Michaelmas Term 2023 e-News
Share article on:
24th November 2023
Michaelmas Term 2023 e-News
We started the autumn by giving a warm Worcester welcome to more visitors than perhaps ever before. In mid-September the College opened for Oxford Preservation Trust’s Oxford Open Doors weekend and saw over 1,000 visitors enjoy the beauty here. Soon after came the University Open Day with a record number of potential students looking round College, then the Alumni Weekend, Meeting Minds, including a panel discussion with Provost David Isaac on freedom of speech, a 50th and 60th anniversary reunion and a Gaudy.
Before welcoming students back for Michaelmas term, we had the privilege of announcing the transformational gift to the College from Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones. Thanks to his vision, we are thrilled to be embarking on a project to build a landmark new library and graduate student accommodation at Worcester, and you can read more about this below.
We hope you enjoy reading about this packed term at Worcester. As well as our bespoke events for Old Members, the College runs a series of lectures, concerts, ‘in conversation’ events and more and you are always most welcome. We hope to meet you soon.
With best wishes,
Viola Kerr, Director of Development
College news
£30 million gift for new library received from Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones KBE
In case you missed this news when it was communicated in September, we are delighted to announce a major donation to the College of £30 million from Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones KBE. Sir Lindsay is an alumnus of the College and matriculated in 1965 to read Modern Languages, as well as an Honorary Fellow and a trustee of the Worcester College Oxford Endowment Trust. To learn more about Sir Lindsay and the College’s plans for the donation, visit our news pages.
Oxford University appoints Worcester Old Member as its next Professor of Linguistics
Worcester Old Member Professor Colin Phillips (1986, Modern Languages) has been appointed Professor of Linguistics at the University of Oxford. He will take up this post on 1 January 2024. He will also be a Professorial Fellow at Somerville College. Professor Phillips is the first person to be appointed to this post since its establishment. He returns to Oxford from the University of Maryland, joining Worcester’s own Professor of Comparative Philology, Andreas Willi, in the Linguistics, Philology, and Phonetics Faculty.
Michaelmas College events
This term we’ve enjoyed some wonderful events in College which have brought a wide variety of speakers and guests to Worcester. The Provost’s Role Models series continued with three inspirational women speaking to packed audiences. Oxford Professor of Shakespeare Studies, Emma Smith, spoke about her research and her experience of coming to Oxford from a Leeds state school – and was accompanied by an edition of Shakespeare’s Third Folio from the Library’s special collections. Nora Manaf, Chief HR Officer at Malaysia’s Maybank spoke about the future of women in the workforce and her experiences in male-dominated boardrooms. And the ‘Mother of the House’, Labour’s Harriet Harman, spoke about her four decades in Parliament and her experiences as a leading woman in politics. She reflected on the achievements of her generation and encouraged students to work collectively, rather than individually, for change.
We also hosted some musical role models as The Teyber Trio performed in the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre. This intimate venue was the perfect setting for their take on Bach’s Goldberg Variations and they received a standing ovation from our students and neighbours in the audience. The SNSC also hosted the first in a series of debates designed to promote freedom of speech using a new set of guidelines developed by students and academics across Oxford. Speakers for and against more migration to the UK shared their views and were robustly challenged by the audience. Watch this space for more events designed to test this developing framework.
This year’s Worcester Magazine published
Read more about research, College life, art, archives, and alumni in this year’s edition of the Worcester Magazine produced by the Development Office. You can read it online or email development@worc.ox.ac.uk to request a physical copy.
Colour Revolution at the Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum recently opened its new exhibition, Colour Revolution: Victorian Art, Fashion, & Design, which will run from now until 18 February 2024. This exhibition is generously supported by Worcester Honorary Fellows Barrie Wigmore (1963, PPE) and Deedee Wigmore. The exhibition includes, among many other fascinating items, the Great Bookcase which was designed by the architect and designer William Burges (1827-1881) who redesigned the Worcester Chapel in 1863.
Alumni Weekend a success
In late September the University hosted its annual Meeting Minds alumni weekend, and as part of this we welcomed back hundreds of Old Members to Worcester. In addition to those who returned to hear the variety of talks and panels offered by alumni and researchers, including our own Provost David Isaac CBE, those who matriculated in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1973, 1963, and pre-1963 were invited to attend their Gaudy and Golden & Diamond Reunion. Thank you very much to all those who attended, we can’t wait to welcome you back again in the future!
Patricia Clavin on BBC Radio 4 ‘In Our Time’
Worcester’s Professor of Modern History, Patricia Clavin, was a recent guest on In Our Time discussing John Maynard Keynes and the economics of inter-war peace making. Appearing on episode 1,001 of the long-running BBC Radio 4 programme, she spoke about her research on the history and economy of Britain in the aftermath of World War I.
New Provcast episode out now
Listen as Provost David Isaac chats with Valeria Colunga Lozano (2022, Global Governance and Diplomacy), a Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust scholar. Valeria has just completed her MSc in Global Governance and Diplomacy and discusses this as well as her recent experience at the Y20 conference in India.
Alumni golf
The Worcester Golf Society write: “As Worcester continues to impress with its achievements in a growing number of sports, there’s also an opportunity for Old Members to continue playing sport with their friends in the Worcester Golf Society. It includes those who’ve always played golf at a good level as Blues and Divots while at Worcester but appeals mainly to club golfers with a wide range of handicaps who enjoy playing on good courses in an ambiance that provides a nice mix of friendly competition and interesting conversation.
We’re an active network and discuss and propose friendly events between ourselves – numbers for each day are typically between six and twelve – and there’s an annual competition between four Oxford colleges in which we take part. The clubs where we play reflect the membership and are generally up to 40 miles west and south-west of London. And we’re not all over 40!”
If you are interested in joining us, please contact our coordinator Bob Jones (1980).
Publications & productions
‘Ferrari’ by Michael Mann, Production Design by Maria Djurkovic (1979, Fine Art)
Maria Djurkovic, best known for her work in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), The Imitation Game (2014), and The Hours (2002) sees her work return to the big screen once more, this time as Production Designer for Michael Mann’s latest film Ferrari, scheduled for release of Christmas Day 2023.
‘Madrileños por el Mundo’ featuring Helena Rodriguez Caro (2014, Clinical Embryology)
In this award-winning Spanish TV program, a production team learns about people from Madrid living overseas and what their lives look like. In this Oxford-centric episode, the crew comes to Worcester to interview Old Member Helena Rodriguez Caro about her life in Oxford as an accomplished postdoctoral research scientist at the new Institute of Development and Regeneration of Oxford University.
‘Consciousness: How Our Brains turn Matter Into Meaning’ by Dr John Parrington (Fellow & Tutor in Medicine)
In this book, Oxford biologist John Parrington proposes a radical new theory of human consciousness, arguing that a qualitative leap in consciousness occurred during human evolution as language and the use of tools transformed our brains. Rejecting outdated views of the brain as a hard-wired circuit diagram, he draws on the latest insights from neuroscience to show that meaning is created within our heads through a dynamic interaction of oscillating brain waves. Dr Parrington is also scheduled to give an online lecture on 6th December as part of our Online Academic Lecture Series.
‘Goodbye, Dr Banda’ by Alexander Chula (2002, Classics)
In a ruined dictator’s palace, Alexander Chula – a classicist-turned-doctor, fresh out of Oxford – stumbles upon an oak treasure chest. Inside is a priceless, antique edition of Julius Caesar’s Gallic War. This unexpected talisman of Western high culture belongs to the mercurial Dr Banda, a man of many parts: scholarly physician, anti-colonial hero, brutal tyrant, and fallen philosopher-king. The story is enigmatic but exhilarating, by turns edifying and deeply uncomfortable. Malawi presents urgent lessons which resonate piercingly in our vexed age of culture wars and identity crisis.
‘Theatre Spaces 1920-2020’ by Iain Mackintosh (1957, PPE) with foreword from Richard Eyre
In this lavishly illustrated hands-on account of the creation of new theatre spaces spanning a century, Iain Mackintosh offers a compelling history that is part memoir, part impassioned call to rethink the design of our theatre spaces and the future of live theatre. As the originator of theatre designs as diverse as the Cottesloe in 1977, Glyndebourne in 1994, the Orange Tree Theatre in 1991, the Martha Cohen Theatre in 1985 and the Tina Packer Playhouse in 2001, he discovered why the same show worked in some theatres but not in others.
‘Plastic Surgery in Wars, Disasters and Civilian Life’ by Anthony Roberts OBE (1971, Medicine)
In the second publication of his memoirs, distinguished surgeon Anthony Roberts recounts his time working as a reconstructive plastic surgeon across a range of disasters and warzones. Initially inspired by his involvement in the Bradford City stadium fire of 1985, Roberts went on to contribute his medical skills to four wars, six disasters, 45 countries, and numerous charitable causes. All profits from this book will be donated to ‘Restore – Burn and Wound Research’, the charity which Roberts set up 35 years ago.
Upcoming events
For the latest event updates and information, and to book your place, please visit the Alumni Events page of the College website.
Worcester’s Global Network
Did you know that College is in contact with 9,668 Old Members in 104 countries? Our community of Old Members, current students, staff and Fellows is a powerful global network that you can engage with in many different ways.
