by the specialists in international architectural competitions, London-based Malcolm Reading Consultants. From a ‘long list’ of nineteen firms of architects, 5 firms were shortlisted in October and will submit their designs at the start of 2016.

A site model has been prepared into which the designs from the competing firms will be inserted.

The shortlisted teams for the design competition are: 6a architects DRDH Architects Gort Scott Hall McKnight Tim Ronalds Architects

Oxford from a different angle The upper floors of the development will open new views of the Oxford skyline for the College community.

St Hilda’s College Annual Review 2014 – 2015

“These are all highly accomplished and awardwinning practices that carefully read our Expression of Interest and took the project to heart. St Hilda’s is known for its creative and sociable atmosphere but it combines this with a serious academic approach. It is this rare combination of flair and rigour that positions the College so well for the future.”

Step Two: Jury selects winning design in Spring 2016

COMPETITION ORGANISER Malcolm Reading

Our College Community International Women’s Day

Gender Equality Festival

St Hilda’s College celebrated International Women’s Day 2015 by hosting ‘Feminism in Oxford’, an event jointly sponsored by the College and Women in the Humanities at TORCH. Speakers Melissa Benn, Trudy Coe, Caroline Criado-Perez and Imaobong Umoren discussed the state of women’s rights and feminism. The event is now available to watch. www.torch.ox.ac.uk/international-womensday-2015.

The JCR hosted St Hilda’s Gender Equality Festival, organised by the JCR Women’s Officer, and St Hilda’s Arts Week, organised by the JCR Arts Officer. These events gave support to a wide range of sporting, artistic, dramatic and musical ventures.

Carnevale di Venezia

‘The Lodge is the front of house for the College and is open 24 hours so the two porters on duty at any time face different challenges depending on the hour.

Created around ‘Carnevale di Venezia’ theme, the St Hilda’s College Ball 2015 took place in May and offered dining guests the chance to be punted along the Cherwell to a Venetian banquet. In a first for St Hilda’s Balls, the tickets all sold out (despite an extra allocation being made available) and the event saw a good mix of current St Hilda’s students, alumnae and guests from other colleges.

Peter Tullett’s ‘View from the Lodge’

Starting, say, at Michaelmas Term there is the arrival of the Freshers, both Grad and Undergrad, so we are issuing keys and fielding enquiries. We get lots of support from the College Offices and Departments. The pigeon holes will have been allocated and there is usually a lot of mail – and I mean a LOT. We attend fire alarms, provide first aid and keep our eyes open. We have a very good CCTV system which has just been upgraded and an access system is being installed on all buildings.’ And an added challenge this year was looking after Teabag and her new litter of kittens. An extract from Peter’s full interview which you can read online.

St Hilda’s College Annual Review 2014 – 2015

Oxford Open Doors

Congratulations

For the first time, the Library took part in the Oxford Open Doors event on the weekend of 12-13 September. This is an annual weekend for local people to discover more about their world famous city. This year the theme was ‘Books, libraries and printing’, so it was an ideal opportunity for us to introduce our beautiful library to the general public and mount an exhibition of photographs from the Archives.

Ella Bryant organised OUSU Workshop Facilitator training for students to become facilitators for OUSU Sexual Consent Workshops in Trinity Term 2015.

MCR Exchange Events

On completing his undergraduate course in Geography, Tim Baxter was accepted on the Teach First Leadership Programme and started training to be a Maths teacher.

The MCR chose to organise more exchange events with other MCRs than in the past, to great popularity. There was also a Christmas party, a Ceilidh and a Viennese Waltz evening, huge guest nights, an exam-time welfare event with committee-baked cakes, and many, many more social events. They not only served as much needed distractions from academic pressure, but also to bring our members together, building interdisciplinary and international friendships that we will take with us from Oxford and cherish as much as our degrees. Cuppers Champions

Helgi Clayton McClure organised the St Hilda’s Arts Week, in 7th week of Trinity Term 2015. Amalia Bastos won the Academic Category in the University of Oxford’s Undergraduate Photography Competition 2015

Two 3rd year St Hilda’s students, Yunshu Li and George Brown, were part of a team of undergraduates from the Department of Engineering Science that visited Geneva to present their engineering design projects to CERN, the European organisation for nuclear research in April 2015.

“The JCR committee has shown impressive commitment to their individual roles and a real desire to improve College life in any way they can.” MARK THORNTON 3rd Year Classics and Ancient History

Hurrah for Half-Blues

Awarded Half-Blues were: Georgie Daniell, Rowing; Sam Holder, Mountain Bike; Min Ji Kim, Basketball; Isabel Hunt, Real Tennis; Bruce Leavitt, Ultimate Frisbee.

St Hilda’s Rugby 7s were Cuppers Champions, as were Quilda’s Hockey XI (Queen’s and St Hilda’s).

Applause! “The ASM Committe is delighted to be supporting alumna and film maker Libz Dorsett’s 125th Anniversary Project – Living History – a series of filmed interviews featuring talented and inspiring alumnae across the generations” RUTH FULLER-SESSIONS (1986) Chair of the Association of Senior Members

Congratulations to Senior Members recognised in the 2015 Honours Lists Professor Dame Anne Mills DCMG, FRS (1970) awarded a DCMG for services to international health. Baroness Fall of Ladbroke Grove (Kate Fall, 1986) was made a life peer in recognition of her work as Deputy Chief of Staff for David Cameron. Dr Jeanne Foley MBE (Smith, 1955) awarded MBE for services to disabled children and their families.

Ms Meg Hillier MP (Lab) (1987) has been elected chair of the Public Accounts Committee. Professor Parveen Yaqoob (1987) appointed Head of the School of Chemistry, Food & Pharmacy at the University of Reading.

Ms Sarah Staniforth CBE (1971) was made a CBE in the New Year’s Honours 2015, for services to National Heritage.

Ms Sharon Hague (1988) appointed Board member, Pearson Education Limited.

Ms Karina Gould (2011) has been elected MP for the Liberal Party in Burlington, Canada. Mrs Gail Mooney (Turner, 1969) has been honoured with the award of Encomienda de Isabel la Católica, by HM the King of Spain, for promoting Spanish art and culture through lectures and study tours to the British in the UK and abroad Professor Sarah Curtis FBA (1973) elected as FBA in the summer of 2014. Zanny Minton-Beddoes

Mrs Frances King (Imray, 1979) appointed to take on the position of Chief Executive Officer and Head of Mill Hill School Foundation, London NW7 as from 1st Jan 2016. Mrs Claire Locke (Bullock, 1979) has been appointed High Sheriff for the Isle of Wight for the year 2014-2015.

Ms Zanny Minton-Beddoes (1986) became the first ever female editor of The Economist.

Mrs Katharine Pugh OBE (Maxwell, 1969) awarded an OBE for services to heritage.

Awards, appointments and elections

Sharon Hague

Mrs Deborah Freeman Fahid (Freeman, 1982) appointed Assistant Curator and the Head of Publications for The al-Sabah Collection, the Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait. ‘I curated an exhibition entitled ‘Splendors of the Ancient East: Antiquities from The al-Sabah Collection’ that opened in Kuwait at the Am.’

Dr Catherine Redford (2003) elected as a Fellow of Hertford College, Oxford (2015).

Miss Kirsty Thomson (1990) on 1 May 2014 was made a partner at Linklaters LLP. “I continue to be based in the Banking department, where I lead the Knowledge and Learning Team. In September 2014 I published a Linklaters report on the European Central Bank’s asset quality review.” Dr Deborah Horowitz (1993) appointed Managing Director of Creative Content and Programming for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles, California. Mrs Hana Mottlová (1994) since January 2014 is the Czech Republic Ambassador to Ireland. Entreprenuers Miss Caroline Godfrey (2001) set up Lantana Publishing with fellow St Hilda’s graduate, Alice Curry. ‘We are an independent publishing company focusing on addressing the current lack of diversity in children’s books.’ Dr Karen van Oostrum (Butterworth, 1992) set up her own business in February 2015 ‘All About Plants’ and runs taster courses for adults in Botany, Microscopy, Genetics and Plant Breeding.

St Hilda’s College Annual Review 2014 – 2015

Supporting St Hilda’s

30 th Reunion 2015 Garden Party

Thank you to all who contributed to St Hilda’s College in the past year! Your support is vital to ensure current and future students have access to the personalised teaching, financial support and facilities to allow them to realise their potential during their time in Oxford.

With our 125th Anniversary fast approaching, we are looking forward to inspiring as many of our alumnae and friends as possible to show the strength of their feelings for St Hilda’s by making a gift or regular gift to the College. Your participation makes a tremendous difference. Participation From an 11% participation rate in 2007, the percentage of alumnae now giving to the College has increased steadily to the current level of 20%. While this is similar to our peer group of former women’s colleges, we lag behind other colleges in Oxford with a 30% participation rate. We encourage alumnae and friends to join the 1893 Society which recognises those whose total gifts over time are between £1,000 - £5,000 or who commit to making a regular gift. Further details are online. Making a difference

Legacy giving To find out more about leaving a legacy gift, giving annually or making a major gift to benefit a specific aspect of College life, please contact Bronwyn Travers on +44 1865 276828 or email her at bronwyn.travers@st-hildas.ox.ac.uk

During the past year, legacies and major gifts from alumnae and friends have made a great difference to the College, bringing the long-held ambitions and plans for new facilities and support for students within reach. We are grateful to the American Friends of St Hilda’s for their encouragement and support in planning for 2018 and hope Senior Members in other regions will join in!

Participation 2,000

1,500

1,000

500

0 YEARS

09-10

10-11

11-12

12-13

13-14

14-15

13-14

14-15

Number of event attendances Number of donors

Total Gifts £5 mil

£4 mil

£3 mil

£2 mil

£1 mil

£0 YEARS

09-10

10-11

11-12

12-13

Financial overview After the flurry of activity associated with the purchase and occupation of new postgraduate accommodation buildings in the last two years, this year has been a quieter year for the Bursary, one of consolidation and planning for the future, of which more later. Financial position and outlook The unaudited Statement of Financial Activities and the Balance Sheet at 31 July 2015 show an increase in the net assets of the College during the year of £6.7 million, up from £55.7 million at 31 July 2014 to £62.4 million at 31 July 2015. This continues the phase of steady growth over the last five years. I am pleased to be able to report that the College remains in a healthy financial position, and indeed has been able to strengthen that position during the course of the year, thanks to a number of exceptionally generous legacies and donations made by former alumnae of the College and gains in our investment portfolio. We count ourselves very fortunate that the College and future generations of students are able to benefit in this way from the fond memories and in many cases transformative experiences of those alumnae. The significance of the legacies and donations to our total income for this year is evident from the following chart. Another important source of income for the College is our Conferences and Events activities which make an indispensable contribution to the College’s regular income. Quite simply, we could not operate without it, and it is therefore pleasing to report that in 2014/15 the College generated its highest ever income from this source, amounting to almost £1 million. This is an excellent performance and congratulations are due to all in the Domestic Bursar’s team, who have made this possible.

The building plans being developed will allow us to consolidate and in time grow our income from this source. One small contribution this year has come from the fact that, as I reported last year, we are now licenced to conduction civil marriages and civil partnerships, and conducted our first in August of this year. Looking forward, it is difficult to see beyond the immediate challenge of financing the College’s ambitious building plans to mark its 125th anniversary in 2018. The campaign that will in due course be launched by the Development Office will form a large and critical component of this funding, but we also expect to have to borrow additional funds to complement this and to provide the necessary flexibility to maintain momentum in construction.

“I am pleased to be able to report that the College remains in a healthy financial position... thanks to a number of exceptionally generous legacies and donations made by former alumnae of the College and gains in our investment portfolio.” Sources of Income for College

Principal’s Discretionary Funds During the year, £2,710 has been paid out of the Mary and Tony Moore Fund by way of four grants to meet cases of financial hardship amongst both postgraduate and undergraduate students. The American Friends Hardship Fund and Rosina Harris Fund also gave a grant of £2,000 to one student from the American Friends.

Legacies & donations

37%

Residential

24%

People

Tuition fees & grants

22%

The Bursary staff continue to perform exceptionally well, and it is therefore a pleasure to be able to report that we have been able to help our lowest paid staff by increasing the minimum rates of pay to the level of the Living Wage. As a result of this, the College became accredited by the Living Wage Foundation in August this year.

Investment income

13%

Trading other

Invested funds & other net assets Other assets (net)

£80 mil

Invested funds

£70 mil £60 mil £50 mil

FRANK GARGENT Bursar

£40 mil £30 mil £20 mil £10 mil £0 2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

St Hilda’s College Annual Review 2014 – 2015

“Current day tuition fees meet only a proportion of the costs of the education that St Hilda’s provides and other sources of income are required; this situation is worsening rather than improving. The College supplements its tuition, accommodation and catering income to the tune of almost £2.2 million pa through its investment income and hosting conferences and the like, but this is still insufficient to invest in new facilities to meet justified student and guest expectations. Hence the need to raise additional capital by means of donations and legacies to be able to continue to develop the College.” EXTRACT FROM 2014 ST HILDA’S SOCIETY TALK BY FRANK GARGENT, BURSAR

Photography credits: Amalia Bastos Alex Lentati Emily Whitfield-Wicks DANSOX Dominic Turner Fozmula Ltd Ian Wallman

Upcoming events

12/13 FEB

MARCH

APRIL

JdP 20th Anniversary Concert with Steven Isserlis CBE, St Hilda’s

London Tea Lansdowne Club, London St Hilda’s Dinner Washington, DC St Hilda’s Day Oxford Literary Festival

Summer Drinks Summer Drinks in the City, London

Garden Party & Family Day St Hilda’s, including reunions for those who came up in 1950-52, 1986, 1996, 2006, MCR 2006-8

JUNE

16-17 SEP

Gaudy Weekend St Hilda’s, including reunions for those who came up in 1956, 1960-62, 1966, 1976

St Hilda’s Medical Society Conference ‘Crossing Boundaries: Challenges in Global Health’

2009 MA Reunion St Hilda’s, Reunion Lunch for those who matriculated in 2009

SEP

OCT

St Hilda’s College Cowley Place Oxford OX4 1DY Telephone: +44 (0) 1865 276 828 www.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk

Bronwyn Travers Michael Roberson Fran Woodcock With thanks to all contributors and Nick Kavanagh and Bethan Emerson, Crop Studio