Floreat Domus 2019
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NEWS AND FEATURES FROM THE BALLIOL COMMUNITY | JUNE 2019 Stuart Bebb BALLIOL WOMEN: 40 YEARS ON Celebrating the anniversary of the admission of women students in 1979 Working in education: An optoelectronic nose 10 Behind the scenes at a Gaudy 20 special feature by alumni 34 The healing power of words 28 The UN’s longest-serving mediator 32 Chess and mathematics 26 4 CONTENTS JUNE 2019 From the Master 1 NEWS HIGHLIGHTS 2 18 STUDENT FEATURES 12 A listening ear 6 Angharad Jones Buxton and Dominic Newman Me and My DPhil 8 Shuyu Lin 32 RESEARCH AND BOOKS 22 Smell-seeing 10 Kenneth S. Suslick The Black Spartacus 12 Sudhir Hazareesingh 14 Making flights smoother, safer, and cleaner 14 Paul Williams 6 Bookshelf 16 BALLIOL PAST AND PRESENT The Fremantle Murals 18 John Jones Behind the scenes at a Gaudy 20 Greg Butler 28 Monty’s don 22 Richard Goldsbrough Balliol College, Oxford OX1 3BJ Why has the Chalet tradition survived? 24 www.balliol.ox.ac.uk Stephen Tucker Some Balliol chess greats 26 Copyright © Balliol College, Oxford, 2019 Editor: Anne Askwith (Publications and Web Officer) Editorial Adviser: Nicola Trott (Senior Tutor) ALUMNI STORIES Design and printing: Ciconi Ltd Playing mathematics on a chessboard 28 We are enormously grateful to everyone who has contributed to John Foley this magazine by writing an article, agreeing to be interviewed, Words are my health 30 providing photographs or information, or otherwise assisting the Gwyneth Lewis Editor. We are always pleased to receive feedback, and suggestions for articles: please send these to the Editor: by email to On volunteerism 33 [email protected] or at the address above. Michael Paling Perspectives on diplomacy 34 Front cover image: To celebrate International Women’s Day and Grace Joel 40 years of women at Balliol – that is, 40 years since the admission of women students in 1979 – current Balliol women (any Fellow, Working in education 36 Lecturer, student or member of staff who was free was invited Special feature by alumni to attend) gathered for a photograph at the sundial. Bearing the words ‘For all women at Balliol: past present and future’, the sundial was installed to mark the 30th anniversary. DEVELOPMENT NEWS Photograph by Stuart Bebb. Balliol women: 40 years on 44 FROM THE MASTER FROM From the Master Dame Helen Ghosh DCB ‘Stimulating’, ‘academic’, ‘inclusive’: I’ve been looking again at expansions of graduate places, and some increase in the words which Old Members chose in our alumni survey as undergraduate numbers in strategic subject areas including those they were most likely to use to describe Balliol. In my computer science and biomedical sciences, here in College first year I’ve certainly found our College to be these three we have been thinking about our academic ambitions. To things, and to have the many other positive qualities that what extent does Balliol want to move in the same direction? were identified. How far do we want to rest on our traditional strengths, One occasion summing up our ‘stimulating’ and ‘academic’ or could we balance that with expansion in newer areas? ethos was at the Praefectus’ Seminar I gave in Hilary Term at These are among the issues that the Governing Body will be Holywell Manor on the implications of Brexit for UK politics discussing in the coming year. and constitution. ‘Clinging to the Wreckage’ was my somewhat Remaining ‘inclusive’, ensuring that the most talented colourful title. I was aware that some in the room, including a students, nationally and internationally, come to the distinguished array of Fellows, would know a great deal about College whatever their circumstances, is also a challenge the context. The MCR was packed, attention and interest of continuing importance to us all. To that end, we are were palpable, and the discussion afterwards was perceptive enormously grateful to alumni – putting into action the as well as stimulating – undoubtedly Balliol at its best. word ‘supportive’ - for giving so generously towards outreach Later in Hilary Term, I found myself in a very different activities and for helping us make sure that finance is never a environment, sitting in the front row at the Michael Pilch barrier for students. Theatre in Jowett Walk, watching the JCR’s production of When the University published in May this year its latest Julius Caesar: The Musical. Scripted, designed, choreographed report on the diversity of UK undergraduates, although and composed entirely by undergraduates, it was witty, there were many positive trends both for Balliol and the clever, perceptive, funny and very entertaining (even when University our figures for undergraduate gender balance (for Julius sat himself on my lap at one point). After an evening the three years to 2017) were still disappointing, at only 39% of ‘excellence’ and ‘fun’, I left the building grinning and very female. We’re doing more and more to improve diversity at proud of our talented students. Balliol – the women-only PPE Taster Day for year 12 students With numerous alumni events in Oxford and in London from state schools being a recent example of initiatives under my belt, as well as several overseas visits, I can also aimed at addressing this. In December 2018 we made more vouch that the words ‘challenging’ and ‘intellectual’ well offers to female students than to males – a hopeful augury describe Balliol beyond the College walls. Whether at a for our celebrations starting later this year to mark the 40th formal dinner, an informal tea, over drinks or meeting anniversary of Balliol opening its doors to female students one-to-one, there is never pause to talk about the weather: and becoming co-educational. You can read all about our Balliol alumni dive straight into serious discussion of current plans on page 44. politics or science, culture or society, with a characteristic Finally, the College has a very strong and distinctive range of well-informed and well-argued points of view. sense of ‘community’, and it has confirmed my view that Another Balliol trait that Old Members identified is maintaining and deepening that community is one of my ‘traditional’; but so too is ‘progressive’, reflecting the fact most important roles as Master. I hope when you read this that the context is always changing. At a time when, in its edition of Floreat you will feel we are living up to your beliefs latest strategic plan, the University is proposing significant in what the College should stand for. Stuart Bebb FLOREAT DOMUS JUNE 2019 1 Awards NEWS HIGHLIGHTS New Year Honours Fellows Royal Society Martin Taylor (1970): Commander of the British University Research Empire (CBE), for services to the economy. Martin Fellowships have Judges Rob Taylor is Vice-Chairman of the Board of RTL Group and been awarded to a member of the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Adam Nahum Committee. He is the former Chairman of Syngenta AG (Research Fellow and was a member of the Independent Commission on in the Sciences) Banking. Originally a journalist, he has been Chairman for his research of WHSmith plc (1999–2003), and Chief Executive in quantum Officer of Barclays plc (1993–1998) and Courtaulds Textiles (1990—1993). From entanglement and random 1999 to 2005 he was an adviser to Goldman Sachs International. geometry, and to Ohad Kammar (Career Development Fellow in Professor John Christopher McCrudden (Junior Computer Science 2017–2018) for Research Fellow in Law 1977—1980): Commander of the his research on ‘effectful theories British Empire (CBE), for services to human rights law. of programming languages: models, Christopher McCrudden is Professor of Human Rights abstractions, validation’. and Equality Law at Queen’s University Belfast and William W. Cook Global Law Professor at the University Ohad Kammar of Michigan Law School, and a practising barrister. Until also received a 2011, he was Professor of Human Rights Law at Oxford Distinguished Judges Rob University and a Fellow of Lincoln College. Currently, Paper Award at his research deals with the foundational principles the Association underpinning human rights practice. He was awarded the American Society for Computing of International Law’s prize for outstanding legal scholarship in 2008. He is a Machinery’s Fellow of the British Academy and a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. annual Symposium on Principles James Richardson (1985): Companion of the Order of of Programming Languages, for the Bath (CB), for public service. As Chief Economist a paper of ‘relevance, originality, at the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), significance and clarity’. Ohad says an independent body providing expert advice to the it ‘was completed entirely during government on pressing infrastructure issues, James my Career Development Fellowship. Richardson led the NIC’s production of the first ever The long duration of the Fellowship, National Infrastructure Assessment (2018): an in-depth and the careful balance between assessment of the UK’s major infrastructure needs and research and teaching loads, were how they should be addressed. Prior to joining the NIC, crucial in allowing me to focus on an he was at HM Treasury, as Director, Fiscal and Deputy ambitious problem and help solve it.’ Chief Economic Adviser, and before that as Director, Public Spending and Chief Microeconomist. Vicky Neale (Whitehead Professor John Birney FRS FMedSci (1992) (known Lecturer in as Ewan): Commander of the British Empire (CBE), for Mathematics and services to computational genomics and leadership across Supernumerary BalakrishnanJennifer the life sciences. Ewan Birney is Joint Director of the Fellow) won a The Royal Society Royal The European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), where he Suffrage Science runs a research group. He worked on the initial human award in maths genome project and led the analysis group in the first and computing.