A year in review 2023
As we move into 2024 – which promises to be a year to remember as we celebrate the 775th anniversary of the College – we look back here across the last 12 months of Univ life.
We welcomed our Poet Laureate, celebrated our International “At Home” day, cheered on our incredible athletes, announced amazing publications and academic achievements, published new podcasts (including one with Armando Iannucci), remembered colleagues lost and welcomed colleagues new…
January
Univ’s Poet Laureate Pireeni Sundaralingam (photo credit: Sophie Erlund)
2023 began with the news that Emma Tucker (1986, PPE) had been appointed as the new and Professor Stephen Keevil (1983, Physics) has been appointed .
We were also delighted to announce that poet and cognitive scientist Pireeni Sundaralingam (1986, Experimental Psychology) would be joining us as our inaugural .
Our first Treasure of the year covered Edmond Halley’s and we explored the history of the Logic Lane bridge in our January . Further afield our first batch of Travel Reports ranged in destinations from the US (, , ) to .
Read all of our .
February
East Timor resplendently represented at our “At Home” Day.
Our opened at the start of February, paving the way for both some amazing adventures and fascinating Travel Reports, such as the one written by Lucie de Gentile (2018, BA Literae Humaniores) ““.
Closer to 182t¸ŁŔű, the House of Commons played host to the “Culture Wars: Who Owns History”, and Hall was transformed for our inaugural , celebrating the incredible global and cultural diversity of College.
In Alumni news we celebrated the fact that Christina Lamb OBE (1983, PPE) was named , and that Euan Friend (2017, MEarthSci Geology/Earth Sciences) completed the Talisker Whisky in an amazing third place.
Read all of our .
March
16th Univ Annual Football Day
At the start of March we celebrated and, on a sporting front, success in both and . We were also proud to showcase more than 90 Profile of our amazing Univ women Students, Academics, Alumni and Staff in recognition of .
In an important milestone for College, work began at , whilst looking back at our history we remembered a time when our …
A number of our OMs were present at the , and an even greater number attended the .
Read all of our .
April
The Martlet – Issue 15
For our April Treasure our archivist, Dr Robin Darwall-Smith, took us and in return we were delight to report on the publication of his new book .
Staying on the subject of books and publications, this year’s made its online appearance, as did the Hilary Term , whilst our Library reported on the after an absence of more than 60 years on loan to the Museum of the History of Science.
Our covered progress including scheduled tree removals and tree protection measures across all areas of the site and, moving from flora to fauna, Nishta Vaishampayan (2019, BA Oriental Studies) reported on their volunteering at a .
Read all of our .
May
The Coronation of King Charles III
May began with all the pomp and circumstance of the Coronation, at which the Master, Valerie Amos, was involved in of His Majesty; also present was former Master, Lord Butler of Brockwell, who kindly provided with his thoughts on the day in .
Back in Oxford we reached an important milestone with Univ North, holding a on 24 May and highlighting, with new infographics, the importance of . We also reported on College’s , the 10k, and the glorious celebrations.
Read all of our .
June
Rebecca Kuang (2019, MSc Contemporary Chinese Studies)
At the start of June old and current members of the Boat Club gathered together for the Univ , whilst in College, as part of our sustainability push we took part in with a pledge to eat vegetarian or vegan.
We were delighted to present a selection of books recently published by both staff and OMs in our and to announce that Babel, by Rebecca Kuang’s (2019, MSc Contemporary Chinese Studies), had won the .
We also introduced our , ahead of our Open Days on 28 and 29 June and, in this month we explored a book with connections to one of Oxford and Univ’s great benefactors, Dr John Radcliffe, in the feature “”.
Read all of our .
July
Alexander Wallop (2021, Chemistry)
During July we were delighted to report that Dr Dixa Thakrar (2021, DPhil Population Health), Junior Dean, was awarded the SU’s , whilst our Profile Features for the month were on (2021, History) and (2021, Chemistry).
Our development at Stavs took another important step with the completion of the and we were able to conduct hard hat tours of the site as part of the .
We were able to announce that Dr Menaka Guruswamy (1998, Law) has been named the 2023 recipient of the ; whilst and, in our monthly Treasure Feature, we met a .
Read all of our .
August
At the start of August we were delighted to welcome Savannah Philips as our , and to report that someone else starting a new job was OM Keir Mather (MPP, 2020) who, at 25, became the .
In College news Alex Benn, Senior Lecturer in Law, was photographed for Oliver Frank Chanarin’s most recent project, “”.
Our sustainability push continued apace with the news that we were piloting a scheme with local bike couriers, , to fulfil “final mile” delivery to College and, in Univ North news, we were reported on the unveiling of .
Read all of our .
September
We started the month with the wonderful news of the appointment of Dr Mobeen Hussain and Lyn Joanne-Victoire Kouadio as JRFs as part of the . Whilst in Lodge we welcomed new Head Porter, .
The matriculating classes of 1953, 1963 and 1973 were invited, on Friday 8 September 2023, to a special in College hosted by the Master, Baroness Amos, and on Sunday 10 September, in collaboration with the Oxford Preservation Trust, Univ welcomed visitors once again as part of the annual weekend.
Univ also took part in Meeting Minds Oxford, delivering four diverse lectures that can be .
Read all of our .
October
We began October with the news that two Univ Fellows, Christopher MacMinn, Supernumerary Fellow in Engineering Science, and Patrick Rebeschini, Tutorial Fellow in Statistics, had been awarded the , and that Rachel Ojo (2020, PPE) has been selected to represent the UK at .
We were delighted to announce the debut album, From the Floor, of our Undergraduate Admissions and Access Manager,, and the debut book, Unutterable Visions, Perishable Breath, of OM ’s (2012, Law).
Our Profile Features for the month included (2022, PPE), JCR President, (2022, English Literature), JCR Welfare Rep, and (2020, Classics).
Read all of our .
November
During November we reported on the new podcast series from Holly James Johnston’s (2019, English) and were also delighted to introduce you to our new Head Gardener, .
In other news Janet Rogan (1981, History) took up the position of CEO of the (RAS), Wequity, co-founded by (PPE, 2015), announced the closure of a €1.1 million latest funding round, and Professor Charlotte Deane MBE (1993, Chemistry), was named the new Executive Chair of the (EPSRC).
This was also the month in which we marked the 20th anniversary of the death of Roger Short (1963, Classics), the British consul general in Turkey, killed by a terrorist bomb in Istanbul. On his death, his friends, led by Richard Morgan and David Sykes, wanted to establish a lasting memorial to him. The outcome was the Roger Short Memorial Fund, which supports a travel scholarship programme to Turkey and neighbouring countries.
Read all of our .
December
December began with an update to our and the publication of our 2023 – courtesy of our Chapel Choir, Community Choir, and Martlet Voices.
We wrapped up the year with a look back at the progress at and with the online publication of the .
Read all of our .
We greatly encourage and warmly welcome all news – large or small – as we move into 2024, so please share it with us so that we may share it with all; E: communications@univ.ox.ac.uk
Sara, Ariane & Justin – Team Comms
Published: 5 January 2024