2012 Annual Report - Jesus College - University of Cambridge

Graduate Conference
From Secret Societies to the Science of Songs
For the last 5 years, the Jesus College MCR has organised the Jesus Graduate
Conference, a one day event that showcases the diverse and exciting work being done by
current graduate student in the college. The event, staged at the start of the Easter term
encourages participation from all members of the MCR community covering the full
range of academic interests and degree courses. This year we were also very pleased to
be able to invite undergraduates and alumni of the college to join us and to enjoy
exciting and stimulating discussion with the graduate students about their areas of
research.
For this year’s conference we were thrilled to be joined by Dr Carenza Lewis of the
Department of Archaeology who gave an inspiring and inspirational speech discussing
her career as a founder of Access Cambridge Archaeology and a presenter on Channel
4’s Time Team. In particular, Dr Lewis focused on her experiences of sharing her
academic work with the public and the importance of such access work in the 21st
century. This theme is the key focus of the graduate conference which encourages all of
our students to think about their work and to present it in a way that is accessible and
engaging for everyone.
The ethos of the conference was also reflected in our chosen student speakers who
spoke on subjects as diverse as multilingualism, international law, composite steels and
the mathematics of mixing paints. The audience was taken on a journey through the
history of secret societies of Cambridge, explored our modern multinational culture and
looked ahead to a future of space elevators and high speed computer systems. The
presentations also included many popular and memorable demonstrations including a
mini-choir that illustrated the principles that underlie the science of music and a
mock-up of a cooling apparatus that generates temperatures close to absolute zero.
The majority of our participants presented as part of a poster session that was very
well attended by members of the college who were given the chance to view around 40
different posters on everything from black holes to fruit flies and ancient Latin to the
London riots. The authors of the posters included current MPhil and PhD students at the
college who were on hand to discuss their work and answer questions. Attendees were
even treated to videos, 3D graphics and an interactive computer game-style simulation
that is being used to investigate Huntington’s disease.
The day also included a champagne reception in the Master’s lodge and a conference
dinner which provided plenty of opportunities for attendees to discuss their interests
further and helped to develop new ideas and research directions. The day closed with a
novel element for the conference, a debate. The teams posed arguments for and against
the motion ‘This house would provide alternative medicine on the NHS’ which was well
presented but was eventually defeated by a landslide.
More details of the conference, including a more detailed account and a selection of
the posters shown can be found on the MCR website (mcr.jesus.cam.ac.uk). The day
received excellent feedback from visitors who were very impressed by the diversity of the
subjects represented and the clarity with which students talked about their work.
The Jesus College Graduate conference will return in 2013 and the hope is that it will
be possible to open it to even more members of the college both past and present and so
help to bring together even more people, spark more new ideas and promote even more
exciting and lucrative research by students of Jesus College.
Jonathan Lawson
SOCIETIES I Jesus College Annual Report 2012 97