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 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.

PROFESSOR NOA ZILBERMAN

I am also delighted that Dr Radhika Khosla, Research Director of the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD), won the Environmental Research Letters award for her co-authored paper on the future of India’s energy and emissions. Such research has the power to shift public opinion and governmental policy both in India and beyond, and will play a vital role in our fight against the existential threat of climate change.

In the humanities, I am in awe of Professor Aditi Lahiri, FBA. This year she not only received a CBE for her services to the Study of Linguistics, but was also appointed Chair of the Faculty of Linguistics and Philology, returning to the role after serving as the faculty’s founding chair in 2008. And though I shall miss his counsel deeply, I am also very pleased that our current VicePrincipal, Professor Benjamin Thompson, was appointed Associate Head for Education of the Humanities Division, where he is coordinating undergraduate teaching and learning across Oxford’s ten humanities faculties.

Of course, our Fellows are only one, but immensely important, side of the story. Our students have not gone without laurels this year, despite having been obliged to migrate to a world of online learning and examination (a move they made with characteristic aplomb).

Althea Sovani (2018, Classics with Oriental Studies) was awarded the Chancellor’s Latin Prose Prize for her translation from Runciman’s Sicily, while Raphael Reinbold (2017, Bioscience) won the Lilly Prize for Excellence in Organic Chemistry Research 2018-2019 for ‘excellence in the first year of postgraduate research.’ My congratulations to them both and the many others who distinguished themselves this year. The brilliance of our students is all their own – but it is undoubtedly empowered by the loyal and generous support of our community. In a year when giving was complicated by the clear and pressing need to support the most vulnerable members of society, I have been overwhelmed by the continued generosity of our donors, as well as the resourcefulness of our wonderful Development team led by Sara Kalim.

Having fully endowed the Sue and Kevin Scollan Fellowship in Organic Chemistry, Sue Scollan (1978, Chemistry) and her husband Kevin have continued their extraordinary support of Inorganic Chemistry at Somerville as part of a long-term plan to secure the future of Chemistry at the College.

The Somerville Choir has been flourishing under the direction of Will Dawes over recent years, and steadily weaving into every aspect of College life, to our great benefit. Their work – which has continued via socially distanced rehearsals and recordings during lockdown – was reinforced and supported this year by generous donations from Virginia Ross (1966, MSt International Studies) and Helen Morton, former College Treasurer.

We were also immensely grateful this year to Trevor Hughes and Penelope Lee (1950, Classics) for their generous gifts of shares, which they have kindly allowed the College to direct towards the areas of greatest need.

The Margaret Thatcher Scholarship Trust has been strengthened immeasurably this year through the extraordinary generosity of Lord Glendonbrook. His recent gift enabled the MTST to fund the Michael Bishop Foundation

PROFESSOR SIR MARC FELDMANN

PROFESSOR ADITI LAHIRI

Thatcher Scholarship fully for three students this year, in addition to Lord Glendonbrook’s continued support for widening access at Somerville.

The Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development has been similarly active in attracting support, including a new five-year partnership with multinational agribusiness UPL. All of which has enabled the OICSD to award a record 19 scholarships this coming year – a phenomenal expansion from its relatively humble beginnings in 2013, and a testament to the vitality and importance of the OICSD’s research across everything from climate change to health and gender equality.

We were also delighted this year to announce the first Somerville Sanctuary Scholarship. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of many friends and alumni, we are now in a position to fund five years of the Scholarship and look forward to welcoming our first student this academic year.

Somerville has also been fortunate to receive a significant philanthropic contribution to establish a sports and wellbeing fund. Supporting extra-curricular sporting activities for students and wellbeing activities for whole community, this fund provided a vital source of wellbeing during lockdown and will continue to do so in the coming year.

This year also saw us create a new Visiting Scholarship for BAME early-career academics. Developed in partnership with the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities and through the assistance of Somerville SRF Patricia Kingori, this scholarship represents a small, decisive step towards becoming a consciously anti-racist institution in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and all it highlighted. The pandemic has changed all our lives. For me personally, it has meant that I have not been able to meet in person with many of you since March – a source of great regret. The wonderful October celebrations of our 140th Birthday remain, however, a treasured recollection from the period before lockdown, as I hope they do for many of you.

In the absence of our normal programme of events, we launched our ‘Somerville at Home’ online programme in April of this year. What began as a temporary response to lockdown soon emerged as a powerful tool for keeping our global community connected and spirits most definitely raised, thanks to the contributions of guests such as Lord Dubs, Natasha Kaplinsky, Lord Powell and Dame Esther Rantzen. Season Two of Somerville at Home will have commenced by the time you receive this, featuring conversations between Simon RussellBeale and Shakespearean scholar Emma Smith and myself and Dame Joan Bakewell – I do encourage you to search them out.

I now begin my fourth year as Principal of Somerville. Many plans we devised have had to change because of COVID-19 – but others will not. I may not be able to meet with you all as I would like, but our newly refurbished kitchens will be ready to feast you in style when circumstances permit. I may not be able to implement some of the plans I dreamt of, but others relating to sustainability, community and access are more important than ever now.

The work continues, as always, and Somerville remains at the forefront of all our minds.

DAME JOAN BAKEWELL AND REBECCA JONES JOINED JAN ROYALL IN ONE SOMERVILLE AT HOME SEASON TWO EVENT

JAN ROYALL, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, Principal of Somerville