Univ’s Poet Laureate Pireeni Sundaralingam (photo credit: Sophie Erlund)

2023 began with the news that Emma Tucker (1986, PPE) had been appointed as the new Editor of The Wall Street Journal and Professor Stephen Keevil (1983, Physics) has been appointed President of the British Institute of Radiology.

We were also delighted to announce that poet and cognitive scientist Pireeni Sundaralingam (1986, Experimental Psychology) would be joining us as our inaugural Poet Laureate.

Our first Treasure of the year covered Edmond Halley’s Astronomiæ cometicæ synopsis and we explored the history of the Logic Lane bridge in our January Then and Now feature. Further afield our first batch of Travel Reports ranged in destinations from the US (Denver, Maine, Massachusetts) to Turkey and Greece.

Read all of our January news.

East Timor resplendently represented at our “At Home” Day.

Our Travel Scholarships opened at the start of February, paving the way for both some amazing adventures and fascinating Travel Reports, such as the one written by Lucie de Gentile (2018, BA Literae Humaniores) “Turkey – Travelling in trust“.

Closer to home, the House of Commons played host to the Univ Seminar “Culture Wars: Who Owns History”, and Hall was transformed for our inaugural International “At Home” Day, celebrating the incredible global and cultural diversity of College.

In Alumni news we celebrated the fact that Christina Lamb OBE (1983, PPE) was named Foreign Correspondent of the Year, and that Euan Friend (2017, MEarthSci Geology/Earth Sciences) completed the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Rowing Challenge in an amazing third place.

Read all of our February news.

16th Univ Annual Football Day

At the start of March we celebrated World Book Day and, on a sporting front, success in both gymnastics and boxing. We were also proud to showcase more than 90 Profile of our amazing Univ women Students, Academics, Alumni and Staff in recognition of International Women’s Day.

In an important milestone for College, work began at Univ North, whilst looking back at our history we remembered a time when our Hall Moved West…

A number of our OMs were present at the Oxford Literary Festival, and an even greater number attended the 16th Univ Annual Football Day.

Read all of our March news.

The Martlet – Issue 15

For our April Treasure our archivist, Dr Robin Darwall-Smith, took us “Inside a Victorian Lecture Room” and in return we were delight to report on the publication of his new book Music in Twentieth-Century Oxford.

Staying on the subject of books and publications, this year’s Martlet made its online appearance, as did the Hilary Term UCBC newsletter, whilst our Library reported on the return of 450 early printed books after an absence of more than 60 years on loan to the Museum of the History of Science.

Our Univ North update covered progress including scheduled tree removals and tree protection measures across all areas of the site and, moving from flora to fauna, Nishta Vaishampayan (2019, BA Oriental Studies) reported on their volunteering at a recue dog shelter in Singapore.

Read all of our April news.

The Coronation of King Charles III

May began with all the pomp and circumstance of the Coronation, at which the Master, Valerie Amos, was involved in the act of Recognition of His Majesty; also present was former Master, Lord Butler of Brockwell, who kindly provided with his thoughts on the day in One Coronation, Two Univ Masters.

Back in Oxford we reached an important milestone with Univ North, holding a groundbreaking event on 24 May and highlighting, with new infographics, the importance of biodiversity. We also reported on College’s New York and Boston receptions, the Oxford Town and Gown 10k, and the glorious Ascension Day celebrations.

Read all of our May news.

Rebecca Kuang (2019, MSc Contemporary Chinese Studies)

At the start of June old and current members of the Boat Club gathered together for the Univ Leander Lunch, whilst in College, as part of our sustainability push we took part in Switch up Your Lunch with a pledge to eat vegetarian or vegan.

We were delighted to present a selection of books recently published by both staff and OMs in our Publications update 2023 and to announce that Babel, by Rebecca Kuang’s (2019, MSc Contemporary Chinese Studies), had won the Nebula Award for Best Book of the Year.

We also introduced our Open Day Helpers for 2023, ahead of our Open Days on 28 and 29 June and, in this month we explored a book with connections to one of Oxford and Univ’s great benefactors, Dr John Radcliffe, in the feature “Less study & more exercise”.

Read all of our June news.

Alexander Wallop (2021, Chemistry)

During July we were delighted to report that Dr Dixa Thakrar (2021, DPhil Population Health), Junior Dean, was awarded the SU’s College Community Award, whilst our Profile Features for the month were on Enzo Cunanan (2021, History) and Alexander Wallop (2021, Chemistry).

Our development at Stavs took another important step with the completion of the Univ North foundations and we were able to conduct hard hat tours of the site as part of the Rhodes Trust 120th Anniversary Reunion.

We were able to announce that Dr Menaka Guruswamy (1998, Law) has been named the 2023 recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Law; whilst and, in our monthly Treasure Feature, we met a White Dogge Called Boye.

Read all of our July news.

At the start of August we were delighted to welcome Savannah Philips as our new School Liaison and Access Officer, and to report that someone else starting a new job was OM Keir Mather (MPP, 2020) who, at 25, became the youngest MP in the House of Commons.

In College news Alex Benn, Senior Lecturer in Law, was photographed for Oliver Frank Chanarin’s most recent project, “A Perfect Sentence”.

Our sustainability push continued apace with the news that we were piloting a scheme with local bike couriers, Pedal and Post, to fulfil “final mile” delivery to College and, in Univ North news, we were reported on the unveiling of a new mural.

Read all of our August news.

We started the month with the wonderful news of the appointment of Dr Mobeen Hussain and Lyn Joanne-Victoire Kouadio as JRFs as part of the Beacon Programme. Whilst in Lodge we welcomed new Head Porter, Chris Davies.

The matriculating classes of 1953, 1963 and 1973 were invited, on Friday 8 September 2023, to a special anniversary luncheon in College hosted by the Master, Baroness Amos, and on Sunday 10 September, in collaboration with the Oxford Preservation Trust, Univ welcomed visitors once again as part of the annual Oxford Open Doors weekend.

Univ also took part in Meeting Minds Oxford, delivering four diverse lectures that can be watched online.

Read all of our September news.

We began October with the news that two Univ Fellows, Christopher MacMinn, Supernumerary Fellow in Engineering Science, and Patrick Rebeschini, Tutorial Fellow in Statistics, had been awarded the title of Professor, and that Rachel Ojo (2020, PPE) has been selected to represent the UK at COP28.

We were delighted to announce the debut album, From the Floor, of our Undergraduate Admissions and Access Manager, Joshua Newman, and the debut book, Unutterable Visions, Perishable Breath, of OM Otamere Guobadia’s (2012, Law).

Our Profile Features for the month included Ardeel Hussain (2022, PPE), JCR President, Zoë Shah (2022, English Literature), JCR Welfare Rep, and Anneka Pink (2020, Classics).

Read all of our October news.

During November we reported on the new podcast series Into That World Inverted from Holly James Johnston’s (2019, English) and were also delighted to introduce you to our new Head Gardener, Thomas Bartlett.

In other news Janet Rogan (1981, History) took up the position of CEO of the Royal African Society (RAS), Wequity, co-founded by Gabriel Levie (PPE, 2015), announced the closure of a €1.1 million latest funding round, and Professor Charlotte Deane MBE (1993, Chemistry), was named the new Executive Chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

This was also the month in which we marked the 20th anniversary of the death of Roger Short (1963, Classics), the British consul general in Turkey, killed by a terrorist bomb in Istanbul. On his death, his friends, led by Richard Morgan and David Sykes, wanted to establish a lasting memorial to him. The outcome was the Roger Short Memorial Fund, which supports a travel scholarship programme to Turkey and neighbouring countries.

Read all of our November news.

December began with an update to our Reading Bank and the publication of our 2023 Christmas music playlist – courtesy of our Chapel Choir, Community Choir, and Martlet Voices.

We wrapped up the year with a look back at the progress at Univ North and with the online publication of the UCBC Michaelmas Term newsletter.

Read all of our December news.