Annual Report 2009 - Department of Zoology - University of ...

Darwin’s ‘On the origin of species’ on Countryfile.
Just in time for Easter, a cracked
brown egg, believed to be the last
of a batch personally collected
and then cack-handedly packed
by Charles Darwin during his
voyage on the Beagle, was
found by Museum volunteer Liz
Wetton, who had been helping to
catalogue the museum’s gigantic collection of birds’ eggs
for ten years. In the 200th year of Darwin’s birth, this story
received very wide coverage internationally.
Events
The Department hosted once again the “Crash Bang
Squelch!” day of hands-on activities during the Science
Festival and the annual Conversazione, Cambridge’s
oldest natural history exhibition, organized by the
Cambridge Natural History Society.
In July, the Department helped to host the 41st
International Chemistry Olympiad for 67 teams of
undergraduate students from around the world. This
was the first time this pretigious event has been held in
Cambridge.
Evolution on Film 13-14 February 2009
A notable outreach event sponsored jointly by the
Department of Zoology and CRASH (Centre for Research
into the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities) was the
“Evolution on Film” Festival, organised by Marie Pointer.
The aim of the event was to encourage anyone interested
in evolution and the big questions of our existence to hear
the opinions of leading academics and scholars – sources
often believed to be unavailable or unintelligible to nonscientists.
The Festival included a screening of ‘A flock of
dodos: the evolution/intelligent design circus’, followed by
a question and answer session with the film’s director, Dr.
Randy Olson – a marine biologist turned film director. A
well-attended panel discussion on evolution and intelligent
design was chaired by Professor Michael Akam, with
panel members including Dr. Rob Asher, Professor Revd.
Michael Reiss, Dr. David Rosevear (chair of the Creation
Science movement), Professor Robert Foley, Dr. Randy
Olson and Revd. Angela Tilby.
Class of 1969 reunion
Following a suggestion from Dr. Alan Cane, on Saturday
8 August a party of 15 of the original 23 former students
26
of the Part II class of 1969, together with their partners,
were welcomed back to the Department. They were
hosted by Malcolm Burrows
and other senior members of
staff. The career paths of the
Class of ‘69 are instructive.
Of 18 people who provided
information, 15 had gone
on to take higher degrees,
and 13 of them working in
biological or medical fields.
In expressing thanks to
Malcolm Burrows and the
Department, Alan Cane commented that it had been “an
unforgettable experience. It was good to see again the
familiar (and rather less well remembered) places, and to
gain some appreciation of the many changes since ‘our
day’. I was particularly struck by the dedicated and largely
unseen work of support staff and volunteers.”
10th Student Conference on Conservation
Science
The Student Conference on Conservation Science
celebrated its 10th birthday in March 2009. Jointly
organised by Andrew Balmford (Zoology), Rhys Green
(RSPB and Zoology) and Rosie Trevelyan (Tropical
Biology Association), the meeting has now hosted a
total of 1600 student delegates from 106 countries. To
celebrate the 10th meeting, the organisers invited back
10 “conference alumni” to share their advice on how to
Lunch with Her Majesty the Queen
Her Majesty and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh
attended a formal lunch at King's College to celebrate
long service to the University by its employees. The
100 longest-serving employees of the University, along
with their guests, were invited to attend, with an average
of more than 39 years service to the University. Four of
those long-serving employees came from the Zoology Department:
Barrie Fuller who joined the Department in 1961
as a junior technician; Paul Heavens who joined in 1965
as a part-time Junior Technician at the Sub-Department
of Animal Behaviour; Barry Keverne, FRS, who joined the
Anatomy Department on a Research Fellowship in 1972;
and Neal Maskell who also joined the department in 1965
as a part-time Junior Technician. All four of them, along
with their partners, thoroughly enjoyed this memorable
occasion celebrating the University’s 800th birthday.