Competition Winner Tim Auth (2022, PPE)

Tim Auth (2022, PPE) has won the inaugural Dr Michael Nicholson Prize with a garden project proposal that embraces both nature and community.

Launched for the first time in December 2024, The Dr Michael Nicholson Prize invites students to deliver a proposal for a project which promotes community within the College. Established in memory of Dr Michael (Mike) Nicholson, long-standing Tutorial Fellow in Russian at Univ, the prize has been generously funded by both Mike’s friends and former students. You can read a tribute to Mike here.

Entrants to the prize can submit project ideas relating to the arts, culture, current affairs, volunteering, well-being, community engagement, or any other suitable area of interest. The competition has two key stipulations, that the winning project should be accessible to the whole of the College community, and that it should be a practical and viable project that can be delivered successfully by the end of Michaelmas Term 2025.

Tim’s entry was a proposal for a community garden space, which aims to encourage any interested members of the College community to engage with nature by using or developing their gardening skills. The winning proposal highlighted the decline of pollinators such as bees, hoverflies and moths as well as a reduction in the general population’s connection to nature. Tim’s entry also drew attention to the benefits of gardening as an outlet for creative energy and as a way of improving mental health.

The project will be situated within The Bob Thomas Garden, named after Univ’s former Garden Master, which is located between the back of the Examinations Schools and Merton Street. The new garden will be divided into two sections, with one part featuring plants such as lavender, verbena, salvia and herbs to attract pollinators, and the other being a shaded vegetable patch for crops such as beetroots, potatoes, radishes and runner beans. The design also includes bird boxes which aim to attract further wildlife to the garden. A new gardening society will ensure that the garden receives year-round attention both in and out of term time.

The project will use the expertise of Univ’s Head Gardener Tom Bartlett to inform and develop the garden space. There is also scope for using the College kitchen’s close relationships with local suppliers and famers to deliver a series of relevant talks and workshops. The garden is intended to be both a College community space and a springboard for building further networks between Univ and other gardens and gardeners within Oxford.

Published: 15 May 2025

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