Principal’s Report 2020 is a year we will all remember. Indeed, given the perfect storm of economic, political and social upheaval that COVID-19 has unleashed, it seems likely that future generations will look back on this year as a turning point, the moment when we moved from one mode of living and working to something else altogether. The question facing us, as members of a progressive institution like Somerville, is what shape do we want society to assume when we emerge from this crisis. Will we preserve the status quo, with deepening economic inequality and climate insecurity further blighting the prospects of the least fortunate among us? Or will we go further than ever in committing ourselves to a better world, one realigned along the principles of equality, dignity and freedom? The preferred outcome, at least here at Somerville, is clear. Even just a few weeks into the crisis, our wonderful Fellows, students and staff had begun laying down the blueprint of that better world. They rallied around to work on vaccines, graduated early to help on the medical frontline, raised money to support the hardest hit members of society and began the hard task of organising new fronts of research, policy and enquiry. I am also happy to say that, thanks to the excellent financial management of Treasurer Andrew Parker and the strategic foresight of our Governing Body, the college finds itself in a secure position to weather the difficulties ahead. Make no mistake, the years to come will not be easy for any of us. The challenge of maintaining our principles and our commitment to that better world alongside the practical demands of running a college will be especially difficult. However, as I look back upon what we have done during the course of this year and consider our position, I am confident that we are well-placed to do what we have always done: to rise to the challenge of the moment and to practise an expansive, inclusive politics of hope. Our attempts to shape a better future are vastly strengthened by the appointment this year of several distinguished new Fellows. Noa Zilberman joins Somerville as a Tutorial Fellow in Engineering, combining a research focus on designing scalable, sustainable computer infrastructure with strong advocacy for women in STEM. And Prateep Agrawal looks set to be a worthy successor to Roman Walczak, our beloved Tutorial Fellow in Physics, through his combination of passion for untangling the most difficult questions of fundamental physics with cutting-edge research into dark matter and dark energy, which have impressed us all. As Tutorial Fellow in Economics, Margarita Klymak’s research into the behaviour of firms, considering factors such as child and forced labour, will give us vital insights on social equity
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in the developing world. Using data to different ends, our new Tutorial Fellow in Statistics, Robert Davies has a specialism in statistical genetics that could facilitate more accurate phenotype prediction from genotype with potential clinical applications. Another medical pioneer is Medical Fellow Robin Klemm, whose research on the spatial and molecular organisation of fat metabolism has the potential to revolutionise the medical toolset for treating metabolic disorders such as type-II-diabetes and obesity. Finally, we are immensely privileged to welcome Patricia Owens as our new Fellow in International Relations. Joining us following lectureships at Princeton, UCLA and Harvard, Patricia is currently Principal Director of a Leverhulme Research Project, ‘Women and the History of International Thought’, which looks set to rewrite the intellectual and disciplinary history of International Relations – all of which sounds distinctly Somervillian. For all the hardship this year has brought, there have also been many happy moments – not least of which was the pleasure of seeing so many of our academics gain recognition in their fields. In medicine, I am delighted that two of our Fellows, Professor Sir Marc Feldmann and Professor Matthew Wood, have been honoured – Marc with the 2020 Tang Prize for Biopharmaceutical Science and Matthew with his election to the Academy of Medical Sciences.
