Somerville College Report - University of Oxford

20 | Fellows’ Activities
Arriving in Oxford for the first time in October, Professor Alex Rogers
began a steep learning curve by commencing tutorials, admissions interviews
and giving his first lectures. During Michaelmas Term he also participated in the
12 th Conference of Parties of the Convention for Biological Diversity in Nagoya,
Japan, presenting on the state of marine ecosystems to policymakers as part of a
contingent from the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment.
During December he also participated in a workshop in South Africa aimed at
identifying all the fish and cephalopods collected on a cruise over seamounts
in the South West Indian Ocean, including a new species of squid. His research
laboratory began work on samples of deep-sea coral from the South Atlantic, fish
from the southern Indian Ocean and various animals from new hydrothermal vents
in the Southern Ocean, discovering a new biogeographic province in the process.
In April the International Programme on the State of the Ocean held a workshop
with experts on ocean science, law and policy at in the Margaret Thatcher Centre
at Somerville. The report was launched at the 12 th meeting of the United Nations
Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea at
the United Nations Buildings in New York. In June, Professor Rogers gave several
presentations in front of UK Ministers, UK peers and European Parliamentarians
on the state of Europe’s fisheries for World Ocean’s Day at Selfridges. The academic
year ended with preparations for a major cruise in the South West Indian Ocean in
November and December.
Classics
Luke Pitcher has visited five schools this year to talk about classical historians
and Cicero. He has just returned from Durham, where he addressed a conference
on the Greek writer Appian’s treatment of the Punic Wars between Carthage and
Rome. Two of his articles are being published this year: one offers suggestions for
improving the text of Appian; the other discusses how modern historians have
treated the life and exile of the Roman poet Ovid.