Cover images by: Em Pritchard (top left and right), John Cairns (bottom left) and Claire Cockcroft (bottom right).
“TURNING KNOWLEDGE TO ADVANTAGE”
The Rt Hon. the Baroness Royall of Blaisdon Principal,
Somerville College Chair of Trustees
Whilst Margaret Thatcher was not the first world leader to talk about climate change (that accolade falls to another Somervillian, Indira Gandhi), her speech at the UN in 1989 is widely heralded as a turning point and a universal call-to-arms. Lady Thatcher had also addressed humankind’s impact on the environment in a speech at the Royal Society more than a year earlier. The warming of the planet, the hole in the ozone layer, and acid deposition all featured in that speech.
What came through strongly – though unsurprisingly considering the audience – was her pride in being a scientist herself. She remains, to date, the UK’s only pure scientist Prime Minister, and it is with that background that she could speak so confidently about the importance of science and knowledge across the broad spectrum of life: health, commerce, industry, investment. To quote her speech: “this country will be judged by its contribution to knowledge and its capacity to turn that knowledge to advantage.” As you will read in this Bulletin, this attitude is something our Thatcher Scholars have embraced.
However, it is not only in the sciences where turning knowledge to advantage is so important. The
humanities teach us to understand the human condition and experience, interpreting thought, art, and culture across the centuries. On page 14 you can read about the work of Reyam Kareem Rammahi, DPhil in English, looking at historical interpretations of Arab and Muslim women in 19th century literature. An understanding of historical attitudes and behaviours can inform our lives in the present day, when mutual respect for others often feels at risk.
Our Thatcher Scholars have added so much to Somerville, through their studies, their involvement in the JCR and MCR, and their participation in our outreach work. As an international group, they bring world perspectives to our Somerville community. I have cherished my interactions with them, and with you, over these last eight years. I know that the Thatcher Scholarship Programme will continue to flourish under my successor, Catherine Royle, bringing brilliant young minds to Somerville who will make an impact in the world, turning knowledge to advantage.
Following a recent meeting with some of the Thatcher Scholars, Charles Powell wrote to me saying that Lady Thatcher would have been proud of them. I certainly am.
Credit: Oxford Atelier
DR CLAIRE COCKCROFT PROGRAMME DIRECTOR
This year has seen some remarkable achievements by our scholars, and professional recognition from the University for our Skills Hub. We were shortlisted for the Vice-Chancellors’ awards in the Support for Students category, for our unique resource offering weekly seminars to optimise students’ academic development, career aspirations and wellbeing. Workshops discussing ‘cultural adaptation’ are a new addition, aiding students’ transition to university-style learning, and the popular one-to-one meetings provide holistic advice to help students reach their potential.
The Skills Hub has also been a forum for interdisciplinary events on global issues, including forced migration, environmental sustainability, and water security. These events give students public speaking experience and the chance to share knowledge with each other and the public. Thirty-five years after Margaret Thatcher raised the issue of climate change at the UN General Assembly, I planned a panel event on renewable energy for Oxford’s Science & Ideas Festival, putting two DPhil Thatcher Scholars centre stage. Tim Rafferty and Sawsan El Zahr discussed the current challenges of producing netzero energy and using it effectively. Talking to ‘town and gown’, they explained how wind farm dynamics and future wind resource prediction are reshaping the way we plan future energy production, with insights into modelling, design and implementation of new technologies, and sustainable carbon-aware computing. You can watch this event via the QR code below.
Public speaking workshops have proved effective, empowering students to speak at February’s MCR
symposium showcasing graduate research, and World Environment Day event in June. After returning from research in Jordan and Lebanon, Salma Daoudi discussed the challenges for displaced women at our Endangered Voices event in June, sharing knowledge from interviewing Syrian refugees. Other speakers focused on music in refugee communities and how music helps overcome traumatic experiences, personified by the AMAR Yazidi women’s peace choir. Visiting from Dohuk refugee camp in Kurdistan, Iraq, they performed traditional Yazidi music to a packed chapel.
Our graduate scholars are keenly involved with the MCR, four holding committee posts. Juliette Caucheteux also organised a charity concert, for Save the Children’s Gaza emergency fund, encouraging twenty of us to perform. We raised close to £1700.
Impressive internships have been secured by our scholars at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC, the Bank of England, Netflix, and the General Medical Council. Alumnus Luca Webb (2019), Head of Communications at SmartParc, provided three more internships, with several Somervillians now employed there. “Having benefitted from the Skills Hub as a user,” Luca said, “I am thrilled that it has now become a mechanism through which I can offer work opportunities to Somervillians and connect them with business leaders.”
As we approach the centenary of Margaret Thatcher’s birth, we thank our donors for supporting 64 exceptional scholars, representing 19 countries and many diverse disciplines. I hope that you enjoy this publication highlighting their achievements.
From left: Salma Daoudi speaking at Endangered Voices; Claire Cockcroft with Skills Hubs at the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards showcase; Tim Rafferty and Sawsan El Zahr at ‘From Farm to Table’, an event for Oxford Science & Ideas Festival. Credit: Left and right photos by Claire Cockcroft, centre photo by Matt Phipps.
THE DIRECTORS
JESSICA MANNIX TRUST DIRECTOR
The 10th anniversary of the MTST and the 50th Thatcher Scholar celebrated last year were great milestones, and provided the ideal opportunity to take stock of how far we have come as a community of scholars.
With a total of 64 Thatcher Scholars and Alumni, now felt like a good time to look at the numbers. What is the breakdown between the sciences, social sciences and humanities? What is the gender balance? Are our scholars mainly graduates or undergraduates?
The first thing to report is that, while there are four engineers among our current scholars, we do in fact have a good range of scholars across the four divisions of the University: Humanities; Social Sciences; Maths, Physics and Life Sciences; and Medical Sciences.
The gender split across the graduate and undergraduate scholars is balanced also, with perhaps a slight edge to female scholars.
In the graduate body, DPhil scholars outnumber master’s scholars by almost two to one. However, this is a result of our funding partnerships with the University, and we are one of the few scholarship programmes that offer funding at master’s level. To ensure the pipeline of academic research in the future, it is imperative to fund all levels of study, and this has always been at the core of the Thatcher Scholarships.
Our body of Thatcher Scholars is an international one, with 19 different countries represented across four continents. We have yet to have a scholar from Australia, and I’m not giving up hope! Half of the
“A diverse range of subjects and degree levels benefits the College and the student community.”
SCHOLARSHIPS
DIVISION
scholars are from the UK, with the other half spanning the globe from South Africa to Singapore, and Yemen to China. Despite our exit from the EU, we have had six scholars from Europe and we seek to help fund even more.
We often speak of how wide the Thatcher Scholarship Programme is – from subject, to degree level, to geography. Why is this so important? A diverse range of subjects and degree levels benefits the College and the student community, where interdisciplinarity drives forward intellectual thought and curiosity. Added to this is a world perspective that is brought by our scholars’ differing experiences and cultures, and enriches the Somerville community here in Oxford and beyond.
Thank you for your continued interest and support in this transformational scholarship programme.
SCHOLAR AND ALUMNI HIGHLIGHTS
CURRENT SCHOLARS
Milton Lee (2023, MPhys Physics, Lee Kuan Yew – Thatcher Scholar) is a member of the team representing Oxford in the UKSEDS (UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space) National Rocketry Championship.
Sarah Franks (2023, DPhil Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics – Oxford Thatcher Scholar) was awarded a Biochemical Society Lab Visit Grant, to work with the Protein Research Group at the University of Southern Denmark. She received intensive training in advanced mass spectrometry techniques for proteomics.
Ming Song Oh (2022, BA Law, Lee Kuan Yew –Thatcher Scholar) won the 2024 Annual Essay Competition organised by the Oxford Undergraduate Law Journal, and secured a Training Contract with Cleary Gottlieb’s London Office, with offers also from Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith Freehills, and Skadden.
Holly Cobain (2021, BA German and Russian – Michael Bishop Foundation Thatcher Scholar) completed a translation internship at the State Museum of Art in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and taught English at a summer camp for Russian-speaking teenagers in Prague.
Lucy Pollock (2023, BA History - Michael Bishop Foundation Thatcher Scholar) was the JCR LGBTQ+ Officer, and took up the roles including: Ashmolean Access Ambassador; Access and Outreach Ambassador; Senior Editor for Oxford Blue and for the Oxford Student; President of Somerville History Assembly; and Vice President of the Oxford Jewish Society.
Zoya Yasmine (2024, DPhil Law – Oxford Thatcher Scholar) was elected as Senior Officer for the MedTech Society. She interned at the General Medical Council and won 1st place for her research poster at the ‘AI Frontiers in Intellectual Property Law’ conference held by Queen Mary IP Research Institute. She is an invited lecturer at LSE on medical AI.
Mounir El Skafi (2023, DPhil Engineering Science –Oxford Qatar Thatcher Scholar) has spent the past year exploring different experimental techniques to characterise the mechanics and process porous metal organic framework materials. He has presented posters in conferences and is currently preparing his first publication.
Juliette Caucheteux (2021, DPhil Economics – Oxford Thatcher Scholar) has held two internships this year, at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC and is currently at the Bank of England. She has also been appointed Junior Dean at Merton College.
Tasfia Karim (2022, MChem Chemistry – Ng Teng Fong Thatcher Scholar) completed a two week internship with HGF, a leading IP firm, which has inspired her to become a Patent attorney. She is currently applying for her Master’s project where she hopes to use analytical chemistry to better understand disease.
Chloe Riley (2022, BA PPE – Michael Bishop Foundation Thatcher Scholar) co-founded the Oxford Learning Society, which organises events designed to raise students’ awareness of evidence-backed learning techniques. She also completed an internship with the St John’s College Access Team, designed to raise the aspirations of state school students.
Reyam Kareem Rammahi (2021, DPhil English –Oxford Qatar Thatcher Scholar) has secured a book deal with a major academic publisher (see p 14).
George Seager (2020, BA Classics – Michael Bishop Foundation Thatcher Scholar) had no exposure to the classical world at school, until a taster session in Sixth Form ignited his passion for ancient history. He duly won a place to read Classics at Somerville, where passion blossomed into excellence. George was awarded a Michael Bishop Foundation Thatcher Scholarship following his exceptional results in his first public exams. Fuelled by his love of Roman history and an unexpected aptitude for classical philosophy, he won the De Paravicini prize twice, as well as the Gibbs Prize for Ancient History. Asked how the scholarship has impacted his prospects, George said:
“It changed everything for me. I gained a newfound confidence in my academic abilities and felt encouraged to pursue further study, which I could not have considered without the financial security provided by the scholarship. In turn, I was inspired to give back and make a difference myself, helping aspiring Classicists appreciate the ancient world and all its intricacies.”
Since graduating, George had two successful vacation schemes, and is currently a future trainee in law at Travers Smith. He is now completing the PGDL course at BPP in advance of the Solicitors’ Qualifying Exams next year.
ALUMNI SCHOLARS
Isobel Hettrick (2015, BA PPE – Michael Bishop Foundation Thatcher Scholar) was promoted to Vice President in mid-March 2024, continuing to cover European Asset Managers and Private Equity firms for Autonomous Research.
Emer Shell (2019, MBiochem Biochemistry – Sir John Vickers Thatcher Scholar) has moved to Amsterdam for a traineeship at the European Medicines Agency. She is working in the regulatory science and academia work stream on a project that aims to better understand the needs and experiences of not-for-profit medicine developers. Work from her master’s has been accepted for publication in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. As part of the Jansen lab, which focuses on epigenetics, she investigated the mechanisms of transcriptional memory in an innate immune system context.
Martin Fellermeyer (2018, DPhil Medical Science – Oxford Thatcher Scholar) is back in Oxford as a postdoc, after travelling for nine months. He is working on using immunology to fight cancer, is currently applying to Junior Research Fellowships and small grants, and was recently awarded his first grant (Medical Sciences Internal Fund: Pump Priming).
Zoe Campbell (2021, BA PPE – Charles Powell Thatcher Scholar) is currently an intern at the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) in the Africa and Middle East Regional Coordination team. Zoe works with the AME team to support financial institutions in the region to align with global sustainability goals and to advance responsible finance initiatives. Alongside this she has started a course at the Oxford School of Climate Change.
Osamah Afef Sufyan (2020, MSc Mathematical & Theoretical Physics – Oxford Qatar Thatcher Scholar) now lives in southern Germany. After spending a year working in financial services and consulting, he has transitioned to a research role in Machine Learning. His science communication YouTube channel has been growing steadily, and now has over 37,000 subscribers, and more than 700,000 views from across the Arab world.
Edward Brewer (2019, DPhil Physical and Theoretical Chemistry – Oxford Margaret Thatcher Scholar) took up a postdoc position at Brown University, after finishing his PhD in 2023. In the group of Lai-Sheng Wang in Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, he worked on photoelectron spectroscopy of anionic metal clusters as well as organic radical anions. In January he was appointed senior physicist at Kimball Physics in New Hampshire. He works on the development of cathodes and bespoke electron optics for a wide range of applications.
Matthew Madain (2019, MSc Modern Middle Eastern Studies – Oxford Qatar Thatcher Scholar) has begun a Ph.D. in History at Princeton University, on the intellectual history of the early modern Mediterranean. He was awarded a Stanley J. Seeger Graduate Fellowship for Greek language training in Athens, which he followed with studying Turkish in Istanbul. This winter, he helped convene the Princeton-Oxford Workshop in Religion in the Ancient World, where he gave a paper titled ‘Tasting the Holy in Byzantium: Communion Ritual in the Senses’.
Luca Webb (2019, BA History - Michael Bishop Foundation Thatcher Scholar) was shortlisted for Young Councillor of the Year, and has provided three more internships at SmartParc, where he is Head of Communications.
Joshua Booth (2020, DPhil Linguistics – Oxford Thatcher Scholar) has taken up a Junior Research Fellowship at Somerville, working in Professor Aditi Lahiri’s research group.
Credit: Jessica Mannix
THE NEW THATCHER SCHOLARS
Rebekah Goodchild
Oxford Thatcher Scholar | DPhil Medieval and Modern Languages
I’m a DPhil student working on eighteenth-century French theatre. I attended a state school in West Yorkshire, and first came to Oxford in 2019 for a BA in French and German at Lincoln College. My undergraduate dissertation on Voltaire’s theatrical paratexts won the Gerard Davis Prize in 2023. After graduating, I stayed on for the Modern Languages MSt, focusing on the role of Voltaire’s printed theatre in his écrasez l’infâme campaign. My doctoral thesis will examine how the dramatic form was used in print to engage in religious controversy; I am very grateful to Oxford and the MTST for the opportunity to pursue this research.
Zoya Yasmine
Oxford Thatcher Scholar | DPhil Law
I am a first year DPhil student in the Faculty of Law originally from Wales. My thesis explores how intellectual property laws influence biases in medical AI. Before joining Somerville, I studied an MPhil in the Ethics of AI, Data and Algorithms at Cambridge (2023-24) and an undergraduate law degree at LSE (2020-23). My other research interests include: NDAs, AI literacy, systemic/ethical issues in the biotech industry, digital health, and medical ethics. Alongside my studies, I am a Lead at Better Images of AI – a non-profit organisation working to improve the representation, accuracy, and diversity of images of AI which often anthropomorphise the technology and mask its societal and environmental impacts.
Rafee Abedin
Oxford Qatar Thatcher Scholar | DPhil Condensed Matter Physics
Born to a Bangladeshi family and raised in Saudi Arabia, the amalgamation of two cultures made clear the importance of education to me. I found myself drawn to mathematics and questions about the physical world. This led me to study Natural Sciences at Cambridge where I first realised that while physics often focuses on fundamental laws, it is equally important to explore the diversity of phenomena that arise from more complex correlated systems. During the DPhil I hope to explore novel electronic phases like superconductivity in strongly correlated materials. I am honoured to receive this scholarship and am excited to further my research into superconductivity, with the ultimate goal of contributing to advancements in quantum materials.
Zaina Awan
Oxford Qatar Thatcher Scholar | MPhil Law
I was born in Pakistan, and raised in the UAE, primarily between Dubai and Sharjah. Growing up across these two emirates sparked countless questions that neither an internet search nor those around me could fully answer. This curiosity led me to study history and legal studies at university, where my courses allowed me to explore persistent questions from my childhood, such as how the demographic—with a larger South Asian population outweighing the local one—came to be, why immigration statuses for non-nationals remained temporary, and why labour conditions were so precarious. These questions ultimately shaped my undergraduate thesis, where I delved into the legal history of the UAE’s immigration legislation. This research brought me to Oxford, where I intend to explore these questions more deeply.
Kai Yi Ng
Lee Kuan Yew – Thatcher Scholar | MEng Engineering
I was born and raised in Singapore, a country where innovation is used as a means to overcome our inherent constraints. Growing up, I realised my interest in problem-solving, particularly in the fields of math and physics. Over time, the reason behind my interests became clear – I wanted to design solutions within a framework of constraints and challenges. This desire is what excites me as I begin my Engineering Science degree. I am looking forward to learning about the different pillars of engineering and exploring its various fields, with a potential interest in specialising in information engineering, where technology and data converge to create innovative solutions. I am incredibly grateful for the Lee Kuan Yew –Thatcher Scholarship, which has given me this remarkable opportunity.
Francesca Lamberti
Michael Bishop Foundation Thatcher Scholar | BA Music
I was first given the opportunity to explore music through Bromley Youth Music Trust, where I began playing the oboe at 8 years old. I did not discover musicology until sixth form, where I was fortunate to have teachers who supported my application to Oxford. I am most drawn to twentieth-century music, from Shostakovich and Stravinsky to David Bowie and Brian Eno. The broadness of the field of musicology and the course at Oxford has influenced not only my perspective on music but on the world around me, introducing me to wider debates in philosophy, history, and sociology. Coming to Oxford has changed the course of my life, and I am so grateful to Somerville, the Margaret Thatcher Scholarship Trust, and the Michael Bishop Foundation.
Luca Marzin
Ann and Giles Currie Thatcher Scholar | MBiochem Biochemistry
I grew up and went to a local state grammar school on the Wirral. I loved science throughout my time at school, so studying Biochemistry felt like a natural choice. Throughout my time at Oxford, I’ve felt completely at home at Somerville, and was very proud to have ranked first in my year after my Preliminary Examinations. In the future, I aim to pursue a career in cancer and disease research, tackling big problems at the forefront of science. Alongside my studies, I train in the gym, run, and play Ultimate Frisbee. As a Northerner, I have felt welcomed at Somerville, which I attribute to the diverse range of people I have met in College.
Oluwatobiloba (Tobi) Taiwo
Margaret Thatcher Scholar | MChem Chemistry
I’m a second year Chemistry undergraduate, born and raised in London. Chemistry underpins all aspects of our day to day lives, so much so that it is often overlooked. This all-encompassing aspect is what drew me to want to study chemistry, and I hope that in my future I will be able to contribute positively to the world through chemistry. I believe, given the mass of knowledge humanity has accrued through collaboration, that it would be irresponsible to not strive towards goals which benefit humanity as a whole, and I think chemistry plays a pivotal role in this. I’m very honoured to receive this scholarship, and hope that it will help me achieve these aims.
Lucy Pollock
Michael Bishop Foundation Thatcher Scholar | BA History
I am a second-year historian, with a particular interest in the histories of women, gender and sexuality. I am passionate about interdisciplinary work, and hope to promote close connections between historian, archaeologists, linguists, sociologists and anthropologists. I grew up in Hertfordshire, attending a state school in London for secondary school and a grammar school in sixth form. My love of history grew out of interest in my family history - a lot of this was lost when my family fled Germany in the late 1930s, and I have always felt strongly about recovering the histories of marginalised communities because of this. I believe that there is still much to be done within the fields of gender and sexuality, and hope to pursue a career in academia.
Tom Wright
Michael Bishop Foundation Thatcher Scholar | MPhys Physics
I am a second year Physics student, particularly interested in models to predict formation of structure within the universe and quantum mechanics. I aim to spend my life researching theoretical physics, thereby improving the world. After the results of my Prelims, I was invited to join the Dyson Fellowship Programme, designed to accelerate a subset of physics students in the University towards research in Theoretical Physics. I am enjoying the challenge of pushing my knowledge of physics further. I am very thankful to Lord Glendonbrook for this opportunity, enabling me to develop my knowledge and to develop as a person. I hope that this scholarship will enable me to achieve excellence in the future.
Tasfia Karim
Ng Teng Fong Thatcher Scholar | MChem Chemistry
I was born and raised in London where I attended a state school. I always enjoyed chemistry, but never considered applying to Oxford as it did not seem attainable, until my chemistry teacher encouraged me. I am truly honoured to now be awarded the Ng Teng Fong Thatcher Scholarship. I am a passionate participant in the university’s access and outreach schemes, as I was on the receiving end of many myself when applying. I am particularly interested in how chemistry underpins biology, especially in the analytical techniques used to advance our understanding of degenerative diseases, to help develop potential therapeutic drugs. Currently, I am deciding between doing a PhD or becoming a patent attorney, as they have a vital role in protecting cutting edge science.
Chloe Riley
Michael Bishop Foundation Thatcher Scholar | BA PPE
I have been interested in politics and public policy since I began studying sociology at 13, and being accepted into Oxford’s renowned PPE course became my dream, as I wanted to be able to make a difference to the lives of others. Education policies are my particular area of interest - coming from Stoke-onTrent, and attending non-selective state schools, I have seen first-hand how social disparities in achievement can arise through poor policy choices. I also know how important academic merit is to achieve a better future, and upon graduation hope to work in either a think-tank or with an education charity to ensure that people from all backgrounds get equal opportunity to thrive in the education system.
LEVELLING UP: HOW ONE SINGAPOREAN STUDENT PLANS TO PAY IT FORWARD
Ming Song Oh (2021, BA Jurisprudence) is a Lee Kuan Yew - Thatcher Scholar. Having been a personal tutor since Junior College, he joins us to explain why widening access to top universities is key to social mobility.
Being Singaporean, I have always valued the importance of helping others. Our small island teems with different cultures, traditions and ways of life. Growing up in such a diverse environment has heightened my awareness of inequality and strengthened my desire to support those in need.
My experience in school further shaped my sense of public service. Participating in flag days, newspaper collections and food drives impressed upon me the power of volunteering. In Junior College, I wanted to make a more direct impact. Believing that education is a great social leveller, I created a tutoring programme supporting students from underprivileged backgrounds.
The perfect place to create educational opportunities was our local Community Centres which bring people together across socioeconomic divides. My team partnered with them to pair volunteer tutors with students in need. We coached the students on a one-to-one basis not unlike an Oxford tutorial. This delivered good results: it fostered strong interpersonal relationships between tutors and tutees that made learning more engaging, and the teaching more tailored.
Coming to Oxford from Singapore was a culture shock in many ways. However, one thing that resonated with me right away was Somerville’s commitment to ‘include the excluded’. This prompted me to jump at the opportunity to set up the College’s new tutoring programme with St Frideswide Primary School within my first few months
of matriculation. For two years, I led the coordination of weekly visits to coach their struggling Year 5 and 6 students in preparation for the SATs. It was very fulfilling and gave my team a rare glimpse into a lesser-seen side of the City of Dreaming Spires.
As I prepare to graduate, I am delighted to have secured a training contract with global law firm Cleary Gottlieb. However, my commitment to widening access remains unchanged. My goal is to put everything I have learned over the past six years into a new coaching platform for Singaporean students aspiring to follow a similar path.
Unlike most of my peers in Oxford, I grew up in an average Singaporean family. We live in a humble HDB flat and I was raised speaking Mandarin and Hokkien. My father was the first to attend a local university, and I had no one to tell me how to write an international university application or what to expect studying overseas. My dream is to level the playing field for students like me by helping remove those fundamental obstacles – not just in university admissions but in their future careers.
Setting this programme up alongside my studies and career will be challenging, especially in the early stages given that I am physically overseas. My hope is that upon establishing the programme, beneficiaries of the scheme will want to become mentors which would help make the programme self-sustainable. And if I ever get discouraged, I need only think of Lee Kuan Yew, after whom my own life-changing scholarship is named.
THE BIASED BLACK BOX Where Artificial Intelligence Meets Legal Secrecy
Zoya Yasmine has an LLB from LSE, an MPhil from Cambridge in the Ethics of AI, Data and Algorithms, and has just started a DPhil exploring the intersection of intellectual property law, AI, medicine, and ethics as an Oxford Thatcher Scholar.
The real danger of AI is not that the machines are taking over the world. It’s that we’re making AI in our image, right down to perpetuating our own harmful biases. Nowhere is this clearer than in healthcare, where I focus my research. An algorithm widely used in US hospitals was found to be less likely to refer black patients for care than white patients. The reason? It scored patients’ need for referral on how much they had spent on medical care, ignoring that white patients are statistically more able to afford private healthcare. Worryingly, this is just one of many examples.
In today’s world of medical AI, we often have little insight into how these models are making decisions, despite the significant impacts they can have on our health. Aside from technical limitations, intellectual property laws - like patents, trade secrets, and
copyright - allow AI developers to shield their technology from external scrutiny. This legal secrecy makes it difficult to assess how these systems work and whether they compromise care for certain patients.
The EU AI Act mandates greater transparency and openness from AI developers creating medical AI systems. We lack similar legal levers in the UK, leaving our lawmakers grappling with how to ensure safe and ethical AI in healthcare.
As part of my doctorate, I uncover how UK intellectual property and data laws fuel excessive secrecy, stalling the progress towards fairer medical AI. Yet, I hope to also show that within these tensions lies potential –these same laws could be the foundation for a more open and ultimately safer future for medical AI.
Take patents, for example. They grant inventors exclusive rights over their creations for twenty years, allowing owners to recover investments by preventing competitors from copying their technology. In return, inventors must provide a ‘disclosure’ – a publicly available explanation of how the invention works. This ensures that, once the patent expires, others can build upon the knowledge and flood the market with competing innovations (hence so many different versions of paracetamol).
In theory, patent disclosures should make AI systems more transparent by offering insight into how the models operate. But in practice, medical AI patent disclosures are notoriously vague, failing to meet legal standards which require ‘clear’ and ‘complete’ explanations. For instance, one patent for a cardiac AI system vaguely stated that its decisions were based on “the weighting of values of which are determined by learning”. This disclosure tells us absolutely nothing about how the system might operate or how to recreate it.
One challenge is AI’s ‘black box’ nature – sometimes developers themselves don’t understand how their models work. However, many overuse this an excuse to justify poor disclosures. Even if a system’s reasoning is opaque, developers can still provide details on how to replicate it.
Another issue is that AI models rely on specific training data, which shapes how the model functions. Without transparency over this data, recreating the model is nearly impossible, as it forms a vital component of the invention.
So, the problem becomes clear: medical AI patents are being granted despite failing to meet our legal standards, while also obscuring critical information that could help uncover biases in these systems.
Strengthening patent disclosures to mitigate biases in medical AI
To improve patent disclosures, we need to go beyond vague technical descriptions and require:
• Clear, detailed explanations of AI model architecture and decision-making processes (where possible)
• Transparency around training data details
For instance, instead of a generic statement like the cardiac AI system’s earlier disclosure, a stronger patent might read: “The model determines its output using heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation measurements. The weighting of values is determined by a dataset sourced from five US private clinics.”
While this may seem burdensome, stronger disclosure requirements are already standard for other innovations, such as those involving genetic resources or traditional knowledge.
Turning knowledge into advantage
Fixing biases in AI isn’t simple, and we can’t rely on developers alone. The bias in the US hospital algorithm was only uncovered because external researchers were granted rare access to audit the system. Once they identified the issue, they adjusted the variables and reduced racial bias in the model by 84%.
“By enforcing improved patent disclosures, we can foster collaboration and improvements to make fairer medical AI models”
Similarly, by enforcing improved patent disclosures, we can foster collaboration and improvements to make fairer medical AI models. Moreover, by making critical information more accessible, a broader range of stakeholders – researchers, start-ups, and medical institutions – can be empowered to develop diverse AI systems that serve more wider patient groups.
Through my thesis, I hope to show how the law can drive the development of more equitable medical AI. Lawyers typically step in only after harm has occurred, but better enforcement of existing intellectual property and data laws can make them key players in shaping fairer, more transparent AI systems from the outset.
Image by Alan Warburton /
REVISITING THE ARAB WOMEN OF ROMANTIC LITERATURE
REYAM KAREEM RAMMAHI
Reyam is an Iraqi fourth-year DPhil English student and Oxford Qatar Thatcher Scholar. She grew up in Baghdad, and is the first in her family to study abroad.
Literature opens the door to many worlds, but the one it sheds most light on is our own. I discovered my passion for British Romantic literature during my MA in San Diego as a Fulbright scholar. Studying Romanticism, I find myself taken back to significant moments, such as Lord Byron saying, “I woke up one morning and found myself famous,” after publishing Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, and to enchanted places like William Beckford’s gothic castles.
These works take me back to times of political unrest in the East and West, to cultural and political encounters between these spheres, and to the vital outcomes of these encounters, such as Sir William Jones’ fascination with the pre-Islamic Arabic poems “al-Moallakat”. Jones’ translations from Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit introduced Britain to major literary works from the East, and greatly influenced writers including Lord Byron and Robert Southey.
Through my DPhil, I learnt about the impact of the Arabic language and literatures, Islam, and Arab and Islamic history on western thought. I read letters between Queen Elizabeth I and the Turkish Sultana Safiye, and found references to the Quran and the Call for Prayer in Byron’s letters and poetry. Studying Mary Shelley’s notebooks at the Bodleian, I discovered Shelley’s experimenting with different choices of Arabic
names (Amina, Maimuna, and, ultimately, Safie) for her Turkish-Arabian female character in Frankenstein
I knew that these names, along with others I encountered in my research, were not just generic Arabic ones but those of real Arab and Muslim historical figures. I followed these women of knowledge and power through the pages (and footnotes) of Romantic texts, finding their inspiration widespread. I decided to ‘turn knowledge to advantage’ in the form of a book. I sent my proposal to two publishers, received immediate interest, and signed a deal with one of them. My goal is to show that, in the numerous encounters between East and West, Arab and Muslim women played far more decisive roles than usually acknowledged.
As I near the end of my DPhil, I plan to commence research for my book at the Bodleian, and am busy looking for funding for this. As a Thatcher Scholar, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to pursue my interests, which have led to the publication of my work. Writing this book is one way of restoring these women’s voices – the beginning of a literary journey which will encompass multiple paths. My future work extends beyond the academic, including a trilogy of novels, but is always inspired by the dialogue between the imaginary and the real.
MEET THE DPHIL STUDENT HARVESTING THE WINDS OF CHANGE
If you ask most people to predict where power generation in a wind farm is weakest, they’ll guess towards the back. It’s a logical assumption, if you suppose that downstream turbines sit in the wake of upstream ones. And, in fact, this concept of a cumulative wake deficit has for years been used as the key parameter in wind farm design.
But what if wind farms actually generated atmospheric gravity waves, a powerful and even destructive phenomenon with the capacity to upend all our preconceptions about windfarm design?
This ‘What if?’ was the starting point of my doctoral research as part of Oxford University’s wind and tidal energy group. Studying wind farms under realistic atmospheric conditions, we have now established that wind farms do indeed trigger atmospheric gravity waves by obstructing and displacing upwards the flow of wind, much as a hill does.
Once triggered, atmospheric gravity waves drastically alter the pressure field around a wind farm, resulting in a change in the performance of its turbines. Under gravity wave conditions, the turbines at the front perform up to ten times worse, while those at the back improve in performance. Given that offshore wind farms comprise hundreds of turbines, the percentage changes in power production as a result of gravity waves can be equivalent to multiple turbines not even operating, representing millions of pounds in lost revenue.
It’s clear we need to understand atmospheric gravity waves in order to optimise the next generation of wind farms. To do so, my research asks three questions. First, do gravity waves impact turbine safety? Our original blade designs concentrated on maximum power production, so the additional loading from gravity waves on the blade, nacelle and tower remains
unknown. Second, can we design wind farms to mitigate the impact of gravity waves, or even prevent their generation? Here, the distance between farms and the farm layout needs to be re-considered. Our preliminary investigations have indicated that farm power production can vary by 50% when situated downstream of a wave-triggering farm – hence farm separation is essential.
Finally, can the atmospheric conditions at different locations be used to optimise wind farm performance and thus boost the renewable energy output of the UK? Traditionally, the location of farms and their daily predicted power output was determined by wind speed. However, gravity wave effects and other atmospheric factors are often more impactful than the variation in wind speed, so factoring them into the design and location of new wind farms could revolutionise performance.
Last summer, the UK produced over 40% of its power from offshore wind. Just imagine if we could exponentially increase that number by designing wind farms which factor in the role of atmospheric gravity waves? In our fight against climate change, it could change everything.
Oxford Thatcher Scholar Tim Rafferty (2022, DPhil Engineering) explains how his work on the interaction between gravity waves and wind farms could drive the transition to renewable energy.
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