Professor Peter Norreys wins Holweck Prize 2025
Professor Peter Norreys has been awarded the Société Française de Physique and Institute of Physics Holweck Prize in recognition of his outstanding contributions to fundamental studies of high energy density plasmas using high power petawatt-class lasers, including fast ignition inertial fusion, particle acceleration and ultra-bright X-ray sources. Read more here.

Welcome to Univ’s Giving Day 2025
The College kicked off Giving Day 2025 and encouraged all members of the College community to get involved in a number of events, both in College and online. Read more here.

Univ Giving Day Bake Off 2025
Students and staff from across the College gathered for the Univ Bake Off on 18 November. The competition featured 18 entries across three categories: Oxmas, Free From and Chocolate and showcased the creativity, culinary skills and resourcefulness of participants. Read more and view the winning entries here.

Increasing sustainable living at Univ
Univ’s Colleges Sustainability Officer, Jilly Mowbray, shared suggestions to help members of the College community live more sustainably. Read more and watch Jilly’s video here.

Four Univ fellows receive Teaching Excellence Awards
Professor Catherine Pears, Professor Trevor Sharp, Professor Nick Yeung and Dr Peter McHugh have been recognised by the Medical Sciences Division in the 2025 Teaching Excellence Awards. Read more about their accolades here.

Giving Day 2025
Univ’s Director of Development, Communications and Alumni Relations, Felice Nassar introduced the College’s upcoming Giving Day, which took place on 25 and 26 November 2025. Read more and watch the video here.

Univ in the City
On 16 October, members of the Univ community and their guests gathered at the Financial Times Building in London for a fireside chat between Baroness Amos and Joanna Welsh (1991, Biology), Chief Risk Officer at Citadel. Read more here.

Professor Tamsin Mather chairs book prize panel
Professor Tamsin Mather will chair the judging panel for the 2025 Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize, an annual celebration of the best science books for readers under 14. Read more here.

Read all of Univ’s College news or explore Univ’s Treasures.

Alumni publications update 2025
We shared a selection of the fascinating fiction and non-fiction written by Univ alumni published recently. Read more here.

2009-2012 Gaudy
Univ’s Old Members who matriculated between 2009 and 2012 were invited back to College for their Gaudy. Matthew Robson (2012, History and Politics) and Matthew Small (2012, PPE) have written a report of the reunion. Read more here.

Profile: Professor Nancy Cartwright
Learn more about Professor Nancy Cartwright, Centenary Visiting Professor in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at the University of Oxford 2025-26. You can read Professor Cartwright’s profile here.

Explore all of our Profile Features.

A month in China
Jacob Christianson (2020, Chemistry) details his month-long exploration of China, first journeying by train from Beijing to Xi’an, then cycling 357km across the rural Shaanxi Province. This trip was funded by the David and Lois Sykes Scholarship. Read the full travel report here.

Univ Chalet Reading Party II 2025
Matilda Devlin (2024, Interdisciplinary Bioscience) reports on the second reading party to visit the Chalet des Anglais this summer. This trip was funded by the Nethercott Chalet Fund. Read the full travel report here.

Univ Chalet Reading Party I 2025
Daniel Erasmus (2024, MSc Law and Finance) shared an account of the College’s first Chalet reading party for the 2025 season, which took place from 7 to 17 July. his trip was funded by the Nethercott Chalet Fund. Read the full travel report here.

Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2025
Maria Bunyan (2023, Dphil Psychiatry) has provided an account of attending the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2025 (AAIC 2025), the world’s largest and leading conference dedicated to advancing dementia science and clinical practice. This trip was funded by the Old Members’ Graduate Conference and Academic Travel Fund. Read the full travel report here.

Read more Travel Reports.

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Fellows and other academics

• Baroness Valerie Amos, Master of University College, was featured on the BBC Radio 4 weekly obituary programme Last Word, discussing Baroness Rosalind Howells, who campaigned for racial equality and supported the family of Stephen Lawrence after his murder.

Old Members

• Professor Trisha Greenhalgh OBE (1980, Medicine), Professor of Primary Health Sciences, shared her thoughts on living in Oxford in an article in The Telegraph about the UK cities with the best health metrics.

• Dr Sara Lodge’s (1994, English) latest book, The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective (Yale University Press, 2024), has been shortlisted for the 2025 Wolfson Prize for History.

• Professor Maarten Hajer published Captured Futures – Rethinking the Drama of Environmental Politics (OUP, October 2025).

• Commotio, one of Oxford’s foremost chamber choirs, founded and conducted by Univ Old Member Matthew Berry (1995, Music), have an Advent and Christmas Concert on Saturday 6 December at 7.30pm at St Mary Magdalene, Woodstock OX20 1SJ. Further details.