College bulletin: 21 January

Happy New Year and welcome to the first bulletin of Lent Term – we thought it best to send it out now rather than wait for Sue Gray’s report into 10 Downing Street.

In today’s bumper edition we bring news of our University Challenge team taking to our screens once more to battle it out in a local derby for a place in the semi-finals. There’s also the chance to watch The DNA Detective, which follows Professor Eske Willerslev, a Fellow of St John's, through his career's biggest crisis and achievements.

Sadly, we also pay tribute to the internationally renowned statistician, Sir David Cox, an Honorary Fellow and alumnus, who died this week.

You will all have seen the latest changes to UK Government guidance this week and you can read our latest updates in the ‘Covid-19 updates’ section below.

College news

St John’s face Emmanuel in University Challenge quarter final

A team of our students will do intellectual battle with Emmanuel College to reach the next stage of the University Challenge quiz.

The programme will air on BBC Two at 8.30pm on Monday 24 January with Jeremy Paxman grilling both sets of students to see which group will secure a place in the semi-finals.

‘Genius’ statistician and Honorary Fellow dies aged 97

Tributes have been paid to Sir David Roxbee Cox MA FRS FBA (Hon) FRSE, a pioneering British statistician, Honorary Fellow and alumnus of St John’s College, who has died at the age of 97.

Read more

'Hitchhiking' marine invaders threaten Antarctica 

From mussels to barnacles, crabs to algae, marine life hitching a ride on ocean-crossing ships poses a serious threat to the biodiversity of Antarctica’s pristine ecosystems, according to Cambridge researchers.

St John's postgraduate student Arlie McCarthy was the first author of a new study that traced the global movements of all ships entering Antarctic waters.

Listen to her from 1 hour 43 mins talking about the research on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme

The not so swinging sixties

Historian Dr Caroline Rusterholz, College Research Associate, challenges assumptions about the sexual revolution of the ‘Swinging Sixties’ and sheds new light on the controversial origins of sexual health service the Brook Advisory Centres in a new study.

Read more

St John’s alumni recognised in New Year Honours 2022

An Emeritus Professor of Greek and Latin, a green energy champion and the Director of Music at St Paul’s Cathedral join the ranks of the College members of St John's to have been recognised in the Queen’s New Year Honours. 

Read more

St John's College Review of the Year 2021

Life and learning continued at St John’s despite the challenges of the pandemic and, as 2021 draws to a close, we looked back at some memorable moments – from stunning scientific discoveries to amazing achievements in sport, the arts and humanities.

Read more

Fellow’s book immortalised in art

A ‘superb’ textbook by Dr A.C (Ricky) Metaxas, a Life Fellow of St John’s, has been featured in a portrait hung in a Spanish university – in recognition of his world-renowned work in radio frequency and microwave heating.

Dr Metaxas’s Foundations of Electroheat: A Unified Approach – published in 1996 – appears on a table in the new portrait of Professor Alejandro Diaz, a former Rector of the Technical University of Cartagena. The picture now hangs in the university’s Rector’s Hall.

Dr Metaxas said the news was ‘a pleasant surprise’ when he was told by Professor Diaz just before the New Year. “I met Alejandro at the Technical University of Valencia some 25 years ago when he was an aspiring research student and I acted as PhD examiner for another student in that group.”

Professor Diaz said he chose the ‘superb’ book to appear in his portrait ‘because of its importance in my first research years and as a token of appreciation for your work and leadership in the European radio frequence and microwave heating community’.

Dr Metaxas’s book, which has a red cover, is the first one on the table on the right-hand side of Professor’s Diaz’s portrait shown below.

Portrait including Dr Metaxas's book

 

Academic interviewed for podcast about her groundbreaking work on Minoan script

Dr Ester Salgarella, Junior Research Fellow in Classics at St John’s, talks about her remarkable research into the Minoan Linear A script, its relationship to the early Greek writing system Linear B, and its consequent sociohistorical implications in the New Books Network’s Ideas Roadshow Podcast.

Listen to the podcast

Successful season sees Ultimate Frisbee team fly into first division

The St John’s Ultimate Frisbee team has secured promotion after several years playing in division two of the College League.

The mixed team lost every league game in the 2020-2021 academic year but last season saw them win four games out of six, flinging them into the top division.

Read more

St John's Ultimate Frisbee team 2022

Advice squad

Find out how the pandemic led St John’s postgraduate Gav Topley, a research student at the Faculty of Education, to create an online space for men to discuss mental health issues free from judgement.

Read more

Covid-19 updates

Returning to work on site

As you will have seen, from 19 January the Government is no longer instructing people to work from home if they can. College staff who shifted to working from home at the start of the Omicron variant outbreak can return with immediate effect to normal on-site working, and should have done so from Wednesday 27 January at the latest.

Reflecting on what we have learned from the pandemic, and what we need to have in place for effective operation of the College in future, the College Council and HR Committee have approved new guidelines for department managers to consider staff applications for changes to working arrangements, where their roles are amenable. The new Agile Working Policy will be implemented on a trial basis this term and more information will be shared with you by your head of department within the next two weeks.

In the meantime, we ask that you return to your usual working pattern next week if you have not already done so. The College greatly appreciates the hard work, resilience and commitment of all staff during these challenging times and, as we go forward into the new term together, we look forward to welcoming everyone in our community back to our beautiful, vibrant St John’s environment where education, learning and research continue to thrive.

Following further changes in Government guidance, which come into effect on 27 January, the College is reviewing the other arrangements in place for managing the pandemic and details of any new measures will be shared early next week.

Asymptomatic Covid-19 screening programme

One Covid-19 positive result was reported from the asymptomatic Covid-19 screening programme this week, in which 100 St John’s students took part – this is the lowest number of our participants through the pandemic.

Outside of the pool testing programme, five people are currently positive for Covid-19 and two students are in travel quarantine.

Next week will be the final week of pooled testing and we encourage as many students as possible to take part, it really does help us manage infection rates and keep all our College operations running smoothly.

From Monday 31 January the University will start a new programme of individual lateral flow testing. Students will be expected to take two tests a week, which will be provided by the University. More details about this will be communicated next week.

Other news

First countertenor recording of Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin released

The first ever commercial release of Franz Schubert’s seminal cycle Die Schöne Müllerin is released today on the ‘St John’s Cambridge’ label with Signum Classics. Internationally renowned countertenor Iestyn Davies – a Johnian who is a former chorister and choral scholar with the College Choir – recorded the work together with Joseph Middleton, one of the country’s foremost song accompanists. The album is available to purchase or stream.

In addition to a special feature in this month’s Gramophone Magazine and an appearance on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s ‘The Evening Autobiography’, on Thursday 27 January Iestyn will also appear as the special guest on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune.

This project is the second solo album to be released on the College label, the first being Johnian violinist Julia Hwang’s Subito, which was released in 2017.

Postgraduates issue St John’s Green Guide

Two members of the SBR have written a booklet to provide information on environmental issues that affect our lives, ranging from biodiversity and water consumption to the fashion industry and travelling.

Margherita Battistara and Tom White have outlined what the College is doing to reduce its impact on the environment, and what individuals can do to help tackle the environmental crisis.

Annual Fund

A reminder that the deadline for applications to the Annual Fund is Friday 28 January. If you are looking for funding for a project of between £1,000 and £25,000, to benefit the College community, please complete an application form and send this  (along with supporting documents, if appropriate) to the Master’s and President’s office via sjcamrf@joh.cam.ac.uk.

Any resident member of the College community may apply to the Fund, but applications must be made via a Fellow of the College. Applicants are encouraged to consult all those who might be involved in the potential project before submitting an application.

If you would like to know more about the Annual Fund, or discuss your project proposal, please contact Jo Beatty, Senior Development Officer.

Arrival back in College/Cambridge – important reminder

All students arriving back in College/Cambridge (including those living in private accommodation) are required to scan the QR code; log in with your Raven credentials and select "Arrived”. Please do so even if you have already returned to Cambridge.

You can also use this link

Student art & photo competition 2022

The Library has launched a Student Art & Photography Competition, open to all junior members in residence. There are six different categories to enter, and cash prizes to be won.

Entries may be submitted between 26 and 29 April 2022 at 5pm, with the exhibition running from 4 May to 17 June.

Full details on the intranet, Twitter and Facebook

Working Library Lent Term

The Working Library is open until Friday 18 March, weekdays 8.30am to midnight and weekends 9.30am to midnight. Staff are available to assist and answer enquiries Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

Library Seminar Room

The Library Seminar Room is available to book here. A maximum of six people can use the room at any one time for an hour. There will be half-hour non-bookable times between each hour to allow adequate ventilation. To access the room, please sign out a key to the Seminar Room from Forecourt Lodge.

'Women and their Books’ exhibition

A new exhibition showcasing 'Women and their Books' is now open in the Library Exhibition Area to all College members and alumni. It runs until the end of the Easter vacation, and is accessible Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. An accompanying online exhibition is also now available on the College website.

Return of storage crates

Please can students who have stored items in the cellars return the empty crates to B staircase New Court, adjacent to the entrance to the New Court Cellars.

Emanuel Miller Prize

Entries are now invited for the £300 Emanuel Miller Prize for the best essay on a topic within the realm of Philosophy of Science, with special reference to the behavioural sciences.

Full details

Did you know?

Among the Buttery’s tasty snack offerings is a new brand of crisps aimed at the health-conscious. With core ingredients of brown rice and red lentils, Chika’s flavoured rice crisps are made from 75-80 per cent whole grains. The Chika’s brand, which also includes plantain crisps, is vegan, 100% natural and gluten-free and reflects the healthy ethos of founder and entrepreneur Chika Russell and her Nigerian heritage.

One penny from every pack helps girls in Africa get an education. Learn more

Pink Week

Cambridge Pink Week was set up in 2014 by Nina Rauch in memory of her mother Dina Rabinovitch to raise money and awareness for charities that support breast cancer patients and fund research to find cures and treatments for this disease.

This year’s Pink Week runs from 7-13 February and St John’s will be hosting a variety of individual events plus week-long activities including pink decorations to hunt for in College and around Cambridge and pink coffee and cake in the Buttery.

Events will have a surcharge that goes to the donation pool and extra donations can be made via a donation page or a QR code, which you can find in the Porters’ Lodges, Buttery, JCR and SBR. The final donation will be handed to the main committee under the name of SJC, so there is a not-so-secret competition between the Colleges.

What’s on

Chapel

Choral services continue as listed on the website.

Student communion – Sunday 23 January, 8.30am

Student Communion takes place every Sunday at 8.30am, followed by a subsidised cooked breakfast in Hall.

Morning prayer – weekdays, 8.30am

Said in the Ante-Chapel every weekday morning, lasting about 15 minutes.

Follow the Facebook page, SJC Chaplain, for updates; and Andrew is on TikTok @thedetoxpriest.

The Chapel is always keen to hear from more volunteers to read in services or assist in other ways (e.g. carrying a processional candle at Sunday Evensong). Please contact Andrew if you’d like to be involved.

Other events

Winter Head to Head boat race – Saturday 22 January, 9am

The Lady Margaret Boat Club’s W1, 2, and 3 will be competing in the Winter Head to Head race on the River Cam. It’s a 2x 2k race, and can be watched by anyone from the river bank towards Stourbridge Common.

More details

Men’s football match – Saturday 22 January, 12pm

St John's 2s vs Jesus 2s.

St John’s Playing Fields, all welcome.

Creative Careers Festival – Monday 24 January to Friday 11 February

The University Careers Service will be holding three careers festivals this term covering sectors that have a variety of roles and entrance routes, the first of which is the Creative Careers Festival. These festivals are extended events which include various careers panels, skills sessions, and resources.

Details of further Career Essential workshops for the first half of term. To see the full range of support available, including CV and interview resources, you can visit the website.

Make sure you’re registered with the service’s careers platform Handshake to access these events and its other resources.

Bar quiz – Wednesday 26 January, 8pm

College bar.

Hosted by St John’s FemSoc with free pizza for the winner.

All welcome. More details

Drop-in dissertation support group – Thursday 27 January, 2pm

Weekly online group run by the Library, offering a structured study space, support and encouragement for any undergraduate student who is taking on a dissertation next academic year.

Email Rebecca if you have any questions.

Link to join

Mooting workshop – Friday 28 January, 2.30pm

Boys Smith Room.

An informal workshop run by Dr Nick Friedman, with resources and help for those interested in learning how to present legal arguments in court.

Open to all College members. Admission free, no booking required.

Email Emily for more information.

Casual badminton session – Friday 28 January, 5pm

Palmerston Room.

Weekly two-hour sessions for players of all abilities. Rackets and shuttlecocks are available at Cripps Porters’ Lodge upon request.

Open to all College members. Admission free, no booking required.

Screening of two episodes of The DNA Detective – Sunday 30 January, 3pm

Main Lecture Theatre, Old Divinity School.

A viewing party of the television series The DNA Detective which follows Prof Eske Willerslev, a Fellow of St John's, through his career's biggest crisis and achievements. The series aims to communicate 'the adventure of science' by inviting the viewers into the wild ride from an idea to a groundbreaking study – with all the complicated questions about ethics, politics, finance, competition and personal ambition that unfolds in the process.

The event will showcase Episode 4: Science and Money, and Episode 6: Battle of the Bones, and will be followed by a Q&A with director Linus Dahomé Mørk and Prof Eske Willerslev and a wine reception.

View the trailer

Open to all College members, plus up to two guests per member.

Register for the screening at https://bit.ly/3I4Q0yR

Palaeography for beginners – Tuesday 1 February, 3pm

Weekly online sessions for anyone interested in reading handwriting from c.1500 – c.1750, using documents from the College’s institutional archives. Sessions are informal and aimed at beginners, or those with a little experience who wish to practice their skills. Photographs of the documents will be emailed out in advance.

Open to all College members, admission free.

Limited places. To register or make further enquiries, contact the archivist, Dr Lynsey Darby.

Pink Week formal – Tuesday 8 February, 7.30pm

Details to be confirmed.

St John’s JohnsFemSoc and CUFemTech talk – Wednesday 9 February, 6.30pm

Central Hall, Old Divinity School.

A talk will be given by guest speaker Dr Jean Abraham, Professor of Precision Breast Cancer Medicine, Director Cambridge Breast Cancer Research Unit and Honorary Consultant in Medical Oncology. Free drink and snack provided.

Details to be confirmed.

Pink Ents – Saturday 19 February, 9pm

Palmerston Room

A stash sale where all profits go to the Pink Week charity. Details to be confirmed.

International Women’s Day celebration event and Hall – Tuesday 8 March, times tbc

Join St John’s Feminist Society to celebrate International Women’s Day in collaboration with Cambridge University Women in Business, starting with speakers and performances in the Palmerston room.

Open to all. Hall tickets available on Upay. No booking is required for the events earlier on in the day. 

More details

And finally

In summer 2021, Dr Matt Bothwell, Public Astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge, attached a pinhole solar camera to the St John’s College Chapel Tower and left it there for six months.

The resulting photo shows the Sun’s movement across the skyline of Cambridge from the summer solstice to the winter solstice.

Full story

Chapel pinhole solar camera image