the Queen’s College newsletter issue twenty Trinity Term 2012 08/12 Page 2 A Letter from the Provost Pages 3-6 News from the College Page 7 The Livings Pages 8-9 The Shulman Auditorium Pages 10-11 Interviews Page 12 Choir Tour Page 13 College Conversations Page 14 Budd’s Blog Page 15 The Clock Page 16 A Letter from the Old Members’ Officer A letter from the Provost Professor Paul Madden FRS FRSE The significance of the award of a blue plaque to commemorate the invention of the electronic glucose sensor in 1982 by Allen Hill, Tony Cass and Graham Davis is noted elsewhere in these Contributors: Alan Budd pages. It is a timely reminder of the significance of colleges in the research achievements of the David Goddard University. Allen was chemistry Fellow in Queen’s at the time of the discoveries, and Tony and Duncan Knox Andrew Kojima Graham were Queen’s graduate students. Furthermore, the underlying breakthrough in detecting Morten Kringelbach enzymatic redox reactions electrochemically was made by a Queen’s student, Mark Eddowes, in his Emily Moore Emily Motto undergraduate project about five years previously. During the celebrations Tony, in particular, recalled Gareth Powell how the college environment had contributed to the close interactions and free exchange of ideas Rachel Poyser John Richards amongst the members of the Hill group at the time. Another speaker, Fraser Armstrong, attributed Michael Riordan the confidence to take research into uncharted territory in part to the necessity for tutorial Fellows Editors: Emily Downing & to be knowledgeable across a much wider domain of their subject in order to teach tutorials in the Andrew Timms Oxford style. Cover photograph: Andrew Timms: This is heartening stuff. As I have mentioned previously, there is now a huge amount of pressure My Cell’s Reach Pushing on academics to be research-active and it is probably fair to say that it is research which is at the Outwards; Striving forefront of the career aspirations of people entering the profession. The overwhelming majority of towards Perfection Emily Motto 2012 (see public funds flowing into the University now follow from the demonstration of research excellence, interview on page 11) and positions in the University league tables are largely determined by the institution’s research Published by: output. Against this backcloth there has been a tendency to underplay the role of colleges in The Old Members’ contributing to the University’s excellence in teaching and research. In one caricature, the college Office The Queen’s College teaching and other responsibilities are a millstone around the necks of aspiring researchers Oxford preventing them from achieving their full potential. It is certainly the case that some potential OX1 4AW oldmembers@ applicants for academic positions in Oxford are inhibited from taking on the duties of a tutorial Fellow. queens.ox.ac.uk It is to be hoped that the enhanced fees for teaching flowing into the universities from next year will T: +44 (0)1865 279214 help to rebalance the sense of priorities across the sector, and that the new University Strategy will F: +44 (0)1865 279150 properly express the strengths of the collegiate structure of the University. In the meantime, let us celebrate the College’s role in the discovery of Allen and his colleagues. It has led to a step change in the technology of medical diagnosis and greatly improved the lives of millions. 2 the Queen’s College newsletter News from the College each kilowatt hour of energy that is generated, the College is benefitting by over 40 pence (37.7 pence compensation and over 8 pence saved by not having to generate more electricity). Since the system was installed at the end of February the College has saved over 5,500 kg of CO2, generated 7,867 kw/h of energy, and received over £3,300 of compensation from the grid. College stamp Dr Linda Irving-Bell, Home Bursar, is pictured here at a House of Lords reception to celebrate Royal Mail’s 26-stamp alphabetical odyssey around the UK. She is with Alice Dickerson (Modern History & Politics, 2004), Public Affairs Manager for the Royal Mail, and an enlarged version of the Royal Mail’s stamp featuring the College. The UK A-Z two- part issue celebrates some of the country’s most famous landmarks. The stamp can be purchased online through the Royal Mail website. Going for green We are delighted to report three recent sustainability successes. Firstly, the Oxford University Student Union carried out a survey of recycling in colleges. OUSU representatives visited the majority of colleges to assess recycling practices and, thanks to the efforts of the Steward and her team of scouts, Queen’s came out on top and has achieved a gold standard. Secondly, Queen’s has fared very well in the section devoted to colleges in the University Sustainability Report. Please contact Emily Downing in the Old Members’ Office if you’d like a copy of the report. One particular initiative of note in the report is the ground-source heat pumps which have been put into the new Shulman Auditorium. The College has registered with Ofgem for the renewable heat incentive which means that we will receive a future return on our investment. Finally, thanks to the efforts of the Clerk of Works, we have become one of very few colleges to install photovoltaic panels on the roof of one of our buildings. The panels are on our graduate residence, St. Aldate’s House. We went to great lengths to ensure that the work was completed and approved Murder in the cloister before March this year when the government reduced the tariff Queen’s has featured in the BBC’s detective drama Lewis. on the pay-back for generated electricity. This means that for The episode was entitled ‘Generation of Vipers’. the Queen’s College 3 newsletter News from the College Carrying a torch The College is proud to see that Alex Fraser, a first-year Biochemist, carried the Olympic torch on 16 July in Lancing, Sussex. Alex, who was placed third in the U19 National Modern Pentathlon, was selected because of his commitment and dedication to his sport of Modern Pentathlon and inspiring his peers through providing support to other Modern Pentathletes in his community. Alex is the men’s Modern Pentathlon Captain for the next year and he won the BUCS (Student Championships) in March 2012. He has been A double victory nominated by the Lloyds TSB Local Hero I read with interest the little article on programme. the news page in the last Newsletter reporting that it is the 20th anniversary of the men’s football team winning Whatever the weather Cuppers. Well, not to be outdone, During the London Olympics I shall be part of a I would like to point out that the ladies’ small team from the Met Office providing on-site football team, that very same year, won the double: Cuppers weather services at Eton Dorney, the venue for the and the League. I scored the winning goal in the Cup Final where rowing and canoeing events. the score was 1 - 0 against Keble. Our captain was Vicky King. Races must be held in weather conditions that It would be nice to acknowledge this anniversary as well as the are fair and safe to all competitors. For example, men’s! Even things up a bit! cross-winds can render some racing lanes less favourable than others, while thunderstorms can Rachel Poyser née Nield (Modern Languages, 1987), Director of be hazardous to both competitors and spectators. Music at Wyke Sixth Form College, Hull Our role will be to anticipate time periods when the weather will present unfair or unsafe racing conditions, which may lead to races being Hong Kong event rescheduled. In June the College held a reunion event in Hong Kong. Queensmen and women with matriculation years spanning We used the 2011 Junior World Rowing 1977 to 2004 gathered at Zuma restaurant in Central. We were Championships at Eton Dorney as a rehearsal, with great success. Being on-site, we were delighted to meet so many Old Members, some of whom we did able to provide forecasts with far greater detail not know lived in Hong Kong. If you would like to be included on than those available the mailing list for future College events in Asia, then please let the via television or the Old Members’ Office know. internet—exactly what was needed when Award for Queensman competing with the Llÿr Williams (Music, 1995) has won the South Bank Sky Arts Award, British summer! in the Classical category, for his Beethoven sonata cycle in 2011. Gareth Powell (Physics, 1997) the Queen’s College 4 newsletter News from the College B&B Come and stay in College this summer. Book online at www.universityrooms.co.uk. Contact oldmembers@ queens.ox.ac.uk before you make a booking to receive the Old Member discount code for a 35% reduction on the regular B&B price. Sponsorcraft Recent graduate Duncan Knox (Physics, 2003) has launched an exciting new crowd- funding website. The site, Sponsorcraft, helps students and staff at schools and universities raise money for their projects. Since the launch in February, they’ve worked with a range of Recognition for projects, including the Oxford Belles – Oxford’s original all-female a cappella group – which raised funds to enter the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer, and Oxford’s Women’s Queen’s team Blues Ice Hockey team, which needed funds for its varsity match. Professor Allen Hill, Honorary Fellow and former Tutor in The basic idea behind Sponsorcraft is that the project creators, or ‘crafters’, post their Chemistry, and Old Members proposals onto the website for all to see.