Dagmawi Yosief (2019, PPE), JCR President, and Judy Sayers (2019, DPhil Biology), WCR President, have written welcome letters for Hilary term. You can watch the Master’s, Baroness Valerie Amos, welcome video here.

Once more, rising cases have meant that we must swap libraries for our rooms and physical interaction for seemingly endless Zoom calls. It is fair to say that we had all hoped for a somewhat normal and in-person Hilary Term. Even amidst the rapidly deteriorating national picture, the necessary abandonment of a return to Oxford, naturally comes as a disappointment to all of us. The new restrictions are tough on us all (especially for first and final year students) who are understandably desperate for some semblance of normal Oxford life.

For students who are back in Oxford, I strongly encourage you to take the Lateral Flow Tests that you will be allocated upon arrival. These tests are easy to do and give results within 30 minutes, meaning that you can help to reduce the chance of inadvertently spreading coronavirus without having to isolate for 10 days. Preventing the spread of the virus within Univ is crucial to keep our fellow students safe, as well as the staff who continue to work in and around College.

Dagmawi Yosief, JCR President

Trying to maintain social lives and academic standards will be more difficult in the weeks ahead. The most important consideration ought to be your own physical and mental wellbeing. If at any point you feel that your academic work infringes upon either of these, it is important to let your tutors know as they will be able to make the necessary adjustments to help you. Our welfare reps, Toni and Uri, will continue to be available for anyone in need of a chat or advice.

If you have any concerns about the term ahead, feel free to reach out to any members of the JCR committee.

With best wishes,
Dagmawi
JCR President, 2020-21

Judy Sayers, WCR President

Happy new year, and a warm welcome to Hilary Term. Once again, we find ourselves resuming WCR activity remotely. Former Prime Minister Harold Wilson was surely right in declaring that a week is a long time in politics, and never has this been truer than during these first few weeks of 2021. This term, our activity sits somewhere in between the severe shut-up shops of the March lockdown, and the relative educational freedom of the November lockdown of last year. While essential research that cannot be undertaken from home will continue, it is necessary but no less disappointing to find taught courses and all other activity again restricted to a remote setup.

To those graduates returning to lab work and in-person research in Oxford, we wish you every success despite the difficult climate. To those of you working from home, scattered across Oxford, the country, and indeed the world, we hope that this unusual term will progress well. Through it all, we hope that the WCR virtual socials, seminar series and welfare events will ease the months locked away and help us come together as a community to ride out the bumpy road to a brighter, vaccine-fuelled future. As the WCR committee, we will be (virtually speaking) on hand, and never more than a Zoom call away.

With all best wishes for Hilary Term 2021!

Judy Sayers
WCR President, 2020-2021

Published: 21 January 2021

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