Staff Newsletter - November/December 2010

Welcome, Sir Leszek

The Vice-Chancellor on his plans for Cambridge page 8

The remarkable life of a famous skeleton page 6

The magazine for The STaff of The UniVerSiTy of Cambridge noVember/deCember 2010

2 | november/december 2010 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE NEwSlETTER

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neWSLeTTerThe Newsletter is published for the staff of the University of Cambridge and is produced by the Office of External Affairs and Communications. Please send in ideas for the content and other ways we can improve the publication. Tel: (3)32300 or email [email protected] for articles for the next edition should reach the Editor by 1 December.Editor: Andrew AldridgeAdvertising: Nick SaffellDesign: www.creative-warehouse.co.ukPrinters: Labute PrintersContributors: Andrew Aldridge, Becky Allen, Alex Buxton, Miranda Crowhurst.

neWSLeTTer onLinewww.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/newsletter

The gown review: This picture is one of many featuring in the Ceremonial Cambridge exhibition at the Photography and Illustration Service. The exhibition, which runs until 1 December, provides a colourful record of recent University Congregations, capturing the people who have taken part and the traditional dress and customs involved. It is open on weekdays at Old Exams Hall, Free School Lane, Cambridge.

crystal gaze: The relationship between art and crystals is brought into sharp focus in a new permanent installation at the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC). Textile artist Jessica Hymas spoke to employees at the centre to understand the science of determining molecular structure from crystals, producing three detailed exhibits. The CCDC, off Union Road in Cambridge, is a world-renowned centre for the archiving and dissemination of crystal structure information.

multi-faith centre improved: The Registrary Dr Jonathan Nicholls, the Chaplain to University Staff Peter Hayler, and representatives from various faith communities celebrated the relaunch of Merton Hall Farmhouse last month. The multi-faith chaplaincy centre, based on the West Cambridge site, has undergone interior and exterior renovation including the provision of ablution facilities. A flowering cherry tree was planted to mark the occasion.

coverThe Vice-Chancellor is admitted to the MA degree by the Proctors for 2009-10, the Reverend Jeremy Caddick and the Reverend Lindsay Yates, immediately after his admission to office.

2-5 news round-up

6-7 behind the scenesThe Museum of Zoology’s fin whale skeleton has had a remarkable journey since it was beached 145 years ago.

8-9 making a differenceNewly discovered testimonies reveal individual acts of resistance during Guernsey’s occupation by the Nazis.

10-12 ProfileThe new Vice-Chancellor talks to the Newsletter about his vision for Cambridge.

13 People

14 Prizes, awards and honours

15 Advertisements

16 backpage

Welcome, Sir Leszek

The Vice-Chancellor on his plans for Cambridge page 8

The remarkable life of a famous skeleton page 6

The magazine for The STaff of The UniVerSiTy of Cambridge

noVember/deCember 2010

college walk: A participant in the Bridge the Gap charity walk takes a rest during the five-mile route. The event, which took place in September, saw more than 2,600 people visit ten Cambridge colleges while raising money for the Arthur Rank Hospice and Press Relief. Walkers also stopped off at the newly refurbished Polar Museum and the Scott Polar Research Institute, as well as the debating chamber at the Cambridge Union Society.

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Front cover photograph: Neville Taylor

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WhaT’S neW Your comments and contributions are always welcome. Please send them to the Editor at [email protected] deadline for the next issue is 1 december.

STAFF WILL HAVE the opportunity to learn about wellbeing in the workplace at the University’s first People Matter Day on 1 December. The date has been chosen as it falls close to International Day for Disabled Persons, Human Rights Day and World Aids Day.

Organised by the Equality and Diversity team and Human Resources, the drop-in session will showcase a number of key support services. It will include representatives from Occupational Health, the University Counselling Service, Health and Safety, Dignity at Work and the Disability Resource Centre.

The event will also see the official unveiling of the University’s equality and diversity champions: Professor Dame Athene Donald (Gender); Professor Ian White (Race) and Dr Nick Bampos (Disability). They will provide leadership and advocacy at a senior level on equality and diversity policy.

Sigrid Fisher, Head of Equality and

focus on staff wellbeing

The Hauser Forum, opened by the Chancellor in April, is a state-of-the-art enterprise hub

Diversity at the University, said the day provided an arena to promote the idea that staff and these issues mattered, and that there were various support services available.

People Matter Day will take place in the Hicks and Meade Rooms at the University Centre, 1 December, from 11am to 2pm. For more information, go to http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/hr/equality/events/.

[email protected]

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Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz processes down the Senate House, preceded by the Senior Esquire Bedell and followed by the University Marshal, having been admitted to the office of Vice-Chancellor during a Congregation of the Regent House.

Equality and diversity champions Professor Dame Athene Donald and Professor Ian White

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roman village found under newnham College gardens

IT MAY LOOk peaceful today but the grounds of Newnham were once the site of a bustling Roman settlement.

The discovery was made in September during an archaeological excavation of the college’s gardens, which also unearthed evidence of a 16th-century farmhouse.

The dig, supervised by University archaeologists Catherine Hills and Carenza Lewis, was carried out by 20 sixth-form girls from schools in Peterborough, London and Birmingham. They had come to Cambridge to take part in the excavation and sample college life.

The site first became of interest in the late-1930s, when five Anglo-Saxon skeletons were discovered while air raid shelters were being constructed in readiness for the Second World War. Headed by Dorothy Garrod – the University’s first female professor and a renowned archaeologist – a team of women from the college excavated the graves using dessert spoons and toothbrushes.

After the war, the air raid shelters were covered with soil and the

exact location of the graves was lost. But when Dr Hills – herself a Fellow of Newnham and an expert in archaeological burial – heard about the story, she was gripped by the possibility of finding more skeletons.

Dr Hills, Dr Lewis and staff at the college also saw an opportunity to involve schoolchildren in the hunt for the skeletons, using the excavation to demonstrate the excitement of archaeology and the fun of studying at a Cambridge college.

The dig unearthed unexpected finds. Large amounts of Roman pottery dating to the period convinced Dr Hills and Dr Lewis that they had dug through to the remains of a 2,000-year-old settlement, significant because it suggests that the Roman presence at Cambridge was far more considerable than previously thought.

“We knew there was a Roman settlement here but we had no idea of the size,” said Dr Hills.

“The village has been buried under the gardens for 2,000 years, and may have seen the Roman conquest of Britain and Boudicca’s revolt.

The 16th-century farmhouse was also a complete surprise.”

Dr Lewis, who has appeared regularly on the popular archaeology television programme Time Team, said: “East Anglia is rich in Roman and medieval remains just waiting to be discovered. People threw away a lot of rubbish, and their old pottery and animal bones are now allowing archaeologists to discover the existence of entire villages. We are starting to realise the huge extent of Roman settlement around this area.”

Meanwhile, underground, the mystery of the skeletons remains.

Pioneers celebratedChurchill is holding an exhibition to celebrate the achievements of its scientists and engineers. ‘Science and technology at Churchill College, the first fifty years’ will feature a wealth of historical and contemporary scientific objects, models, notebooks, illustrations and drawings.

The exhibition, which runs until 3 December, features the work of Francis Crick who, with James Watson, discovered the structure of the DNA molecule; Antony Hewish, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 for his work on the development of radio aperture synthesis and its role in the discovery of pulsars; and Professor Peter Wadhams, recently named by The Independent as one of the top five environmentalists working in Britain today. The exhibition also covers the work of Professor Robert Edwards, Churchill Fellow since 1979, who was recently awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the development of in vitro fertilisation.

For more information, visit http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/sciencetech.

new exhibition The second in a series of exhibitions looking at the role of the female body in contemporary art has opened at New Hall Art Collection. ‘The Body in Female Art Now’, curated by Philippa Found, runs until 5 December. For details visit http:www-art.newhall.cam.ac.uk.

Gordon Leslie SquiresA gathering to commemorate Dr Squires’ life and work will be held in Trinity College Chapel on Saturday 20 November at 2pm. Dr Squires, who was born in 1924 and passed away in April this year, was a University Lecturer in Physics from 1956 and 1991, and a Fellow of Trinity from 1956.

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�View a selection of photographs from the excavation at Cambridge University’s Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cambridgeuniversity/.

Above: Dr Carenza Lewis and schoolgirls survey remains of pottery found during the excavation at Newnham

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Pay a visit to the online edition of the Newsletter: www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/newsletter/

FOUR MEMBERS OF staff from Cambridge were honoured in the Women of the Year lunch and awards last month.

Professors Mary Beard, Serena Best and Athene Donald – as well as Helen Stephens, Head Porter at Selwyn – joined hundreds of other women drawn from a variety of professions and causes.

The event – now in its 55th year – is one of the most significant congregations of its type, bringing together women from across the country and world to celebrate their achievements.

Mary Beard, Professor of Classics, Fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of Newnham, is also Classics Editor of the Times Literary Supplement, writes a popular blog in The Times and is a frequent broadcaster.

Cambridge women celebrate success

THE OFFICE OF External Affairs and Communications (OEA&C) has created a new team to publicise research at Cambridge and the role it plays in maintaining the University’s global competitiveness.

The team will cover a range of research taking place across the University, and demonstrate how it contributes to wider society and improves the lives of people on a global scale. It is also part of a drive to demonstrate to external funders, donors and partners the benefits of investing in, giving to or collaborating with the University.

Previously the OEA&C had two communications officers covering research, with a third responsible for news from the non-Schools institutions, such as the University Library and museums. The new team adds to this group two features writers and a new media manager.

It will also be responsible for publishing Research Horizons, as well as audio-visual material including the Cambridge Ideas short films.

The team will also distribute information via new media outlets such as the University’s YouTube channel and iTunes U.

Serena Best is Professor of Materials Science and Co-Director of the Cambridge Centre for Medical Materials. Her research interests include the development and characterisation of bioactive ceramics, composites and coatings for

skeletal repair and clinical application.Athene Donald, Professor of

Experimental Physics, the University’s gender equality champion and Director of the Women in Science, Engineering and Technology Initiative, was made a Dame in this

new team formed to bolster research communications

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➔��The OEA&C will hold a forum on research communications at Clare College on 23 November. For further details email [email protected]

➔��For more information visit http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/communications/

➔��To contact the news team, email [email protected].

year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to Physics. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society. Her current research lies at the interface of Physics and Biology, working on problems associated with protein aggregation and cellular biophysics.

Helen Stephens made history last year when she became the first woman head porter at a Cambridge college. Miss Stephens moved to Selwyn after leaving Trinity, where she was Deputy Head Porter. Five years ago she became the first woman porter at Jesus.

The Women of the Year awards were held in London at the InterContinental Hotel. Musician and human rights campaigner Annie Lennox won the Woman of the Year Award while architect Zaha Hadid received the Woman of the Year Outstanding Achievement Award.

Dame Athene Donald and Professor Serena Best attended the Women of the Year Awards

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behind The SCeneS

IT HAS BEEN auctioned three times, housed in a cricket ground and 68 children once huddled in its jaws.

Like many Victorian melodramas, the whale’s tale began on a dark and stormy night. Well after sunset on a winter evening in 1865, a south-easterly gale blew the carcass of a 67 foot-long male fin whale onto the shingle of Pevensey Bay.

By the following morning – Tuesday, 14 November – the storm had passed and, the Hastings Chronicle reported: “The weather was as beautiful as if a fine day had been especially looked out.”

News of the visitor’s arrival travelled fast, and thousands of sightseers set off by road and rail to see the monster. According to the Chronicle: “The road was used by a stream of vehicles of all kinds, from the aristocratic carriage and pair down to the donkey cart [and] in the afternoon, hundreds of working men were seen au pied hurrying in the same direction, taking the ‘short cut’ along the beach.”

Among the crowd was Hastings mayor Mr Ticehurst, who claimed the prize for the corporation. But local customs officials also had wind of the whale, and the next morning the town crier announced it would be auctioned for the Board of Trade.

And so, a little after 1pm on Wednesday, 15 November, ten local fishermen became the whale’s first owners. They paid £38

for the animal, quickly recouping their outlay by erecting a screen around it and charging for admission. One of the many

visitors that week was William Henry Flower, conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.

keen to see the skeleton properly preserved, Flower revisited the whale the following Monday and Tuesday when local agricultural merchants

had begun to cut it up for oil, leaving strict instructions to clean the bones carefully.

He wrote at once to the University of Cambridge, reporting that the whale’s

tail, fins and sternum were safely locked up in the lifeboat house. Other parts gave him more concern. “They have not moved the head and anterior part of the vertebral column out of the reach of the waves, but I hope that this is done today, otherwise in this stormy weather it is in some danger. They nearly lost the whale a few nights ago, for it swung round in the water, fixed only by the snout. If nothing else happens to injure it, it will make a magnificent skeleton,” he told the Museum of Zoology’s John Willis Clark.

Once cleaned, the fin whale’s skeleton was, indeed, magnificent. But Flower and Willis had to wait to see it properly displayed. On 1 December the fishermen sold the whale – this time for

At Christmas 1865 and Easter 1866 the whale’s skeleton went on display at Hastings Cricket Ground

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a visitor from the seaThe skeleton of a fin whale, suspended outside the entrance of the Museum of Zoology, has inspired awe and affection among sightseers and scientists for the past 145 years. We trace its epic journey from the open sea to the centre of Cambridge


£50 – to one Ainslie Harwood.At Christmas 1865 and Easter

1866 it once again went on public display – this time without its flesh – at Hastings Cricket Ground. “No less than 68 children have stood in the mouth at one time. A band of music also plays between the jaws at stated periods,” the poster proclaimed.

It also speculated about the whale’s origins, offering: “It was probably brought into the world in the cold regions – the Arctic seas – some time after the Great Flood, where it has sported about, catching ‘small fry’, and otherwise amusing itself, probably for centuries.”

Having made his profit Harwood auctioned the skeleton on 29 May, 1866 and – third time lucky – the University at last got its hands on the specimen it had so long desired. The whale finally went on display in the old Museum of Zoology in 1896. Suspended above the skeletons of an African and Indian elephant, it stretched from one end of the gallery to the other.

When the old museum was demolished in the 1960s, the whale went into storage. “It cluttered up the stores in the museum for many years. Everywhere you went there were bits of this huge whale,” remembers Ray Symonds, who retired as the museum’s collection manager in 2008.

The final chapter of whale’s tale begins in the mid-1980s, when the bones were cleaned and planning for installation at its current position outside the new museum began. Ray, together with Dr Adrian Friday and technician Mick Ashby, then started to reassemble it. “The first phase was to get shuttering put up around the

podium so we could work out how to do it in private: you can’t buy a book on how to put a whale together,” says Ray.

The team reused the original metalwork, beautifully designed and cast by the University’s Engineering Laboratory in the 1890s, and Mackay Engineering built an additional beam to suspend the whale on the podium.

“Attaching the beam to the ceiling needed someone to crawl into the floorspace, and it just so happened that Mackay had a lad who was a keen potholer, so he was sent up there to deal with the fixings under the floor,” he says.

The final challenge was getting the whale’s enormous skull onto the podium. According to Ray: “Early one morning a large crane arrived and extended its jib right across the lawn to help us lift the skull out of the pit and onto the lawn. But the roof meant the crane couldn’t get it up onto the podium, so with every technician we could lay our hands on we carried it up the stairs. It took 19 of us, shoulder to shoulder.”

Watching the shuttering come down in 1996 was, says Ray, a very moving experience. “All of a sudden, we saw it there – as a spectacular, great thing.”

Which is where it continues to work its magic on Cambridge visitors and academics like Professor Bill Sutherland and zoologist Dr Jeremy Niven. “As a conservation biologist it’s great to be able to gaze from the lab and be reminded that serious and complex conservation problems can be resolved. It’s inspiring,” says Professor Sutherland.

Says Dr Niven: “On Saturdays I see visitors startled by the whale as they come through the arch. It is remarkable. Zoologists here retain a feeling of wonderment about the natural world. Having the whale embodies that. And it makes me happy every day coming to work. Every morning, whatever the weather, there’s still always the whale.”

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➔��The Museum of Zoology is open Monday to Friday (10am to 4.45pm) and on Saturday (11am to 4pm) except for Christmas and bank holidays

➔��To discover more about the museum and its collections, visit http://www.museum.zoo.cam.ac.uk/.


making a differenCe

IT WAS A hot summer’s day on the island of Guernsey when Cambridge University archaeologist Dr Gilly Carr clicked open the clasp on an old briefcase. She drew out a heap of documents that had not been touched for 45 years. Handwritten and typed as letters and statements, they were personal testimonies of acts of defiance in occupied Guernsey – arrests by the Gestapo and years spent in Nazi prisons and camps.

Today, the Channel Islands are associated with sandy beaches and turquoise seas, but only two generations ago they were the only parts of the British Isles to be invaded and occupied during World War II. They were held by the Germans from June 1940 to May 1945, when they were liberated by Allied Forces.

The islands lie 20 miles from the French coast, and the pragmatic decision

not to defend them from the advancing German forces was taken by the British government. Some 30,000 Channel Islanders were evacuated to the Uk before the invasion, but many people stayed on. They found themselves living with scarce food and fuel, and had to cope with increasing restrictions on their daily lives.

In the months that followed the arrival of the Germans, many islanders were deported to Germany and German-occupied territories. Some went to internment camps where they were deprived of their liberty but not ill treated. Those who resisted the occupation went to prisons and concentration camps where they suffered appalling treatment.

Resistance to the occupying forces from people living in Guernsey was of a different nature to that elsewhere in Europe: it was unarmed. There were a

number of reasons for this: the islanders were outnumbered by the Germans on a scale of three to one; the geography of the islands left little scope for hiding; and many of the adult population were fighting in the British army. Crucially, they received no help from Britain in the way of arms drops or resistance agents.

While the stories of European resistance movements have been told countless times, that of the Channel Islands has been largely overlooked. The islanders’ experiences of subjugation, humiliation and dispersal left a legacy of trauma and confusion – and many people felt their voices had not been heard.

When Dr Carr and two colleagues (Dr Louise Willmot from Manchester Metropolitan University and Dr Paul Sanders from ESC Bourgogne in Dijon)

The islanders’ experiences of subjugation, humiliation and dispersal left a legacy of trauma and confusion

The forgotten occupationMany were interned on the Continent. Some were sent to Nazi concentration camps. Now, thanks in part to the efforts of a Cambridge academic, new stories of those who defied the German occupation of Guernsey during World War II can be told


flew to Guernsey earlier this year, they were starting work on the research of the first book on the range of protest, defiance and resistance in the Channel Islands during the occupation.

Dr Carr is an expert on the archaeology and heritage of the German occupation of the Channel Islands. Members of her own family were deported, evacuated or imprisoned during the occupation.

“My family comes from Guernsey and to be researching what they and others endured in World War II adds an emotional dimension to my work,” she says.

Earlier this year Dr Carr curated an exhibition at Guernsey Museum of arts and crafts made in civilian internment camps by islanders deported during the war. The exhibition – called Occupied

Behind Barbed Wire – touched many in the local community. “A lot of people living on Guernsey today are aware of their grandparents’ experiences in the war, perhaps through the odd anecdote, but the exhibition set these personal experiences in a much wider context. Many visitors filled out feedback forms saying how moved they were – and asking whether I would like to look at their family documents,” she explains.

Carr had visited the island countless times in the past but arriving in Guernsey this July, she and her colleagues had no idea that within the space of just a few hours they would hold an archive of its occupation during World War II that had lain unseen in a wardrobe for 45 years.

Although there is no shortage of archives relating to the German occupation of the Channel Islands, it is possible that a significant amount of unpublished material is still in the hands of those who live there. Dr Carr and fellow researchers put out a request in the local paper asking islanders to get in touch if they had anything of value in the attic relating to resistance.

Among those who contacted them was a woman called Sally Falla, who said she had a briefcase that might “be nothing”. Email messages flew back and forth. Eventually they met and Dr Carr was able to take a look at the 200 or so documents inside. “I knew immediately that this was the single most important resistance archive to emerge from the Channel Islands in many years,” she says.

The archive was compiled after the war by Sally’s father, an islander called Frank Falla. A journalist, he ran the Guernsey Underground News Service (GUNS) during the occupation. He and a group of four other islanders secretly kept wireless sets to tune into the BBC. They then wrote up news from the Allied side and distributed it to their fellow islanders.

All GUNS members were eventually caught and taken to prisons on the Continent, where two of them died. Falla survived and returned to Guernsey where, after the war, he became increasingly bitter that his efforts, and those of others like him, had been largely unacknowledged. History has since tended to portray the Channel Islanders either as collaborators or passive victims of the occupation.

In the 1960s, Germany paid the British government a one-off sum so that people who had suffered Nazi persecution in Germany (this is the term used in the agreement) could be compensated.

Falla compiled statements from people on Guernsey who had been deported. They include descriptions of physical and mental cruelty meted out by the Germans. Forms were sent off to the British government and the original testimonies were stuffed into a briefcase – where they sat untouched until this summer.

The archive is among a number of sources being uncovered by Dr Carr and her colleagues. As well as writing a new history, the three academics hope to compile a definitive list of names so that Guernsey can set up a proper memorial to the resistance. They also plan to create a ‘Resistance Trail’ around the island for visitors.

“In some cases these people were imprisoned quickly and deported, and even families scarcely knew what had happened,” Dr Carr says.

“Even when they came back, there was no formal welcome and their names were never honoured publicly, let alone their deeds and the details of what happened to them as a result. Without this archive, the real human consequences of resistance would not just have been forgotten – they would never really have been known about.”

In the 1960s, frustrated by a lack of understanding about the trauma endured by the Guernsey men and women, Falla wrote a book called The Silent War. However, his courage and loyalty were never recognised publicly or rewarded during his lifetime. When the book by Dr Carr and her colleagues is published, the Channel Islanders who committed acts of resistance will at last receive the recognition that they deserved.

Far left: St Peter Port, the capital of Guernsey Above: Dr Gilly Carr at one of the island’s German bunkersBelow: Dr Carr at the German Occupation Museum on Guernsey, and with newly found testimonies of defiance against the Nazis

All pictures come from a forthcoming film about the island’s occupation, made by the Office of External Affairs and Communications. The film will be posted shortly on the University’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/CambridgeUniversity


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Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz says large-scale research teams can play a key role for Cambridge


vice-chancellor, what are the main challenges facing cambridge?The first thing to stress is that Cambridge is an incredibly successful institution. We are the best University academically in Europe. We are well managed financially and have a reasonable endowment that has been built up with a lot of hard work. We are therefore very well placed to withstand the challenges that are going to hit us.

The real challenges we are going to face are academic: ensuring that we continue to attract the best and brightest students and academics for the future; and that we continue to build an infrastructure that will attract them, while, at the same time, tackling the kinds of financial problems the whole sector will face. We are in a good position to achieve these things thanks to our reputation and the fact that we start from a very strong position – one that is globally envied.

How do we continue to recruit and retain the very best staff?By continuing to be the leading university in the world. What do our staff need? They need time, space and opportunities to pursue educational goals and research. That also means we have to continue building the infrastructure we need. There’s a simplistic view, often expressed, that you just cut capital in difficult times – but that’s the time to make sure the academic and physical infrastructure is enhanced. People are then attracted to Cambridge because they see it as a ‘go-forward’ institution.

can you explain your vision for research at cambridge?There are two important aspects to research. The first is that, when we attract academics, we ensure that they have the capacity to pursue their own interests. This is commonly called the bottom-up mode of research, where you have a good idea, apply for resources and pursue that

idea. It is vital we sustain that because that is where new, innovative ideas come from. Cambridge has got to go for transformative research if it is to stay successful. This is not an institution that should pursue ‘me too’ research.

There is also a change going on among research funders, who are looking increasingly to support large-scale, global projects. That means we need cohesion between individual investigators and groups of academics – whatever their domain – to provide multidisciplinary teams to take on these global challenges and make sure that we’re not left out. Cambridge is already working very hard in this area, but we are going to have to build on that for the future.

What opportunities are there for cambridge to operate on the global stage?This is a personal passion. There are two main reasons why you collaborate globally, particularly in the research domain. Number one: you are a strong investigator, you want to work with the best people and they happen to be overseas. Cambridge benefits from those direct collaborations. The second is that collaboration opens up new opportunities. In some research domains – particularly in health in developing countries – that doesn’t happen unless you are working in large-scale teams.

So what am I looking for? We already have strong links with China and India, and we have to build on those to ensure that, as those countries’ research bases strengthen, we remain engaged with the brightest and best in those countries. We obviously have a strong set of interactions with the United States and North America, and it is fundamental that we continue with them. For me there are two big opportunities. First, greater engagement in Europe. We are Europe’s leading university and

Europe is changing. Those who follow the European agenda will know that the European Research Area has been created, Framework Programme 8 is under discussion and budgets for science in Europe are coming under review. So we should ensure that what is being created in Europe is something that Cambridge can take advantage of.

The second area of opportunity is the developing world. This is a different type of opportunity, and not something that is funded in those countries. Indeed, it isn’t a way of raising funds; it is an academic opportunity to engage with real world problems. How do you deliver proper water supplies? How do you improve agriculture in major parts of sub-Saharan Africa? I strongly believe the developing sciences agenda is a real opportunity. Good work is already going on here, but it is something that could be built on.

How should cambridge respond to the challenges posed by student funding?It is vital that costs are covered appropriately. At the moment there is an average deficit of £9,000 for every undergraduate and that’s unsustainable. We offset some of that with other activities that the University undertakes but, if you take student funding as a whole, we only have four sources of funding: the government; the student fee; charities and other research funders, who give project money and also support some of our infrastructure; and our endowment. There is no other magic pot of money. So we should look to cover the cost of education.

In addition to this it is vital that Cambridge decides its own agenda. It follows that we need the resource coupled to the student, not some sort of national pot.

The money should be for the benefit of the student while he or she is here. If the University has to wait a long time downstream for that resource to become

a time of opportunitiesProfessor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz has become Vice-Chancellor of the University at a key time for Cambridge and the higher education sector as a whole. He outlines his vision for research, funding, the recruitment and retention of staff, and how the University can make its mark on the global stage

“We need cohesion between individual investigators and groups of scientists to provide multidisciplinary teams to take on global challenges”

“There is an academic opportunity to engage with real world problems”


available, the student is not seeing the benefit of the fees they are paying during the time they are being educated, and that is a disconnect with which I feel uncomfortable.

What are the main strengths of the collegiate system?The colleges are a fantastic, integral part of the Cambridge experience. The exciting thing for me is how well the University and colleges work together. The best example of this on a practical level is last year’s 800th anniversary fundraising campaign. I believe the University and the colleges are indivisible because the supervisory system is an integral part of being at Cambridge, and it is something I genuinely look forward to engaging with. It is something we offer that other places don’t.

What do you remember of your own time at cambridge?I came from the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at the time keith Peters came to Cambridge as Regius Professor of Physic, so I was very much involved in that first wave of change on the Addenbrooke’s campus. It was a formative time for me. My research was beginning to take off and my subsequent change of direction from research into herpes viruses to papillomaviruses happened through discussions here with colleagues in virology and immunology.

The other thing I remember very clearly was my time at Wolfson College, where I was lucky enough to have a fellowship. It was there that I was introduced to the wider educational aspects of Cambridge. Wolfson at that time had a large number of mature students in medicine, veterinary science and dentistry. I remember how bright, how driven they were by the academic opportunities that Cambridge was providing.

I also remember what a great city this is to live in. When I moved on to south Wales I wished I could have packaged it up and taken it with me.

How would you like to build on the success of cambridge’s 800th anniversary year?The 800th anniversary was a fantastic success. It developed a sense of unity, purpose and camaraderie across the collegiate University. Yes it was there before, but it was given a public visibility through the 800th anniversary year.

The key thing is to take that forward. We are facing difficult times, but that kind of cohesion will be helpful.

What are your plans for alumni relations?Our alumni, staff and students together are the University. Alumni have an important role to play. They value what the University gave to them, and we are proud of their achievements, engaging with them so they have a sense of belonging to an institution that is going forward. Our alumni are our best ambassadors worldwide, and they have an important role to play in helping us achieve international prominence. They will help us attract the best students and staff to the University and make sure the name of Cambridge is spread as widely as possible.

“Our alumni are our best ambassadors, and they have an important role to play in helping us achieve international prominence”

How would you like your vice-chancellorship to be viewed in seven years’ time? I will have built on the foundations that Alison Richard has laid at Cambridge, and we will have some of the best research groups in the world, conducting research in large-scale, multidisciplinary groups that are engaged in the humanities, the arts and the sciences. We will have maintained the ‘bottom-up’ approach to research and be an internationally leading university. That’s quite a challenge because the universities in the Far East in particular are catching up fast. But we have to be in that internationally leading group, because that is where the future of global universities is going to reside. All of this will not be without challenges in the short term, but boy are we going to achieve it.

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appoinTmenTSSchool’s business development strategy, which includes extending the number and range of employers who engage with students. Ms Nunn joins the School from Credit Suisse, where she was Vice-President and Senior Programme Manager of the Leadership Institute. Prior to this, she worked at Deutsche Bank, holding various roles in graduate recruitment, training and learning and development. Professor Geoff Meeks, Acting Director at the Cambridge Judge Business School said: “We are delighted to have someone of Fiona’s calibre heading our careers team. Reinforcing this team serves two of the School’s highest priorities: securing the best employment for our students and providing outstanding recruits to the business community.

Stefan Scholtes is the new Dennis Gillings Professor of Health Management at the Cambridge Judge Business School. Professor Scholtes has taught at the University of karlsruhe in Germany and in the University of Cambridge’s Engineering Department, where he retains a courtesy faculty position. Prior to his appointment to the Gillings Chair of Health Management, he was Professor of Management Science at the Business School.

Meanwhile, Gishan dissanaike has been appointed Robert Monks Professor of Corporate Governance at the Cambridge Judge Business School. Prior to this he was a University Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and then Reader at the University. More appointments at the Business School can be found at http://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/news/items/index.html

dr Anthony close was the eminent former Head of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Dr Close, who retired in 2004, was a specialist in Cervantes and Spanish Golden Age comedy, Renaissance literature and society. He had been a member of the Department since 1967 and was Head of Department between 2001 and 2003. Born in 1937 in China, Dr Close studied at Cambridge, did his PhD at Trinity College Dublin and taught

mike Lynch, one of Britain’s most successful technology entrepreneurs, has joined Cambridge Enterprise’s board of directors. Dr Lynch read Natural Sciences at Christ’s and went on to complete a PhD in Mathematical Computing, followed by a research fellowship in adaptive pattern recognition.

In 1996 he founded Autonomy, the Uk’s largest software company by market capitalisation and a member of the FTSE 100. The company specialises in Meaning-Based Computing, a unique set of technologies that enable the searching and processing of structured and unstructured information to provide the most relevant content for users. Cambridge Enterprise Chief Executive Teri Willey said: “We are delighted to have an entrepreneur of Mike’s standing join the board of directors. His success is a wonderful example of the impact that ideas originating from Cambridge have the world over.”

Peter Williams has been appointed the new Director of the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research (CCHPR). He will succeed Professor Christine Whitehead, who retires at the end of the year, on 1 January 2011. Dr Williams was formerly Deputy Director General of the Council for Mortgage Lenders and Chairman of the National Housing and Planning Advisory Unit. He said: “I am delighted to succeed Professor Whitehead. There is an important research agenda to be addressed in housing and planning at present, and this prestigious centre is uniquely placed to play a key role in formulating and assessing policy at both national and local levels.” The CCHPR is located in the Department of Land Economy. It celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Fiona nunn has joined the Cambridge Judge Business School as Head of Career Services. She will, among other responsibilities, drive the

at Birmingham before returning to Cambridge in 1967. His main areas of teaching and research were aesthetics and Cervantes, but his interests were wide ranging. Professor Alison Sinclair, Head of Department, said: “Dr Close represented a gold standard in personal integrity and an example of a rare balance of the intellectual and the personal. We shall miss him immensely.”

Tjeerd van Andel was the Honorary Professor of Earth History, Quaternary Science and Geo-Archaeology in the Department of Earth Sciences, and husband of Dr kate Pretty, Principal of Homerton. Professor Andel, who was educated in the Netherlands, worked for Bataafse Petroleum in the early 1950s and then for Shell in Venezuela. He went to Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1956 and, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, enjoyed an eminent and varied academic career that saw him working at the universities of

Oregon and Stanford. Professor Andel moved to Cambridge permanently in 1987 to join the Department of Earth Sciences, bringing with him a wealth of experience and a prodigious enthusiasm and vitality. For 20 years he contributed tremendously to the life of the department, in research and teaching, giving generously of his time to inspire staff and students.

Peter Williams Stefan Scholtes

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prizeS, aWardS and honoUrS

british academy fellowships

Dr Andrew Wallace-Hadrill

Professor Mary Beard

Professor Roberto Cipolla

Dr Hugh Robinson

➔�dr Hugh robinson, University Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience, and Professor kazuyuki Aihara, of the University of Tokyo, have been awarded a Daiwa Adrian Prize for 2010 for their collaboration on ‘Nonlinear dynamics of cortical neurons and gamma oscillations – from cell to network models’. They will be awarded the prize next month at the Royal Society. Dr Robinson, from the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, studies synaptic integration in mammalian cortical neurons using a variety of techniques including electrophysiological recording and computational modelling.➔�dr clare bryant has been awarded a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Research Development Fellowship to work on ‘A mathematical and biophysical analysis of salmonella macrophage interactions’. The fellowship is in collaboration with dr Julia Gog in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, dr Pietro cicuta in the Department of Physics and Professor Mike White at Liverpool University. Dr Bryant will use mathematical modelling and novel biophysical techniques to study how the bacterium Salmonella eneterica serovar Typhimurium infects macrophages and the role that pattern recognition receptors

other awards

Sustainable building praised

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Eight Cambridge academics have been awarded British Academy fellowships in recognition of their contribution to the humanities and social sciences. They are: david Abulafia, Professor of Mediterranean History and a Fellow of Gonville and Caius; mary beard, Professor of Classics and a Fellow of Newnham; christopher clark, Professor of Modern European History and a Fellow at St Catharine’s; dr Alan baker, who was elected the first teaching Fellow of Geography at Emmanuel, where he is now a Life Fellow; deborah Howard, Professor of Architectural History and a Fellow of St John’s; Juliet mitchell, Emeritus Professor of Psychoanalysis and Gender Studies and a Fellow of Jesus; dr Karalyn Patterson, Senior

An innovative building concept co-created by michael ramage, pictured left, from the Department of Architecture reached the finals of the 2010 Earth Awards. ‘Sustainable Shells’ aims to provide a model for sustainable building in some of the world’s poorest and most remote areas. It was developed by Mr Ramage, John Ochsendorf, an engineer based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Peter Rich Architects of Johannesburg.

It was one of six concepts to reach the finals of the Earth Awards, which champions new ideas and inventions that have the potential to improve people’s quality of life around the world. The entry won the Built Environment category of the competition.

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play in this process. The fellowship will also explore the balance of contribution of host PRR signalling and bacterial exploitation of host signalling pathways plays in the overall macrophage response to infection.➔�dr nick Gay, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry in the Department of Biochemistry, has been awarded a Medical Research Council programme grant with Professor david Klenerman in the Department of Chemistry and dr clare bryant in the Department of Veterinary Medicine. The award, for £2.2m, is titled ‘Molecular mechanisms of innate immune signal tranduction by the Toll family receptor 4’. Their research aims to understand at a molecular level how the cells of the immune system are able to recognise microbes and the ways in which these cells respond to cause the familiar symptoms of an infection such as fever and tiredness, and to generate specific antibodies that fight the invading microbes. ➔�dr Fiona Gribble, of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, has been awarded the 2010 Minkowski Prize from the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. The prize is awarded to investigators under the age of 45.➔�roberto cipolla, Professor of Information Engineering, and Ivor day, Senior Rolls-Royce Research Fellow at

the Whittle Laboratory, have been elected Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering.➔�dr Tore butlin has been awarded a Research Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to work on ‘Modelling the vibration of complex structures with localised non-linearities’. The project will be in collaboration with the Bristol Laboratory for Advanced Dynamics Engineering and the Structural Dynamics and Vibration Laboratory at McGill University in Montreal. ➔�cambridge’s Physics department, the Cavendish Laboratory, earned a Silver Athena SWAN Award and the Institute of Physics Juno Champion status in recognition of its commitment to the recruitment, retention and progression of female staff. The schemes celebrate higher education institutions and individual departments that provide positive employment opportunities for women working in science, engineering and technology.

The Physics Department is the first department at the University of Cambridge to be recognised with an Athena Silver Award and is one of two in the country to achieve both accolades. Professor Valerie Gibson said: “I am delighted the commitment of the Physics Department to women in science, and to providing a working environment and culture that is open and fair to all, has been recognised.”

Research Fellow at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences; dr Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Master of Sidney Sussex College and Professor in the Faculty of Classics.

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Advertising on this page is open to University staff. The cost is £15 for a single insertion or £75 for six insertions. The deadline for the next issue is 6 December. Please send your copy – no longer than 70 words – to the Editor at [email protected]

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hoUSeS To renT (Uk)

➔ cambridge Rent-free small house near city centre in return for part-timecare. Owner uses second bedroom a few days a month. A mobile and independent 95-year-old woman (in garden maisonette), she is nearly blind but has paid help. The owner needs someone to provide some hot meals and company, and help with minimal tasks. The ideal person would be mature, experienced, fluent in English, flexible and available during the day. Terms to be negotiated. Phone 07966 988101 or email [email protected].➔ cornwallTraditional granite cottage in peaceful countryside between St Ives and Penzance. Sleeps five in three bedrooms, with comfortable sitting room, kitchen-breakfast room and bathroom. Sunny garden and off-road parking. Close to beaches and coves, coastal path, sub-tropical gardens, historic properties. Details and photos at www.tinminerscottage.co.uk. ➔ Lochcarron, ScotlandTraditional stone-built Highland cottage in a quiet location in the village of Lochcarron in Wester Ross. Recently modernised, with double-

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Sleeps nine or more with special rates for couples and small parties. Fully equipped kitchen, dining room and large comfortable sitting room on the ground floor. Three bedrooms (one with en-suite), family bathroom and further sitting room on the first floor. Two further bedrooms and bathroom on second floor. Phone Val Everton on (01904) 656401/07592 590727 or email [email protected].

hoUSeS To renT (oVerSeaS)

➔ Algarve, PortugalSpacious, family owned apartment sleeps up to five in idyllic village. Private patio and roof terrace with shared pools. Picturesque beach five minutes walk. Restaurants within village. Tennis, golf, water parks and shopping close by. Faro airport 45 minutes. Stunning and quiet location. Short and long breaks available. Email [email protected], phone 01954 267291 or visit www.holiday-home-rentals.co.uk (property 4995).➔ Amalfi coast, ItalySmall bed and breakfast in peaceful, traffic-free mountain village above Positano. All rooms are ensuite with panoramic sea views of the Amalfi coast. Good base for walks in all directions. English speaking host. Double room and breakfast 50 euros per night. easyJet flights to Naples from Stansted. Photos and further information available. Phone Penny Marrone on (01954) 210681 or email Penny.Marrone@ btinternet.com ➔ cevennes, FranceMediterranean climate, dramatic mountain scenery, superb walking/river-swimming. Roman Provence/Rhône and Languedoc vineyards. Two spacious, refurbished, entirely independent apartments with central heating and covered terraces near Mont Lozere. Sleeping eight and up to six respectively. Shady gardens, boulodrome, barbecue, quiet hamlet, near shops and markets. Available separately but particularly suitable for groups holidaying together. From £280 per week. Easy access via trains and budget airlines. Phone (01527) 541360.➔ châtel, FranceApartment in Châtel, France for holiday rental. Châtel is a friendly unspoilt village and a great base for walking, touring and skiing. In the heart of Portes du Soleil. Thirty minutes drive from Evian – visit Geneva, Annecy or Lausanne for the day. Apartment ideal for two to

four adults or two adults and three children. Double-bedroom downstairs, separable twin beds on mezzanine upstairs. West-facing balcony, unobstructed views overlooking valley and small lake. Email Bob Skelton at [email protected]➔ Girona, SpainRoom for rent in centrally located flat in Girona for a non-smoking female. Owner is a female teacher at a secondary school. The room is large (11 metres square) and has internet and TV. Shared use of kitchen, balcony, living room and toilet. The flat has a lot of natural light, good views of the city and is in a quiet area with few neighbours, situated between the historic area of the city and the university campus. Cost is 350 euros a month. Phone 01992 522493 or email [email protected].➔ nice, FranceQuiet apartment near the Promenade des Anglais and city centre. It is in the ‘Musicians’ area’ on the fourth floor, accessed by lift. Sleeps two, with living room, bedroom with double bed, separate, fully equipped kitchen, modern bathroom, separate w/c, small balconies front and back. Price per week, including linen, £350 October to March, £400 April, May, September, £450 June to August. Contact Robin Spence on [email protected] or 07808932943.➔ Provence, FranceLarge, comfortable flat in famous ‘Côte Bleue’ resort of Carry-le-Rouet, close to the Camargue and Marseilles. Seafront, beach and coves within 100 metres. Excellent for swimming, snorkelling, scuba diving, sailing, walking and cycling. Close to all Provençal places of interest. Twenty minutes from Marseilles airport and 30 minutes from Marseilles TGV station. Sleeps six comfortably. Private parking. WIFI network. Email Anita Ogier on [email protected]

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SerViCeS

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tters prospectuses, annual reports, leaflerds, fliers, brochures, booklets, posters, aence displays, invitations, programmes, intters prospectuses, annual reports, leaflerds, fliers, brochures, booklets, posters, lence displays, invitations, programmes, btters prospectuses, annual reports, leaflerds, fliers, brochures, booklets, posters, fence displays, newsletters prospectuses, reports, leaflets, postcards, fliers, brochuts, posters, conference displays, invitatiommes, invitations, programmes, newslettres www.cambridgedesignstudio.org boo

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DO YOU kNOW a musically talented six- or seven-year-old boy? If so, the world-famous king’s College Choir is interested in hearing from you.

The choir is seeking new choristers, and is holding auditions on Saturday 22 January 2011 at king’s College School in Cambridge. Candidates should have an enthusiasm for singing, vocal potential and a good musical ear.

The choir, founded in 1441 by king Henry VI, is regarded as one of the finest choral bodies in the world. Its Christmas Eve service, A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, is heard by millions around the world in the BBC’s live radio broadcast. BBC Television also records Carols from king’s each year.

Those boys who are successful at the auditions will follow a normal academic course at king’s College School, where they will practise and sing services before and after the school day. They will receive a musical training of the highest order, both

king’s choir seeks talented choristers

vocally and in the two instruments that all choristers study. They will form lasting friendships, receive an education at one of the best schools in Cambridge and have a lot of fun.

king’s makes every effort to make choristerships possible for any boy with the right musical ability or potential, regardless of the family’s

find oUT more➔�To view Parker Library manuscripts online, visit http://parkerweb.stanford.edu/parker/actions/page.do?forward=home.

Web-based trainingThe Management Information Services Division and the University Computing Service have worked together to enhance the web-based Training Booking System. The key benefit is a single site for all users to find and book training courses delivered by participating providers across the University. To access the site visit http://www.training.cam.ac.uk.

going mobileThe University of Cambridge has launched a study surveying the current application of mobile networks to enhance healthcare and health promotion. The research team will use detailed case studies from China (provided by China Mobile) and is looking for experts within the University to contribute. To express an interest, email Dr Nick Gray at [email protected].

IT WAS 6.15AM on the 17 September when a high-security van containing a bomb-proof box drove quietly away from Corpus Christi College.

Nestled inside the protective packaging was the Gospel Book of

St Augustine, 1,400 years old and on its way to Westminster Abbey to be venerated at an ecumenical service by Pope Benedict XVI and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The service was attended by

In brIeF...

Dr Christopher de Hamel, Fellow Librarian of Corpus Christi College, who processed the book to the high altar, and the College’s Master and Former Master, who helped to protect the precious manuscript.

The Gospel Book of St Augustine has been in England longer than any other book. It is thought it arrived in the country with St Augustine at the end of the 6th century as part of Pope Gregory I’s mission to convert England to Christianity.

The book was kept in Canterbury for 1,000 years, before being donated to the Parker Library by Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 to 1575 and Master of Corpus from 1544 to 1553. It is used for the swearing of the oath in the enthronement of new Archbishops of Canterbury and other major occasions – such as papal visits.

“The Gospel Book of St Augustine is a fragile remnant of a momentous event in British history,” said Dr de Hamel. “Books like this were vital for the success of the English mission, as they gave the Christians an advantage over the illiterate pagans. The arrival of the Gospel Book of St Augustine marked not only the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons, but also the beginning of uninterrupted literacy in Britain.”

After the service, the book was returned safely to the Parker Library. However, staff can view its contents online (see below).

financial circumstances. A proportion of the school fees are subsidised, and a range of additional financial support is available.

To register an interest please email [email protected] or telephone Stephen Cleobury, Director of Music, king’s College on 01223 331224.

The choir at King’s: lasting friendships and a great education

The Gospel Book of St Augustine

ancient Corpus book makes a special journey

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Staff Newsletter - November/December 2010

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Transcript of Staff Newsletter - November/December 2010