The Queen's College Newsletter: Trinity Term 2019

THE QUEEN’S COLLEGE
www.queens.ox.ac.uk
Clean-Up Success
Students from the College co-led a five-week expedition to the
remote Aldabra Atoll to remove tonnes of ocean rubbish from
its shores. The Aldabra Clean-Up Project (ACUP) expedition
was completed in April with some 25 tonnes of marine debris
(including 50,000 flip-flops) removed from the turtle-nesting
beaches and key tortoise-grazing habitat of one of the most
pristine and unique coral atolls in the world.
A slice of the
College’s history
A new book entitled The Victoria
History of Cumberland: Kirkoswald
and Renwick by Richard Brockington
with Sarah Rose has recently been
published. The book, drawing on
work undertaken for the long-running
Victoria History of Cumberland, is
a concise history of the parish of
Kirkoswald, including the village of
Renwick, in Cumbria.
This is of great interest to Queen’s
as the College has been lord of the
manor of Renwick, and owner of
property within the village, since
1341. The manor of Renwick had
belonged to Robert de Eglesfield
who gave it to Queen’s when he
founded the College as its original
endowment. Queen’s still owns
property in the village and so forms
one of the most constant themes
running through the book.
The book is written by Richard
Brockington, a resident of Renwick,
with the assistance of other local
historians and academics at
Lancaster University. The book is the
result of over 15 years of research,
much of undertaken in the College’s
own Archive and with the assistance
of our Archivist, Michael Riordan.
For more details and/or to purchase
a copy, please visit
www.sas.ac.uk/publications.
THREE QUEEN’S TUTORS NOMINATED AS
OUTSTANDING TUTORS
Congratulations to Amy Orben, Nick Owen, and Andrew Schuman who were all
nominated as outstanding tutors for the student-led University teaching awards.
The Students’ Union Teaching Awards recognises the teachers, tutors, and staff
who make a positive difference to students’ experience and lives while at Oxford.
Amy Orben is College lecturer in Psychology. She teaches a large part of the
first-year Experimental Psychology and Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics
courses at Queen’s. Nick Owen is the College’s Fellow in Politics and also the
Senior Tutor. Andrew Schuman is the College doctor and also teaches the
College’s medical students.
Amy said: ‘The College has always seen teaching as one of its highest priorities and
prides itself on encouraging and supporting every student individually. Importantly
it also does the same for each of its teachers, providing support and learning
opportunities. The stability of my College lectureship has provided me with the space
and time to invest in my teaching and my student relationships on a long-term basis.
Teaching perfectly complements my work as a scientist, continually challenging me in
my thinking and reasoning about my field.’
Professor Roger Pearson wins
prestigious accolade in French
studies (again)
Professor Roger Pearson has been awarded the
R. Gapper book prize for his work Unacknowledged
Legislators: The Poet as Lawgiver in Post-
Revolutionary France (Oxford University Press, 2016).
Having been awarded the prize previously for Mallarmé
and Circumstance: The Translation of Silence (Oxford
University Press, 2004), this makes Professor Pearson
the only person to have won the award twice outright.
Photo © David Olds
The award commends books of critical and scholarly distinction, which have a clear
impact on wider critical debate. Unacknowledged Legislators: The Poet as Lawgiver in
Post-Revolutionary France presents an original and detailed history of the theory and
practice of French poetry from 1750 through to the end of the Romantic Period.
The clean-up took place in three phases: during the first phase
the team collected as much waste as possible, carrying out
surveys on the waste composition and weight at the end of
each session; in the second phase they moved the waste to
various locations along the coastline that were accessible to
small boats (this meant carrying loads of up to 60 kg); for phase
three it was all hands on deck as the team, coast guards, and
volunteers had to move hundreds of gunny sacks from the
beaches. The bags were placed onto the Seychelles Island
Foundation (SIF) boats, which shuttled the waste out to the
Spirit of Ton Joe ship. The waste will be sorted, repurposed,
reused, and recycled in the coming months.
Addressing the team after the expedition, the chief executive
of SIF, Frauke Fleischer-Dogley, said: ‘Although it may seem
like a feat of futility as more marine debris washes ashore on
to Aldabra as we speak, it’s vital to know that we are all part of
that change that is required to restore humanity’s relationship
with nature, to make sure that plastic and other pollutants stop
entering our environment in the first place.’
‘Despite the cuts, burns, headaches, pains in your muscles, and
days you did not want to get up again, you all became one team
with the most empowering story: that change is possible. So to
say thank you to this remarkable team is not enough, but please
know that SIF has the deepest respect for your commitment
and is indebted to you all,’ she added.
The team are extremely proud of all the support they received
from College members across all three common rooms, as
well as from staff and, of course, Old Members. It was a very
challenging project for all 12 volunteers, from the fund-raising
through to the expedition itself, and they would not have been
able to act so decisively to protect this spectacular ecosystem
without support from across the College community.
The project has had an international reach. A documentary was
broadcast on Sky News in April and the team are now working
on additional material to shine a light on the plastic problem.
A further documentary will be released over the summer and
work continues in schools to educate young people about the
use of plastic.
Follow @AldabraCleanUp
or visit: aldabracleanupproject.wordpress.com
for more details.
Photo © SIF
8 9