The Somerville Magazine 2022 by Somerville College

A life less ordinary MEET THE SOMERVILLIANS OPEN TO THINKING DIFFERENTLY JANE AWTY ON OATLEY WINES

ELEANOR RATHBONE AT 150

HEALING ARTS WITH SUNETHRA BANDARANAIKE

FAREWELL TO RICHARD STONE

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Contents Principal’s Message

News and People

Commemorating Somervillians

Alexander Starritt discusses ‘We Germans’

Inside the NMR Revolution with Dr Fay Probert

A Profile of Sunethra Bandaranaike

A Glass Half-Full Story: Jane Awty on Oatley Wines

All Rise: A Conversation with Judge Deborah Taylor

Meet the President: Dr Nermeen Varawalla

The Somerville Association Year in Review

Eleanor Rathbone at 150

Openness in Medieval Europe

Somerville Association Book Groups

Global Climate Research Portal

‘The Women Are Up To Something’ Extract

Aneeska Sohal: Student Mental Health

Danielle Welbeck introduces the Aseda Gospel Choir

Professor Richard Stone Looks Back

Woodstock Road OX2 6HD Telephone +44 (0)1865 270600 www.some.ox.ac.uk Charity Registration number: 1139440

Cover photo: Jane Awty in the Oatley Wines vineyard, Somerset, July 2022. Portrait by Benjamin Dunford. Editorial: Matt Phipps Design: Laura Hart Contact: communications@some.ox.ac.uk

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Principal’s Message Our college was created for a single purpose: to open doors that had been sealed shut for centuries.

This year, our Medieval Research Group of Somerville scholars past and present published their fourth book, Openness in Medieval Europe. In her article for the magazine (page 23), Professor Almut Suerbaum explains how the group’s latest publication takes on the prevailing view of the medieval world as closed and uncommunicative and turns it on its head, demonstrating instead that openness suffused the medieval outlook. This magazine embraces that same mission: to show how our college is making Oxford a place far different to its stereotypes. In a world where the social isolation of Covid-19 still afflicts us all, where dwindling opportunity and growing inequality are compounded by the cynical erosion of our democratic values and new war, we need proof that openness not only survives, but defies. Fortunately, there is evidence of openness in all its forms both here at Somerville and within our alumni community. It is there in Dr Fay Probert’s work to help revolutionise diagnostic medicine with a radically interdisciplinary approach (page 9), and in Sunethra Bandaranaike’s work to end shame and improve the lives of disabled children and their families in Sri Lanka (page 11). It is there in our college’s past, as exemplified by the work of Eleanor Rathbone to extend the dual promise of democracy and safety to women and refugees around the world (page 20). It is there in our present, when an eminent judge such as Deborah Taylor fights for greater diversity at the Bar (page 16), or a

Photo by John Cairns

penness is a force with a quiet but exponential power. It is made by the tension of selflessness and ambition; of dreams and pragmatism. It is born of hope and the refusal to accept the fallacy that this world cannot be changed for the better. Above all, to be open is to reach out to others; to listen to their ideas and experiences, and to be fearless in expressing your own in return. That is at the heart of what it means to be a Somervillian.

chemist such as Jane Awty decides to change her path entirely to become a family-focused wine-grower tackling climate change (page 14). It is openness to the suffering of others that underpins both Alexander Starritt’s novel We Germans and his decision to gift the proceeds of winning the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for that novel to establish a new Sanctuary Scholarship here at Somerville (page 6). Open-hearted affection, meanwhile, is the defining note of the tributes paid to Professor Richard Stone (page 34), who retires this year having been a Fellow at Somerville since 1993. I shall always be grateful to Richard for the counsel he gave as Vice-Principal during the pandemic – but it is his students’ unmistakable warmth which provides the true measure of Richard’s intellectual brilliance and lasting impact. Finally, openness is there in our future. This is most eloquently expressed by the sight of our students once again reading, working and socialising on our beautiful quadrangle (page 31), properly reunited for the first normal academic year since the pandemic began. However, the same resolve to embrace openness is also evident in the work they are doing – from Aneeska Sohal’s efforts to create a new conversation around mental health (page 30) to Danielle Welbeck’s musical journey with the Aseda Gospel Choir (page 32). The drive to say the unsaid, challenge the unchallenged, and support the disadvantaged is alive in every part of our Somerville community: students, staff, alumni, and academics. I am proud to contribute my own small part to this endeavour – and to share with you all the record of such openness at the end of another busy, successful year.

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News and People ALUMNI Dr June Raine (1971, Physiology) was made a DBE in the New Year Honours in recognition of her public service as Chief Executive of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the body responsible for approving the Covid-19 vaccines. Dame Dr June Raine (1971, Physiology) with artist Hilary Puxley (1970, English)

NEWS

Somerville has twinned with local primary school St Frideswide as part of a new Conference of Colleges scheme guided by our Principal Jan Royall to provide academic support and opportunities within Oxford. The Catherine Hughes Building (completed 2019) won a Brick Award and a RIBA South award for architectural innovation. The Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD) launched a new Journal Supplement, Mental Health in India – Bridging the Gap, to bring together research on mental health in India.

FELLOWS AND STAFF Our Senior Research Fellow Professor Patricia Kingori became one of the youngest women to be awarded a full professorship in Oxford’s 925 year history and the youngest Black professor at Oxford or Cambridge. Senior Research Fellow Professor Colin Espie partnered with the Scottish government to make an anti-insomnia app available nationwide for free. Somerville’s Medievalist Research Group published their fourth book, Openness in Medieval Europe (see p23). Our Fellow and Tutor in International Relations, Associate Professor Patricia Owens, co-edited the first ever anthology of women’s International Thought. Our Professorial Fellow Aditi Lahiri received Advanced Grant funding from the European Research Council for the third time – a record for Oxford.

Nia Griffith (1975, Modern Languages), Labour MP for Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, was made a DBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. Sue Williamson (1974, Modern History & Modern Languages) was awarded an MBE for services to the Library Sector in her capacity as Director, Libraries for Arts Council England. Danielle Lux (1983, Modern languages) was made a Fellow of the Royal Television Society and named an ‘indie legend’ by the Producers’ Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT). Author Alexander Starritt (2004, History and Modern Languages) won the 2021 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for his novel, We Germans, and donated the proceeds to establish a new Sanctuary Scholarship at Somerville (see p6). Professor Frances Stewart (née Kaldor, 1958, PPE) was named a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. Gabriella D’Cruz (2017, MSc Biodiversity Conservation & Management) won the BBC Food Chain’s Global Youth Champion 2021 award for her work reimagining the Indian seaweed farming industry. Playwright Ella Road (2010, English) has penned two episodes of Ten Percent, the forthcoming remake of the French comedy Call My Agent.

STUDENTS

Aivin Gast (2018, Classical Archaeology and Ancient History) helped discover then named the largest known radio galaxy in the universe ‘Alcyoneus’, after the giant who fought Heracles for supremacy over the cosmos. Our doctoral candidate and Stipendiary Lecturer Tom Hickling (2018, DPhil Engineering) won the 2020 ASME Gas Turbine Award for critical new insights into the field of Turbomachinery for power generation and aviation propulsion. A study co-authored by OICSD scholar Trisha Gopalakrishna (2019, DPhil Geography and the Environment) proved that the Indian government has overestimated the potential of reforestation to mitigate their carbon emissions by more than 75%. Mary De Zouche scholar Aavika Dhanda (2019, DPhil Zoology) received the Rufford Foundation’s Rufford Small Grant to support her work examining the effects of land use changes on forest bird communities in the eastern Himalayas. Ingrid Yu (2020, Experimental Psychology) received the Susan Mary Rouse Memorial Prize for best overall performance in the ‘Introduction to Psychology’ Prelim, the Weiskrantz Prize for best performance in Psychology Part I and the Braddick Prize for best overall performance in PPL Prelims. Sarafina Otis (2020, Medicine) placed second in the year in her second year Medicine exams to secure proxime accessit for best overall performance. Johannes Keil (2019, PPL) placed second in his year group in FHS I Psychology, securing proxime accessit to the Iversen Prize for best overall performance.

Calam Lynch (2013, Classics) appeared in the third season of the Netflix series Bridgerton and the film Benediction, about the life of Siegfried Sassoon. Lizzy Mansfield (2013, Physics and Philosophy) joined the writer’s room on Apple TV’s hit comedy Ted Lasso.

Professor Patricia Kingori

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Somerville’s Commemoration 2022 Somerville’s Commemoration Service this year was held on Saturday 11 June in the College Chapel.

his important event in our calendar underlines the enduring relationship between Somerville and its members, as we commemorate our founders, governors and major benefactors, and especially alumni who have died during the past year. The address was given this year by Whitehall historian Gill Bennett OBE FRHistS (1969, History). All Somervillians are welcome to attend this annual Service and we particularly invite close families and Somervillian friends of those who have died to join us. Next year’s Commemoration will occur on Saturday 10th June in the Somerville College chapel. If you know of any Somervillians who have died recently but who are not listed here please contact Liz Cooke (Elizabeth.Cooke@some.ox.ac.uk).

Elizabeth Roberta Cameron (‘Elspeth’) Barker (1958) née Langlands on 21 April 2022, Aged 81, Mod Langs Patricia Jean Beesley née Mears (1945) on 31 December 2021, Aged 94, Mod. Langs. Lalage Jean Bown (1945) on 17 December 2021, Aged 94, History Sarah Broadie née Waterlow (1960; Hon. Fellow 2005) on 10 August 2021, Aged 79, Lit. Hum.

Lesley Frances Coggins née Watson (1962) on 5 April 2022, Aged 78, Zoology

Gillian Vallance Mackie née Faulkner (1949) on 17 September 2021, Aged 90, Zoology

Bridget Ann Davies (1950) on 28 April 2022, Aged 91, Physiology

Jane- Kerin Moffat (1949) on 10 December 2021, Aged 90, PPE

Rhiannon Davies (1961) on 9 March 2022, Aged 79, Music & Mod Langs

Lynden Margaret Moore (1954) on 4 January 2022, Aged 86, PPE

Jane Mary Day née Osborn (1959) on 24 June 2021, Aged 81, Lit.Hum.

Marian Joyce Nelson (1960) on 4 January 2022, Aged 81, Lit.Hum.

Mary Evelyn Dixon née Barnett (1949) in about January 2022, Aged 90, English Virginia Fassnidge née Cole (1958) on 12 April 2021, Aged 81, Mod Langs. Harriet Fishman née Levine (1961) on 2 July 2021, Aged 78, English Elizabeth Fortescue Hitchens née Baldwin (1946) on 28 November (1946), Aged 94, History Marigold Diana Freeman-Attwood née Philips (1941) on 23 May 2021, Aged 98, English Anne Elizabeth Fuller née Havens (1953) on 22 May 2021, Aged 89, English Francisca Anna Garvie (1961) on 10 August 2021, Aged 78, Mod.Langs. Jane Cicely Gibbs née Eyre (1954) on 27 June 2021, Aged 85, History Ann Natalie Hansen (1959) on the 28 February 2019, Aged 91, BLitt (History) Carol Holmes née Bentz (1967) on 15 June 2021, Aged 77, DPhil Philosophy Patricia May Ibbotson (1944) on 24 November 2021, Aged 95, Mod Langs

Barbara Britton née Marshall (1953) on 4 September 2021, Aged 87, English

Catherine Elizabeth King (1973-75 Mary Ewart JRF) on 1 January 2022, Aged 86

Susan Elspeth Chitty née Hopkinson (1947) on 13 July 2021, Aged 91, History

Cecily Littleton née Darwin (1945) in April 2022, Aged 95, Chemistry

Celia Clout (1951) on 21 April 2020, Aged 87, English

Barbara Cordelia (Cordy) Mcneil née Collins (1962) on 18 April 2022, Aged 77, History

Susan Partridge (College Secretary 1978-1992) on 3 August 2021, Aged 89 Daphne Claire Perry (1952) in 2021, Aged about 88, Maths Juliet Christina Quicke née Ricketts (1955) on 25 July 2019, Aged 82, English Dora Louise Rose née Birch (1951) on 19 January 2020, Aged 87, Maths Gillian Saunders née Gaisford (1951) on 15 September 2021, Aged 89, Mod Langs Linda Anne Shampan (1968) on 21 April 2022, Aged 72, Chemistry Claire Janet Tomlinson née Lucas (1963) on 12 January 2022, Aged 77, Agricultural & Forest Sciences Lucia Turner née Glanville (1951) on 11 April 2022, Aged 89, English Jean Elizabeth Velecky née Stanier (1941) on 6 March 2022, Aged 99, Physiology Elizabeth Joan Spencer Vice née Wright (1948) on 11 March 2022, Aged 91, English Enid Ray Wason née Lancaster (1947) on 22 October 2021, Aged 93, English Marilyn Dorothy Woodside née Wright (1960) in 2021, Aged 79, Lit. Hum.

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Beyond Good and Evil:

Alexander Starritt discusses ‘We Germans’ In 2021, Alexander Starritt won the Dayton Peace Prize for his second novel We Germans. He joined us to discuss the challenge of depicting the realities of war and why he donated his prize money to fund a new sanctuary scholarship at Somerville.

ne day in the early 1960s, Alexander Starritt’s mother and grandparents jumped from a moving train into West Berlin. In doing so, the family began a journey familiar to millions of displaced people today, leading from the precarious, hand-medown existence of the refugee to a settled, if unrecognisable, life in a new world. However, when I meet Alexander Starritt to discuss We Germans, he is keen to emphasise that it’s the history leading up to that fateful leap which dominates his second novel – as well as the dangerous tendency of history to repeat itself unless individuals make a concerted effort to do things differently.

We Germans considers what happens when human beings kick out the supports under the edifice of civilisation.

We Germans is written as a letter from a German soldier to his grandson, recalling his years on the Eastern front. It’s inspired by the experiences of Starritt’s own grandfather, beginning when the narrator, Meissner, is drafted into the Wehrmacht as an aspiring 19 year-old scientist. He spends four long years evading death as a soldier and three more confined to the gulag. The letter focuses, however, on the autumn of 1944, when Meissner’s regiment has dissolved and the Germans, in retreat from a rapidly advancing Russian Army, have all but lost the war, their “mental, physical and moral disintegration almost complete.”

Highlighting the moral as well as physical and mental disintegration of the German troops is not a means by which to attenuate guilt, Starritt tells me. His grandfather’s generation knew their consciences would always be burdened by what they had seen and done. Instead, We Germans seeks to provide a layered meditation on what happens to human beings when they have, as Starritt writes, “kicked out the supports under the edifice of civilisation.” Can anyone ever be reconciled to the barbarism of the Eastern Front, where seven out of eight of all Germany’s soldier deaths in World War Two occurred? And how much guilt should a person bear if his country succumbed to an ideology as evil as Nazism, even though he never professed it himself? In order to handle such difficult questions, Starritt faced a challenge: how would he prevent the reader from dismissing the events that occurred as those of another time or a different people? The answer to maintaining the reader’s empathy, Starritt explains, came from his literary hero, Tolstoy. “He’s the master of introducing detail that is non-essential to the plot, but fundamental to giving the fictional world its texture.” In order to maintain that level of detail, Starritt tells me, he read endless diaries and letters,

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Soldiers marching in the snow, Eastern Front, 1944

filled exercise books with notes and very often found entire plot points through his research. Much of what he found turns up in the novel – and not merely the harrowing details of mass suicides, villagers strung up from trees ‘like plums’ and other details too gruesome to mention. The texture of reality in We Germans is also enriched by the mundane: the colour of the mud in Ukraine, the smell of an armoured column, the way rifle shells made with too little brass explode in the barrel, ‘blowing out a steel bubble halfway along its length, like an arthritic knuckle.’ Even the soldier’s perennial, morbid fascination with the state of his feet finds a place.

choices to the soldier manning a radar station in Norway, he reasons, their lives and moral landscapes diverging as a consequence. I wonder whether there’s a risk to arguing that morality is determined by circumstance. Don’t you end up in a relativistic cul-de-sac where everything is meaningless? “I would say that there are two obvious responses to the idea that morality is subjective,” Starritt replies. “One is to say, like an existentialist, everything is absurd, nothing really matters, we’re all dead in the end, so let’s just tend our gardens, smoke clove cigarettes, and have unsatisfying love affairs.

Morality can be what you had under the Nazis, or it can be what we have now.

The purpose of all this realism is surely to invite an engagement and empathy with the characters that looks beyond the reductive binaries of good and evil, us and them. This brings Starritt to what is essentially the heart of the novel. “One of the main themes of We Germans is that people don’t live in isolation from their times or the institutions they encounter. The moral choices and parameters available to us are slanted by where and when we’re born as much as anything.” At one point Meissner articulates this view with flawless empiricism: a soldier posted to a concentration camp inherits a very different set of moral Depth in the details: German soldiers battling the conditions on the Eastern Front

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Two German soldiers sheltering in a foxhole – Russia, 1942

Supporting a Sanctuary Scholar felt like passing on the same kindness my family once received to someone else.

“The alternative view, the one I prefer to take, is to acknowledge that morals and morality are human artefacts, the aggregate of innumerable human decisions and human lives, which means we have a choice: morality can be whatever we make it. What we had under the Nazis is one version, what we have now is another.” The same choice also faces institutions and nation states, Starritt argues, as we come full circle to consider the plight of displaced people in Ukraine. “I think acknowledging the fact that there’s no objective moral code cuts through

the tangle a lot of countries get themselves into. The way to help Ukraine isn’t by threatening to take Putin to the international criminal court, it’s by winning the war. That’s what stopped Nazism.” Of course, there are other ways we can help, Starritt adds. One of which is helping those impacted by these crises. This is something Alex himself did when he donated the prize money he received for winning The Dayton Literary Peace Prize, an accolade given to works of literature with the power to promote peace, to establish a new Sanctuary Scholarship at Somerville. “Supporting a sanctuary scholar at my old college seemed a much better way of spending the money than just frittering it away. It felt like passing on the same kindness my family once received from strangers to someone else, helping them to make their start in a new country.”

The name of the inaugural Ingrid Starritt Sanctuary Scholar will be announced in the 2021-22 issue of Somerville College’s Report for Donors. Read more about our work as a College of Sanctuary at some.ox.ac.uk/about/sanctuary/ In February of 1943, a Soviet soldier stands guard behind a captured German soldier. Associated Press

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Inside The NMR Revolution Since her appointment as Somerville’s inaugural Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow in 2020, Dr Fay Probert has seen her research garner national headlines and industry partnerships. She joins us to explain the revolutionary diagnostic power of combining AI dataset analysis with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy.

Photo: Jack Evans

specialism in metabolomics, the scientific study of chemical processes involving the small molecule substrates, intermediates and products of cell metabolism called metabolites.

n a sense, my whole career has been guided by the search for interdisciplinary collaboration. As a maths undergrad, the projects that most fascinated me involved using complex mathematical methods to understand biological processes like viral infection. This led me to do an MSc in mathematical biology and analytical chemistry. It was there I had my first encounter with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy; I was completely blown away. NMR combines physics and chemistry to extraordinary effect, using purely quantum mechanical phenomena (an intrinsic property of the nucleus called ‘spin’) to provide structural and dynamic information about chemicals in exquisite detail. Following my first brush with NMR, I knew I had to do a PhD in that field – which led in turn to my current

NMR is highly versatile: it can determine molecular structures, test drug kinetics, even evaluate food safety. But the function we rely on is NMR’s capacity to analyse complex mixtures with just a single experiment. This means we take a small amount of blood or another biofluid and, in just a few minutes, create ‘biomarker constellations’ that tell us a huge amount of chemical information about the metabolites present in the sample. We then use machine-learning algorithms (many of which I write – calling on my aforementioned love of maths!) to pick out the metabolite signals that indicate specific conditions or disease progression. This multi-marker approach holds many advantages over traditional blood tests, which can only measure one marker at a time. An increase in one metabolite alone may not give sufficient accuracy for a diagnostic test, but an increase in metabolite ‘A’ coupled with a simultaneous decrease in metabolites ‘B’ and ‘C’ gives a holistic picture that vastly improves diagnostic accuracy.

Above: The Axinon System by numares AG, which Dr Probert uses to elucidate metabolite constellations

After MS and cancer, potential uses for multi-marker testing inciude Alzheimer’s and even depression.

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The clear value of this test in treating MS has led to a partnership with the German diagnostics firm numares AG. But the uses for multi-marker testing don’t stop with MS. Earlier this year, our research made national headlines because multi-marker testing has been proven effective in the early diagnosis of cancer. At present, patients suffering non-specific cancer symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue pose a challenge to GPs because there is no indication of tumour location. This means GPs must, as with MS, adopt a watch-and-wait approach until a specific symptom presents – risking serious adverse consequences given the connection between early detection and survival. Using the methods we pioneered in the laboratory of Somerville’s Medical Fellow Professor Anthony, my colleagues have not only detected cancer in patients presenting with non-specific symptoms, but also whether that cancer has metastasised. We also believe that, with more work, the test could determine tumour location and what type of cancer it is – which has in turn generated further interest in commercialisation. Continuing Dorothy Hodgkin’s legacy: Dr Probert in the lab. Photo: Jack Evans

This test will give doctors an affordable way of empowering their diagnostic process, offering patients longer, better lives.

The test has been proven to have value across multiple conditions, but I work most closely on its use in diagnosing Multiple Sclerosis. At present, the greatest challenge clinicians face with MS is detecting the transition of the condition from the first phase of the disease (Rapidly Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis) to the more debilitating second phase of the disease (Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis). Worsening of disability can be due to an attack or the first signs of progression. There is currently no biofluid test to determine whether someone has transitioned to SPMS and confirming this diagnosis can take years as clinicians have little choice but to wait and see if disability continues to progress. Using NMR, we are able to identify the transition from RRMS to SPMS with 91% accuracy. We can also use the same test to identify acute relapses, predict relapses and even monitor response to treatments – all of which offers significant dividends in patient prognosis and quality of life.

From here, the horizons are endless. We are now applying our work to a wide range of chronic diseases, ranging from rheumatoid arthritis to Alzheimer’s, epilepsy to migraines, even psychosis and depression – and the early results are promising. The last point I want to make is that none of this happened in isolation. Throughout our research, we’ve consulted closely with clinicians, learning where they most need additional support to improve diagnosis and make better treatment decisions. My greatest hope – and I think this is true of everyone both at my newly formed laboratory and that of Professor Anthony – is that this test will offer doctors a fast, affordable and effective means of empowering their diagnostic process. That, in turn, will improve their ability to create personalized care pathway, offering patients longer, better lives. It also affirms what I felt all those years ago, when I first started thinking about combining maths and biology. Interdisciplinary collaboration is not just helpful in science, it’s fundamental.

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Out of the Shadows, into the Heart A PROFILE OF SUNETHRA BANDARANAIKE (1964, PPE)

She is the daughter of two prime ministers, one of whom was the world’s first female premier. Here she tells the Magazine how she turned away from politics towards humanitarian goals – and how Somerville and the lifelong friendships she made here shaped her path.

t’s London in 2001 and, on a stage over 5,000 miles from home, 45 young and (for the most part) disabled people bow to rapturous applause. They have just performed Flowers Will Always Bloom, a moving portrayal of the Sri Lankan civil war which they and their families have lived through. They represent the full ethnic and religious diversity of my people. They represent hope. As the applause continues, there is just enough time to reflect that these young people and this moment also represent the fulfilment of a long personal journey for me, towards meaning and my own purpose. It was my father who inspired me to come to Oxford. He studied Classics at Christ Church, and often regaled us with enthralling stories of his time there and the brilliant friends he made. When I came up to Somerville myself, in 1964, the first thing I noticed was the liberal attitude. Having had a very conventional Sri Lankan upbringing, the creativity and freedom of the place hugely changed the way I saw the world. I went from a timid, quiet person to someone who could hold her own in situations and discuss issues in a broad-minded manner. What’s more, to my surprise, I developed leadership qualities which I had not recognised in myself before. This has stood me in good stead throughout my life.

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Creating harmony between communities is just as important as the harmony within them.

The other thing that stood out to me was the Principal, Dame Janet Vaughan. Dame Janet was a remarkable person. She was intellectually brilliant – but she was also kind, caring and considerate. Aware I had come from a different cultural background, she paid extra attention to my wellbeing at all times, and helped me to integrate. I could reach out to her whenever I needed, and she became a very special part of my life at Somerville. I read PPE. You could say that was inevitable as politics is, to some extent, in my DNA. Both of my parents, as well as my sister and brother, were deeply involved in Sri Lankan politics, three of them as Prime Minister. From this vantage point, however, I also observed the negative aspects of politicians (which were often far more numerous than the positives). Active politics can bring out the good in a politician but it more often than not simply reveals the bad. After my father was assassinated by his political enemies when I was still in my teens, I knew that politics would never be part of my answer to serving the people of my country. I found my calling elsewhere. A dear friend of mine, Wolfgang Stange, Founder of the AMICI Dance Theatre Company, had been working with differently-abled young people in England. He called me one day to try and persuade me to get involved in the work he was doing in Sri Lanka. He knew that, in addition to my knowledge of the region, I have a passion for the performing arts, especially drama.

Tea plantion workshops

Disabled people are among the most vulnerable in our society, but they are so often marginalised and turned away from in a way I find deeply disturbing, both in Sri Lanka and around the world. It hadn’t occurred to me until speaking to Wolfgang how the performing arts could help to develop these young people, enhance their lives, and give them joy and hope. In 1988, with Wolfgang’s support, I raised funds to begin to set up workshops, which helped lead eventually to four major theatre productions – including Flowers Will Always Bloom. We formed the Sunera Foundation in 1998 to continue our work. Sunera now runs many workshops island-wide, mostly in poor rural areas, providing a free-of-charge service to over one thousand disabled young persons. The decisions on setting up workshops are taken on the basis of the need in a particular area.

Sunethra Bandaranike with the parents from Kandy and Katugastota workhop, 2019

Creating harmony between communities is just as important as the harmony within them. Sunera plays a reconciliatory, apolitical role in bringing together communities who have been torn apart by 30 years of civil war in Sri Lanka. Our workshops are established in areas where Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities live, and have a mix of all ethnic groups, all of whom work together to tell the story. We perform narratives which deal with unity, harmony, and extending support to all those who need it. In this way, we convey a message of a united Sri Lanka where there is peace and community.

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Horagolla workshop activity. All photographs this page by Malaka Premasiri

We have faced many challenges along our journey, but with determination, dedication and the support of all our friends we have overcome them. I have seen time and time again how these youngsters flourish, developing their self-confidence and self-esteem in a way which brings joy not just to themselves but to their families, as well and enabling them to integrate into society. Irrespective of our individual or collective problems and frustrations, we must, at all times, stand with those who are most vulnerable and most in need of help in whatever way. At a time like this, I believe Sunera has a very special role to play.

THE FRIENDS OF SUNERA FOUNDATION Seeing the work of our Somerville friend Sunethra inspired us in 2006 to start a small UK charity, the Friends of Sunera Foundation (FSF), to raise funds to support this important cause. On our numerous visits to Sri Lanka to support Sunera, we saw firsthand how our old friend’s vision and commitment continue to steer the organisation, while her charismatic presence, good humour and determination inspire all who work there. Sunethra is more than just a figurehead. She is actively tackling the profound stigma carried by disability in Sri Lankan society, where disabled children can still be seen as a source of shame to be hidden away from the local community. Perhaps most importantly, the Sunera Foundation is – like Somerville – a radically inclusive space. In a country riven for decades by sectarian disputes and civil war, all ethnic and religious groups are welcomed in Sunera workshops. Families who have often had no contact outside their ethnic or religious circle see their children working together and enjoying each other’s company, and this has helped them to move away from fear and suspicion towards greater mutual understanding and trust. It is this kind of radical compassion which the world so urgently needs today. Sue Griffin 1964 PPE Susan Hoyle 1964 PPE Alison Skilbeck 1964 Modern Languages Founders of the Friends Of Sunera Foundation

Mount Lavinia workshop session

Sunethra with Susan Hoyle, Sue Griffin and Alison Skilbeck at their 50th Reunion

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Jane and Iain Awty after receiving two medals for two entries in the 2018 WineGB Awards

A Glass Half-Full Story Jane and Iain Awty met studying Chemistry at Oxford. Tiring of London, they upped sticks in 1985 for a fresh start as wine growers in Somerset, when British wine was still struggling for recognition. Jane Awty (née Wreford, 1964, Chemistry) joins us to tell the story of following her and Iain’s dream to become an award-winning, environmentally responsible family business.

iary entry – 10th June 1986: “Iain and Mike finished the canes and rabbit nets today. The planting has taken two days short of two months, occupying every daylight moment that could be spared from children and work and with lots of help from friends. The vine shoots are 2-3 inches long yet the mayweed that sprang up from the bare earth is up to the children’s waists. We’re exhausted.” But we were done. Only nine months before, in September 1985, we had loaded the family Volvo to the gunwhales with our three small children, a collie dog, 2 cats, 2 rabbits and a tortoise, heading for the Somerset field where we’d decided to start our vineyard. At that point, most of what we knew about wine came from drinking it. But as chemists, we did at least know to get the soil analysed before planting. We also had reams of good advice from the government Vine Adviser, who confirmed that Wilhayes Field was ideal: a sloping southeast field of red sandy loam sheltered by hills and a large wood. Fast forward to 1988 and the vines we planted had matured enough to gather our first small crop. Two years later, we sent the fruits of our labour – a dry white from the same Kernling vines we use today – to the International Wine Awards, where it won a bronze medal. Since then, our wines have won 35 awards in 26 years at the International Wine Challenge Awards, and 15 awards in 9 years at the Decanter World Wine Awards. But, really, while winning things is lovely, it’s never been about the awards or getting big and making lots of money. The real pleasure of this life has been our ability to keep living it – producing wines that we love while getting to live and raise our family on this amazing piece of land. At the heart of our philosophy is the idea of balance. In the early days, that mostly meant balancing the books: we decided to keep things simple by producing

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Harvesting in the 80s with a vintage Ferguson T20 (now retired)

only two white wines from two grape varieties, the aforementioned Kernling and Madeleine Angevine. We also chose to sell directly, mostly to customers in the southwest, to save on distribution. As the years have passed, however, the idea of balance has become more about finding a balance with the land itself. We now know, for instance, that our vineyard isn’t just planted in a good location: the rounded edges of Wilhayes Field suggest it was carved out of ancient woodland rather than enclosed, which means our hedgerows are enriched by thousands of years of biodiversity. We support that ancient biodiversity by letting our alleys come up to seed in May and June, keeping a naturally regenerating wild area nearby and promoting a cover of naturally regenerated sward to maintain soil health and capture carbon. This natural equilibrium benefits our vines because it promotes a larger diversity of insects with a balance between predators and pests that eliminates the need for pesticides. Of course, being so closely connected to the rhythms of land and season means we also notice when the balance goes awry, as with climate change. You might think that, as winemakers, we’d be glad of the warmer weather. But I’m enough of a scientist to know it’s really disastrous. Our harvests now come on average two weeks earlier than when we started, with three of the last four years setting new records. And that’s not all: we have more trouble with mildew due to bigger rain events and we’re also vulnerable to snap frosts, because our vines break bud earlier. In 2020, for the first time in 30 years, we actually lost a whole block to frost.

We’re doing all we can to help fight climate change and restore the balance. As well as conserving biodiversity and capturing carbon, we’re using lower weight bottles to keep our carbon footprint low, buying high quality traditional corks to support the mixed cork oak ecology in Portugal, eliminating plastic from our packaging, keeping our ‘wine miles’ low by selling mostly within the southwest and limiting our environmental impact by using handheld electric tools, recharged from solar panels. It’s the least we can do before passing the vineyard on to the next generation – specifically, to our son, Ned, who has a family of his own now, as well as his own grand plans for Oatley. That’s the beauty of wine, really: each vintage tells the story of a single year, but also of the place itself – its past and its future.

That’s the beauty of wine: each vintage tells the story of a single year, but also of the place itself – its past and its future.

To learn more about Oatley Wines or arrange a visit, go to www.oatleyvineyard.co.uk

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All Rise: A Conversation with Deborah Taylor Deborah Taylor (1980, Law) is a criminal law judge who sits at Southwark Crown Court. Alongside trying high-profile cases such as those of Julian Assange and Boris Becker, Deborah was recently elected Treasurer of the Inner Temple, where she advocates for greater diversity at the Bar. She was interviewed for the Somerville Magazine by current student Kristy Chan (2020, Law).

Did you also plan to specialise in criminal law? Actually, no. I did not practise in crime at the Bar, but had a common law/commercial practice including insurance and reinsurance. I swapped over to crime when I became a judge. Southwark does predominantly fraud and corruption cases, so my background in commercial law was really helpful. I’m very glad I’ve had the opportunity of doing both civil and criminal law. What would you say is the trickiest or most memorable case you’ve judged?

HHJ Deborah Taylor sits in Southwark Crown Court, the Administrative Court, High Court Queen’s Bench Division and Court of Appeal Criminal Division

Did you always plan to go to the Bar? Oh, yes. I was always very argumentative, so I thought the Bar would suit me better than being a solicitor. At Somerville, I was fortunate to be taught by Lady Fox and Anne de Moor, two excellent tutors who encouraged me. I was also very fortunate to be up with a similarly determined group, including my good friend Margaret Casely-Hayford (Chair of Shakespeare’s Globe and Honorary Fellow of Somerville).

I’ve done a number of cases which I think are quite memorable. But I suppose that the most extraordinary involved a Maoist cult in South London. The leader of the cult imprisoned his followers in a house in Brixton – including his daughter, from her birth to age 30, so she had never been outside in all that time. That’s an interesting case. It even has its own entry in Wikipedia. You tried cases throughout the pandemic using video conferencing platforms. Is that helpful when trying a case? I think it’s very good in some ways. It’s certainly made us realise which parts of a trial actually need people there. For example, case management before trial can be done remotely, because it involves procedural or legal arguments with no requirement for jury or defendants. During the trial is less simple.

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How do you plan to improve the representation of women and people from diverse backgrounds?

Reform from within: Deborah Taylor in court dress

We had witnesses come into Court via Zoom during the pandemic and sometimes the impact of evidence can be less than if given in the courtroom. In terms of cross-examination? Exactly. There’s a distancing effect when somebody’s on screen. Criminal trials are very dynamic and quite dramatic – just the looks between defendants in court when a bit of evidence detrimental to them is given sometimes give the jury a clue as to whether they’re telling the truth or not. That is lost on screen. You recently became Treasurer of Inner Temple. What do you hope to achieve in the post? Inner Temple aims to be welcoming, progressive and inclusive. As Treasurer, I really hope to build on that. This year I organised a dinner for the centenary of the Call of the first woman to the Bar, Ivy Williams of Inner Temple. It was a celebration of how far we’ve come, but with a recognition that there is still a lot of work to be done to improve diversity. The latest analysis from the Bar Standards Board confirms that women still earn far less than men at the Bar and, even worse, that the inequity is intersectional, with Black women earning the least. As Treasurer, I would like to address that inequity, for women, people from all backgrounds, LGBTQ+ and non-traditional communities.

The Inner Temple does extensive outreach in schools and universities and provides substantial financial scholarships and, through the PASS scheme, mini-pupillages, to encourage and support those from all backgrounds. However, for lasting change, we need to keep women in the profession longer to reach the highest levels. Chambers must assist the careers of women by fairer allocation of work and support in returning to the Bar after having children. I was proud to be involved in the foundation of Temple Women’s Forum in 2014 to promote equality throughout women’s careers. This year, all four Inns have joined together in forming the Inns of Court Alliance for Women, continuing that work.

Just the looks between defendants can give the jury a clue as to whether they’re telling the truth – which is almost impossible on Zoom.

What advice would you give to current Somervillians considering the Bar? What better than the lines from Macbeth: ‘Be bloody, bold and resolute; laugh to scorn the power of man.’ You have to be so tough as a woman at the Bar – but, as we’ve seen, change is possible. As a Somervillian lawyer, male or female, you’re joining a lineage dating back to Cornelia Sorabji, not only the first woman to study law at Oxford, but also the first woman to practise law in India. Ah, yes. I’ve seen the plaque to her in the Law Room at Somerville. One of many women whose example continues to inspire me.

Oxford University’s Jessup Moot team after winning the national finals – Kristy Chan stands far-left

To learn more about Inns of Court Alliance for Women, visit www.innertemple.org.uk/your-professional-community/icaw

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Meet the

President What are your recollections of Somerville and how do you think Somerville shaped your path beyond Oxford? I came to Somerville in 1989 as a Rhodes Visiting Research Fellow. Arriving directly from an obstetrics residency in Mumbai, it was at Somerville that I first encountered academia’s thrilling potential for interdisciplinarity. My friends and I in the SCR used to talk about such a range of topics – everything from Anglo-Saxon archaeology to Egyptology – and I have carried that appreciation and curiosity for different disciplines on my career journey. I also received a fantastically warm welcome from everyone at Somerville – not least Daphne Park, who presented me with her winter coat and boots as well as my treasured MA gown!

You’ve worked in academia, at large multi-national organisations and as an entrepreneur setting up and selling businesses. Which of your career achievements are you most proud of? I remain proud of my doctoral research conducted whilst at Somerville, on the early diagnosis of thalassaemia, because that research has formed the basis of a longstanding effective disease control programme. Since then I have led clinical trial programmes for a number of new treatments – and in many ways the same pursuit of lasting impact defines my work today. As Chief Medical Officer for Relief Therapeutics, I lead complex drug development programmes for rare genetic diseases with unmet medical needs. Throughout your career, you have pursued greater equality in global healthcare. What gives you such a strong sense of purpose?

My goal is to build an even stronger connection between alumni and the college, across generations, geographies and professional disciplines.

I’ve been involved with healthcare delivery in multiple global settings, ranging from basic hospitals to some of the best-equipped centres in the world, an experience that has afforded me an understanding of the global disparities in healthcare delivery. This drives me to harness the capital, resources and urgency that is available in the business world, and apply it towards meeting

Photo: Jack Evans

At the start of her term as the new President of the Somerville Association, Dr Nermeen Varawalla (1989, DPhil Clinical Medicine) joins us to reflect on her career in life sciences, the influence of her time at Somerville and her goals as President.

global healthcare needs. The underinvested fields of women’s health, as well as healthcare delivery in the global South, remain areas of particular focus. What do you hope to achieve as President of the Somerville Association? I am honoured and thrilled to have the opportunity to serve Somerville and its alumni in this capacity. Somerville continues to evolve in an amazing manner whilst building on its impressive heritage – a characteristic blend of progress and tradition with which I believe all Somervillians, irrespective of their vintage or interests, will enjoy connecting. Working with my committee and the college, therefore, my goal is to build an even stronger connection between alumni and the college, as well as facilitating interaction within the alumni community across generations, geographies and professional disciplines through online and in-person events. As a starting point, the Somerville Association will be hosting a special formal on Saturday, 17th September to coincide with Meeting Minds, at which we look forward to welcoming many alumni back to Somerville. To register to attend the Meeting Minds Formal, please visit the Somerville College website.

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THE YEAR IN REVIEW 2021-22 The Somerville Association this year embraced the return to a full calendar of in-person and online events so packed with reunions, recitals, meetings and celebrations that we couldn’t find space for them all here. We hope the following edited highlights will give you a taste of a bustling and happy year.

September

The 1970-71 Reunion A shared reunion for Somervillians who matriculated in 1970 and 1971, including a gala dinner.

November

Somerville College Carol Concert After a light frosting of snow, Somervillians around the world joined us online and in-person for our annual carol Concert.

February

Supporters’ Lunch A chance for College to thank the Somerville community for its support, including music from Somerville’s choral scholars and words from recent Access ambassadors.

June

March

Spring Meeting Dame Dr June Raine and Dame Kate Bingham shared their expert insights on the pandemic at the Somerville Association’s AGM.

Commemoration Service

28 May

Boat Club Centenary Dinner Pimm’s by the river and a dinner in hall for former Somerville crews all helped raise funds for a new boat for the women’s team in its centenary year.

A moving occasion at which to remember Somervillians who have died this year, featuring an address by Whitehall historian Gill Bennett (1969, History).

25 -26 June

1980-91 Gaudy A beautiful weekend in which we saw the Quad restored to its stunning best for our largest ever Gaudy. Photos this page: Keith Barnes, John Cairns, Jack Evans

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Changing Our World For The Better:

Eleanor Rathbone at 150 In honour of Eleanor Rathbone’s 150th birthday, social historian and author of Bluestockings and Ladies Can’t Climb Ladders, Jane Robinson, looks at the undercelebrated yet exceptional life and achievements of the first Somervillian MP.

Eleanor Rathbone campaigning for the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) in London, c. 1910. Credit: LSE Library

ext time you visit Somerville, look up to your left after passing through the Woodstock Road Lodge. You’ll see something you might not have noticed before: an elegant clock. As our College lacks the tolling bells common to more ancient foundations, this timepiece was the first thing former generations of students checked as they entered the College, and the last as they left. It was an appropriate gift from alumna Eleanor Rathbone (1872-1946): never was anyone as skilled as she at cramming the hours and days with action. Her achievements were remarkable in her own era, and remain startlingly relevant today. Yet, like the clock, we hardly acknowledge her. On the 150th anniversary of her birth – and

given the world we inhabit now – Eleanor Rathbone deserves closer attention. She was the 10th of Liverpool MP William Rathbone’s 11 children; a reserved girl educated largely at home and expected to make a suitable marriage after coming out as a reluctant débutante at 17. Her Liberal father encouraged her to share his philanthropic interests, but only within conventional limits approved by her mother. Convention and limitation rarely held Eleanor back, however, which is why Somerville was such a good match for her when she arrived in 1893 to read Greats. As far as she was concerned, marriage could wait - preferably, for ever.

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The clock gifted by Eleanor Rathbone, above the entrance to the New Council Room. Photo: Jack Evans

She already identified as a feminist, inspired by the Rathbone dynasty’s heritage of dissent and reform, and was delighted to find kindred spirits of her own generation at Somerville. She threw herself into college life, drawn to politics from the start. When Oxford women campaigned for the right to a degree, Eleanor was there on the front line, representing Somerville. When meetings were held to progress women’s suffrage, there she was again, stirring up support. When the College’s mock Parliament met to tackle the issues of the day, or members of the radical ‘Associated Prigs’ (an exclusive College club) debated social injustice, Eleanor loomed large, always accompanied by her own dense cloud of cigarette smoke.

Between 1914 and 1918 Eleanor administered support for servicemen’s families and campaigned for direct state provision for wives impoverished or bereaved by war. In 1919 she was elected chair of the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship, while still serving as a city councillor; an assessor for child welfare for the League of Nations; and a lobbyist for equal opportunities for women in political and domestic life.

As far as Eleanor was concerned, marriage could wait - preferably, for ever.

By now she had moved to London, setting up home a couple of streets away from the Palace of Westminster. Handy, as it turned out: in 1929, Eleanor was elected MP for the Combined English Universities, becoming the first Somervillian to sit on the green benches.

In 1895, armed with a nominal 2:2 (women were not awarded degrees until 1920) and with three years of Somervillian fire in her belly, Eleanor returned to Liverpool. With her father, she investigated and publicised the conditions of local dock-workers’ families, and coordinated voluntary aid in the city to empower women who had the will and energy to help others, but didn’t know how. In 1909 she was the first female elected to Liverpool City Council; she led the local women’s suffrage organization and also served on the executive of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, choosing to battle for the vote as a constitutional suffragist rather than a militant suffragette. Eleanor Rathbone speaking to a crowd at Trafalgar Square in the 1930s

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“Eleanor Rathbone continues to influence me both personally and as a Trustee of the Eleanor Rathbone Charitable Trust, where we always support the kind of projects we think Eleanor might have approved, from advancing the interests of women to supporting unpopular causes such as asylum seekers and women prisoners”. LADY ANGELA MORGAN (1965, HISTORY) Eleanor Rathbone

She stood as an Independent and retained the seat until her death. One crusade stands out across the arc of her Westminster career: her stewardship of the Family Allowances Act, passed in 1945. Her early experiences in the Liverpool docklands convinced her that state benefits should be paid directly to mothers, without fear or favour; not only in recognition of their child-rearing duties, but to encourage them to take equal responsibility for their families and to engage with the concept of citizenship. A sense of self is crucial to those unused to consideration and respect. The Family Allowance scheme we know today as Child Benefit was therefore about seeding confidence for women as well as providing support.

Eleanor Rathbone’s legacy is renewed each time we extend the promise of scholarship irrespective of gender, race, creed or status.

William Beveridge, architect of the welfare state, acknowledged his debt to Eleanor. But she achieved so much else in the course of her pioneering life. One of her earliest speeches in Parliament courageously highlighted the practice of Female Genital Mutilation in Africa, at a time when polite ladies were not even expected to know what a clitoris was. She took a particular interest in the plight of Indian women in the subcontinent, recognising them as subjects of the British Empire denied their human rights, and too often the victims of domestic and institutional abuse. Eleanor’s concern for the global sisterhood not only brought colonised women to the attention of Imperial and national governments, but strove to provide them with political heft through enfranchisement and education. It is no surprise that Eleanor involved herself closely with the evacuation, accommodation and repatriation of refugees from Spain during the Civil War. She helped to transfer 4,000

Spanish children to Britain, but it was not enough. Despairing of the British Government’s sluggish response to the crisis, she attempted to charter her own ship to run the blockade and rescue more. She was also at the vanguard of those helping refugees escape Nazi occupation in Europe. She fought against the government’s internment of German Jewish and political fugitives during the Second World War, and when news of the death-camps began filtering through, none shouted more passionately than she that something must be done, and done now. Her death at the age of 73 was mourned around the world. ‘No Parliamentary career has been more useful and fruitful,’ wrote the Manchester Guardian’s obituarist. It is hard to argue with that. And yet I can’t help thinking of Eleanor Rathbone in Somervillian terms. Her life of public service was spent in seeking out what she called the ‘disinherited’ at home and abroad, supporting them, and crucially, giving them a voice. Including the excluded. Today, that legacy lives on in two successive generations of Somervillian Rathbones: Eleanor’s greatniece, Lady Angela Morgan (née Rathbone, 1965, History), who is a trustee of the Eleanor Rathbone Trust, and Angela’s daughter, Anna Morgan (1997, History), who is a Senior Development Advisor for the FCO’s Human Development Department. But Eleanor Rathbone’s legacy also lives on here at Somerville, beneath the measured tread of the clock she left us, renewed each time we advocate for refugees or extend the promise of scholarship irrespective of gender, race, creed or status.

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Thoughts Without Borders:

Reflections on Openness in Medieval Europe

Inside-Out: Domenico di Michelino’s fresco of Dante standing outside the walls of Florence

The fourth volume by the Somerville Medievalist Research Group was conceived as an affirmation of openness’s importance to medieval thought and modern academia. Its editors, Professor Almut Suerbaum, Somerville’s Fellow and Tutor in German, and Professor Manuele Gragnolati join us to reflect on this new study featuring 15 Somerville scholars, past and present.

penness is considered a virtue in modern liberal society: keeping an open mind, welcoming others with open arms, being open to new ideas are ideals for any academic and academic community. Often, these ideals are also implicitly associated with modernity, whereas pre-modern societies and cultures are conceived around a binary opposition and therefore associated with fixity and closure.

In its workshops and publications, the Somerville Medieval Research Group has set out to probe and challenge some of these assumptions. When we came together for an initial workshop around concepts of openness in the Middle Ages on 25 June 2016, this was particularly poignant because it was the morning after the UK had decided, by a narrow margin, to leave the European Union. Discussing with colleagues

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where they challenge modern notions of textual fixity. Both Icelandic sagas and religious song defy modern expectations that a text is fixed and unchangeable. Instead, they are transmitted in ways which reflect creative openness and allow echoes of oral performance, a licence to vary depending on the circumstances of each performance.

The

The house without walls: Giotto’s Nativity in the Lower Church, Assisi

Medieval states of openness are often associated with vulnerability – a house open to the elements, a heart open to the storms.

Openness in Medieval Europe is available from ICI Berlin Press.

from around the world why openness mattered, and how to uncover forms of openness which are often obscured by modern assumptions, became an important counter-narrative to the rhetoric of closing borders. The same spirit of an inclusive community reaching across national boundaries informed the colloquium which we held in Berlin in June 2019 – the first time we had arranged a conference outside Oxford and a great success as we debated our papers in continental sunshine. It is certainly true that enclosure plays an important part in medieval culture, both literally and metaphorically – some of the central images permeating texts of this period are of the enclosed garden, the cloister, or the city contained within a circle of walls. Yet such enclosure or exclusion often stands in creative tension with forms of opening up: convents, but also many lay people, would start their day with the invocation of Psalm 51 ‘Domine labia mea aperies’ [Lord, open though my lips], requesting inspiration for a form of speech which comes from the heart. Such forms of human connectedness despite boundaries have their analogue in humanist circles, where Holbein’s steelyard portraits encourage the observer to join an act of reading such as occurs between humanist friends. Many of the contributions to the volume explore the creative tension between medieval materiality and notions of openness, especially

For the great semiotician and medievalist Umberto Eco, the concept of the ‘open work’ became the hall-mark of modernity, in which an author no longer seeks to control the ways in which a work can be interpreted but rather encourages such diverse readings. While we don’t want to argue that medieval literature and culture are open in Eco’s sense, many of the house without walls as seen in this 14th C Nativity fresco from the contributors to the volume havediuncovered ways Collegiata Santa Maria Assunta in which medieval texts and practices challenge notions of its fixity and stability. In particular, they show how states of openness are often associated with vulnerability – a house which is open to the elements, a heart open to the storms, a mind which is receptive to prophecy and literary inspiration, or a subject that expands human boundaries and joins the plant and the animal realm. This vulnerability is often connoted positively, as a state of becoming which is preferred to stable conceptions of self. Often, medieval culture thus explores forms of openness which coexist with forms of enclosure and containment, in a creative tension that unsettles binaries and clear-cut distinctions. The examples we discuss also reveal the central role which gender plays in these explorations of fluid and open states. Somerville and its spirit of intellectual openness was therefore central to the group and the project. From its first meetings in 2010, we saw the Somerville Medieval Research Group as a space in which to explore interdisciplinary dialogue, taking the time to listen to other disciplines and their ways of framing and contextualising issues. This sense of shared endeavour and open exchange became increasingly important to many of us during the political divisions of the post-Brexit era. As we edited the book in lockdown, the echoes of the conversations during our convivial conference in Berlin were a form of solace – a reminder that scholarship can create a sense of community and open up horizons.

Photo: Jack Evans

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By The Book: Introducing the Somerville Association Book Groups Members of the College Book Club, including Emeritus Fellows Hilary Ockendon and Lesley Brown, and Secretary of the Somerville Association, Elizabeth Cooke

Book groups have been a feature of our alumni community since 2017. During the pandemic, these groups moved online, offering valuable intellectual stimulus and society to their members. Ruth Crawford, Chair of the Somerville London Group Book Club, tells us more.

hen I confessed to the Somerville London Group (SLG) Committee that I hadn’t read Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth, I had no idea the effect it would have. Some members acknowledged a similar gap in their reading, while others declared themselves lifelong fans. Quick as a flash, Sarah Wyles (1987, History) proposed a book discussion and the SLG Book Group was born. That was back in 2017, 25 books ago. In that time, we’ve read “classic” authors such as Winifred Holtby, Penelope Fitzgerald, Iris Murdoch, Dorothy L. Sayers and AS Byatt. We’ve also read Somerville novelists with more recent success, such as Maggie Gee, Michèle Roberts, Frances Hardinge, Lara Feigel and Jo Baker. One of our most popular choices was O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker, who sadly died this year. We also greatly enjoyed the novels of recent graduates Daisy Johnson and Alexander Starritt, (see feature, p6). Our highlights in non-fiction include the accounts of women transcending cultural barriers from Jane Robinson and Ann Oakley, as well as Emma Sky’s In a Time of Monsters. Finally, we read the lives of Dorothy Hodgkin and Shirley Williams with great pleasure, as well as the biographies of Sonia Orwell and Vita Sackville-West by Hilary Spurling and Victoria Glendinning, respectively. Perhaps the most enduring pleasure of our discussions, however, is the fascinating insights and anecdotes offered by my fellow members – confirmation that lifelong curiosity is at the heart of what it means to be a Somervillian. To enquire about joining or establishing a Somerville Association Book Group with a new theme, please contact Liz Cooke on elizabeth.cooke@some.ox.ac.uk

THE SOMERVILLE ESPIONAGE BOOK GROUP Since the spring of 2021, a small group of Somervillians has been meeting online to discuss fiction and non-fiction related to all aspects of espionage. The group is chaired by Gill Bennett (History, 1969), whose distinguished career as a Whitehall historian specialising in the history of secret intelligence means she can usually be prevailed upon to add a ‘secret’ snippet to whatever is being discussed! The choice of fiction has ranged from novels about Elizabethan espionage (Alan Judd’s A Fine Madness) to Nicholas Shakespeare’s The Sandpit, set in contemporary Oxford. Non-fiction choices have included two books about Somerville’s former Principal, the late Baroness Park, who had a formidable career in MI6, as well as Leo Marks’ Between Silk and Cyanide, about the codes used by WWII agents in Occupied Europe. The Espionage Book Group still has room for new members – no secret initiation ceremony is required, just email Gill at gillbennett6@gmail.com

eanwhile… Julia Higgins (1961, Physics, Hon Fellow, FRS) has for the past year been reading Dante’s Divine Comedy with Lyn Robertson (1961, English) playing the role of Virgil during their weekly telephone conversations. Yet more lifelong learning from Somervillians!

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Global Climate Research Portal

Earlier this year, Gaurav Dubey, Somerville student and scholar at the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD), launched the Global Climate Research Portal, a unique online platform that aims to aggregate information on climate change research happening across the world.

he aim is simple, yet immensely important – to provide a one-stop platform for researchers, policymakers and businesses to find out what form of climate change research is happening, where and by whom. Even as researchers have been investigating the causes and impacts of climate change over the past decades, there have been gaps in efforts to connect the research community at the global level, said Gaurav. This is where the portal aims to make a difference. It will offer a platform for climate change researchers to share information on their ongoing research and make it accessible to all in a meaningful way. Unlike other platforms that aggregate information on published research or researcher profiles, this portal will focus on ongoing research. In turn, this will create opportunities for the research community to collaborate in real time on overlapping areas of research interests. “Climate change is one of the biggest challenges we’ll face in this century,” said Gaurav. “Climate change research is going to be crucial to finding the solutions we need. To that end, it is imperative that we find ways to enable higher levels of collaboration within the research community but also between them and the wider set of stakeholders, such as governments, businesses and donors.”

Bridging the gap For the first phase, the platform will create an online directory of PhD researchers working on climate change across the globe. It will be built bottom-up by researchers who can enter their information and edit or delete it anytime, offering important elements of authenticity and up-todateness to the portal. Through this directory, anyone can look up ongoing climate change research using keywords, researcher name, countries, cities and other variables as filters. “The idea is to create a platform whereby within a few clicks, you could find out, at any given moment who all across the world is conducting Left: Guarav Dubey. Photo: Jack Evans

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Gateway to a new information ecosystem: the Global Climate Research Portal website

research on, say, Addis Ababa, as a case study for different climate change research projects”, he explained. Working with a team comprising PhD candidates working on climate change at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Yale, he initially collected information on nearly 170 ongoing climate change research projects at 5 universities to test the idea, and later the Portal was launched with that initial dataset. The idea for this Portal occurred to Gaurav in the initial months of his PhD research at the School of Geography and the Environment. Gaurav researches at the intersection of electric mobility and climate policy - looking at the political economy of low carbon mobility transitions in emerging economies, focusing on electric mobility in India. While searching for people at other departments in the university working in related areas, such as battery technology, he realised there was no easy way to do so. “I had to search through each department’s website to find out if anyone was working in an area of my interest,” said Gaurav. “It struck me that this is not how it should be for an issue like climate change where the need for collaboration is much more urgent. Once you realize this issue exists at the global scale, the need for a platform became clear.” Besides helping connect the existing research community, the portal will also enable aspiring researchers to identify gaps in ongoing research and frame impactful research projects. The portal will be open access. Gaurav feels this is important to help address, in time, issues of information asymmetry between the Global North and South, whereby at present collaboration potential within the research community can often become contingent on privileged access to existing research networks and gated information portals.

Scaling up With generous development grants from Somerville College and the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development, the first phase of Global Climate Research Portal is now on its way. The team has big future plans for the portal, such as collating information on talks and seminars on climate change happening globally on a single platform. Another long-term aim is to generate meta-data from the portal, such as the percentage of research projects focusing on the Global North and South, on mitigation and adaptation or particular countries or emission sectors. Such metadata could be useful for donors funding climate change research to identify underfunded research areas or geographies. Gaurav said, “The potential for impact is immense once we can bring the world’s climate change research community together onto a platform. We are taking it step by step, starting with creating a directory of doctoral researchers working on climate change – that by itself will be a big success for us.” Learn more about the OICSD’s work at some.ox.ac.uk/the-oicsd/

The potential for impact is immense once we can bring the world’s climate change research community together

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Anscombe and Foot: Collegiality and Friendship in the Somerville Quartet

Somerville’s Emeritus Fellow Lesley Brown (l) and Professor Lipscomb (r) at the SLG event

Professor Benjamin Lipscomb is a specialist in moral philosophy and the author of The Women Are Up to Something, one of two new books about the ‘Somerville quartet’ of philosophers comprising Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley and Iris Murdoch. As he told the Magazine, Professor Lipscomb had known and admired the work of these women for years, for their insights into human good and evil. But he became interested in the group as a group after reading Midgley’s memoir, The Owl of Minerva, and glimpsing how “a community of friendship that began at Somerville College led to these vital insights.” Lipscomb shared the following extract from the book, which goes some way to capturing the special dynamic of friendship and debate within the Quartet, following a recent lecture delivered to more than seventy members of the Somerville London Group. The lecture, which took place at the Oxford and Cambridge Club, was introduced by Somerville College’s Emeritus Fellow in Philosophy, Lesley Brown, a former student of both Anscombe and Foot.

hilippa Foot looked haggard most days as she mounted the stairs up to Hall for lunch. When she wasn’t delivering the meticulous lectures for which she was known, she was giving tutorials, sometimes backto-back-to-back. For her colleague Elizabeth Anscombe, every tutorial with her modest number of students was an open-ended chance to do philosophy. The bulk of the tutorial load in philosophy fell to Foot. They got the best she could offer within the fixed hour, then she had to move on. She routinely filled 11 or 12 hours a week with regular lessons. Ten was a full load. For her colleague Barbara Harvey, one enduring image of Foot was “her coming into lunch after a morning’s tutorials…a look of complete exhaustion on her face.” Students fearful of philosophy found Foot encouraging. She invariably found something to praise even in the weakest essays. But she offered criticism, too. “More than anyone in Oxford,” a student recalled, “Philippa . . . helped me to grow up. I was clever, but terribly opinionated. She wouldn’t stand for it; she insisted I justify my wilder statements, but . . . so gently that I responded.” Some students, of course, were intimidated by Foot. Her accent and her sharp but conservative dress sense suggested primness. And most Somervillians were aware of Foot’s grand origins. As they came to know her, though, they came to rely on her. She never refused a request

Philippa Foot, 1939 matriculation

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Mary Midgley (left) and Iris Murdoch (right), 1938 matriculation

for counsel or support. The result was that students booked appointments at odd hours to talk about their extracurricular problems: lost love, unexpected pregnancy, harassment. She gave them time—and strength—beyond what she could spare. If she had a few minutes between tutorials, she would lie down. She would lie down during tutorials if she could, in an adjustable armchair that snapped into its reclined position with a crack like a gunshot. That was when she didn’t need to spend the hour doing demonstration logic exercises in her spidery hand. Foot arrived at lunch most days, wrung out. And though she needed to eat, the experience of lunch in Hall was seldom rejuvenating. Thanks to an operation undergone as a child, Foot was deaf in one ear. The din of the undergraduates, resounding off the oak-paneled walls, made it hard to converse even at high table. Each day she retreated, as soon as seemed decent, down to the Senior Common Room. That was where she came back to life.

Elizabeth Anscombe (top right), by kind permission of Principal and Fellows of St Hugh’s College

friends. It was an uncompensated tutorial. In Foot, Anscombe found the kind of interlocutor she prized: someone who took philosophical discussion as seriously as she did, someone who would never yield just to please her. In Anscombe, Foot found someone to keep her from stagnating under the burden of her teaching. There was little pressure to publish in mid-century Oxford. The corollary was that there was little time to write—or even to think about anything besides upcoming tutorials. For a few hours each afternoon, Foot’s tutorial burden vanished. Colleagues came and went, making no impression. For Harvey, this image stayed with her as vividly as that of Foot dragging herself into Hall at lunchtime: Foot revived, absolutely alert, perched on her stool as she and Anscombe sat “tearing up Wittgenstein” together. They were usually still at it in late afternoon when tea arrived.

She and Anscombe sat “tearing up Wittgenstein” together. They were usually still at it in late afternoon when tea arrived.

The Women Are Up to Something is published by Oxford University Press.

The Senior Common Room at Somerville is a grand Victorian parlor with papered walls, white wooden trim, and a rug over dark wood floors; large, 16-paned windows look out over the lawn. A miscellany of armchairs and tea tables is scattered along its length, from the entrance opposite the Fellows’ dining room to the fireplace at the far end. Flanking the fireplace is a pair of stools, upholstered in a floral pattern of red and blue over dull gold. Afternoon by afternoon, term by term, Elizabeth Anscombe and Philippa Foot made for these stools, sat down, and started talking philosophy. Anscombe generally proposed the topic. It was conversation between colleagues and

Diners in Hall in the 1940s

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Opening Up About

Student Mental Health Somerville alumna Aneeska Sohal (2020, MSc Modern South Asian Studies) works as a team lead for Mind and is a trustee for Student Minds. With support from Somerville, she launched Series 2 of her podcast All Things Mental Health during the pandemic, reaching thousands and opening up the conversation about student mental health. We caught up with her to find out about her work and why being open is so important.

We need to treat students as people with their own stories rather than as empty vessels

Tell us about your work on openness in mental health.

What do you think openness means in this context?

As an undergraduate at York, I wanted to support students better with their mental health and wellbeing on campus. I chatted with a range of students from York for Series 1 of the podcast, with the aim that their reflections on maintaining their wellbeing would help other students, too. The reception was incredible, and I was thrilled to be able to develop the podcast further at Somerville by producing a second series, supported by a Thatcher Development Award and a Catherine Hughes Grant. Working in the midst of the Covid pandemic and the lockdowns, I wanted to try and unpack the different ways that people are leading the way in the field. I interviewed a whole range of experts: academics, policymakers, activists, campaigners, and psychologists. The series was a huge success, and was even picked up by King’s College London, who have now commissioned a third series.

It’s so important to structure things to be open, inclusive and empathetic. I think university can often dehumanise students, with few spaces that motivate students to bring their whole selves to university and encourage them to be open and vulnerable. We need students to be seen holistically. Their studies are only one component of who they are - what about the rest? In one of the podcast episodes, I spoke to Dr Manuel Madriaga about how we need to treat students as people with their own stories rather than empty vessels. The work I am doing now with Mind on our Design for Equality project takes on the challenge of creating inclusive spaces in a different way by ensuring that our mental health services are designed to work for all communities, not just a white majority.

What do we often get wrong when thinking about student mental health? We are often told our university years should be the best years of our lives. This puts a lot of pressure on students. Really, students need to operate within a university system that encourages them to develop their own mental health literacy and wellbeing toolkits, to navigate both the difficult days and the brilliant ones.

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Back In Business After two years of the pandemic and a year of temporary dining facilities, life has returned to our quad. Students once again relax and study on the grass, alumni return for events and the gardens look more verdant than ever. It’s good to be back.

All photos this page by Maciek Tomiczek

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Giving Thanks and Praise:

Introducing the Aseda Gospel Choir

The Aseda Gospel Choir is the first choir created by and for African and Caribbean students at Oxford. Here Aseda’s Musical Director Danielle Welbeck (2019, Music) tells us how the choir has not only lifted hearts but empowered its members with new confidence and unity.

always knew that studying Music at Oxford would be challenging – but knowing something and feeling it on a daily basis are two different things. I can’t deny that it’s been hard at times. My Prelims course centred around formalist and notated musical knowledge, with not much space for the aural skills I had developed during a lifetime of music in the church. There were many times when I was left asking myself whether I belonged here. These trends also exist in the choral and chapel music that form part of the fabric of life at Oxford. Most colleges have their own denominational choirs that sing choral works

All photos this page by Maciek Tomiczek

and some choirs even reserve a certain number of undergraduate spaces for choral and organ scholars. These choirs are auditioned, and participation requires a fairly high level of notation-centred musical literacy, making them inaccessible to anyone whose musical training happened away from scores and sheet music. By contrast, the black sacred music that I grew up with is an aural tradition. After hearing this music weekly in church, in our parents’ cars as they drive, or on Saturday mornings when we’re being woken up to clean, the musical conventions of this genre become internalised. Suddenly, without consciously trying, we’re

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able to harmonise in three parts, or develop a gospel tone and vocal agility. In the case of vocalists in particular, the musical education imparted by the black church amounts to an accessible, yet rigorous praxis. Inspired by the centrality of the black church both as a cornerstone of musical teaching and a place where black musical culture is preserved, several Oxford students were inspired in 2019 to found the Aseda Gospel Choir – and I was fortunate to be one of them. Recognising gospel’s rich heritage not only as a distinct genre, but also an influence on the majority of famous black popular music genres from the Americas and other places in the Black diaspora, such as Jazz, Soul, R&B and Highlife, we dreamt of creating a safe space for the University’s black students to experience and celebrate Black culture and spirituality through gospel music. To achieve this dream, we saw Aseda as having three core aims. First, it’s a healing space, offering a sense of belonging to people with a shared interest and from a similar background in order to counteract the imposter syndrome which makes many black students feel as though they do not belong. Second, Aseda provides an opportunity to connect with faith away from the inextricable cultural associations invoked by European Christianity in most Christian spaces in the university. Third, Aseda provides a space to celebrate black culture in a way that is fundamentally accessible to the people who form the culture – unlike the many spaces in the University which have inequitable and appropriative relationships to Black music. Looking back, I can see that serving as the Musical Director of Aseda was instrumental to me continuing my studies at Oxford. It

gave me a way to marry the two worlds of my musical knowledge, the notated and aural traditions, as never before. With the support of Professor Dieckmann, my personal tutor here at Somerville, I was even able to submit a portfolio of analysis on gospel music, which effectively synthesised the two different strands of my musical identity. But way more important than my own growth is the possibility that Aseda might help change the culture at Oxford, making it more inclusive, open to different voices. That cultural shift always seems most likely when Aseda performs. Sadly, thanks to Covid, we performed a lot less over the last three years than we wanted. But at our inaugural showcase in February 2020 and our second showcase in March 2022, playing to a packed Somerville College Chapel both times, I think we showed Aseda’s true potential. For the audience whom we brought together in that space, I think we provided a snapshot of the true breadth and richness of gospel music culture experienced by Black British Christians today.

Our singing was never just intuition and ‘vibes’, but a rich musical tradition worthy of celebration.

For the members of Aseda, meanwhile, I hope we proved what it’s taken me three years to understand. Namely, the skills we’ve accumulated from our years of being in church are not just “vibes”, but legitimate musical knowledge. And our musical culture is not “easier” or “less intellectual” because our practices take a different shape to Western music theory. Rather, gospel is one part of a rich musical tradition with a stimulating approach to harmony, worthy of study and celebration.

Having achieved a First in her degree, Danielle is currently looking to pursue a Master’s in Musicology. To discuss potential courses/support, please contact development.office@some.ox.ac.uk

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Engineering a Legacy:

Professor Richard Stone Looks Back Professor Richard Stone (FREng, FSAE, FIMechE) is a world-renowned authority in the mobility industry. He retires this year having been a Tutor and Fellow in Engineering at Somerville since 1993, during which time he has served twice as Vice-Principal, once at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Professor Stone with his 1939 Daimler DB18. Picture: John Cairns

What was your path to Somerville? I studied engineering at Cambridge as part of a ‘thick sandwich course’ in which I worked for the Ministry of Defence for the year before and after my course, as well as during the summers. Afterwards, I returned to Cambridge to start a PhD. However, when my supervisor moved to Oxford, I elected to go, too. This led to a Junior Research Fellowship at Jesus, followed by 11 years at Brunel, before returning to Oxford in 1993. You were one of Somerville’s first male fellows. What was that like? Governing Body was, of course, mostly female. However, there had been male lecturers in the SCR for many years and most of my interactions with colleagues were in the Department,

so being a male fellow at Somerville did not seem strange. The biggest difference was having exclusively female tutees for several years. On a side note, I am informed that one of the most noticeable changes following the arrival of men was the food, both in terms of how much was eaten (substantially more) and the introduction of new dishes (chips were never served to the SCR before men joined). All your students speak so highly of your kindness and transformative impact as a tutor. What is the secret to inspirational teaching? I enjoy tutorial teaching and I would like to think that what I do is thorough – I couldn’t say whether it was inspirational. Over time, you learn what it is that causes difficulties and what sort of things examiners like to ask. The other great advantage of

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All photos: John Cairns

the tutorial system is that you really do get to know each student well, and that is ultimately why I have enjoyed – and will miss – giving tutorials. What do you recall most fondly about teaching at Somerville? There is a very distinct mixture of pride and relief when students who have been recruited on the basis of their potential achieve better results each year and then graduate with a 1st. There are also those interactions with students one always remembers. For example, the exchange between two of my tutees about their exam strategies. ‘No way will I do the Advanced Dynamics questions,’ Arabella announced. To which Caroline somewhat definitively replied, ‘I’ve burned the notes.’ The drive to switch to electric vehicles poses interesting questions for the future of your field. What do you see on the horizon for internal combustion engines? You’re probably immediately thinking of cars, but I’d like to start with ships. Ships and aviation consume as much oil as each other and, if they were a country, would be ranked about 5th in the world for carbon emissions. Ships are likely to continue to use internal combustion engines on the grounds of cost and efficiency (maybe with ammonia as a fuel, or using oil combined with carbon capture and storage). With trucks, a switch to hydrogen engines is possible since refuelling could be at depots. This would be cheaper and give a better range and load capacity than batteries.

I think that the switch to electric cars, on the other hand, will be slower than the Government is anticipating. It is not just a matter of providing more base load generation or renewables combined with storage; the sub-station infrastructure needs substantial upgrading. If hydrogen can be made available, IC Engines would power cars more affordably than fuel cells, and with only a slightly reduced range. The only thing to say with certainty is that energy is going to become much more expensive. What comes next for you? I anticipate a transition into retirement rather than a step-change. In addition to retaining an informal involvement with my colleagues’ work, I will continue my editorial role on the Journal of Power and Energy, as well as reviewing grant

applications for the ERC. Following a request from the publisher, I also plan to spend this winter revising Automotive Engineering Fundamentals; Introduction to Internal Combustion Engines [the definitive guide to internal combustion engines for generations of engineers] also needs a 5th edition, but time will tell if that is to happen. Otherwise, there are several DIY projects on the agenda, and I hope to have time to join another choir and perhaps undertake some volunteering at the Gaydon Motor Museum. There should also be plenty of scope for travel. I bought a Daimler DB18 three years ago, but it has not seen much use yet. At the moment the cylinder head is on the bench for some remedial work. Once it is all back together, it will be ideal for local outings and perhaps venturing further afield, too.

“I still vividly recall the moment in my interview when Richard produced an electric kettle out of nowhere and asked me to estimate its electric current. The rest is history! On behalf of the Liu brothers, thank you, Richard.” JAMES LIU (2003, ENGINEERING)

Richard Stone with Stephen and James Liu

“I came down with flu during Finals. Once I had shivered my way to exam schools, Richard took one look at me and arranged for me to sit my exam back in college, even making sure my boyfriend could sit at the back for moral support. It was characteristic both of Richard’s humanity and his talent for lateral thinking!” ALEX HATCHMAN (1993, ENGINEERING)

Photos by Keith Barnes

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Attendees of the 1980-91 Gaudy, June 2022

Forthcoming Events SEPTEMBER 2022

NOVEMBER 2022

TBC

Cedar Circle Garden Party

14 - 15 1972 Golden Reunion 17

Dame Fiona Caldicott’s Memorial

17 - 18 Meeting Minds

Monica Fooks Memorial Lecture

DECEMBER 2022 8

Local Alumni Carol Concert in Somerville College Chapel Alumni and Friends Carol Concert in Temple Church, London

Inaugural Somerville Association Formal Hall with Susie Dent (1983, Modern Languages)

Professor Richard Stone Retirement Celebration

FEBRUARY 2023

2020 Leavers’ Celebration

Supporters’ Lunch

OCTOBER 2022

MARCH 2023

City Group Young Alumni Careers Event

Medics’ Day

Jane Hands Memorial Service, Somerville College Chapel

Parents’ Lunch

TBC

Professor Raj Thakker Valedictory Lecture

Spring Meeting

TBC

Sanctuary Celebration feat. special guests

JUNE 2023

TBC

Literary Lunch – Professor Emma Smith (1998, English) and Sir Simon Russell Beale on 400 years of Shakespeare’s First Folio

Commemoration Service in Somerville College Chapel

SEPTEMBER 2023 24

Gaudy for 1992-99 Matric, inc. anniversary lunch for 1992-93 Matric

The latest schedule of College events appears on the Somerville College website at www.some.ox.ac.uk/news-events/events

Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6HD E: communications@some.ac.uk T: +44 (0) 1865 270600 www.some.ox.ac.uk/alumni

Somerville is a registered charity. Charity Registration number: 1139440

The Somerville Magazine 2022

Articles inside

Out of the Shadows, into the Heart

Danielle Welbeck introduces the Aseda Gospel Choir

Global Climate Research Portal

Aneeska Sohal: Student Mental Health

‘The Women Are Up To Something’ Extract

Somerville Association Book Groups

Eleanor Rathbone at 150

Openness in Medieval Europe

The Somerville Association Year in Review

Inside the NMR Revolution with Dr Fay Probert

Meet the President: Dr Nermeen Varawalla

Alexander Starritt discusses ‘We Germans’

Principal’s Message

News and People

All Rise: A Conversation with Judge Deborah Taylor

A Glass Half-Full Story: Jane Awty on Oatley Wines

Commemorating Somervillians