April/May - the University Offices - University of Cambridge

The magazine for the staff of the University of Cambridge APRIL/MAY 2009 

Vikings in our midst 

Camfed in 

Zambia 

Page 8 

Alumni office 

launched 

Page 15

Right on track A new train running 

on the Cambridge to London Liverpool 

Street line has been given a name plate 

in honour of Cambridge’s 800th 

Anniversary. The University’s 

Chancellor, HRH Prince Philip The Duke 

of Edinburgh, unveiled the name plate 

at a ceremony at Cambridge Railway 

Station on 12 February. Earlier in the 

day, the Chancellor had been introduced 

to the Blue Boat and Goldie crews and 

officially named “The 800th,” a brand 

new boat for the 29 March Boat Race. 

Circle of life A remarkable new 

exhibition, Assembling Bodies, featuring 

Isaac Newton’s death mask, the 

‘body-maps’ of Aids sufferers and a 

funerary effigy from the South Pacific, 

opened in March. The way people have 

viewed the human body throughout 

history and around the world is 

examined in fascinating detail in the 

Museum of Archaeology and 

Anthropology’s most ambitious show 

in 125 years. For details, visit http:// 

maa.cam.ac.uk 

Girl power More than 80 women staff 

attended a Women’s Forum Conference 

on 25 February at Churchill College. 

Following on from the success of the 

2008 conference, which concentrated 

on ‘Confidence and Voice: Tools for 

Change’, this year’s theme was ‘Realising 

your Potential’. Attendees participated 

in two workshops and heard a keynote 

speech by explorer Christine Dodwell, 

pictured. For more training 

opportunities for Cambridge staff, visit 

www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/hr/cppd 

Young Einsteins Numerous family- 

friendly events – including Crash, Bang, 

Squelch, right – took place on Science 

Saturday, 14 March, during the 

Cambridge Science Festival. The festival 

was the biggest to date, with more 

than 160 events for all ages held in sites 

throughout the University over two 

weeks in March. Highlights included a 

reading of George’s Secret Key to the 

Universe by author Lucy Hawking and a 

lecture by Chris Bishop, Chief Research 

Scientist at Microsoft Research. 

Ella Woolner damian gillie philip mynott 

Cover 

Demonstrating Viking fighting 

techniques is one form of outreach 

for the Department of Anglo-Saxon, 

Norse and Celtic 

Photo: Jonathan Lewis 

3–5 

What’s new 

6 

Getting practical 

Visit the University Centre 

7 

Inside the colleges 

Trinity Hall’s female butler 

8–9 

Behind the scenes 

Cambridge partners with Camfed 

10–11 

Making a difference 

12 

People 

13 

Prizes, awards and honours 

14 

Advertisements 

15–16 

Back pages 

The Newsletter is published for the staff of the 

University of Cambridge and is produced by the 

Office of External Affairs and Communications. 

Please send in ideas for the content and other ways 

we can improve the publication. Tel: (3)32300 

newsletter@admin.cam.ac.uk 

Suggestions for articles for the July/August edition 

should reach the Editor by 19 May. 

Editor: Susan Dalzell 

Designer: Richard Reeve Design 

Printers: Piggott Black Bear 

Newsletter online 

www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/newsletter/ 

2 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter | APRIL / MAY 2009

Your comments and contributions are always welcome. 

Please send them to the Editor at newsletter@admin.cam.ac.uk 

The deadline for the next issue is 19 May. 

12 degrees of celebration 

ALL NEW … 

Vice-Chancellor 

search begins 

The selection process has begun for the 

successor to Vice-Chancellor Professor 

Alison Richard, whose tenure will end 

on 30 September 2010. The University 

Council has appointed an Advisory 

Committee, chaired by Professor Frank 

Kelly. In March, the Committee embarked 

on a series of consultations in the 

University to assist it in its deliberations 

before the Council finalises a brief for 

the appointment, which will be formally 

advertised towards the end of the April. 

The Committee has selected an executive 

search firm, Perrett Laver, to assist them 

with the process. 

Cambridge street sweeper Allan Brigham is receiving an honorary MA for his efforts as a local historian. 

Bill and Melinda Gates will be 

among those honoured when the 

University confers honorary degrees 

at a forthcoming Congregation. The 

American philanthropists will be joined 

by eight other eminent individuals for 

the 12 June ceremony. 

In a separate ceremony on 18 July, 

Allan Brigham, local historian and 

guide, and Sir Miles Hunt-Davis, 

Private Secretary to the Chancellor of 

the University, will be conferred with 

honorary Master of Arts degrees. 

This year’s honourands are: 

• His Highness Prince Karim Al- 

Hussayni, the Aga Khan 

• Mr Bill Gates (William Henry Gates 

III), Philanthropist and Chairman of the 

Microsoft Corporation 

• Mrs Melinda Gates, Philanthropist 

• Baroness (Shirley) Williams of 

Crosby, Honorary Fellow of Newnham 

College, Public Service Professor of 

Elective Politics Emerita in the John 

F Kennedy School of Government at 

Harvard University 

• Professor Elizabeth Blackburn, 

Professor of Biology and Physiology 

at the University of California, San 

Francisco 

• Professor Wallace Broecker, 

Climatologist, Columbia University 

• Professor Sir Peter Crane, the John 

and Marion Sullivan Professor in the 

Department of Geophysical Sciences 

at the University of Chicago, former 

Director of Kew Gardens 

• Professor Amartya Sen, Fellow 

and former Master of Trinity 

College, Professor of Economics and 

Philosophy at Harvard University, 

Nobel Laureate in Economics 

• Professor Wang Gungwu, Director 

of the East Asian Institute, Singapore, 

Historian of China and the Chinese 

• Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Composer 

and conductor 

k Details regarding staff applications for 

tickets will appear in the 22 April Reporter 

Philip Mynott 

Help wanted 

Training directory 

A new Colleges Job Opportunities 

website provides links to job vacancies 

at many Cambridge Colleges. The site 

is accessible through a link from the 

University’s Job Opportunities page and 

includes listings for academic, nonacademic 

and research positions. As 

independent institutions, each College 

appoints its own staff, but the site provides 

a central portal for job seekers. Whether to 

post positions to the University website is 

left to each College’s discretion. 

k www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/hr/jobs/ 

The University has launched a 

new website for skills training and 

development. The site includes separate 

areas for University staff, undergraduate 

students, postgraduate students and 

postdoctoral researchers. A major feature 

of the site is a searchable Skills Training 

Directory for postgraduate students 

and postdoctoral researchers which lists 

relevant courses and events throughout 

the University. Staff with an interest in 

transferable skills training for postgraduate 

and postdoctoral researchers are invited to 

the launch event from 12:30pm to 2pm on 

14 May in the Hicks Room of the University 

Centre. To attend, RSVP to Alice Nelson, 

aln25@admin.cam.ac.uk. 

k www.skills.cam.ac.uk 

What’s the buzz 

Fancy going to a concert next week? 

Need an activity to keep the kids busy 

this weekend? ‘What’s On’ will have the 

answer. The University’s events page 

has been given a make-over, making 

it easier for you to know just exactly 

what’s happening at the University. 

The site is navigated by date or 

subject, including talks, theatre and 

courses. While you’re there, why not 

sign up for a monthly email giving 

you a sneak preview of events before 

they’ve been widely publicised. 

k www.admin.cam.ac.uk/whatson/ 

800th give-aways 

The Alumni Relations Office (CARO) 

is planning a small range of 800th 

anniversary items to give away at alumni 

events this year, including pens and jute 

bags. Any departments or Colleges who 

would like to consider providing 800th 

items to their own alumni and staff are 

encouraged to contact CARO. 

k Contact Morven Knowles, 

mk579@foundation.cam.ac.uk, or Katy 

Miller, katy.miller@foundation.cam.ac.uk 

APRIL / MAY 2009 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter | 3

Colleges extend their welcome 

For the first time, every area of the 

United Kingdom has been linked with 

a specific Cambridge undergraduate 

College. The University of Cambridge 

Area Links Scheme has been in place 

for some time and aims to connect 

schools and sixth form colleges 

across the UK with the University, 

providing a clear channel for twoway 

communication. Now its reach 

has been extended, encompassing 

every area of the UK, and linking every 

London borough to a named College. 

“Dividing the country up in this way 

encourages the Colleges of Cambridge 

to get to know specific regions more 

intimately, and gives schools and 

colleges a more personal and focused 

way of staying in touch with the 

University,” says Tom Levinson, Head of 

Widening Participation. 

The type of activities Colleges 

undertake, and the year groups they 

work with through the scheme vary, 

but in the past have included school 

visits with talks on university life and 

higher education, or bringing students 

to Cambridge for taster days or 

residential summer schools. 

Jacqui Howard, who studied 

Music and Education at Homerton 

College from 2004 to 2007, says the 

Area Links scheme really does make a 

difference. She took part in Magdalene 

College’s Area Links summer school 

when she was in the lower-sixth at 

a comprehensive school in Crosby, 

Liverpool. 

In February, Mount Carmel 

RC Technology College pupils 

enjoyed exploring Corpus 

Christi College: (left to right) 

Burco Cankiran, Yanina 

Pecherska, learning mentor 

Juanita Simpson, Karys Coker 

and Tracey Kotoko. Corpus 

Christi works with schools and 

colleges in the Borough of 

Islington. 

“I loved the challenging but very 

exciting academic atmosphere and 

really had my eyes opened in lots of 

ways,” she says. “I guess I’d thought 

previously that only privately educated 

people ended up at Cambridge but 

having the chance to actually spend 

time with students there made me see 

how normal both they, and Cambridge 

were. It really gave me the confidence 

and reassurance I needed to apply.” 

Jacqui is now employed by the 

Staff invited to 800th garden party 

Cambridge Admissions Office as a 

Schools and Colleges Liaison Officer. 

“The Area Links scheme is a really 

important way of reaching out to 

other students, like me, who might 

mistakenly find the idea of Cambridge 

intimidating,” she says. “The fact that 

every area of the UK is now linked is 

something to really celebrate.” 

k www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/ 

undergraduate/arealinks/ 

Alex Buxton 

Preparations are well underway 

for the Staff Garden Party, taking place 

in the Botanic Garden on 18 July as 

part of a series of events being held 

this year to celebrate the University’s 

800th Anniversary. 

All permanent University and 

College staff members and their 

families are invited to attend the event. 

The Staff Garden 

Party will take 

place 18 July 

A varied programme of musical and 

educational activities is planned for the 

day, which has been designed to thank 

staff for the contribution they make to 

the success of collegiate Cambridge. 

An online ticketing system will 

be launched in April and tickets will 

be allocated on a first-come, firstserved 

basis. 

k For more information, contact the 

800th Anniversary Team on 800@admin. 

cam.ac.uk or (7)61672 or visit www.800. 

cam.ac.uk/ 

k The 800th Anniversary Team has 

moved offices to 4 Parsons Court, next 

to the Cambridge Corn Exchange. Their 

phone numbers remain the same. 


Pay a visit to the online edition of the Newsletter: 

www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/newsletter/ 

JONATHAN LEWIS 

HEFCE increases funding 

Next year, the University will receive 

an increase of 1.89 per cent in research 

funding and 1.9 per cent in teaching 

funding from the Higher Education 

Funding Council for England (HEFCE). 

The increases were announced on 

5 March, when HEFCE revealed how it 

will allocate its £7,994 million in university 

funding for 2009-2010. Cambridge’s 

research funding will increase to a total 

of £113,670,880; teaching funding will 

increase to £65,544,917. 

Due to changes in how HEFCE 

assesses and funds research, the 

funding announcement generated a 

tremendous amount of interest. The 

results of the Research Assessment 

Exercise (RAE), a peer review exercise 

which evaluates the quality of research 

in UK higher education institutions, 

were published in December 2008. The 

outcome of the RAE informed HEFCE’s 

allocation of the approximate £1.6 

billion in research funding for 2009-10. 

Cambridge submitted 2,040 

researchers to the RAE. Of those 

submissions, 31.7 per cent of the 

submission was in the 4* category 

(world-leading) while 39.2 per cent 

was placed in the 3* (internationally 

excellent) category. 

The 2008 RAE then used the same 

main principles of peer assessment as 

previous RAEs (the last of which took 

place in 2001). Work submitted to the 

exercise was assessed by a panel of 

respected experts. 

However, a few significant changes 

were introduced which make it difficult 

to compare this year’s results with the 

2001 RAE. For example, during the 

last RAE departments were ranked 

between 1 and 5* (1, 2, 3b, 3a, 4, 5, and 

5*, with 5* being the highest award). 

In order to achieve a 5* in 2001, more 

than 51 per cent of the staff that 

were submitted had to be considered 

‘internationally excellent’. 

This year’s results were published 

as a graded profile rather than a fixed 

seven-point scale. For example, a 4* 

indicates quality that is ‘world-leading 

in terms of originality, significance and 

rigour’, while a 3* indicates quality that 

is ‘internationally excellent in terms of 

originality, significance and rigour but 

which nonetheless falls short of the 

highest standards of excellence’. 

k www.hefce.ac.uk/ 

From Cambridge to Hay 

Ten leading Cambridge academics 

will speak at the prestigious Hay 

Festival this year to celebrate the 

University’s 800th Anniversary and 

promote the Cambridge Festival 

of Ideas. 

The 10 speakers — Dame Gillian 

Beer, Professor Martin Rees, Professor 

Chris Lowe, Professor Simon Blackburn, 

Professor Alan Macfarlane, Dr Ed 

Kessler, Professor Stefan Collini, Dr 

Sabine Bahn and Sir Richard Dearlove 

— will cover a wide range of subjects, 

from aliens to mental health, national 

security and religion. 

The talks will take place daily at 

11.30am at Hay between 21 and 31 

May under the banner “The Cambridge 

800 Series.” Several of the speakers also 

will be featured at the 2009 Festival of 

Ideas, taking place in Cambridge from 

21 October to 1 November. 

k www.cambridgefestivalofideas.org 

ALL NEW … 

Take a walk 

DisabledGo 

science@cambridge 

Return to the 

classroom 

Three new guided walks around the city of 

Cambridge are available for download 

direct to your iPod or mobile player. The 

tours offered are “800 Years of Death and 

Disease in Cambridge,” “Buildings, Lives 

and Legacies: A Celebration of Cambridge 

University,” and “Following in the Footsteps: 

A Tour of Cambridge for Prospective 

Applicants.” Illustrated maps can also be 

downloaded for reference. The audio 

walks were produced by Stride Design. 

k www.strideguides.com/CU/Home.aspx 

Detailed information on physical and 

sensory access to almost 40 University 

buildings is now available on Disabled 

Go, an innovative website designed to 

help disabled people into education 

and employment. The site also includes 

links to University jobs. DisabledGo 

was founded to empower people with 

disabilities to judge for themselves which 

venues are suitable for their individual 

needs. DisabledGo produces pandisability 

access guides to locations and 

venues across the UK. 

k www.disabledgo.info/Education/ 

The University Library has created a virtual 

library space for scientists, science@ 

cambridge, which provides tools to help 

with navigating through the vast number 

of electronic resources available, as well as 

on-line real-time help from library subjectexperts. 

User guides have been created for 

numerous subject areas, providing details 

on everything from the latest publications 

by local authors to selected readings lists. 

The main site includes citation organiser 

tools and links to science blogs, podcasts 

and social networks. 

k www.lib.cam.ac.uk/scienceportal/ 

Anyone considering returning to 

education who will be 21 or over at the 

time of university entry is eligible to 

attend a free Going Further Summer 

School this summer. Run annually by the 

Cambridge Admissions Office, the school 

is a great opportunity for mature students 

to get a taste of higher education and, in 

particular, the Cambridge teaching style 

and collegiate structure. Going Further 

focuses on arts, humanities and social 

sciences and is open to men and women, 

regardless of background. The school will 

be held at Lucy Cavendish College from 

16-19 July. 

k www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/ 

undergraduate/events/femature.html 


The University Centre is your centre. Take full advantage of your membership by following these tips 

The centre of attention 

1 

Bring a friend – or several 

Membership to the University 

Centre is free to all current 

University employees, students, 

alumni, CamCard holders and retired 

staff, which makes it handy to grab 

lunch or a drink with your co-workers. 

But, members are always welcome to 

bring along non-members as guests. 

Who you bring is up to you – spouses, 

out-of-town visitors, or visiting 

colleagues are always welcome to 

come along. 

2 

Pop by at all hours 

The University Centre isn’t just 

for the work week. The facility 

is open seven days a week from 9am 

until 11pm and can provide a handy 

central gathering spot on a late 

weekday evening or an early weekend 

morning. The Grads Cafe is open for 

business from 9am to 9pm every day 

of the week and the Granta Bar is open 

from noon to 11pm Monday through 

Saturday and noon to 10:30pm on 

Sundays. Lunch is available at the 

Riverside Restaurant Monday through 

Saturday from 12:30pm to 2pm and 

dinner from 6:30pm to 11pm (last 

orders at 9pm). Or, visit the Main 

Dining Hall for lunch from 12:15 to 

2pm seven days a week or for dinner 

every weeknight from 6pm to 8pm. 

WHAT’S ON OFFER 

6 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter | APRIL / MAY 2009 

The Grads Café in the University 

Centre serves sandwiches and 

coffee. 

Four dining options 

• Grads Café for coffee and sandwiches 

• Main Dining Hall for self-service cafeteria 

• Granta Bar for bar meals and snacks 

• Riverside Restaurant for fine dining (pictured right) 

Rooms for hire 

Big, flexible spaces for large events and small meeting rooms 

Computers 

Wireless internet throughout the building and a Public Workstation Facility 

on the third floor 

Catering services 

For events taking place both in, and outside, the Centre 

Spring promotion: £5 dinners available in the Main Dining 

Hall every evening through the end of May 

3 

Enjoy fine dining 

The Riverside Restaurant is the 

University’s only fine-dining 

restaurant. You and your guests can 

savour meals prepared in modern 

British style while sipping a glass of 

wine. The restaurant’s elegant decor is 

complemented by panoramic views of 

the River Cam. The venue is suitable for 

business lunches as well as for evening 

meals. Check the University Centre’s 

website for special offers. 

Philip Mynott 

4 

Relax for a few minutes 

Order a frothy cappuccino, 

grab a free copy of the day’s 

newspaper and sink back into a comfy 

chair in the Grads Cafe on the second 

floor. Meet up with friends after work 

for a reasonably-priced pint and a 

curry in the ground floor Granta Bar. 

Or, stop by on a Saturday afternoon 

with your family for lunch in the Main 

Dining Hall. 

5 

Coming soon: Get fit 

Staff who would like to take 

advantage of a convenient workout 

facility will soon be able to use a 

new fitness suite, due to open at the 

University Centre early this summer. 

The state-of-the-art fitness suite will be 

located on the third floor and will be 

available to University Centre members 

for an additional fee. Personal fitness 

equipment on offer will include 

treadmills, exercise bikes and weight 

machines. Changing areas and showers 

will make it easy to fit a work-out into 

busy schedules. 

k For more information, visit www. 

unicen.cam.ac.uk or call (3)37766 

Philip Mynott

For 12 years, Sara Rhodes has worked as Butler of Trinity Hall. She dislikes wine, she’s good at 

keeping secrets and if you want her job, you’re going to have to wait 20 years until she retires 

The butler did it 

Perhaps if you’re a butler, having a 

locked cupboard in your office which 

opens up to reveal a hidden staircase is 

par for the course. 

In the case of Sara Rhodes, that 

staircase leads into the Trinity Hall 

Fellows’ wine cellar. Keeping track of 

the thousands of bottles of wine stored 

there is just one of many tasks that 

have filled her days since becoming the 

College’s Butler 12 years ago. 

It’s a job she clearly loves. She first 

started at the College in 1986 as a 

part-time waitress, helping out with 

evening meals. Soon, she was 

promoted, and by the time she left in 

1991, to pursue work with hours easier 

on her personal life, she was Deputy 

Butler. During the years before her 

return in 1997, she worked as a painter 

and decorator, but the idea of someday 

becoming the Head Butler was never 

far from her mind. 

The retirement of her predecessor 

opened the door. When her application 

was successful, her response was 

jubilant. “The then-Bursar phoned 

me at home to tell me I got the job. 

I literally ran around the living room 

screaming. I always wanted the job.” 

Rhodes’ role is specifically to look 

after the Fellows; the College employs 

a Manciple to manage catering for 

the students and for conferences. Ask 

her about being a woman in a role 

traditionally held by men, and she’ll 

wave the question away. “It didn’t 

even cross my mind that I’d be the first 

female butler at Trinity Hall,” she says. 

Part of her job is ensuring that 

the College’s collections – be it silver 

or wine – are well-maintained and 

accounted for, so she conducts audits 

every year. Spending time in the wine 

cellar has its perks – it’s very cool in 

summer – but in winter it can be quite 

chilly and damp. Although it might 

sound tempting to be surrounded by 

17,000 bottles of wine, Rhodes herself 

doesn’t care for wine, (although she will 

admit to a fondness for port). 

“It didn’t even 

cross my mind 

that I’d be the 

first female 

butler at Trinity 

Hall” 

She supervises a Deputy Butler and 

three Buttery Assistants. Her days can 

be quite long – she’ll start at 7:30am, 

ensuring that breakfast for the Fellows 

goes smoothly, and at least once a 

week, stays at work until after 9pm to 

supervise the serving of dinner at High 

Table. A previous Master’s wife took 

note of her long days, and arranged 

for a shower to be installed near 

Rhodes’ office, so she can freshen up 

before preparations for the evening 

meal begin. 

She takes pride in maintaining 

continuity. “I’m a great believer that 

Philip Mynott 

if it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” she says. 

“You start tinkering and that’s when 

mistakes happen.” Even her uniform is 

traditional – a black trouser suit, with a 

white, wing collar shirt and bow tie. 

The College’s annual feast is a high 

point in the year, and takes several 

months of preparation. The four-course 

meal is served to approximately 90 

guests. “It starts at 7:30 and we’re 

lucky if we’re done by half-eleven or 

midnight,” she says. 

Rhodes supervises the preparation 

of the silver cutlery and candlesticks, 

the glassware and the china. On the 

evening, she’ll be managing about 15 

people, helping to clear away plates, 

resetting when necessary and ensuring 

the place cards are at the correct places 

and that the napkins and cutlery and 

glasses are all arranged just as they 

should be. 

As always, she’s the one who 

announces dinner to the gathered 

Fellows. “They know who is in charge,” 

she says, tongue firmly in cheek. 

“They’re a good bunch, the Fellows.” 

Like any good butler, the Fellows’ 

secrets are safe with her. “I’m the 

perfect butler,” she says, and laughs. “I 

see and hear everything and forget all 

of it. I could never write a tell-all book!” 

She plans to stay put as long as the 

College will let her. “I’d like to leave 

20 years from now, when I retire,” she 

says. Her predecessor had been in the 

job for 25 years, and she suspects his 

predecessor was in place for almost as 

long. “These positions don’t come up 

very often,” she says. “You have to wait 

until someone reaches retirement age.” 

To hear Rhodes, the wait is well 

worth it, whether she’s discussing the 

view from the window above her desk 

– of a picturesque College courtyard – 

or the camaraderie she feels with other 

members of College staff. 

“I’ve never got up in the morning 

and thought ‘I don’t want to go to 

work,’” she says. “It’s like a second home; 

it has that family feel to it.” 


In December, a Cambridge staff member spent three weeks 

helping 150 young African women learn basic computer 

skills at a training programme run by the charity Camfed. The 

students were eager to learn, but the learning curve was steep: 

Most had never touched – let alone seen – a computer before 

Bridging the 

digital divide 

It’s not the easiest journey to 

travel from Cambridge to Lubwe High 

School in the southern African country 

of Zambia. The overnight flight from 

London to Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city, 

takes 10 hours. From Lusaka, it’s a twohour 

flight on a 12-seater plane (the 

alternative is a 10-hour drive) to the city 

of Mansa. Then, it’s a two-hour drive 

over a road that is reasonably paved 

for the first hour, but deteriorates into a 

mud road for the final hour of driving. 

“There is a progressive slowing 

down of the journey the further you 

get,” says Dr Björn Haßler, a Cambridge 

staff member who made the trip in 

December 2008. 

Haßler took three weeks leave from 

his job as a Senior Research Associate 

with Cambridge’s Centre for Applied 

Research in Educational Technologies 

(CARET) so he could volunteer with 

Aptivate, a local NGO, at a training 

programme run by Camfed. Camfed, 

the University’s Charity of the Year 

for 2009, is a leading African girls’ 

education charity. (See sidebar.) 

Haßler’s task? To teach computer 

usage, email and web browsing to 150 

young Zambian women. 

“What does the teaching need to 

look like so that you can give adequate 

computer skills to 150 people who 

have never used a computer before, 

when the available time is just three 

sessions per group? In many ways, 

that’s impossible,” Haßler says. “But, 

you can make some headway if you 

recognise that it can’t be done. Then 

you can think creatively.” 

Thinking creatively led to some 

tough love. “The most effective thing 

to do – and perhaps the only thing 

you can do – is to set up the conditions 

CAMFED TEAMS WITH UNIVERSITY FOR 800TH 

As the University celebrates its 800th Anniversary, 

it is choosing to look outward as well as inward. As 

part of the celebrations, it has chosen Camfed as its 

Charity of the Year. Throughout 2009, Cambridge is 

working to raise awareness about Camfed’s work in 

Africa and the vital role of girls’ education in the fight 

against global poverty. 

“We are delighted to partner with the University 

for this special anniversary year to expand access to 

education for girls in Africa,” says Camfed’s Founder 

and Executive Director Ann Cotton. “The theme 

of the celebrations –‘Transforming Tomorrow’ – 

perfectly mirrors Camfed’s work, which supports this 

generation of girls to go to school so that they can 

become tomorrow’s leaders and go on to transform 

their communities.” 

So, far the University has raised more than £3,000, 

which will cover the costs associated with four years 

of secondary school for four girls in Africa. Planned 

fundraising opportunities for Camfed include: a 

fundraising dinner; a raffle at the Staff Garden Party 

in July; and donating proceeds from the sale of 

carrier bags made from recycled 800th banners at 

year’s end. 

k http://uk.camfed.org 

The Zambian facilitators 

explore the low-power 

computers for the first time. 

for self-guided learning, as that has a 

chance of going beyond the training 

event itself,” he says. 

He’s only slightly simplifying when 

he describes their teaching process: “It’s 

a bit like telling the students: Here’s a 

bunch of equipment. We’ll be outside if 

you need us.” 

It takes a village 

The phrase ‘It takes a village’ may be 

appropriate when describing the many 

partners who pooled resources so 

the Zambian students could attend 

the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women 

Certificate Programme in Young 

Women’s Leadership and Enterprise. 

In September 2008, the University, 

through Judge Business School and 

Cambridge Assessment, teamed up 

with Camfed and the Goldman Sachs 

10,000 Women initiative to provide 

leadership and enterprise training for 

450 disadvantaged young women 

in rural Zambia over the following 

three years. Each year, beginning 

with the group that Haßler worked 

with, 150 women will develop 

their entrepreneurial, business and 

leadership skills through a programme 

consisting of two intensive residential 

courses with a period of project work. 

The course has been designed 


entirely from scratch by the 

Cambridge Assessment Group and 

Camfed International, with support 

from Judge Business School. (The 

course has been accredited by CIE 

(University of Cambridge International 

Examinations)). Meanwhile, in 

Zambia, a team was busy preparing 

the boarding school, sorting out 

the manual pumping of water, the 

provision of generators for electricity, 

buying a new roof and installing toilets. 

The 150 students are all recent 

school-leavers, ages 18 to 20. Camfed 

has funded the education of most of 

them from primary school through 

secondary school. 

“They are young and full of 

potential,” says Catherine Boyce, 

Head of Enterprise and Leadership 

for Camfed. “These are women who 

come from the poorest communities in 

Zambia, where there are high rates of 

HIV, low rates of employment, and poor 

communication with the rest of the 

country and world.” 

The programme aims to instil 

confidence and develop problemsolving 

and core business skills in 

its students. By the end of the first 

three-week residential session, the 

women had developed a business 

plan for enterprises of their choice, 

© 2008 Björn Haßler 

collaborating in groups of five to 

15 students. They’ve spent January 

through March putting those plans 

into action, with the support of trainers. 

Projects include everything from 

creating a pre-school for 65 street 

children to starting a second-hand 

clothing shop. This month, the women 

will return to Lubwe for the final twoweek 

residency, for advanced training. 

Keyboards and confidence 

Haßler volunteered for the project 

through Aptivate, a not-for-profit 

NGO, based in Cambridge, which 

provides IT services for international 

development. Camfed had contracted 

with Aptivate to provide the computer 

training. Haßler, who has several longstanding 

relationships with members 

of Aptivate, was invited to be the fourth 

member of their team. 

In Lubwe, the team first worked with 

four women, not in the summer school, 

who were all members of Camfed’s 

alumnae group, CAMA. “They needed 

to become experts fast, because they 

would need to support the other 

students, from day one,” Haßler says. 

Out of the four, only one had any 

experience of using a computer. 

Rather than bombard the students 

with instruction, difficult to absorb in 

such a short period of time, Aptivate’s 

trainers opted for a participative handson 

approach, encouraging the four cofacilitators 

to take the lead, for instance, 

in setting up the specifically-designed 

lab: 18 new low-power computers, 

keyboards and screens, two servers, 

a printer, a projector, uninterruptible 

power supplies, switches, satellite 

internet, and much more. 

“At first, they demanded that we 

teach them. They got quite annoyed 

that we refused to just show them 

how everything worked. Very quickly, 

though, they came around,” Haßler 

says. “With this approach, it takes you 

longer, because you have to discover 

for yourself how things work, but once 

you’ve got it, you’ve really learned and 

you gain confidence. Participation and 

collaboration is the key: It gave them 

ownership, not just of the equipment, 

but of the process.” 

Carrying-on with the self-guided 

approach, during the second and third 

weeks, the joint team proceeded to 

teach a ‘long course’, consisting of eight 

90 minute sessions for 30 students 

The trainers 

opted for a 

participative 

hands-on 

approach, 

encouraging 

the four cofacilitators 

to 

take the lead in 

setting up the 

specificallydesigned 

lab 

Standing outside their 

computer lab in Lubwe, Zambia, 

are the Aptivate training 

team and their Zambian 

co-facilitators: Björn Haßler, 

Perpetual Kaluba, Everty Funga 

(sitting), Fatuma Iseje, Alan 

Jackson, Penelope Machipi, Liz 

Fearon, and Martin Burchell. 

chosen from the 150, covering email 

and internet, and five ‘short courses’, 

consisting of three 90 minute sessions 

for 30 students per course, just 

covering email. 

In evaluations, the computer 

training was listed by many of the 

students as their first or second 

most-liked activity. “The co-facilitators 

said that ‘the way you’ve taught us, 

we’ve really learned things’. We were 

so amazed that they just managed to 

discover all these skills, and bring it to 

bear on teaching the other students,” 

says Haßler. “Personally speaking, it 

was a very moving experience. But in 

the broader picture, it’s also a proof of 

concept. It does show that if you try to 

work with stakeholders in a community 

and do things in a collaborative way, it 

can have a real impact.” 

On the course’s last day, the four 

co-facilitators took some of the 

computers to a new Camfed IT 

resource centre in Samfya, the regional 

capital. They set up the lab themselves 

and prepared it for use by Camfed 

students and alumnae, as well as for 

training activities. 

After the centre opened, a gardener 

accidentally cut through a cable 

outside the centre, cutting the centre 

off from the internet. Undaunted, 

the women launched into problemsolving 

mode, identifying, sourcing 

and reinstalling the cable, getting the 

whole lab up and working again, all on 

their own. 

k www.sciencemedianetwork.org/ 

Samfya 

k www.aptivate.org 

Photo couRtesy of Aptivate 


Whether it’s exploring how Latin philosophy 

was understood in Anglo-Saxon England or 

revising the image of the Vikings, Cambridge’s 

Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic is 

unique in its intensively cross-cultural approach to 

understanding just who we think we are 

Kith and kin 

History, it is often stressed, is 

written by the victors, but in the 

case of the Vikings, the losers seem 

to have put quill to parchment with 

more lasting effect. Even to this day, 

most people continue to view them 

in two-dimensional terms – or, to 

put it bluntly, as a bunch of hairy, 

angst-ridden savages who were only 

interested in slaughter and pillage. 

As Head of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and 

Celtic, Dr Judy Quinn points out that’s 

far from the whole story. In fact, the 

standard view of the Vikings is largely 

derived from the writings of their 

victims, who were hardly going to leave 

us a balanced record praising the many 

virtues of Scandinavians who had just 

extorted enormous sums of money 

from them. 

“It’s easy to see them just as raiders, 

but they were also highly effective 

rulers,” Quinn says. “Their culture had 

an extraordinary impact across Europe, 

from Ireland to Sicily. 

“Understanding what was 

happening in the development of 

Scandinavia in that period is important 

in countering the negative image of 

the Vikings which survives from the 

Anglo-Saxon sources. If history had 

been told by the Vikings, it would have 

been very different.” 

Tucked away on the second floor 

of the Faculty of English, Quinn’s 

Department (known as “ASNaC” in 

the grand tradition of Cambridge 

acronyms), specialises in the study of 

the history and culture of the peoples 

who inhabited Britain, Ireland and the 

Scandinavian world during the early 

Middle Ages, about 400 to 1200 AD. 

This has long been about more than 

explaining the origins of our language, 

art, literature and laws – to name just 

four areas in which the formative 

developments of the Early Middle 

Ages were crucial. ASNaC’s teaching 

and research focuses on explaining 

the complex interactions between the 

Celtic, Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian 

peoples in Britain and Ireland, and in 

the case of the Vikings, exploring the 

cultural revolution which, though it is 

often less-feted than that of Ancient 

Greece or Rome, tells us just as much 

about who we are, where we come 

from and how we identify ourselves. 

“The subject is extremely important 

because it dispels a lot of prejudices, 

partly by showing that we’ve been 

a nation of immigrants for so long,” 

Quinn says. 

Indeed, some of the subjects 

currently being researched by her 

colleagues raise intriguing questions 

about identity. One project, for 

example, shows how Norse words 

and linguistic features were absorbed 

into the English language. Another, 

published later this year, will reveal 

how parts of Lancashire were colonised 

by a migrant Welsh community during 

the 12th century. And in March, the 

Department hosted a conference, 

“Between The Islands”, which presented 

the very latest in cutting-edge 

research examining how the 

Vikings’ activities shaped the 

cultures of Britain and Ireland 

– and to what extent the 

Scandinavians themselves 

were transformed in the 

process. 

Uniquely, Cambridge has 

taken the view that we will 

only understand our origins 

by examining these cultures 

together. Granted, back in the 

1950s the Department’s name 

Above, children learned the 

basics of Viking fighting 

techniques at a Cambridge 

Festival of Ideas workshop held 

in October. Below, a seventh 

century helmet, part of the 

funeral deposit at Sutton Hoo, 

in the Kingdom of the East 

Angles. (Image courtesy British 

Museum). 

was the rather quaint “Anglo-Saxon 

and Kindred Studies”, but in practice, 

it has never given pride of place to 

one people. The message is clear: 

If you want to get a grip on Anglo- 

Saxon society, you have to study the 

Scandinavians and the Celtic-speaking 

peoples, and being able to read and 

translate the original source material 

from all cultures is essential. 

In fact, ASNaC is the only degree 

course in which students can study all 

five languages (Old English, Old Norse, 

Old Irish, Old Welsh and Insular Latin) 

as well as the history of early medieval 

Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia. All 

students study both history and 

language and literature, choosing a 

particular combination of subjects 

according to their own interests. 

Perhaps this explains why 

such a small and modest 

Department maintains such 

a strong family atmosphere. 

Where else during the recent 

visit of the Chinese Premier 

Wen Jiabao would a police 

sharpshooter have had to slide 


For stories about breakthroughs in the sciences and the arts by 

Cambridge researchers go to www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news 

Other ReCENT 

findings 

down from his rooftop position to 

ask students to stop making a Viking 

longboat in the snow? Visitors during 

the Festival of Ideas in October had 

to pick their way through a (less than 

fearsome) host of children making 

their own Viking shields and Anglo- 

Saxon herbal remedies. And an 

as-yet-unidentified member of the 

Old Welsh Reading Group brings in 

some seriously good home-made 

chocolate truffles. 

Outreach activities are particularly 

important, Quinn says. Despite its high 

profile among academics – the recent 

Research Assessment Exercise rated 45 

per cent of ASNaC’s research output as 

“world-leading” and a further 30 per 

cent “internationally excellent” – the 

Department is mindful that none of its 

subjects is taught at A-level. The 

application rate is reasonable, but there 

is concern that some would-be students 

do not even know the degree course 

exists and apply instead to study 

A-level subjects they are familiar with. 

The passion for the subject, 

however, is out there. ASNaC’s annual 

open day alone attracts 70 to 80 

people. Some are drawn to it by history 

and archaeology programmes on 

television, some are interested in the 

multicultural roots of the place in which 

they have grown up, and others are 

intrigued by particular subjects such 

as the history of the church, or of coins, 

or broader subjects like mythology. 

What characterises them all, Quinn 

adds, is a serious-minded commitment 

to a demanding course of study which 

involves mastering medieval languages 

as well as history. 

Becoming a larger Department is 

not necessarily part of the agenda. 

“We do need to lift our profile within 

schools and draw people’s attention to 

what we offer,” says Quinn. “What’s 

essential to all our research and the 

training we offer is that we can provide 

access to all the source material in the 

original language. We can only do that 

by remaining relatively small”. 

In which case, best not to mention 

the chocolate truffles. 

k www.asnc.cam.ac.uk 

JONATHAN LEWIS 

Darwin’s bills unearthed 

You’ve seen the letters, read the book, 

now you can find out how he spent his 

money: 200 years after Darwin’s birth, bills 

from his student days at Christ’s College 

have been unearthed. Six record books 

were discovered by Professor Geoffrey 

Thorndike Martin and reveal intimate 

details from Darwin’s time in Cambridge, 

of which historians know surprisingly little. 

In particular, we now know the date he 

arrived at the University (January 26 1828) 

– and that he was apparently a stickler 

for eating his greens, since he paid extra 

for his vegetables at dinner. Other entries 

reveal Darwin’s accounts for the barber, 

grocer, tailor and laundress. 

k http://darwin-online.org.uk/ 

Men hit harder by credit 

crunch stress 

Men who think they may lose their jobs 

are likely to become more depressed 

and anxious than women, even though 

they claim to be less concerned, new 

Cambridge research shows. The findings 

suggest that as the economic slowdown 

wears on, the effects of job insecurity will 

take a greater toll on men’s health than 

that of their female counterparts. The 

research, by Dr Brendan Burchell in the 

Department of Sociology, also suggests 

that the long-term decline in mental wellbeing 

can be worse for people who are 

under threat of losing their jobs than for 

those who are actually made redundant. 

Solar car aims to put others 

in the shade 

Plans for a solar-powered racing car 

which will cruise at 60mph using the 

same power as a hairdryer have been 

unveiled by students in the Department 

of Engineering. The car, codenamed 

“Bethany”, will be completed this summer 

and is being touted as Britain’s brightest 

hope for the World Solar Challenge – a 

gruelling 3,000 km race across the 

Australian Outback. Its power will come 

from a 6m² covering of high-efficiency 

silicon cells. It has been designed by the 

student group Cambridge University 

Eco-Racing 

(CUER), with 

support from 

the 2009 Fund, 

which is supporting 

more than 40 projects for 

the 800th Anniversary. 

APRIL / MaY 2009 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter | 11

people coming 

people Going 

MRS ANNE JARVIS has been appointed as the 

new University Librarian – the first woman 

to hold the post in its 650 year history. She 

replaces Peter Fox, who stepped down at the 

end of March after 15 years in charge. Jarvis had 

been Deputy Librarian at Cambridge University 

Library since 2000. Her main professional 

interests include emerging information 

technologies, succession planning, change 

management and digital preservation. As 

Deputy Librarian her role was to ensure that the 

future information trends were identified, future 

service needs were anticipated and the highest 

quality service standards were delivered. 

DR SUSAN J SMITH has been elected as the 

Mistress of Girton College, from October 2009, 

following the retirement of Professor Dame 

Marilyn Strathern. Professor Smith is currently 

Professor of Geography and a Director of the 

Institute of Advanced Study at the University of 

Durham. Her distinguished career has spanned 

both social geography and the interdisciplinary 

world of housing studies. Her work is centrally 

concerned with the challenge of inequality, 

addressing themes as diverse as residential 

segregation, housing for health and fear of 

crime. She became a Fellow of the British 

Academy in 2008. 

DR KIRSTY ALLEN has been appointed to the 

new post of University Compliance Officer with 

responsibilities for managing issues including 

freedom of information, data protection, risk 

and continuity management, value for money 

and emergency management. Dr Allen studied 

at St Andrews University, where she did a PhD 

in Scottish Literature. She joined the University 

of Cambridge in 1998 as Administrative Officer 

within the Law Faculty. During that time, 

she also worked part-time with the Higher 

Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) 

as a panel advisor on setting the criteria and 

assessment phases of RAE 2008. 

MR BILL LEE, Senior Research Technician, has 

retired from the Department of Zoology after 

45 years of service. He joined the Department 

in 1963, aged 16, as a trainee in the Museum. 

He went on to acquire expert skills in electron 

microscopy, applying these over many years 

in support of the research of Professor Vincent 

Wigglesworth and of other senior academics. 

He also contributed strongly to teaching and 

took on many other valuable roles in the 

Department. His knowledge and dedication 

will be much missed. 

OBITUARIES 

Professor Mike Majerus 

(1954-2009) 

Professor Mike Majerus, 

a Fellow of Clare College, 

was a world-renowned 

evolutionary geneticist 

who will be particularly 

remembered for his work on 

the evolutionary ecology of 

moths, butterflies and ladybirds. His extensive 

work with the ‘peppered moth’ made significant 

contributions to the evolution versus intelligent 

design debate. He worked tirelessly on the 

public dissemination of science, by his devotion 

to his students but also by his enthusiasm for the 

Amateur Entomologists’ Society (AES), of which 

he was President since 2005. His family has 

asked that donations in his memory be made to 

AES, a body which was close to his heart. 

Professor Alex Deer 

(1911-2009) 

Professor Alex Deer was a 

former Vice-Chancellor of 

the University of Cambridge; 

he held the post from 1971 

to 1973. Professor Deer was 

a noted Arctic explorer and 

Professor of Mineralogy 

and Petrology. He was born in Manchester and 

studied at the City University before winning a 

scholarship in 1934 to study at St John’s College, 

where he later became a Fellow. He took up a 

post as Professor of Mineralogy and Petrology 

at the University in 1961 and became Master of 

Trinity Hall in 1966. Professor Deer is survived by 

two children, Stephen and Diana. 

Mr Roger Fairclough 

(1934 -2009) 

Mr Roger Fairclough was 

a leading cartographer 

who worked in Cambridge 

University’s map room for 

almost 40 years before 

retiring to Inverness. He won 

a place to read geography 

at Fitzwilliam College and after his degree first 

worked for Glasgow University Library and 

then for Cambridge University Library. Here, 

he worked as Head of the Map Department 

from 1958 to 1997 and gained a nationwide 

reputation for his knowledge. Anne Taylor, Mr 

Fairclough’s successor as Head, said “Everybody 

knew him and looked to him for knowledge 

and information which he always imparted with 

great generosity and enthusiasm”. 

12 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter | APRIL / MaY 2009

UKRC Woman of Outstanding 

Achievement 

k Dr Carolin Crawford, Institute 

of Astronomy’s Outreach Officer, 

has been named a UK Resource 

Centre (UKRC) for Women in Science, 

Engineering and Technology Woman 

of Outstanding Achievement 2009. The 

award was given for communication 

of science, education and technology 

with a contribution to society. Dr 

Crawford’s outreach work includes 

public talks, school presentations, 

media appearances and promoting 

women in science, engineering and 

technology. 

Rosenstiel Award 

k Professor Emeritus Sir John 

Gurdon, Department of Zoology, is a 

joint winner of the Lewis S. Rosenstiel 

Award for Distinguished Work in 

Basic Medical Science 2009, which 

is presented annually at Brandeis 

University in Massachusetts. He was 

Dr Carolin Crawford 

Professor Emeritus Sir 

John Gurdon 

UKRC for women in set 

honoured for his pioneering work in 

the field of stem cell research. 

Professor Gurdon’s work has given 

decisive evidence that specialised 

cells only differ in the genes they 

express and not the genes they 

contain, a fundamental concept in 

modern biology. His more recent 

research looked at how it may be 

possible to provide humans with 

replacement cells of their own genetic 

constitution. 

SAFE Beacon Award 

k The 2009 SAFE Beacon Award 

has been awarded to Professor 

Lord Renfrew, from the McDonald 

Institute for Archaeological Research, 

as a champion for cultural heritage. 

The award recognises outstanding 

achievement in the field of 

archaeology and efforts to raise public 

awareness about the looting of the 

world’s ancient heritage and the trade 

in illicit antiquities. 

STUDENT AWARDS 

k Mr John Mitchell (St Catharine’s), 

a final year PhD student under the 

supervision of Dr Anthony Davenport 

and Dr Janet Maguire in the Clinical 

Pharmacology Unit was awarded the 

2008 Young Pharmacologist of the 

Year Prize for his communication at 

the British Pharmacological Society 

Winter Meeting, 16-18 December. 

k Ibraheem Haneef, a PhD student 

in the Department of Engineering, 

is the first ever student from the UK 

to win a best paper award at the 

Institute of Electrical and Electronics 

Engineers (IEEE) Sensors conference. 

He won the third place Best Student 

Paper for his work on a new type 

of sensor. These sensors could be 

used for prognosis and diagnosis 

of coronary artery disease due to 

their extremely small size and a UK 

and International patent application 

has already been filed with the UK 

Patent Office. 

OTHER AWARDS 

k Professor Mark Welland, Director 

of the Nanoscience Centre, has been 

elected to the National Academy of 

Sciences, India, as a Foreign Fellow 

in recognition of his contributions 

to science and engineering both 

generally and for his work in India. 

Commenting on this honour, Professor 

Welland said, “It is a great honour to 

be recognised by such a prestigious 

organisation and I look forward to 

continuing my engagement with 

Indian science and engineering in 

the future.” 

k Professor Sir Richard Friend, 

Cavendish Professor of Physics, 

has been jointly awarded the King 

Faisal International Prize for Science 

(Physics) with Professor Rashid 

Sunyaev. Professor Friend pioneered 

the physics and engineering of semiconductor 

devices made of plastic 

materials. This has paved the way for 

the development of a wide range of 

applications of plastic electronic and 

photonic devices. 

k Dr Keith Martin, with his colleague 

Mr Thomas Johnson at the Centre 

for Brain Repair, has been recognised 

with a national prize from the 

National Centre for the Replacement, 

Refinement and Reduction of Animals 

Professor Mark Welland 

Professor Sir Richard Friend 

in Research (NC3Rs). They have 

pioneered a new method for retinal 

tissue culture that replaces the need for 

experiments on live animals. 

k PowerSi Technologies Limited, 

a spin-out from the Department 

of Engineering, has won prizes at 

both the 2008 Cambridge University 

Entrepreneurs (CUE) £5K Challenge 

and the 21st Century China UK 

Entrepreneurship Competition. 

PowerSi Technologies was recently 

founded by Dr Patrick Palmer, 

Reader in Electrical Engineering, and 

two of his former PhD students, Dr 

Zhihan Wang and Dr Yalan Wang, 

from the Electronics, Power and 

Energy Conversion group of the 

Department. Their winning business 

plan is to promote the technologies for 

power semiconductors and controllers 

in renewable energy applications. 

k Daniel Neary, Department of 

Engineering Master’s student, 

and Dr Claire Barlow, Institute of 

Manufacturing, have won the £500 

first prize in a competition aimed 

at showcasing new research ideas 

in sustainability. The competition 

was one of a series of events in the 

Cambridge Consultations ‘A World to 

Believe In’ programme, which is part 

of the Cambridge University 800th 

Anniversary celebrations. Their poster, 

entitled ‘Fibre from stinging nettles’, 

presents the idea that nettles can be 

used to produce a fine fibre that could 

be used as a substitute for cotton. 

k Dr Christine van Ruymbeke, 

Lecturer in Persian Studies, has 

been awarded a World Prize for 

the Book of the Year, in the Islamic 

Republic of Iran, for her work Science 

and Poetry in Medieval Persia, the 

Botany of Nizami’s Khamsa. One of 

the winners in the Iranian Studies 

field, the book considers the verses of 

Nizami Ganjavi, one of the foremost 

figures in Persian poetry who lived 

in Azerbaijan in the second half 

of the 12th century. The award 

ceremony was held on February 7 

in the presence of the President of 

the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

k Dr Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri, 

Department of Physiology, 

Development and Neuroscience, 

received one of 25 Society for 

Gynaecological Investigation 

Wyeth President’s Presenter Awards 

for her abstract “Igf2 Deficiency 

Modifies Placental Adaptation to 

Maternal Undernutrition during 

Mouse Pregnancy”. 


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newsletter@admin.cam.ac.uk or call 32300. 

HOUSES TO RENT 

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Contact: fmot2@cam.ac.uk or visit 

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Contact: Penny Barton on pb29@cam. 

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k England, North Yorkshire Moors 

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k France, Prades 

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Contact: Please visi http://web.me. 

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k France, Provence 

Large comfortable flat (80m2) in 

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Available in August and other times. 

Contact: Anita Ogier, ao10001@cam. 

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k France, Vienne 

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and Angouleme. Open all year. 

Contact: www.lacharronniere.com 

k Italy, Tuscan Apuan Alps 

High in the Tuscan Apuan Alps – 

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physicist is available for conferences, 

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meetings. Fully-equipped lecture 

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onsite. Daily activities such as 

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organized on request. Unique venue 

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website for photos and reviews. 

Contact: http://www.vallico.net/ 

tti/tti.html 

k Italy, Tuscany 

18th century farmhouse with 

east-facing studio available 

September to May. Restored to high 

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discounts. Further information and 

photographs available. 

Contact: jmg47@cam.ac.uk 

k Portugal, Algarve 

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k Portugal, Lagos 

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villages. Luxury accommodation 

sleeps 8/10. 

Contact: Graham (gb313@admin. 

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k Scotland, Perth 

Scandinavian-style 4 bedroom 

house in quiet area in Perth, 

Scotland available for holiday lets. 

Beautiful secluded garden, safe for 

dogs & children. Sleeps 6/7, Lounge/ 

dining room with TV, video, DVD, 2 

bathrooms with showers, 1 double 

bedroom downstairs, large 

conservatory. Beautiful Forestry 1 

mile, Scone Palace, Gardens nearby. 

Perth Theatre and Concert Hall, 

swimming pool, Noah’s Ark & Beatrix 

Potter centre in Dunkeld for children. 

£350-£550 per week. 

Contact: mornaknottenbelt@hotmail. 

com 

k Spain, Costa del Sol 

2 bedroom, 2 bathroom villa with 

air-conditioning in Nerja, Costa del 

Sol, 45 minutes Malaga airport. 

Wonderful sea views, south facing 

terrace and garden, large communal 

pool. Near mountains, cliffs and 

sandy coves. Granada one hour, 

Seville and Cordoba two hours. £395 

per week or £690 per fortnight. 

Contact: 01494 436636 

HOUSE FOR SALE 

k France, Montelimar 

Lovely house close to Montelimar, a 

group of fieldstone buildings built 

around a courtyard. Set in the 

countryside yet only 20km from the 

future Montelimar TGV and La 

Valdaine golf course. Full 120m 2 of 

carefully renovated living quarters, 

includes three BR, living room, 

bathroom with toilet, shower room, 

separate toilet, cellar, workshop. 

Separate room with mezzanine, 

woodshed, outdoor bread oven and 

well, huge barn. Approx. 200 m 2 just 

waiting to be renovated. 

Surrounding land 4’730 m 2 . Owned 

by a Swiss family. Price : Best offer 

(estimated € 450’000). 

Contact: 0041.21.781.12.12 or robrist@ 

bluewin.ch for images and further 

information 

HOUSE WANTED 

k House-sit wanted 

House-sit wanted for part or all of 

Easter Term – Oxford academic 

couple (n-s) will do pets/plants/ 

garden/post and look after your 

house, in return for modest rent. 

Dates flexible. References available. 

Contact: 01865 558929 

SERVICES 

k Private English Lessons 

Cambridge Classroom offers private 

tuition in English with an 

experienced and highly-qualified 

tutor, from preparation for tests and 

examinations to simple conversation 

classes. We can also work on skills 

like pronunciation or writing. All 

kinds of learner are welcome: visiting 

scholars, graduate students or 

anyone wanting to brush up on their 

English skills. 

Contact: For further details of what 

Cambridge Classroom offers, visit 

www.cambridgeclassroom.co.uk or 

email info@cambridgeclassroom.co.uk 

k Skiing 

Skiing of yesteryear at Les Deux 

Alpes, at prices to match. Charming 

family-run hotel where the guests 

are everything. Situated in traditional 

French Alpine village with rapid 

access to the resort and glaciers at 

3600 metres. Excellent home cuisine 

and all modern facilities. Discounts 

on skipasses, ski school and 

equipment, in-house guiding. 

Contact: http:www.hotel-venoscdeux-alpes.fr 

or me, Bob Butcher, for 

enthusiastic advice, rjb2@cam.ac.uk 

k Salsa Every Friday 

SalsaBravo Classes for all levels 7:30 

– 9:30 at St Paul Centre, Upper Hall 

(Hills Road). 10:00 to10:30 a bonus 

class of Merengue, Bachata or Cha 

Cha Cha. 10:30 party till late (friendly 

atmosphere, great music). 

Class+club: £8, club: £4. You can 

book SalsaBravo for hen parties, 

birthdays and corporate events. 

Private salsa lessons and gift 

vouchers available. More 

information: www.salsacambridge. 

com 

Contact: 077 298 298 06 or info@ 

salsacambridge.com 

k Take up Art 

Fancy learning a new skill or take up 

a new hobby? Enrol now on a 

part-time Arts course at Cambridge 

Regional College. Evening classes in 

Jewellery, Printmaking, Ceramics, 

Drawing and Painting, Hand-Loom 

Weaving, Interior Design and 

Sculpture. These 10 week leisure 

courses are taught by professional 

practising artists in our purposebuilt 

studios and workshops. Classes 

start w/c 20 April. 

Contact: Call 01223 418249/226315 or 

visit www.camre.ac.uk for info 

FOR SALE 

k Baby things and couch for sale 

Mothercare baby cot, complete with 

mattress, sheets and blankets, and 

beautiful hanging mobile from 

Momas & Poppas: £80. Mothercare 

Maui push chair: £50.00 Collection of 

high quality clothes for one-to-twoyear 

old, £100.00. Set of baby 

accessories: bouncing chair, gym 

mat, bottles, steriliser, travel cot, 

baby carrier, and collection of toys: 

£200. Danish modern couch, 

£150.00. Everything in very good 

condition. 

Contact: (01223) 322290 

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED 

k Book a speaker 

Would you like to work with the 

wider community and engage 

non-specialists in your academic 

discipline? Book a speaker is a 

web-based service which gives 

University staff the opportunity to 

visit voluntary organisations, 

community groups or state 

schools to deliver talks or hands-on 

activities. For more information 

about Book a speaker visit: http:// 

www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/ 

communications/community/ 

speaker/ 

Contact: If you are interested in 

volunteering with community groups 

and would like your talk or activity to 

be listed on the website, please 

contact emma.wenborn@admin.cam. 

ac.uk, 01223 339666 

k Council for Assisting Refugee 

Academics 

The Council for Assisting Refugee 

Academics (CARA) will hold its 

second Cycle Challenge on Sunday 

24th May. The event will start outside 

Senate House and will make its way 

into London, clocking up 75 miles 

through pretty Cambridgeshire, 

Essex and Hertfordshire villages 

along quiet roads and tow paths, 

making it an excellent and fun route 

for all abilities. The CARA team will 

provide advice on fundraising, 

preparation and training prior to the 

event and full support will be 

provided on the day, including 

bicycle maintenance and on-site 

medics. 

Contact: For full details and a 

registration form, please visit our 

events page. http://www.academicrefugees.org/fundraising.asp. 

Contact 

the ride organiser, Roisin Joyce, with 

any questions on development.cara@ 

lsbu.ac.uk or on 0207 902 7703 

k Do-it database 

Interested in volunteering? The 

“Do-it” database lists volunteering 

opportunities. You can search by 

geographic area, interests and the 

time you have available. 

Contact: http://www.do-it.org.uk/ 

k “Bridge the Gap” stewards 

needed 

The “Bridge the Gap” charity walk will 

take place on Sunday 13th 

September 2009. Friendly volunteer 

stewards are required to direct 

walkers around a scenic College 

route. 2,500 walkers take part to raise 

over £40,000 for local charities. 

Contact: emma.wenborn@admin. 

cam.ac.uk or (3)39666 

k Trustees required 

Would you like to make a difference 

to the local community by helping 

to direct a voluntary organisation? 

Numerous charities and voluntary 

groups in Cambridge are recruiting 

trustees. Trustees set strategy and 

make sure that the charity’s funds 

are effectively and appropriately 

spent and you will probably be 

expected to attend meetings every 

two or three months. Opportunities 

are diverse - some organisations will 

accept people for their general 

abilities, interest and enthusiasm for 

the role, while others might be 

seeking specific skills to add to their 

board. You don’t necessarily need to 

have previous experience of 

management or the work the charity 

is involved in but trustees with 

specialist skills in finance, marketing 

or project management are 

particularly sought after. 

Contact: Find out more by contacting 

Cambridge Volunteer Centre at 

http://www.cam-volunteer.org.uk/ or 

01223 356549 

The University of Cambridge 

accepts no responsibility for the 

advertisements or their content. 

14 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter | APRIL / MaY 2009

BUILDING CONNECTIONS WITH ALUMNI 

The day before Nathalie Walker 

started her job as the Head of the new 

Cambridge Alumni Relations Office 

(CARO), she took a stroll through the 

grounds of St John’s College, her alma 

mater. “Standing on the banks of the 

Cam, I really felt like I’d come home, 

which isn’t something I felt as an 

undergraduate,” she says. “It’s good to 

come back here with more confidence.” 

Her first day of work – 6 October 

2008 – happened to be the exact 

anniversary of her matriculation at St 

John’s 10 years earlier. Walker is helping 

to build an office that aims to offer 

a comprehensive set of services to 

Cambridge’s 180,000 alumni, keeping 

them connected to the University 

throughout their lifetimes. 

Launched in February, CARO 

pulls into one organisation the work 

previously done by the Cambridge 

Society, an alumni association run by 

alumni, and the Cambridge Alumni 

Office, which was a small team working 

within the Cambridge University 

Development Office (CUDO). 

CARO is working towards three 

major goals during 2009: a smooth 

transition as the office folds in its 

various stakeholders, including 

250 international alumni groups; 

establishing closer relationships with 

Colleges and departments across the 

University; and working with recent 

graduates to understand better how 

the office can serve them. 

The office, located at Quayside 

(opposite Magdalene College), is 

comprised of three teams: events; 

communications and benefits; and 

networks and volunteers. The 12 staff 

members work on a wide variety of 

initiatives. The annual autumn Alumni 

Weekend will continue, as will the 

popular travel programme. In addition, 

the events team set a goal of 12 new 

events this year; Walker says that 

number has already increased to 17, 

with many of those planned for venues 

outside Cambridge, including Wales 

and even Stockholm. 

Change will also be evident in 

CARO’s publications and website. 

CAM magazine has a new editor and 

a fresh look which will be revealed 

FOCUS ON: WOMEN WRITERS 

Nathalie Walker, as Head of 

the new Cambridge Alumni 

Relations Office, is keen to build 

relationships with Colleges and 

departments. 

The new 

Cambridge 

Alumni Relations 

Office serves 

180,000 alumni 

in the Easter Term. A redesigned 

alumni e-bulletin will now be sent out 

monthly, instead of bi-monthly. And, 

a new CARO website is expected to 

launch during Easter term. 

An Alumni Advisory Board, chaired 

by the Vice-Chancellor, will meet twice 

a year to guide CARO as it moves 

forward with these – and other – plans. 

The 22-member Board brings together 

representatives from the former 

Cambridge Society, international 

alumni groups, College Alumni Offices 

and the University. 

Alumni relations has been Walker’s 

passion since she became an alumna 

herself after earning degrees from St 

John’s and St Edmund’s Colleges. Her 

first job was working as an Alumni 

Officer for Christ’s College, followed 

by roles as Head of Alumni Relations 

at both Warwick Business School and 

the Said Business School at Oxford 

University. 

She is looking forward to seeing 

what CARO can accomplish in the years 

to come. “I’d like to see CARO become 

a gateway to the University for alumni,” 

she says. “So wherever you are in the 

world, we’re your route back in.” 

k www. 

foundation. 

cam.ac.uk/ 

Women writers will be given 

the chance to shine in the coming 

months, as two Cambridge Colleges 

plan events honouring their 

achievements. 

In April, Newnham College is 

hosting a programme of events, 

sponsored by the 2009 Fund, as 

part of Cambridge Wordfest 2009. 

Events will include talks given by 

contemporary writers Salley Vickers 

and Rebecca Abrams (pictured right) 

and by Nicola Beauman, writer and 

founder of Persephone Books, which 

specialises in neglected fiction and 

non-fiction by women. Also featured 

will be a discussion between Vanessa 

Bell’s biographer Frances Spalding 

and author Susan Sellers. Newnham 

Wordfest events will support the 

launch of a project to expand the 

Newnham Literary Archive. 

In June, Lucy Cavendish College 

will host its first Women’s Word at 

Lucy Cavendish, an annual festival 

which will include talks, readings 

and performances from novelists, 

biographers, barristers, journalists, 

actors, scientists, poets, playwrights 

and musicians. The 2009 festival will 

include Carol Ann Duffy, Fay Weldon, 

Prue Leith, Helena Kennedy, Anna 

Whitelock and Louise Foxcroft. 

k For details on Newnham’s 

participation in Cambridge 

Wordfest, 25-26 April, visit 

www.cambridgewordfest. 

co.uk 

k To join the mailing 

list for Lucy Cavendish’s 

Women’s Word, 13-27 

June, visit www.lucycav.cam.ac.uk/pages/ 

the-college/womensword.php 

Rebecca Abrams 


FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS 

Twice a day, the bronze bell of the 

SS Terra Nova lets loose a fearsome 

sound when it is rung from its position 

on a stairway landing in the Scott Polar 

Research Institute (SPRI). The bell, 

which once belonged to the ship that 

carried Captain Scott on his ill-fated 

journey to the South Pole, has been 

used every working day since 1952 

to call Institute staff and students to 

coffee at 10:30am and to tea at 4pm. 

They take their tea seriously at SPRI. 

A trolley is rolled into the museum, 

laden with coffee or tea pots, a 

piggy bank, and sugar and milk. Blue 

tablecloths are placed over two of the 

display cases, temporarily concealing 

19th-century British Arctic Medals and 

an Arctic fox collar, among other 

things. Staff come in either clutching 

their own mugs or ready to use one of 

the dainty tea cups and saucers found 

on the trolley’s bottom shelf. On a good 

day, a box of Jaffa cakes appears. 

Dr Piers Vitebsky, Head of 

Anthropology and Russian Northern 

Studies at SPRI, was among the first 

to arrive for a 4pm tea on a recent 

Tuesday. As he collected 

two tea cups, he 

nodded 

when 

16 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter | APRIL / MAY 2009 

Twice a day, the bell of the 

SS Terra Nova, below, is rung 

to call Scott Polar Research 

Institute staff and students to 

coffee and tea gatherings. 

asked if the gatherings are popular. 

Reindeer herders – who have come 

from afar to participate in seminars 

Vitebsky organises – have been known 

to make a specific request. “They ask, 

‘Can we have the seminar at a time when 

we can hear the tea bell?’” Vitebsky says. 

SPRI Archivist Naomi Boneham, 

who brought her own mug, is a regular 

attendee. “It’s a nice break and you get 

to see everyone else and catch up with 

what everyone is working on,” she says. 

And gossip? “Yes,” she says, a twinkle in 

her eye. “There might be a bit of gossip.” 

Professor Julian Dowdeswell 

remembers attending teas when he 

was a graduate student at the Institute 

several decades ago. Now, as Director 

of SPRI, he finds the teas not only 

enjoyable, but useful. “A lot of things 

can be sorted out over a cup of tea,” he 

says. “It’s an informal way for me to talk 

with staff – I can find them and they 

can find me.” 

There isn’t a chair in sight, and 

Professor Dowdeswell likes it that way. 

“Standing up for tea and coffee is very 

good for meeting everybody,” he says. 

“Otherwise, people have the tendency 

to sit in the same places every day and 

don’t mix.” 

While the teas are occasionally 

used to make announcements to staff 

– a £994,500 Heritage Lottery Fund 

Grant to renovate the Institute’s polar 

museum was announced at a tea in 

December – the real value is found in 

conversations. 

Research Associate Toby Benham, 

who had joined a group of seven 

standing around one of the covered 

display cases, says he’s learned a lot 

about his colleagues while sipping tea 

together. “You quite often get chatting 

to someone about their research and 

learn something relevant to what 

you’re doing,” he says. “You get that 

synchronicity.” 

That day, the insights were more 

along the lines of who preferred ‘cajun 

squirrel’ or ‘chilli and chocolate’ flavour 

crisps – two packs were being shared 

around – but Benham wasn’t bothered. 

“It’s a good social thing.” 

For the record, polar researchers 

prefer chilli and chocolate crisps. 

ALL PICTURES: PHILIP MYNOTT

April/May - the University Offices - University of Cambridge

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