College bulletin: 4 February
It has been another slow news week across the UK but do not fear, we have all the latest St John’s news for you to fill the void.
College news
College medical students honoured in University education awards
Three St John’s medics have been recognised in a University-wide awards scheme for their ‘incredible’ efforts to support student peers during the pandemic.
Cambridge University Surgical Society has been named as a winner in the 2021 Outstanding Student Contribution to Education Awards (OSCEA) – with St John’s students Kiran Joshi, Daphne Chia and Alex Fung jointly nominated for their efforts within the society, claiming top-spot in the Innovative Practice category.
US molecular biologist among newly-named Gates Scholars-Elect
The first cohort of Gates Cambridge Scholars of 2022 has been announced and includes a scientist who is due to join the community at St John’s.
Scholar-Elect Jennifer Miao, who has been studying at Yale, is expected to arrive at the College this October to pursue a PhD in Biological Science at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. She is due to be joined in Cambridge by 22 other students from the United States who have been selected to be part of the 2022 class of Gates Cambridge Scholars. The second cohort will be announced in May.
Covid-19 updates
There are currently 68 cases of Covid-19 in College. Everyone is asked to remember that face coverings are currently still required in communal spaces such as the Buttery.
Covid-19 testing - students
The University is asking all students to test themselves for Covid-19 twice a week using Lateral Flow Tests (LFTs). Test kits will be available from porters’ lodges from Monday 7 February. They can also be obtained free from the gov.uk website or pre-ordered for collection at your local pharmacy. For more information, including what to do if you get a positive result, see Lateral flow testing | University of Cambridge
Covid-19 testing - staff and Fellows
The University is also asking all staff to test themselves for Covid-19 twice a week using Lateral Flow Tests (LFTs). Test kits can be obtained free from the gov.uk website or pre-ordered for collection at your local pharmacy. The University has ordered some additional test kits from the UK Health Security Agency, which staff can use if they are having difficulty obtaining LFTs from the NHS. These can be collected from porters’ lodges from Monday 7 February. For more information, including what to do if you get a positive result, see Lateral flow testing | University of Cambridge
Other news
Professor Sir David Cox obituary in The Times
The Times pays tribute to Sir David, Honorary Fellow and alumnus of St John’s, a ‘modest statistician considered one of the most influential in the world, whose “hazards model” is used to predict failures, such as when a bridge will collapse, a bank will go bust or a human life will end’.
£22.5 million funding boost for Cambridge cancer researchers
Cancer Research UK is to invest £22.5 million in its Cambridge Centre as part of the development of a chain of pioneering research hubs across the UK.
The money will be used to accelerate work into diagnosing a wide range of cancers in children and adults at a much earlier stage, including pancreatic, ovarian and children’s cancers.
Professor Richard Gilbertson, Director at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre and a Fellow of St John’s College, welcomed the news. He said: “We’ve had a challenging year and Covid-19 has slowed us down. But we will not stop working hard to find new treatments for cancer, and this investment will give us the tools we need to deliver high quality research that will make the biggest difference for patients.”
College’s role in Brontë story told in new documentary
A documentary exploring the Irish roots of the Brontë family, including Patrick Brontë’s time as a student at St John’s, has aired on the BBC.
‘Patrick Branty’, father of the latterly famous Brontë sisters, moved to England from Ireland in 1802 to study Theology at St John’s under a scholarship for poor boys and the programme, The Brontës: An Irish Tale, features scenes filmed at the College last term.
Actor Aoife Hinds, who star-spotters may recognise from TV dramas such as Normal People and Derry Girls, explores surprising elements of the Brontë story that see her delving into the College’s archives. The programme was shown on BBC Northern Ireland on Tuesday and is now available on BBC iPlayer.
Watch The Brontës: An Irish Tale
Last chance to nominate outstanding academics and staff for awards
Students have just one week left to nominate exceptional teaching and non-teaching staff for Cambridge SU's Student-led Teaching Awards (SLTAs).
The annual awards encourage students to recognise and nominate a member of staff in their College, Faculty or Department that has made an impact on their educational experience at Cambridge. They can be a lecturer, tutor, supervisor, porter, nurse, bedmaker or other member of staff that has made a difference.
Hurry – nominations close on Friday 11 February, and the awards will be presented in a special ceremony on 11 May.
Doctors and the Divine
Preachers at this term’s Chapel Evensong are all Fellows of the College who have been asked to speak about whether their academic subject connects in any way to the human search for God.
The subjects being explored range from Mathematics to Anthropology. All members of the College community are welcome to go along to hear the views of our own academics within the beautiful setting of Evensong on Sundays at 6.30pm.
Give your feedback on food offerings
The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed a comment board has appeared in The Buttery.
The Catering Department would love to hear your views on the new menus and paper tags have been left in a glass jar opposite the board for you to add your thoughts and suggestions. For example, one Head of Communications, who would like to remain anonymous, is campaigning for roast dinners to be guaranteed on Wednesdays and jackfruit to be outlawed. She’d also like the puddings to be less tempting. Do feel free to form your own opinions on these matters as long as they concur with hers.
Fellows and others with dining privileges can email their comments to Ean Hogg, Acting Catering Manager, copying in Matt Jefferson, the acting Head Chef. Comments are most helpful if provided as soon as possible after a meal.
United Nations Millennium Fellowship places up for grabs
Applications are now open for undergraduates to apply for the 2022 United Nations Academic Impact and Millennium Campus Network (MCN) Millennium Fellowship.
The Fellowship is a leadership development programme that runs from August to December and encourages students in cities and campuses around the world to work towards their own social impact projects.
The Class of 2020 included Amy Bottomley, an English undergraduate at St John’s, who was a Campus Director for the Cambridge cohort of Millennium Fellows.
The deadline for the first draft of applications is 28 February, and the final deadline to apply is 31 March, but early applications are strongly encouraged.
Apply for the Millennium Fellowship
Thank you from former Catering Manager
Bill Brogan has written to thank everyone who wrote messages in his leaving card and for contributing so generously towards his retirement gifts.
He says he very much enjoys bumping into members of St John’s when he is in Cambridge city centre.
What’s on
Chapel
Choral services continue as listed on the website.
Cantata Evensong – Saturday 5 February, 6.30pm
For the first time since February 2020, the College Choir will join the College baroque ensemble St John’s Sinfonia for a Cantata Evensong. The service offers the experience of hearing the music of Bach and other baroque composers performed in a liturgical context. They usually takes place on a termly basis. The service is expected to last until around 7.45pm.
Open to all, admission free.
Student communion – Sunday 6 February, 8.30am
Student Communion takes place every Sunday at 8.30am, followed by a subsidised cooked breakfast in Hall.
Organ recital – Sunday 6 February, 6pm
Kyoko Canaway, Wilfred Holland Organ Scholar at Gonville & Caius, will be performing works by Litaize, Dupré and Tournemire.
A full programme (as well as information on the rest of the series) is available.
Open to all, admission free.
Evensong sermon series: Doctors and the Divine – Sunday 6 February, 6.30pm
Each Sunday this term a Fellow of the College will speaking about what their academic subject might say to the human search for God. This week is Dr David Williams, Director of Studies in Veterinary Medicine.
Open to all, admission free.
Morning prayer – weekdays, 8.30am
Said in the Ante-Chapel every weekday morning, lasting about 15 minutes.
A Lent Meditation – Saturday 12 March, 6pm
A service of readings, poetry and music will take place for Lent and Passiontide. All Fellows, staff and students are warmly invited to attend this poignant and reflective service, and to bring up to three guests.
No charge is made for services but tickets are issued to cater for anticipated high demand and to endeavour to give members of the College and their guests priority. Please note the service is not suitable for babies and toddlers.
The deadline for applying for tickets is Monday 21 February.
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
Live lunchtime meditation – 1.15-1.30pm Monday to Friday (online)
Spend 15 mindful minutes relaxing or meditating with the University’s mindfulness practitioner, Dr Elizabeth English, in these weekday sessions, free to students and staff.
Creative Careers Festival – running until Friday 11 February
The University Careers Service is 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.
St John’s Big Band – Friday 4 February, 8pm
Palmerston Room, Fisher Building.
The Big Band are playing a gig starting with a jazz quartet at 8.30pm then the full big band at 9.15pm.
Open to all, admission free.
Men’s football match – CUP quarter final – Sunday 6 February, 2pm
St John’s Playing Fields.
St John's 2s vs Fitzwilliam 2s. All welcome.
Dissertation support group: writing and editing advice – Monday 7 February, 2pm
A special session of the dissertation support group. Taking place on Zoom and run by the Library. This session is for anyone currently writing a dissertation, whether you have just started the first draft or are editing a finished draft.
Email Rebecca if you have any questions.
Palaeography for beginners – Tuesday 8 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 practise their skills. Photographs of the documents will be emailed out in advance.
Open to all College members, admission free.
To register or make further enquiries, contact the archivist, Dr Lynsey Darby.
New Avenues of Research at St John’s: The Pre-Dinner Lecture – Tuesday 8 February, 6.15pm
Main Lecture Theatre, Old Divinity School.
Fellows and Affiliates are invited to Dr Alex McLaughlin’s talk entitled Climate Change, Natural Resources & Global Distributive Justice as part of the Pre-Dinner Lecture Series.
The lecture will last 20-30 minutes and be followed by questions from the audience and then drinks in Central Hall.
It will also be available on Zoom
Meeting ID: 874 9149 7549
Passcode: 141188
Pink Week formal – Tuesday 8 February, 7.30pm
Hall.
The tickets are the same price as all superhall tickets and are available on UPay from Friday 28 January, 2pm. A £2 surcharge for donation will be collected at door by cash/card.
Open to students, two guests per student.
Pink Week St John’s FemSoc and CUFemTech talk – Wednesday 9 February, 6.30pm
Central Hall, Old Divinity School.
A talk will be given by guest speaker Dr Jean Abraham, who is Professor of Precision Breast Cancer Medicine, Director Cambridge Breast Cancer Research Unit, Honorary Consultant in Medical Oncology and a Fellow of St John’s. Free drink and snack provided.
Open to all, admission free.
St John's College Music Society (SJCMS) lunchtime recital – Thursday 10 February, 1.15pm
Lightfoot Room, Old Divinity School.
With Jacqueline Seki, violin.
Open to all, booking is not required.
Drop-in dissertation support group – Thursday 10 February, 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.
Scratch night – Thursday 10 February, 7pm
The Maypole, Portugal Place.
The Lady Margaret Players are holding a scratch night where anyone is welcome to showcase anything they have been working on, from songs and poetry to stand-up comedy and short plays, or anything else vaguely theatrical.
If you would like to take part, please email Declan or Lady Margaret Players.
Open to all to watch, admission free.
Screening of two episodes of The DNA Detective – Sunday 13 February, 10am-1pm
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.
Open to all College members, plus up to two guests per member.
Note: this is the rescheduled event from Sunday 30 January. Those who have already signed up will be on the attendance list. Otherwise, you can request attendance using the original registration form.
Cambridge Philosophical Society lecture – Monday 14 February, 6.30-7.30pm
Babbage Lecture Theatre, New Museums Site.
Professor Duncan McFarlane, Professor of Industrial Information Engineering at Cambridge University Engineering Department, head of the Distributed Information and Automation Laboratory within the Institute of Manufacturing, and a Fellow of St John’s, will be giving the society’s second lecture of 2022, Should we automate?
Linacre Lecture 2022 – Tuesday 15 February, 5.30pm
Main Lecture Theatre, Old Divinity School.
This year’s Linacre Lecture is entitled Folding Protein: Nature's Origami and will be given by Professor Sheena Radford OBE, Astbury Professor of Biophysics and Royal Society Professor at the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology at the University of Leeds, and an Honorary Fellow of St John’s. The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.
Register for the lecture before Wednesday 9 February.
Comus, John Milton’s Masque (1634) – Thursday 17 February, 7.30 pm
Old Divinity School Theatre.
A dramatic reading, with live music, images, and projected text, Professor Boyde’s team of actor-readers will be joined by singers Scarlett Clemmow and Tiffany Charnley. Written when Milton was just 26, Comus is full of wit, energy and some of his finest poetry. Son of Bacchus and the sorceress Circe, Comus uses deception, drugs and violence to assail the virtue of The Lady. Find out if he succeeds...
Milton's words will be projected and accompanied by paintings and live music from the period. The performance will last about 70 minutes.
Open to all. Admission free. Booking not required.
Pink Ents – Saturday 19 February, 9pm
Palmerston Room, Fisher Building.
A stash sale where all profits go to the Pink Week charity. Details to be confirmed. Email Lingquan if you have any questions about Pink Week events.
China Research Seminar Series talk by Professor Philip Clart – Thursday 24 February, 2pm
Runcie Room, Faculty of Divinity.
As part of the Series, Professor Philip Clart is giving a talk on The Fraught Marriage of Lin Ying and Han Xiangzi: Death and Immortality, Women and Men in Qing-Period Popular Literature. Professor Clart is Professor of Chinese Culture and History at Leipzig University and a Beaufort Visiting Fellow at St John’s.
Open to all, admission free, no booking required.
Harper-Wood Literary Reading: Madeleine Pulman-Jones – Thursday 3 March, 5.15pm
Wordsworth Room.
Madeleine Pulman-Jones, current Harper-Wood Award holder at St John’s College, will read from some of her recent work. Her poems have appeared in publications including PN Review, Poetry Birmingham and Adroit Journal, where she was a finalist for the 2020 Adroit Prize for Poetry judged by Jericho Brown. Drinks will be offered.
Open to all. Admission free.
Memorial Service for Dr Peter Linehan – Saturday 5 March, 12pm
College Chapel.
A Memorial Service for Dr Peter Anthony Linehan, MA, PhD, FBA, Fellow and former Dean of St John’s College, who died on 9 July 2020, aged 76, will be held in St John’s College Chapel on Saturday 5 March 2022 at 12 noon.
For tickets, please apply online, by phone on 01223 339363 or in writing to The Chapel Clerk, St John's College, Cambridge, CB2 1TP, by Friday 18 February.
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.
Aquila concert for International Women’s Day – Tuesday 8 March, 6pm
Main Lecture Theatre, Old Divinity School.
Head over to the Old Divinity School for a selection of songs performed by Aquila, the St John’s College all-female vocal group. All welcome, admission free, no booking required.
Newell Classical Event talk The Black Sappho – Thursday 10 March, 7.15pm
Main Lecture Theatre, Old Divinity School.
A talk by Professor Emily Greenwood on The Black Sappho, a recurrent presence in the work of African American women writers, using the figure of the Sappho to examine intersections of gender, sexuality, and race in the modern reception of Sappho. Emily is Professor of Classics at Princeton University and a Cambridge alumna.
Open to all, admission free, no booking required. Can also be attended via Zoom.
And finally
We have had weather every day this week in Cambridge and have been treated to everything from stunning sunsets to blustery winds and even a flurry of snow this morning.
Photo credit: Sarah Gilbert, Manuscript cataloguer.
