College bulletin: 6 October
Michaelmas means the return of undergraduates to Cambridge, questionable cycling proficiency on St John’s Street, and the need for a chic scarf to keep the autumn chill at bay.
And we have a free St John’s scarf to give away to the person who successfully names our College intranet.
We have begun the first phase of work on a new intranet to make life behind the scenes a lot smoother for everyone in College and the project now needs a memorable name.
Send your ideas to us by 5pm on Wednesday 18 October to be in with a chance of winning the scarf pictured below.
All members of College can submit ideas and if more than one person suggests the same suggestion, we will draw the winner’s name out of our witch’s sorting hat.
Email Communications with your suggestions.
College news
Andrew Chamblin Memorial Lecture 2023
Poster competition helps prospective Cambridge students shed light on their academic passions
Girls talented in maths spend summer school at St John’s College
Telethon 2023 gives huge boost to Dobson Free Places Fund
Student fundraisers involved in this year’s Telethon have clocked up a stunning £319,351 in pledges from generous St John’s alumni for College good causes.
Thirteen student callers spoke to 557 alumni around the world during the annual fundraiser, which took place from 4-25 September, organised by the Development Office. Most of the money pledged will go to the Dobson Free Places Fund, which means more than half a million pounds has been raised for the fund from this year’s Telethon alone, once gift-matching has been taken into account.
Will Romeu-Evans, Senior Development Officer, said: “This year’s Telethon has been one of the College’s most successful to date, and will have a transformative impact on our efforts to bring the Dobson Free Places Fund to life.
“We are immensely grateful for the stellar efforts of our student call team, and for the continued warmth, support and generosity of our alumni and friends.”
Meet the new Fellows of St John’s
Eleven new academics have joined the Fellowship of St John’s this term.
They are: Dr Vasileios Kotsidis (Economics), Dr Sofia Singler (Architecture), Dr Jef Laga (Mathematics), Dr Amy Orben (Psychological and Behavioural Studies), Professor Sarah Hall (Geography), Brigid Ehrmantraut (Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic), Rakesh Arul (Physics and Astrophysics), Professor Po-Ling Loh (Mathematical Statistics), Dr Michael Boemo (Maths in Biology), Dr Leah Downey (Human, Social and Political Sciences) and Dr John Colley (English).
Alison Cox, Domestic Bursar, was also formally admitted as a Fellow of the College during the ceremony in Chapel on Monday.
Fellow-elect Dr Andrea Luppi (Physiology) is due to join St John’s in January.
St John’s has also welcomed a number of new visiting scholars this term: meet them in the Visiting Fellows directory.
PhD researcher turns interactive play into Prague exhibition
An immersive mixed-reality theatre project created by Jing Wang Thomas, a PhD student in Education at St John’s, has been transformed into an arts exhibition in Prague’s historic Old Town.
Producer and director Jing’s theatre show Copenhagen in Rehearsal, inspired by Michael Frayn’s classic play Copenhagen about a secret 1941 meeting between two physicists, was performed in the Old Divinity School in 2022, with the audience wearing virtual reality technology to ‘eavesdrop’ on the actors.
In June, the project was made into a participatory documentary exhibition on quantum physics and Artificial Intelligence, Reimagine Copenhagen 1941, at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 2023 arts festival.
Jing has founded Diffraction Theatre, which is working across different disciplines to critically explore cutting-edge technologies in theatre production.
She said: “I would like to express my gratitude to St John’s College for providing such a diverse cultural environment that has greatly enriched my artistic practice, and to our Fellow Dr Morag Morrison-Helme for her generous support of my research and artistic practice.”
Find out more about Jing’s work
Sing with Aquila, the College’s female a cappella group
Open to all female students, Fellows and staff members of St John’s, Aquila is a friendly and inclusive group for people who enjoy singing for fun.
Whether you have lots of experience or want to try singing for the first time, you’re welcome to join, and no audition is required. Scientific research has confirmed ‘group singing can improve physical and mental health, as well as promote social bonding’ (see this article from The Other Place), and it’s the perfect way to escape the pressures of work and meet new people.
The group is delighted to welcome Dr Chloe Allison this term as Aquila’s new Music Director.
Rehearsals are weekly on Tuesdays 5.15pm-6.45pm in term time, starting on Tuesday 10 October in the New Music Room. Keep an eye on the Aquila Facebook page for details of rehearsals and events.
Promotions and appointments among College Fellows
Dr Dhruv Ranganathan, College Lecturer in Pure Mathematics and Professor of Algebraic Geometry, has been promoted to Professor from 1 October.
In other University appointments, Professor Nathan MacDonald has been made Professor of the Interpretation of the Old Testament; Professor Meredith Allison Crowley has been appointed Professor of Economics; Professor Robert David Mullins is now Professor of Computer Architecture, and Professor Hannah Jane Joyce now has the title Professor of Electronic and Photonic Engineering.
What’s on
Chapel
Student Communion – Sunday 8 October, 8.30am
We gather in the small chapel in the Ante-chapel for a half-hour service of Holy Communion (aka the Eucharist) with Sermon, and then go to Hall for cooked breakfast (which is subsidised!) This appeals to a real cross-section of the student community.
Organ recital – Sunday 8 October, 6pm
Professor Arturo Barba (Catedrático del Conservatorio Superior de Música ‘Joaquín Rodrigo’ de Valencia), will be performing works by Fletcher, Liszt and Mendelssohn.
Open to all, admission free.
Sunday Evensong with Sermon – Sunday 8 October, 6.30pm
This term’s sermon series is themed, ‘Who do you say that I am?’. Preachers have been invited to offer their own perspective on Jesus Christ: how they understand him, what he means today and what we might learn from what we know of Jesus and how he has been portrayed in the last two millennia. This evening the College’s own Chaplain The Rev’d Andrew Hammond, will be preaching on ‘Jesus in the Imagination’.
Compline by Candlelight – Tuesday 10 October, 10pm
One of the most popular services among Cambridge students for decades. Based on the late evening service in monasteries, it is sung by members of the College Choir and the Chaplain. It lasts about 35 minutes, followed by port and hot chocolate.
Open to members of College and their guests.
For all other regular services, see the Chapel webpage
The Chapel team is always keen to hear from more volunteers to read in services or assist in other ways: please contact Andrew.
Other events
St John’s Linguistics Society social – Sunday 8 October, 2.30pm
Castlereagh Room, Fisher Building.
Undergraduate and postgraduate Linguistics students at St John’s and their guests are invited to go along to get to know other linguists in the College, to gather advice on the upcoming year, discuss their favourite research, or just have a chat.
Admission free, no booking required.
Careers Fairs – Monday 9 October and throughout term
University Student Services Centre, Bene’t Street, New Museums Site.
Further details and to register
Visit the Careers Service website for more information.
Physics for Everyone: Measurements to Grand Unified Theories – Monday 9 October, 6pm
Boys Smith Room, Fisher Building.
The first in a series of eight lectures by College Fellow Prof Nick Manton, giving an overview of the world of physics for everyone at St John’s. Physics investigates the observable phenomena in our Universe, from the very large to the very small. Elegant theories have emerged, accurately describing a broad range of these phenomena.
These lectures will cover the key concepts of space, time, particles, matter, energy, forces and fields. This week’s lecture explores physics as science of measurement, laws and models, hypothesis and experiment, and overarching theories.
Open to College members and their guests. Admission free, no booking required.
College Bar quiz – Monday 9 October, 8.30pm
Bar.
Open to all, admission free.
SBR yoga – Tuesday 10 October, 8.30am
Palmerston Room.
Hour-long class every Tuesday and Thursday, suitable for all abilities. Please bring your own mat and arrive promptly. Last class of the term will be on 2 November.
Open to SBR members plus their guests. Members will be charged £3 to their College bill per session. No booking required. Email Dommy with any queries.
Upper Library opening – Wednesday 11 October, 2-4pm
Enter via E staircase, Second Court.
Open every Wednesday afternoon in term time, view manuscripts and rare printed books from the collections in the 17th-century Upper Library. Requests for material to be exhibited can be emailed to Special Collections and they will do their best to accommodate these during the term.
This is also still the chance to see Improbabilities: A Douglas Adams Exhibition, held recently as part of the Open Cambridge heritage events.
Open to College members and their guests. Admission free, no booking required.
Historical walk 1: Medieval Cambridge (450-1350) – Sunday 15 October, 2pm
Meet at Cripps Porters’ Lodge.
Prof Tim Bayliss-Smith, St John’s Fellow, will lead a two-hour walking tour of key medieval locations including Castle Hill and St Peter’s Church.
A free event open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, Visiting Fellows and their guests as part of this term’s Sans Frontières events programme. Maximum 25 people; first 25 to email the Postgraduate Administrator may participate.
St John's College Open Orchestra come and play day – Monday 16 October, 7.30pm
New Music Room.
A relaxed orchestra for players of all standards, rehearsals take place every two weeks on Monday evenings in the New Music Room.
Open to all members of the University, admission free. Register using this form
Palaeography for beginners – Tuesday 17 October, 3pm
Via Zoom.
Weekly sessions for anyone interested in reading handwriting from c1500-c1700, 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. Sessions are held on Tuesdays at 3pm and take place online using photographs of the documents. If you would like to join the first session, or have any queries, please email the archivist, Dr Lynsey Darby. If you aren’t sure until the last minute, please join anyway.
Open to all, admission free. Link for the first session
Postgraduates Dine with Fellows – Wednesday 18 October, 7.30pm
Hall.
Open to College postgraduates. Attendance at Postgraduates Dine with Fellows events is restricted to one event per academic year.
Free of charge, limited places, register via Upay.
An Evening with Ulinka Rublack in Cambridge: a discussion of Dürer’s Lost Masterpiece – Thursday 19 October, 6pm
Heffers Bookshop, 20 Trinity Street.
Prof Ulinka Rublak, historian and Fellow of St John’s, will discuss her book Dürer’s Lost Masterpiece: Art and Society at the Dawn of a Global Age, which considers the celebrated German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), his time and his legacy.
She will be in conversation with Dr Victoria Avery, the Keeper of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Fitzwilliam Museum. The event includes a wine reception.
Open to all, *tickets £8-£35. Further information and to book tickets
The Really Popular Book Club – Tuesday 24 October, 7.30pm
Via Zoom.
The Really Popular Book Club is Cambridge University Libraries' book group and is an opportunity to discuss a really popular book with the group, library staff, and an expert on the novel. Join St John’s research scientist, social entrepreneur, cultural heritage preservationist and oral historian Darold Cuba to discuss the novel The Sellout, by Paul Beatty.
The Sellout won the Booker prize in 2014 and is a satire on racism in America, relayed in a series of bizarre flashbacks. The novel is a timely look at the fragility of legal systems and the effects of Western colonialism's legacy of racism in America.
Open to all, admission free. Further details and to register
Tour of the College wine cellars – Wednesday 25 October, 11.30am
Meeting place to be confirmed.
A 30-minute tour led by Jim Wocha, Wine and Provisions Manager at St John’s.
Open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, Visiting Fellows and their guests as part of this term’s Sans Frontières events programme. Admission free.
St John’s Book Group for postgraduates, English Faculty and College staff – Wednesday 25 October, 5.45pm
Merton Hall Cottage (behind the School of Pythagoras).
Vona Groarke, St John’s Writer-in-Residence, will host her first book group meeting of Michaelmas Term. This month’s read is Roy Jacobsen’s The Unseen (2016). Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2017, it was described in the Financial Times as ‘a blunt, brilliant book’; in the Guardian as ‘a profound interrogation of freedom and fate’; and by Eileen Battersby in the Irish Times as ‘easily among the best books I have ever read’.
Newcomers welcome. If you are interested in joining this, or the book group for undergraduate students, email Vona.
Tour of the Fitzwilliam Museum – Saturday 28 October, 2pm
Meeting place to be confirmed.
Led by Prof Patrick Boyde, St John’s Fellow and Emeritus Professor of Italian.
Open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, Visiting Fellows and their guests as part of this term’s Sans Frontières events programme. Admission free.
St John’s Book Group for undergraduates – Thursday 30 October, 7pm
Merton Hall Cottage (behind the School of Pythagoras).
Like to read? Interested in discussing short, good, recently-published books in an informal, friendly setting? Join Vona Groarke, St John’s Writer-in-Residence, for the first undergraduate book group meeting of Michaelmas Term.
This month’s book is Saba Sams’s 2022 short story collection, Send Nudes, winner of the 2023 Edge Hill Prize. In 2022, Sams was the youngest ever winner of the BBC National Short Story Award and, in 2023, she was named as a Granta Best of Young British Novelist. A review in the Guardian noted the ‘earthy resilience and joie de vivre that make Send Nudes so rare and uplifting’.
Newcomers welcome – you don’t have to be studying English and you don’t need to bring anything along except the book. Just read the book in advance and go along to share responses to it with other undergraduates. If you are interested in joining, email Vona.
Tour of the Chapel windows – Wednesday 1 November, 2pm
Meeting place to be confirmed.
The story of St John in the College’s stained glass, presented by Prof Patrick Boyde, Fellow of St John’s.
Open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, Visiting Fellows and their guests as part of this term’s Sans Frontières events programme. Admission free.
Poetry reading – Friday 3 November, 6pm
Boys Smith Room, Fisher Building.
Three leading Irish poets will be reading from their work at this event hosted by St John’s. Nick Laird, Tara Bergin and Colette Bryce are among the most acclaimed, innovative and intriguing contemporary poets, with work regularly appearing in publications such as The LRB, Poetry Review and the New Yorker.
The reading will be followed by a wine reception and a chance to meet the poets.
Open to all, admission free, no booking required.
Beer tasting – Wednesday 8 November, 6pm
Wordsworth Room, First Court.
With Prof Michael de Volder, Fellow of St John’s.
Open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, Visiting Fellows and their guests as part of this term’s Sans Frontières events programme.
Booking and payment details to be confirmed.
Tour of the Scott Polar Research Institute Museum – Friday 10 November, 2pm
Meeting place to be confirmed.
Open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, Visiting Fellows and their guests as part of this term’s Sans Frontières events programme. Admission free.
Andrew Chamblin Memorial Lecture 2023 – Tuesday, 14 November, 5pm
Meeting Room 2, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA.
The 17th Andrew Chamblin Memorial Lecture, entitled Illuminating the Dark Universe with Gravitational Waves, will be given by Professor Alessandra Buonanno, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics.
The lecture will also be livestreamed on YouTube.
Admission free, booking required via the Faculty of Mathematics Events page.
Postgraduates Dine with Fellows – Wednesday 15 November, 7.30pm
Hall.
Open to College postgraduates. Attendance at Postgraduates Dine with Fellows events is restricted to one event per academic year.
Free of charge, limited places, registration details to be confirmed.
Dramatisation – Tuesday 21 November and Wednesday 22 November, 7.30pm
Main Lecture Theatre, Old Divinity School.
With Prof Patrick Boyde, Emeritus Professor of Italian and Fellow of St John’s. Details to be confirmed.
Open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, Visiting Fellows and their guests as part of this term’s Sans Frontières events programme. Admission free.
Ghost walk – Thursday 23 November, 5.45pm
Meeting place to be confirmed.
With Dr Mark Nicholls, Fellow of St John’s.
Open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, Visiting Fellows and their guests as part of this term’s Sans Frontières events programme. Admission free.
Ghost stories – Wednesday 6 December, 8.30pm
Combination Room.
With Prof Patrick Boyde, Fellow of St John’s. Details to be confirmed.
Open to College postgraduate students, Fellows, Visiting Fellows and their guests as part of this term’s Sans Frontières events programme. Admission free.
And finally
Folly, the Master’s beautiful black labrador, joined some of the College’s newest arrivals for their official Matriculation photo on the Backs on Tuesday. In spite of being a very good girl, she was not allowed to tuck into Matriculation Dinner with her new-found College friends.
You can follow Folly’s adventures at St John’s on Instagram @folly_thecollegedog
