News roundup – August, 2022
Each month we bring together all of the latest news from our extended Univ family. From Alumni and College news, to updates on Univ North and our Profile and Treasure features. We hope you enjoy this month’s news from Univ — all in one place…
If you have news to share or ideas for features please email communications@univ.ox.ac.uk
College News
• We are celebrating ten years of online news from our extended Univ family – find out more in Univ’s decade of web news
• In May, Maria Ordovas-Montanes (2015, BBSRC DTP Medicine) became the first recorded female to complete the 55-mile Oxford Green Belt Way.
• A Univ Old Members’ Trust Graduate Travel Report by Emily Rowland (2020, Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Medicine). Read Molecular Neurobiology – Greece 2022
• Find out what happened at our June Open Days and what to expect from September’s opportunity to visit Univ in our Open Days June 2022 report
• Read the Graduate Old Members’ Trust Report by Gloria Wai Shan Ma (2019, DPhil in Experimental Psychology) –Presenting: Improving Emotional Well-Being.
• Are you an artist who wants to share your work with the student body? Find out more about the Freshers’ 2022 Postcard Design Competition.
• Ben Jackson, Leslie Mitchell Tutorial Fellow in History, has been awarded the title of Professor in the University’s Recognition of Distinction 2022.
• Find out more about some of the wonderful summer events that have been hosted this year in the Master’s Garden.
• A Univ Old Members’ Trust Graduate Travel Report by Catherine Phipps (2018, Doctor of Philosophy in History) – Society for the Study of French History conference.
• Explore one of the most unusual episodes in the history of Radcliffe Quad in Then and Now: Masque of Hope.
• On Sunday 11 September, in collaboration with the Oxford Preservation Trust, Univ will be taking part in Oxford Open Doors.
• Alex Benn (2018, Law), Senior Lecturer in Law, has set up a new module with the Law Faculty – “Hate Crime and Discrimination”.
• Nur Laiq (2020, DPhil History) visited San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and New York for research; read their Univ Old Members’ Trust Graduate Travel Report.
Read all of Univ’s College news or explore Univ’s Treasures.
Alumni News
• From 5-9 September 2022, Nick Schlee (1952, English) has an exhibition of oil paintings and drawings at Gallery 8 in London called “Dazzling Water”.
• The latest novel by Amanda Brookfield (1979, English), Univ’s Visitor in the Creative Arts 2018-19, was published on 10 August; Find out more about The Split.
• Lieutenant Jack Edwards (2014, History) has been presented with the Beaufort-Wharton Award.
• Rebecca Kuang (2019, MSc Contemporary Chinese Studies) has written a new novel, Babel.
• We invited some of Univ’s entrepreneurs to talk about what inspires them and how they got started on their journey. Meet Dr Mark Catherall (2003, MEng & DPhil Engineering).
Read all of Univ’s Alumni news.
Profiles
• Meet Naomi Tromans, 2020, Psychology, – find out more about Naomi in her Profile Feature.
• Max Bolton (2021, PPE), discusses choosing a college, his favourite part of Univ and enjoying the beauty of Oxford in his Profile Feature.
Explore all of our Profile Features.
Reviews
• Oliver K (Physics) explores Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw’s Why Does E=mc2?
• James (French) reviews Guy de Maupassant’s A Parisian Affair and Other Stories.
Discover more student-led Reviews.
In Brief
• John Authers (1985, PPE) penned “Britain Still Can’t Look Beyond Oxford for Its Leader” on the diversity of Britain and the Conservative party for the Washington Post.
• Dr Maren Schentuleit, Lady Wallis Budge Fellow and Associate Professor of Egyptology and Coptic Studies, has been named the Director of the Griffith Institute for 2022/23. She has also joined the Advisory Board for the ERC project, From Texts to Literature: Demotic Egyptian Papyri and the Formation of the Hebrew Bible.
• Professor Polly Jones, Schrecker-Barbour Fellow in Slavonic Studies, has appeared several times on Times Radio, and on the Baillie-Gifford Prize ‘Read Smart’ podcast to discuss the Ukraine war. She also has also helped to create the Modern Languages faculty scheme of online residences for Ukrainian academics and won a John Fell fund grant to work with Ukrainian historians Tamara Vronska and Olena Stiazhkina on a data rescue and digitisation project involving Soviet history archives.
• Professor Trevor Sharp, Tutorial Fellow in Neuroscience, was elected President of the International Society for Serotonin Research. He gave a plenary lecture on neuropharmacology of serotonin to the Sri Lanka Association of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and published papers on this in Journal of Psychopharmacology and the European Journal of Neuroscience. He also successfully completed Vasaloppet (Swedish 90 km cross country ski event) for the tenth time, and this year he was the first (and only) Brit home in his age group.
• Professor Robert I Rotberg (1957, History), is vice-chair of Integrity Initiatives International, which campaigns for the establishment of an International Anti-Corruption Court. Since the invasion of Ukraine, he has also been writing an interpretive newsletter, available for free at Conflict Mitigation Newsletter.
Publications
• Dr Laura Varnam, Lecturer in Old and Middle English, has published the co-edited volume Encountering The Book of Margery Kempe (with Laura Kalas). She published an essay on St Erkenwald in Old St Paul’s and Culture, contributed to the community translation project Beowulf by All, and poems from her collection inspired by the women of Beowulf were published in a number of literary venues.
Professor Tamsin Mather, Supernumerary Fellow in Earth Sciences, has acted as a consultant on two books for children: Cope Disaster Champions’ Volcanoes and Tara Binns: Visionary Volcanologist.
Published: 31 August 2022
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