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T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F T R I N I T Y C O L L E G E OX F O R D – AU T U M N 2 0 2 0
RESPONDING TO COVID-19 - How members of college are involved
PLUS Trinity in Lockdown • Outreach Showcase • Danson Erotica Collection
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
An extraordinary
end to the last academic year
I
am writing this following
what must be one of the most
unprecedented terms in the
history of the college. We
waved our undergraduates off
in March at the end of Hilary term,
a matter of days before the UK
went into lockdown as a protective
measure against COVID-19. As it
became clear that students would not
be able to return for Trinity term,
an extraordinary planning exercise
was set in motion across the whole
University. In a matter of weeks,
curricula and examinations were
restructured to be delivered online;
students were surveyed to find out
about their access to IT equipment
and their ability to study at home;
and funds were made available to The President at the Outreach Showcase held in March
enable students to set themselves up
to work remotely. work of Oxford’s researchers to to criminal justice and international
Across the term I spoke with over develop a Coronavirus vaccine and humanitarian law.
150 students individually and others treatments, including a number of It is now many months ago that
in groups, and I pay tribute to the Trinity colleagues whose work is several present and former members
whole student body for their ability featured elsewhere in this newsletter. of the Trinity community travelled
to adapt and find creative solutions Whilst the pandemic cast a shadow to Rome to attend the canonisation
to the challenges they faced. The staff over Trinity term, there was much to of John Henry Newman. Newman
‘gave their all’, from those working celebrate earlier in the academic year. was an undergraduate at Trinity and
in the front line of supporting our Included amongst the many later, a fellow at Oriel. Members of
students, to the many who worked both colleges joined the Prince of
tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure 'Our Access work goes Wales’ delegation for a memorable
that the college could continue to from strength to strength canonisation Mass in St Peter’s
operate. Square. In College, the Chaplain led a
It was a particular disappointment connecting with almost procession from the bust of Newman
for the finalists, who missed the 5,000 school students a outside Garden Quad through to
opportunity to end their university year.' the chapel for a special service of
days with the traditional rituals of evensong.
celebration and to say their goodbyes, achievements of our Fellows, Kim Our Access work goes from
but we hope to welcome them back Nasmyth (Professorial Fellow in strength to strength connecting
next year for a special reunion. The Biochemistry) was awarded the with almost 5,000 school students
Poet Laureate and Honorary Fellow, Centenary Award by the Biochemical a year. Shortly before lockdown, the
Simon Armitage, has generously Society and Alexander Korsunsky JCR, MCR and Access team co-
agreed to curate a publication of (Tutorial Fellow in Engineering) hosted a showcase of our activity
our finalists’ writings and reflections was elected to a fellowship of the in which several of our 70 student
about their personal experience of Institute of Physics. Honorary Visiting Ambassadors, partners and school
their final term. We plan to turn this Fellow Judge Theodor Meron, was teachers took part, with a good
into a book (funded by Roger Michel, appointed an Honorary Companion number of Old Members present.
1984, Sir Thomas Pope Fellow) as a of the Most Distinguished Order of After schools were closed in the
memento for every finalist. St Michael and St George by Her UK as a result of the pandemic, the
We have taken great pride in the Majesty The Queen for his service Outreach and Access team transferred
2
CONTENTS
all our schools’ materials to make Canon Trevor Williams, Chaplain prepare for Michaelmas term. The
them available digitally, which will and Tutor in Theology from 1970 to new term will be well under way by
allow us in future to support many 2005 and then Emeritus Fellow, who the time you receive this Newsletter,
more schools and teachers. We will be remembered for his many which has, not unsurprisingly, been
launched several short videos about contributions to college life. Trevor delayed by events. There will be more
Trinity for school students considering had moved to Edinburgh in 2018, to report on in the next edition, but in
an application to Oxford—do take to be closer to his daughters, whom the meantime I close by offering my
a moment to watch them (search we had hoped to welcome back to warmest wishes to the global Trinity
YouTube for ‘Trinity College Oxford College, along with many others from family. Many of you have been in
offical’). Trinity and elsewhere, for a memorial contact during the pandemic to share
Work on the Levine Building was service in March—regrettably that had your experiences. I look forward to
interrupted for six weeks as a result of to be postponed and will now be held welcoming you back to Trinity or
the pandemic while new arrangements next spring. meeting you in gatherings across the
for safe working were introduced. In April we were shocked and world when we are able to travel
Since work has resumed, the building saddened by the death of our Head again. In the meantime, I hope you
is now taking shape above ground Gardener, Paul Lawrence, following and your families remain safe and
at an impressive rate. At the time of a heart attack. Paul gave dedicated well.
writing, the east end of the building service to Trinity over so many years
has reached full height and we look and he will be greatly missed. We look
forward to a topping out ceremony in forward to a time, after the college
the autumn. reopens, to pay tribute to Paul and
Amongst many wonderful we offer our heartfelt condolences to
Dame Hilary Boulding, DBE
memories of this extraordinary Paul’s wife Nicki and their family.
academic year, we were saddened to A great deal of work has been
learn in November of the death of taking place over the summer to
8 10 24
COVID research 5
Trinity in Lockdown 12
On the cover
Fellows’ page 16 Amongst the members
of Trinity involved in
T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F T R I N I T Y C O L L E G E OX F O R D – AU T U M N 2 0 2 0
Out of Joint 17 research into COVID-19
are Professor Chris Butler
FEATURE The Danson Erotica Collection 18
and Dr Kome Gbinigie
(see page 5). Photo: John
Responding to Coronavirus 20
Cairns, February 2020
FEATURE Celebrating Philip Williams 22 RESPONDING TO COVID-19 - How members of college are involved
PLUS Trinity in Lockdown • Outreach Showcase • Danson Erotica Collection
A trip to Spain 24
1
Alumni pages 27
3
NEWS
Canonisation of John Henry Newman
Cardinal John Henry Newman, former undergraduate and
Honorary Fellow of Trinity, was canonised as a saint in the
Catholic Church by His Holiness the Pope on 13 October
2019. The President and several others from Trinity attended
the service in Rome, while events in College and around
Oxford included a celebratory evensong in Chapel and an
archive exhibition, ‘Newman and Trinity College’.
St John Henry Newman was a scholar, matriculating in
1816, and the college’s first Honorary Fellow, elected in 1877.
He is a significant figure in the religious history of 19th-
century England; his role in the Oxford Movement in the
Church of England and eventual reception into the Catholic
Church made him a nationally known figure by the mid-
1840s. A theologian and poet, he is also remembered as a
preacher, pastor, controversialist, educational visionary, and
one of the most significant modern theologians of the Roman
Catholic and Anglican churches. The President in St Peter’s Square for the Canonisation Mass
Trevor Williams Paul Lawrence Linora Lawrence
Canon Trevor Williams, who died on Paul Lawrence, Head Linora Lawrence was the
5 November last year, was Chaplain and Gardener, died on 8 April, Alumni & Development
Fellow and Tutor in Theology from 1970 to following a heart attack. Office administration
2005. He will be remembered for his many Paul joined Trinity in assistant from 2005 to
contributions to college life and beyond, 1994 and over a quarter 2011. She managed the
including his longstanding charitable work of a century created a work of keeping the
in Uganda, where he was born and later legacy that is all around database up to date, and
studied after his undergraduate degree at us in Trinity. His gardener other routine but necessary
Oxford. colleagues, Aaron Drewett office tasks, with her
A memorial service, rescheduled from and Bob Dunn, have boundless cheerfulness
this spring, is due to be held on 20 March continued to work during and warmth. Linora had
2021, with a second date, 16 May, held as the COVID lockdown, previously worked at the
an alternative should it not be possible for paying a very special tribute Bodleian and was part of
large groups to gather together in March. to Paul in replanting the an enthusiastic local writers
Confirmation of the date and further details President’s Garden to a group. She was ill for some
will be given nearer the time. design that Paul completed time and she died peacefully
only weeks before his death. at home on 2 January.
4
NEWS
Chris Butler leading COVID treatment trial
Chris Butler, Fellow and Professor of The platform is now open to everybody
Primary Care in the Nuffield Department in the UK, without referral, and study
of Primary Care Health Sciences, and materials and medicines are couriered to
Clinical Director of the University of participants; follow-up can be done entirely
Oxford Primary Care Clinical Trials, has online. This makes the trial the first truly
been awarded £1.7 million in funding ‘democratic’, nationally inclusive and
for a clinical trial of potential COVID-19 potentially sustainable trial, taking research
treatments. directly to the participant.
The Platform Randomised Trial of Participants are closely monitored for
Interventions Against COVID-19 in Older the first 28 days of the trial, with a health
People (PRINCIPLE, www.principletrial. record notes review taking place for up to
org) is one of three national priority clinical three months to understand the longer-term
trials on the virus. Its award is a share of effects of the illness on their health.
the £24.6 million rapid research response
funded by UK Research and Innovation Welsh GP of the year
(UKRI), and by the Department of Health
and Social Care through the National Professor Butler is also a GP based in
Chris Butler receives the Welsh GP of the
Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Cynon Vale Medical Practice in Mountain
Year award from Dr Mayur Lakhani, President
PRINCIPLE will enable researchers to of the Royal College of GPs Ash, Glamorgan. In November he was
rapidly evaluate different treatments that named Welsh GP of the Year by the Royal
could stem the progression of COVID symptoms and are admitted to hospital, College of General Practitioners Wales. The
symptoms in older people and help ease the PRINCIPLE trial seeks to identify award commends GPs for the difference
the burden on hospitals. Unlike many other treatments that can be prescribed by they make to their patients’ lives, and is
clinical trials for COVID-19, which are community-based GPs to slow or halt the awarded on the basis of nominations by
mostly focussed on providing treatment progression of the disease and prevent the members of the public.
to those who already have serious need for hospitalisation.
COVID treatment evidence review
There has been growing interest to determine whether the drugs are
in the use of existing medicines safe and effective treatments for
as potential treatments for COVID-19. In their rapid review of
COVID-19, such as chloroquine and clinical trial data for BJGP Open, they
hydroxychloroquine. Both drugs have found that larger, randomised clinical
been incorporated into some national trials are urgently needed in both
guidelines to treat COVID in certain community and hospital settings. Such
situations, despite the lack of rigorous studies would guide policy-makers
clinical trial data. Dr Gbinigie and a and clinicians to make decisions
colleague analysed the findings of a for patients based on high-quality
study of 30 COVID patients in China, evidence.
and a second trial of 36 patients in In collaboration with other
France, both published in March. researchers, Dr Gbinigie has also
In their review, Dr Gbinigie and looked at the evidence for the
Dr Kerstin Frie from the Nuffield effectiveness of other medicines,
Postgraduate and clinical GP Kome Department of Primary Care Health namely the HIV drug Lopinavir/
Gbinigie is part of a team reviewing Sciences concluded there was not ritonavir and the antibiotic
the evidence for possible coronavirus enough evidence from clinical trials of azithromycin, and Zinc.
treatments, including chloroquine. chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine
5
NEWS
Zimbabwe support hub
Jason Brickhill and Ngoni Mugwisi, both postgraduate students
from Zimbabwe, are among the founders of a virtual network to
support the response to COVID-19 in the country.
The Zimbabwe COVID-19 Support Hub (zimcovid19.com) is a
project driven by Zimbabwean students and young professionals,
and founded out of concern for the threat of the virus to the
country, which faces many challenges including poverty, a weakened
public health system, high rates of HIV-AIDS and other underlying
medical conditions, food insecurity, unemployment and fiscal
instability.
The project now involves about 30
volunteers across the world, working
virtually to support and amplify local
Open-Source efforts to respond to the pandemic by
sharing information, contacts, and by
ventilators to treat pooling in one place community fund-
raising efforts. They have also been
COVID-19 translating important COVID-19
information into Zimbabwean
Postgraduate Michael Garstka
languages to support public
is part of a team of engineers and
awareness.
medics set up to rapidly develop an
Jason Brickhill Jason says: ‘We acted because
affordable open-source ventilator.
we are deeply concerned about
The team from Oxford and King’s
Zimbabwe’s lack of resources
College London worked with medical
and preparedness to respond. For
equipment manufacturers Smith +
example, Zimbabwe was reported
Nephew and was shortlisted by the
to have a total of 7 ventilators in
Government to go to the next stage
the country and almost no PPE at
of testing.
the start of the pandemic… We are
The team is confident that the
a support resource, so our aim is
rapidly manufacturable OxVent has
to amplify the efforts of others in
a role in the international COVID-19
Government and civil society in
response and in the medium term as
Zimbabwe, including by encouraging
a low cost ventilator. To meet those
Zimbabweans in the diaspora to help
demands, an OxVent research project
Ngoni Mugwisi where they can.’
is continuing and a joint venture not-
for-profit social enterprise has been
spun out. The immediate plans focus
on deployment in Mexico and Brazil
where the pandemic demand for
ventilators is still accelerating.
The design exploited off-the-
shelf components and equipment
Debating champion
with elements that can be produced Trinity undergraduate Lee Chin Wee has won the 40th World
through 3D printing techniques. Universities Debating Championship, in the process making history
Michael was one of several students as the first Singaporean student to win the ‘triple crown’— the titles
from the Control Group in the of overall champion, best speaker in the finals, and overall best
Engineering Department helping speaker at the debate tournament.
to design the control algorithm This annual international tournament is considered the most
and the software that runs on the prestigious debating competition in the world, and this year
microcontroller of the ventilator. featured more than 240 universities from 50 countries. In winning
The OxVent team also includes the title Lee and his competition partner, Jason Xiao of Wadham
former undergraduates Tom Kirk College, beat teams from Yale University, Macquarie University and
(2013) and Andrew Orr (2015). the University of Belgrade in the final.
6
NEWS
Centenary Prize for Kim
Nasmyth
Kim Nasmyth, Fellow and Whitley Professor of Biochemistry, has been
awarded the Centenary Award by the Biochemical Society. The international
award is given annually to a biochemist of distinction, and recognises Professor
Nasmyth’s work on the segregation of chromosomes during cell division.
Professor Nasmyth’s scientific work has addressed the mechanisms by which
genes are turned on and off during development, how DNA replication is
controlled, and how chromosomes are segregated during mitosis and meiosis.
Janet Pierrehumbert
wins medal for scientific
achievement
Janet Pierrehumbert, Fellow and Professor of Language
Modelling, has been awarded the International Speech
Communication Association’s 2020 Medal for Scientific
Achievement, for the remarkable contributions she
has made to the field of speech communications, and
in particular to phonology. The medal recognises
and honours an individual each year who has made
Alexander Korsunsky ‘extraordinary contributions to the field of speech
communication science and technology.’
elected fellow of the Professor Pierrehumbert has also been awarded a grant
from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research
Institute of Physics Council (EPSRC) for a project entitled ‘Exaggeration,
cohesion, and fragmentation in on-line forums’.
The EPSRC is the UK’s main agency for funding
Professor Alexander Korsunsky, Fellow and research in engineering and the physical sciences and
Tutor in Engineering Science and Vice-President the project is part of a programme entitled ‘Responsible
2019-20, has been elected a fellow of the Institute Natural Language Processing for Intelligent Interfaces’.
of Physics, a distinction that ‘indicates a very The grant is a collaboration with Dr Xiaowen Dong of the
high level of achievement in physics and an Oxford Man Institute.
outstanding contribution to the profession’ and
recognises the outstanding role he plays in the
advancement of the discipline, in particular in
the application of physical methods to the study
of the structure and properties of engineered and
natural materials.
Professor Korsunsky’s current interests concern
the study of mineralised biological tissues,
including bone, dentine and enamel, for which he
is studying healthy function alongside the effects
of disease, such as dental caries (tooth decay),
seeking to improve the existing approaches
to combatting this major disease through the
combination of advanced experiment and
sophisticated modelling.
7
NEWS
First English translation of
Les Tragiques
A new book by the Senior Tutor, Professor Valerie Worth, is the
first English translation of Agrippa D’Aubigné’s epic poem, Les
Tragiques.
Composed in France in the 1570s, and first published in 1616
in Geneva, Les Tragiques records the story of the suffering of the
Protestants in the French Wars of Religion, vividly depicting a
devastated country and combining portrayals of the worst atrocities
of the Wars with satirical attacks on leading political and religious
figures. In doing so it sets the Protestant sufferings within the
overarching context of God’s eternal plan for his chosen faithful.
And while the work focuses on France, it also presents tableaux
from the Reformations across Europe and in the Americas.
Professor Worth says, ‘I wanted this work to be accessible to a far
wider readership, and I hope that a modern English translation—
with a critical introduction and generous notes and indexes—will
achieve this. It has been a privilege to undertake the work with
the support of Trinity, and especially in dialogue with Fellow and
Tutor in French Professor Katherine Ibbett, whose own recent book,
Compassion’s Edge, has made a significant contribution to our
understanding of D’Aubigné.’
Research Charlotte Williams, Tutorial Fellow
and Professor of Inorganic Chemistry,
country’s top 10 exports. Today
most of these plastics are sourced
into plastics has been awarded a five-year
Established Career Fellowship by the
from petrochemicals and are not
designed for efficient recycling or
production Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council (EPSRC).
biodegradation.
The £1.5 million fellowship
allows time for Professor Chairing CS3 Summit
Williams and her research team to Professor Williams chaired last
investigate and develop a recently November’s Chemical Sciences and
discovered chemical process— Society Summit (CS3), a partnership
described as ‘switchable polymer between the funding agencies and
manufacturing’—with a view to chemical societies of China, Germany,
making plastics production more Japan and the UK, with each country
environmentally friendly. The long- represented by a delegation of their
term goal is to investigate how to leading scientists for discussion
re-configure polymer manufacturing of how the chemical sciences can
to produce sustainable, high-value help to tackle pressing challenges,
materials. and proposing future directions of
In the UK, the plastics industry research. For this summit the theme
employs more than 170,000 people was plastics, and discussions focussed
and has an annual sale turnover of on how chemical sciences can make
£23.5 billion. It is also one of the plastics more sustainable.
8
NEWS
Judge Theodor Meron
UKRI honoured
fellowship
Carla Perez Martinez, Junior
Research Fellow in Chemistry
until January this year, has
become a principal investigator
at the London Centre for
Nanotechnology at University
College London, after having been
named a Future Leaders Fellow.
The fellowship is worth more than
£1 million and Dr Perez Martinez
is one of 78 researchers to receive
the government funding dedicated
to supporting work at the cutting
edge of scientific discovery.
The fellowship will fund
a project titled ‘Ionic Liquids Honorary Visiting Fellow Judge Nations on Holocaust Memorial
for Subtractive and Additive Theodor Meron has been made an Day, 75 years after the liberation of
Nanomanufacturing,’ which Honorary Companion of the Most Auschwitz. We were touched and
will investigate how a novel Distinguished Order of St Michael greatly honoured that he travelled
type of chemical compounds, and St George (CMG). This honour straight from New York to deliver
called ionic liquids, can be used has been conferred by Her Majesty the same lecture at Trinity a few
to treat materials. Her ultimate The Queen in recognition of Judge days later as part of the college’s
goal is to develop machines Meron’s services to criminal justice own Holocaust commemorations.
using the chemical advantages and international humanitarian law. Judge Meron says of the award:
of ionic liquids to achieve faster Judge Meron (‘Ted’ as he is ‘This is a reflection of British
manufacturing at the micro known to all at Trinity) plays an recognition of the vital importance
and nanoscale. These machines active role in College, generously of criminal justice and international
should benefit the production meeting students and lecturing humanitarian law at a time when
of microprocessors used in about his work as a Judge at the so many atrocities against civilians
our mobile phones, as well as International Criminal Court at The continue unabated and, for this, I
investigations in biology, material Hague. In January, he delivered a am very grateful.’
science and engineering. deeply moving lecture at the United
The art of advertising
Professor Lynda Mugglestone, Lecturer in English Language
and Literature, is co-curator of the Bodleian’s exhibition in the
Weston Library on The Art of Advertising, which tells the story of
British advertising from the mid-eighteenth century to the 1930s,
showcasing some of the finest examples of advertising illustration
and commercial art. Professor Mugglestone’s chapter in the
accompanying volume explores how language techniques and usage
in advertising have evolved from the late 15th century to the present
day.
For more information about the exhibition, a virtual tour, blog
posts, and details of reopening, go to visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
9
NEWS
Nano-scale X-ray vision offers
new insight
New research by Lecturer in measure the impact of material
Engineering Felix Hofmann (2003) defects. BCDI requires very small
reports a step change in the ability samples, and until recently could only
to characterise the crystal defects be used on materials that naturally
that control the behaviour of most form suitably small particles;
metals and alloys. His team’s use of unfortunately, almost none of the
X-ray microscopy allowed nanoscale most important engineering materials
examination of material defects and fall into this category.
the distortions they cause. The result, Dr Hofmann’s team developed
published in the journal Physical a new approach allowing the
Review Materials, promises new investigation of defects in important
insights for the optimisation of high engineering materials such as
performance materials for aerospace tungsten, the most promising material
and power generation. for armour components in future
The new research, carried out in nuclear fusion rectors—such extreme
collaboration with colleagues at the environments causes defects within
Advanced Photon Source in the US, the metal, and it’s vital for engineers
uses an X-ray diffraction technique to understand how those defects
called Bragg Coherent Diffraction might impact the material’s strength.
Imaging (BCDI) to identify and
Levine Building news
Since the last newsletter, work on the Levine Building
has progressed significantly. The demolition of Staircase
4 was followed by several weeks when archaeologists
conducted a thorough investigation of the site. At the
end of January, the contractors, Gilbert Ash took charge.
Piling began almost immediately and although there was
a short delay with the introduction of the lockdown,
the size and shape of the building were soon clearly
discernible.
Progress accelerated with the arrival of the crane
needed for the next phase, which focussed on perimeter
capping beams, earthworks for the basement and
drainage. By early July, walls of the teaching wing at the
eastern end of the site were almost complete.
This project will continue to be the focus of
fundraising in the coming year. To date, a little over £9.8
million has been raised in gifts and pledges from 781 Old
Members, 47 Friends and 10 organisations, including
trusts, foundations and companies with matching gift
programmes. We could not be more grateful for your
support and would like to thank again everyone who has
given so generously. For further details of how you can The Levine Building, seen from the roof of the Laundry, showing
contribute to this exciting project, please get in touch the basement that will be the stage of the auditorium, and the first
with the Development Director, Sue Broers. two floors of the east wing, which will contain teaching rooms and
bedrooms.
10NEWS
All-Innovate winners
In January, a university-wide competition, All-Innovate, was
Essay prizes
launched by the Oxford Foundry (an entrepreneurship centre Undergraduate Ernest Lee has
established by the Saïd Business School) to encourage students to won two college essay prizes this
formulate and pitch entrepreneurial ideas to a panel of judges. year, the Douglas Sladen Prize and
Engaging with Old Members as mentors and judges, colleges the Margaret Howard Essay Prize.
were asked to select their two best entries. We were grateful that The Douglas Sladen Prize, is
Dave Nicholson (1994) agreed to be a mentor and that Nat Upton awarded to the best original written
(2010) and Ting-Ting Zhang (2012) volunteered to judge the Trinity essay on any topic by a Trinity
entries; the two progressing to the final were Genei-Learn Smart, undergraduate. It was established
a system to speed up online research, and Sleep Map, a method of in 1964 by the widow of Douglas
improving sleep patterns using smart technology. Genei-Learn was Sladen (scholar 1875). Ernest Lee’s
the brainchild of Billy Richards and Freddie Follows, while Sleep winning essay was entitled, ‘Hold
Map was the work of Alexandru Valeanu, a post-doc in the Physics on, the statue’s buffering: virtual
department. museums for a post-physical world’.
The final was delayed, but in August it was announced that The Margaret Howard Essay
Genei-Learn was joint winner of the undergraduate category. Prize, established by Gillian
Congratulations to Billy, Freddie and their team! Howard in memory of her
mother, sets essay topics that
are not subject-specific and will
encourage students reading for
an undergraduate degree in any
field to exploit the knowledge they
have gained during their course
and prompt them to think about
the social and ethical context in
which it is studied. It is awarded
for an essay addressing one of three
topics chosen by the judging panel;
Ernest Lee’s essay addressed the
question: ‘“I have no message…
Messages don’t interest me” (Sarah
Maldoror). To what extent do
literary, cinematic or artistic works
Three years on have political “messages”’?
Ernest’s prize-winning essays can
Many Old Members and Friends be found in the News section of the
were generous in their support of the website.
appeal for a graduate scholarship
in Sir Ivor Roberts’ name and we
cannot thank you enough for your
donations. Three years have now
passed and the first scholar, Maddy
Chalmers, is finishing her DPhil
and nearing the end of her time at
Trinity.
We hope you will enjoy reading
more about her work, her reflections
and her plans for the future in this
year’s Benefactors Report, which is
being sent with this Newsletter.
11COVID-19
TRINITY IN
LOCKDOWN
A graduate student perspective of life in College, by Neale
Marlow, who is studying for an MSc in Surgical Science and
Practice
A
s a student juggling academic specially arranged).
pursuits with surgical training After a few weeks I was back to
at the John Radcliffe, life since full health and adjusting to the new
lockdown has been rather different. monastic existence in Staircase 2,
The month of March was plagued shared with the handful of graduate
by uncertainty; would the university students remaining on-site. True to
continue to function? Would I be form, the MCR social secretaries rose
asked to work in a different part of the to the occasion, with Laura Cox,
hospital? Would the pubs of Oxford Bethany White and Rowan Curtis
dry up and close their doors? quickly establishing a devilishly
Of course, the inevitable occurred difficult and well-attended weekly
and I picked up COVID-19 myself online quiz. Personal highlights
the week lockdown began. Despite include the picture-round by fellow
being poorly, I was overwhelmed by an Staircase 2 ‘lockdowners’ Jamie
outpouring of support from College, Green and Conor Keogh, who, in
whether that was the three meals a day full sub fusc, posed in obscure spots
from Hall (thank goodness for Denise around College for attendees to
Matzen’s scrambled eggs), the regular identify, and Rowan Anderson, whose
check-ins from Emma Percy or the translations of pop-songs into Middle
reassuring call from Jon Flint to say English (and questionable renditions) Ian Stacey making his way across
that I wouldn’t go hungry once Hall left quizzers baffled. Front Quad towards the Beer Cellar…
closed (an external delivery service was Despite the ever-shifting COVID Alas, it turned out the pipes just
climate, porters Martin Reeve, needed flushing.
Martin Wizard, Kirk Ellingham, Ultimately, lockdown has
Maria Sommaggio, Dominic crystallised how it’s not the ancient
Lantain and new member of the quads, the beautiful gardens or
team Clarindo Almeida have been a excellent facilities that make Trinity
constant source of friendly support, home—it’s the people. I miss having
and questionable banter. The college the undergrads around, I miss the
gardens too, under the careful hustle and bustle of the Hassan’s
attention of Aaron Drewett and Bob queue on a Friday night and I miss
Dunn, are blooming, and exploring bumping into a friendly face in the
the herbaceous borders has become MCR and hearing all about the
an unexpected hobby of mine (having inspiring work they’ve been up to.
discovered fairly quickly that croquet Nevertheless, I am pleased to report
for one is counter-productive for that the mood in College is positive
mental wellbeing). On that subject, and I’m certain that our graduate
I must be vigilant to maintain my community, under the careful guidance
morale during lockdown; I nearly of its newly-elected president Joe
burst into tears of relief last week Hickie, will emerge from the shadow
after spotting assistant bar manager of COVID-19 stronger than ever.
12OUTREACH AND ACCESS
The Outreach Showcase
In March, the Access team held
the college’s first Outreach Showcase
to celebrate our progress so far. We
brought together Oxfordshire and
North East teachers, representatives
from our partners, Rachel Carr
(IntoUniversity), Graeme Atherton
(1990) (National Education
Opportunities Network), Sammy
Wright (North East teacher and
Social Mobility Commissioner),
alongside Trinity’s own students,
tutors and alumni.
We shared success stories and
discussed ideas for the future of
Access at Trinity. The event created
a really positive atmosphere and
sparked useful conversations and
ideas which we hope will translate
into further positive action from the
Trinity community.
‘Hearing what the college
has been doing, it sounds
focused and [like it is] really
hitting the spot.’ (An Old
Member on the Outreach
Showcase)
Student Ambassadors during a presentation at the Outreach Showcase in March
Moving outreach online
During Trinity term, the Access our stock sessions for Years 7-12 and are followed up with a recording
team moved the outreach programme following teacher requests. to maximise engagement. This format
online to ensure Trinity could still Our live Zoom sessions were taken has enabled us to prioritise schools
provide comprehensive support to up by 18 Oxfordshire schools and more effectively, with more time for
schools. We intend to adopt the 16 schools in the North East. We our highest priorities. What’s more,
most effective parts of this into our have worked with five of our highest attendees often ask better questions
normal offering, having found some priority schools in this way, two of following a recording, as they’ve had
exciting benefits. We have been which had not engaged with us fully time to re-listen, check information
delivering pupil and teacher sessions before. and process their ideas.
via Zoom, using the interactive event Our detailed recorded sessions are
platform Slido. We have also recorded followed by a short live Q&A session,
13STAFF NEWS
Staff changes
We were very sorry to have to say
farewell to Alison Nicholls, Trinity’s
nurse for the last 19 years, who left
in April.
Alison made a significant
contribution to college life and
valiantly combined her commitments
to College with a number of nursing
roles in other colleges, charities and
the NHS. Her care and commitment
to the health and well-being of both
students and staff has been deeply
appreciated.
Kerry Minton succeeds Alison in
the role of college nurse. When she
is not in Trinity, Kerry works as the
nurse for Wolfson College.
Claire Parker, who was a senior
GP in Oxford for many years, has
also joined Trinity in the new role of
Wellbeing Adviser.
In Hilary term we also said
goodbye to night porter Nigel Bray,
who had worked in the Lodge for 20
years. He has been a cheerful presence
in the Lodge during the (generally)
quieter hours and we will miss his
good humour and his conversation,
which would often turn to his interest
in classical music. Nigel has retired
to Lincolnshire—we wish him well
and thank him for his many years of
service. Alison Nicholls
North East outreach
With a new Access Officer focused on north-eastern each other and ask questions.
schools in post since last September, our activity in the The Year 12 North East Residential was also online,
region has increased. Between January and March, 30 designed to help pupils from the region navigate the
schools were visited, 10 of which were working with us Open Days and meet current students from the North
for the first time, in workshops reaching 1,128 school East. Evaluation was promising, showing a clear shift
pupils and 27 teachers. in the number of those who felt they could make an
Post-lockdown, the new North East Offer Holder application to the University.
Event was promptly switched to an online session to
ensure that North East offer holders could still meet
14STAFF NEWS
LIBRARY FAREWELL
O
f all the places that looked resources that our students need and, There is another side to the job of
stranger and stranger as the above all, a welcoming place to read a college librarian—a less visible side
lockdown wore on, the college and write. The library has grown not which is to do with looking after the
library must surely have been one of only in terms of its holdings, but also library as a community and not just
the most uncanny: no anxious finalists, by welcoming Sarah Cox as Library a place. And this is, I think, where
no piles of books and notes, complete Assistant. Sharon’s contribution to Trinity has
silence at last. Trinity term was a In the Old Library, Sharon has been unique. Working alongside her
peculiar time in almost every respect. made sure that Trinity’s treasures and as Fellow Librarian (and with the
Surely one of its most peculiar and, to the beautiful historic environment Senior Tutor as Co-Fellow Librarian
all of us, regrettable features, is that it in which they are housed are well over the last two years while I have
marked the last term of office for our looked after and accessible to people had research leave), I have been struck
Librarian, Sharon Cure, who retired at outside the college community. She again and again by her generosity, her
the end of July. was at the heart of the activities that spontaneous and utterly passionate
Sharon joined Trinity in 2008 from marked the six-hundredth anniversary commitment to the well-being of
her previous position in the Saïd of the Old Library in 2017, which, others, her good humour. This is what
Business School. Not many people as many will remember, comprised I, at least, shall miss particularly.
realise that the job of college librarian a number of special talks, events, Sharon is taking early retirement to
involves looking after both the main and the publication of a beautiful enjoy reading, gardening (truly her
library, with its busy traffic of students illustrated new guide, which Sharon hidden talent) and eating fish and
and constant activity of buying authored with the collaboration of chips on the beach at sunset. But I’m
new books and keeping old ones in the Honorary Librarian of the Old sure that, in between all that, she will
circulation, and the Old Library, with Library, Alan Coates (1980), and find the time to pay many visits to
its special collections that are regularly Clare Hopkins, the college archivist. Trinity.
visited by researchers from all sorts of Sharon also launched the ‘Treasures On 1 August, Emma Sillett
different fields and many parts of the of the Old and Danson Library’ series, took over the mantle as Librarian.
globe. Under Sharon’s stewardship, which has brought together graduates, Emma comes to us from Christ
the main library has thrived as the hub staff and Fellows for wonderfully Church, where she has worked as
of the college’s core activity of study wide-ranging talks and a glass of Reader Services Librarian. I would
and research, providing the up-to-date wine. like to welcome her to Trinity
enthusiastically on behalf of the
college, and I know that Sharon,
together with Sarah, have been doing
everything possible to make the
transition as smooth as possible.
The final word must go to our
students, who can’t be here yet in
person to thank Sharon, but one
student’s comment on the 2019-20
annual college feedback questionnaire
speaks for all the students whom
Sharon has looked after since 2008:
‘Sharon, goes above and beyond to
be helpful’. Thank you, Sharon, from
us all.
Stefano Evangelista
Fellow Librarian
Fellow Librarian Stefano Evangelista (right) wishes librarian Sharon Cure a long and happy
retirement
15FELLOWS’ PAGE
Máire Ní Leathlobhair
Junior Research Fellow in Oxford University Hospitals. For
Biomedical Sciences example, I work with the Oxford
Pancreatic Network, led by Dr Shivan
Having completed a PhD in Sivakumar and Dr Rachael Bashford-
Biological Sciences at Newnham Rogers. This ambitious network aims
College, Cambridge, funded by the to develop new therapeutic strategies
Wellcome Trust, I took up my Junior for pancreatic cancers through the
Research Fellowship at Trinity collaboration of researchers and
in October 2018. I received my clinicians within Oxford. Currently,
undergraduate degree in Mathematics I am focusing on developing the
from another Trinity College, in theme of ‘evolution of the pancreas
Dublin. microenvironment’ using single-cell
I now work as part of the Cancer technologies.
Evolution and Heterogeneity group However, my main research interest
at the Big Data Institute led by Dr is gestational trophoblastic tumours determinants that underlie cancer in
David Wedge. Cancers are often (GTT), a rare cancer type arising from women of different ethnicities.
heterogeneous mixtures of cells arising abnormal placental development. Alongside my research, I’m also
through an evolutionary process in Globally, 18,000 women per year working with friends and colleagues in
which genetic and epigenetic changes develop GTD with higher incidence in the Nuffield Department of Medicine
accumulate over time. A large part of the developing world. These tumours towards building a research-based
the work I do in this group involves are also surprising biological entities— digital health app for women and have
the development of new methods and they are the only example of a human been invited to develop this business
algorithms that allow us to decipher tumour that develops from the cells idea further through the Oxford-based
the evolutionary journeys of individual of another individual, the foetus. ‘Panacea Stars’ competition.
tumours. Oxford is a wonderful Together with collaborators based in I feel very grateful to have been
place for this type of work, given its Uganda, Myanmar, Laos and Malaysia given the time and resources to pursue
thriving clinician-scientist research I’m working towards understanding my research by Trinity and to be
community and the enormous wealth the molecular basis of disease and part of such a warm, dynamic and
of clinical data available through the the genomic and environmental engaging academic community.
Alex Reza dissemination of anticolonial literary
journals, and I am currently finalising
Junior Research Fellow in a book manuscript that draws on this
research.
French Most recently my focus has been on
I joined Trinity in October 2018. researching the proliferation in the 1960s
My research focusses on writing of film, radio, music and print cultures
around the period of twentieth-century in Conakry, the capital of Guinea. In the
decolonisation, mainly between 1940 and years immediately after independence
1970. My work asks how writers—and from France, the city became a cultural
particularly francophone and lusophone and political hub, hosting those who
African writers—understood Empire as opposed ongoing Portuguese colonialism
a political and cultural structure, and in Africa as well as émigrés from across is a partnership between the BBC and the
what conceptions of freedom, justice and Africa and the United States. To take this Arts and Humanities Research Council,
society underpinned anticolonial thinking. work forward, I have received two grants and means I will be working with BBC
I am particularly interested in from the Africa Oxford Initiative to set editors to make podcasts and radio
magazines and journals. As well as up collaborations with colleagues in West programmes about my research. I’m
closely reading the texts those publication Africa and to support travel for archival excited about this opportunity to bring
enclose, I have used extensive archival work abroad. my research on empire, aesthetics and
work to understand the conditions I have also been chosen as a BBC critical thought into conversation with a
of publication, transmission and ‘New Generation Thinker’. The scheme wider public.
16GRADUATE NEWS
Out of Joint
Reflections on two days of surgery observation —Rachel Hindmarsh,
a second-year DPhil Student in French, writes about her close encounter
with modern-day medicine, thanks to interdisciplinary connections.
T
’ he gut is just like hot, sticky threshold of the operating theatre on that
spaghetti, really’; under the bright first morning of observation. I felt that I
lights of the operating theatre, I had a good grasp of how early modern
couldn’t help but smile under my mask. physicians approached the surgical
At the end of Michaelmas term, I encounter, mediating between their
was able to arrange two days of surgery anatomical knowledge, their practical,
observation at the Churchill Hospital tactile skill, and the interior of the body
through the interdisciplinary community laid bare in front of them. Entering the
of Trinity; my college advisor, Professor suspended world of the operating theatre, I
Katherine Ibbett, and Graduate Tutor, imagined that I would feel out of joint
Professor Valerie Worth, put me in touch
with Peter McCulloch, Professor of Surgical
Science and Practice, who accompanied me
‘Seeing, smelling, and almost
during five different surgeries by his former touching surgery up close
colleagues. enabled me to really see the
My doctoral research focuses on the
relation between medicine and 16th-
stakes of thinking through and nearly a year and a half in the library;
century French literature; I am particularly with the messy, material body.’ seeing, smelling, and almost touching
drawn to the messy material reality of surgery up close enabled me to really see
bodies, configured as humoral subjects as an early modernist surrounded by the stakes of thinking through and with the
swirling with blood, phlegm, black bile, the progress of modern scientific and messy, material body. The experience didn’t
and yellow bile in this early modern period, technological thought, as a humanities make me feel out of joint after all; rather,
and how they can be represented on the student who ponders and deliberates it acted as a sort of splint between the
fictional page. Under Peter’s watchful eye, texts surrounded by decisive medical modern and the early modern, the medical
I donned some scrubs and peered over professionals facing critical choices. discipline and the humanities.
surgeons’ shoulders, watching in awe as Yet when the surgeon on my first Wearing a mask is no longer confined
these bodies I spend my days researching morning grasped his prosaic metaphor to to the bright lights of operating theatres,
came forcefully to life on the operating give meaning to the seemingly ungraspable but now, in a global pandemic, has
table. abdominal surgery playing out in front become an unsettling new norm. The
I certainly felt a pervading sense of me, he allowed a moment where the medical has permeated our everyday lives
dislocation as I prepared to cross the in ways previously unimaginable; we all
gap between the surgeon and me could
feel out of joint from the world we once
be breached. That ‘hot, sticky spaghetti’
knew, reliant on the splints of screens and
was a jolt of familiarity in an otherwise
masks to mediate between once familiar
overwhelmingly unfamiliar scene—
relationships. The blue gates of College are
showing the power of figurative language
closed shut, and the college community
to collapse the difference between not only
dispersed; yet the memory of what Trinity
different bodies, but different worlds. Here
can achieve, when people from all corners
was, in one sentence, the excitement and of academia come together to share their
possibility of the interdisciplinary nature different ways of understanding the world
of my research: the ability for the practice around us, offers hope for an uncertain
and bodies of medicine to make us think future ahead.
differently about the world around us, and
the ways in which we make sense of this
world, and articulate it to others.
Hand coloured illustration of surgical
instruments. Standing in the operating theatre that
Photo credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 day gave me a better grasp of this than
International (CC BY 4.0)
17DANSON LIBRARY
THE DANSON
EROTICA
COLLECTION
Alison Felstead, Rare Books Cataloguer at Trinity, introduces the Danson erotica collection,
following the recent publication of a catalogue of the collection on the college website.
this classification. Danson makes
reference in one letter to the trial
of Lady Chatterley’s lover in 1960,
‘Up to a few years ago it was only
obtainable by smuggling it into the
country—now you can buy it as a
“Penguin”.’ Danson goes on to state
that he is ‘still of [the] opinion that it is
an erotic book’ (13/12/68), but notes
that ‘public opinion as to what is erotic
has changed since 1954 when the
original list [of Danson’s books] was
made ...’ (18/1/69). In a later letter to
Norrington, who had apparently sent
Danson a copy of William Burroughs’
Naked lunch, he writes: ‘What a
beastly book it is. So far I have found
Colonel J R Danson Hand-drawn and coloured illustration from
Chapter 1 of Crissie
no redeeming features in it & if it is on
T
sale generally to the public I shall have
he Danson erotica 1949 between Danson and President to revise my ideas of what is an erotic
collection, which consists Weaver indicated that Danson saw book. Apart from illustrated books I
of approximately 450 his legacy as a means of improving have nothing to touch it …’ (5/3/69).
items, forms part of the the college library, although he noted In the event, the erotica collection as it
much larger Danson that the erotica collection ‘is obviously exists at Trinity today does not appear
collection, which came to Trinity in not suitable for a college library, but to have been reviewed by Danson or
1976. It was the bequest of Lieutenant- it could be kept locked up in the Old Norrington. It still contains the items
Colonel John Raymond Danson Library or handed over to the Bodleian that were identified by Danson as not
(1893-1976), who matriculated en bloc.’ In later correspondence with being erotic, including ‘such books as
in 1912, reading Law. He had a President Norrington he made it clear Petronius’ Satyricon. This to my mind
distinguished career in the Army in that the erotica should never be sold is not an erotic book. It is a book
addition to working for the family or destroyed: ‘What I want to insure is which all classical scholars should
firm of average adjusters in Liverpool. that they do not come upon the market read as it gives a lifelike description
He was made an Honorary Fellow of i.e. they must go either to Trinity or of life in ancient Italy,’ and ‘the works
Trinity in 1969. the Bodleian. And they should not be of “Jacobus X” a French army doctor.
Danson had decided to leave destroyed.’ His works are of great interest to the
his books to Trinity after initially There is some discussion in the anthropologist & are not erotic.’ The
discussing this with President Blakiston correspondence between Danson and entire Danson collection is still housed
in the early 1930s, and spent the next Norrington in the late 1960s about within the college, in the Danson
forty years building a collection with what constitutes erotica, with the idea Library, adjacent to the Old Library
the college in mind. Correspondence in of excluding some of the titles from and part of the original President’s
18DANSON LIBRARY
collections such as the Bibliothèque
Nationale de France or the British
Library. A late 19th-century French
edition of the erotic classic Gamiani, ou,
Deux nuits d’excès, is one such, the only
reference to which is found in Alfred
Rose’s Registrum librorum eroticorum
(1936). This item may have been
acquired from the library of Alfred Rose,
as we know that Danson did acquire
some books from this source, based
on pencil annotations in the volumes
in Rose’s hand and one example of his
embossed ownership stamp. All of these
had previously been in the library of
the renowned Victorian collector and
bibliographer of erotica, Henry Spencer
Ashbee (1834-1900), as evidenced
by his 1895 book-plate. (The bulk of
Ashbee’s collection of erotica went to
the British Museum Library after his Front doublure from Crissie, with gilt tooling
Title-page with false imprint from Gamiani death and some of it is preserved in the on leather
British Library’s ‘Private Case’ to this
Lodgings. day.) J R Danson owned a copy of Rose’s interests of a successful average adjuster
The breadth of material in the Registrum librorum eroticorum, which in the first half of the twentieth century.
erotica collection is considerable, and he marked up to indicate which of the His obituary in The Times of 24 June
arguably its greatest strength. The items were in his collection. 1976 notes that ‘After his retirement
publication dates range from a 1564 Fourteen books previously owned Danson lived ... in seclusion among his
edition of Laberinto d’amore di M. by Vyvyan Holland (1886-1967), the books, his pictures and stamp collection.’
Giovanni Boccaccio to Erotic art: younger son of Oscar Wilde, can also be But a very short piece headed ‘Erotic
a survey of erotic fact and fancy in found among the Danson erotica, but no books are left to college,’ published in
the fine arts compiled by Phyllis and evidence has been found to explain how The Times on 17 June 1978, suggests
Eberhard Kronhausen and published in they were acquired by Danson. Several that the erotica represent the jewel in
1971. It contains cheap mass-produced of them are listed in the Inventory and the crown of the Danson collection.
paperbacks alongside fine limited-edition valuation of Danson’s library drawn up Thanks to his sound collecting instincts
works illustrated with engraved plates by in October 1967, which indicates that and his generosity, Trinity possesses
artists of the quality of Félicien Rops and they were already in his possession at the an exceptional collection of erotica, as
André Collot. Some items remain in the time of Holland’s death on 10 October the depth and breadth of the catalogue
publisher’s binding, as issued, whereas of that year. makes clear.
others have been rebound by some of One of the challenges of cataloguing
the finest binders working in the 19th erotica is the difficulty of ascertaining
and 20th centuries such as Zaehnsdorf, the true bibliographical details of works,
Victor Champ, and Bayntun-Riviere. including publication information and
Many were published in limited editions, authorship. I have been greatly assisted
and a few contain original hand-drawn, in my cataloguing work by Patrick
hand-coloured illustrations, a notable Kearney (author of The Private Case
example being Crissie: a music-hall (London: Jay Landesman Limited,
sketch of to-day published anonymously 1981)), who generously shared his
by Leonard Smithers in 1899. Another extensive knowledge with me, and
very rare item in the collection is the first provided invaluable feedback on my
edition of Harlequin Prince Cherrytop, online catalogue records. I am also very
purportedly published by the Oxford grateful to Honorary Fellow Sir Charles
University Press but actually issued by Chadwyck-Healey (1958) for sponsoring
William Lazenby. the cataloguing of this important
There are a handful of items in collection.
the erotica collection of which other The Danson erotica collection Detail of hand-drawn and coloured illustra-
copies have not been recorded in public represents just one of the collecting tion from page [9] of Gamiani
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