Master's message - Winter 2023
As 2023 draws to a close, I have been reflecting on a long, busy and, I am pleased to say, successful Michaelmas Term.
September is becoming a busy month in the College calendar. Alongside the alumni events, and the Fellows’ Conference period and open days, our International Programmes Semester students arrive at the start of the month, followed soon after by the new MBA students.
Saturday, September 16th, was a significant day for the College. In the Chapel, friends, family and alumni came together to remember with palpable love and affection the life of Colin Wilcockson, longtime Fellow in English, in the Chapel.
Across the road on the same day, Pembroke was holding an 'Open Doors' event on the Mill Lane site for the general public. Twenty-four of our Fellows gave ten-minute talks in 4 Mill Lane on topics as diverse as Minoan Crete, real estate investment and fighting dementia. An inaugural display was held in the Exhibition Room, featuring specially commissioned works by local artists Xinyi Bi, Idit Nathan and Rebecca Ilett. Artist Alison Turnbull spoke about what inspired her to create the two paintings that are in the Foyer and the water feature in Chiu Court, while architects Hannah Constantine and Beatie Blakemore from Haworth Tompkins led site tours. The event was topped off with the premiere of ‘Tender Stones’ a dance performance choreographed by Lucy Suggate, in the round in the Auditorium.
Given that there was also a year dinner on the preceding Friday night and the ongoing telephone fundraising campaign, it was fantastic to see how all sections of the College community came together to support each other to make the weekend such a success.
New arrivals
The new cohort of students who arrived in October have found their feet and have settled in well, throwing themselves into all aspects of college life.
Four new Fellows joined us this term: Dr Carl Henrik Ek (Computer Science), Dr Kaoutar Ghilani, the new Abdullah Al-Mubarak Fellow in Middle Eastern Studies, Dr Narine Lalafaryan (Law), and Dr Angkur Shaikeea (Engineering), who recently completed his PhD at Pembroke and also held the position of Post-Doctoral Research Associate (PDRA) here.
Four new PDRAs were also appointed: Amal Ahmad (Arabic Philosophy), Anna Jane Dreyer (Clinical Neuropsychology), Se-Hun Joo (Computational Chemistry) and Danyal Akarca (Neuroscience).
Our Dean, Dr James Gardom, is on sabbatical this year. He has temporarily returned to the role of parish priest, looking after St Botolph's Church (so thankfully close by if we have any questions about the Chapel AV system!). The Rev Devin McLachlan has been Acting Dean this term, and I would like to thank him for doing the role with such enthusiasm and diligence. Interfaith advisor to the Bishop of Ely, one of his tasks was to oversee the opening of the new multi-faith room in the former TV room, opposite the JP. In January, I look forward to welcoming Rev Sophie Young, Chaplain to the Homeless and Street-life Community of Cambridge, as Acting Dean for the remaining two terms of the year.
Pembroke was only one of six colleges to hold Admissions interviews in person this year, the first time we have done so since 2019. Across the interview fortnight, our excellent student Pembassadors waited in the Porters' Lodge and Junior Parlour to support applicants and ease their nerves. We received nearly 1000 applications this year and our Admissions team had the complex job of scheduling all the interviews, a task made slightly more manageable by having access to all the rooms on the Mill Lane site.
This term has started to see the site used to its potential. The Auditorium hosted the William Pitt Seminar in October, 'Live and Let Die', which explored the future of healthcare in the UK and the wider world. Singers Dame Sarah Connolly and Sir Simon Keenlyside delivered Bliss International Song Series recitals. Last month, author and alumnus Richard Beard (1985) held a writing masterclass, publicly critiquing the short stories of two courageous students, followed by a fascinating interview with biographer and novelist Dame Margaret Drabble.
Most recently, the Auditorium was packed out for the 2023 Jo Cox Lecture. Kim Leadbeater, MP, sister of the late Jo Cox MP, was in conversation with former UK cabinet Minister Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell, official spokesman of former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Messrs Stewart and Campbell host the popular UK podcast, 'The Rest is Politics'. While politically, they come from very different perspectives, they spoke of the importance of listening to the other side of the debate and recognising that there is a need for collaboration across political divides. We need more of this spirit around the world at the moment.
At a more informal level, Pembroke College Music Society have been holding their Saturday recitals there, and it turns out that the Foyer is an ideal space for the Graduate Parlour's yoga classes!
The end of the Michaelmas Term was celebrated with the now traditional display of fireworks over the Bowling Green. Fellows and Bye-Fellows acted as stewards, the Catering team supplied mince pies, and the choir sang carols by candlelight. Afterwards, many, many students piled into the Chapel for a singalong led by Anna Lapwood, featuring Christmas hits by Wham, Mariah Carey, and The Pogues and culminating in a rousing rendition of 'I'm Loving Pembroke Instead' (for more august alumni, this is sung to the tune of Robbie Williams' 'Angels').
Anna has had another hectic year but continues to put her energies into continually improving and expanding the ambition of the Pembroke choirs. The size of the choirs has grown so much that when both are in action, many events have run out of room!
Last year, you may remember that the choirs released a CD of Christmas songs, 'A Pembroke Christmas'. This year, Anna and the Chapel Choir released a Christmas EP, 'In the Stillness', available online.
I recommend reading this piece, Love lost and found, about the research of our historian Fellow Professor Renaud Morieux. Researching in the National Archives, Renaud was intrigued by a box of previously unread letters and discovered that they were written by the loved ones of French sailors who had been fighting the British in the Seven Years War (1756-1763). The French postal service had travelled from port to port, tracking the course of the warship Galatée along the coast, never quite catching up with her. When she was captured by the British, the letters were forwarded to the Admiralty, who never passed them on to the imprisoned sailors. They offer fascinating insights into female literacy, social networks, and the experiences of family members awaiting news of loved ones in wartime.
And for those who have ever experienced – or watched a loved one experience – morning sickness, I recommend this article, published last week. It discusses research led by Professor Sir Steve O'Rahilly, Director of the Medical Research Council Metabolic Diseases Unit at the University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Pembroke, who has worked out why and how so many women experience nausea and vomiting (hyperemia) during pregnancy. Working with collaborators in the US and Sri Lanka, he has shown that sickness depends on how much of a specific hormone, GDF15, is produced by a foetus, combined with the mother's sensitivity to it. Now that scientists know how and why hyperemia affects some women more than others, it should be possible to develop effective treatments to prevent it.
Onwards!
October 2024 will mark forty years since the admission of women students to Pembroke. A group of alumnae, students, staff and Fellows are discussing how we will mark this anniversary, and I look forward to sharing more information in the new year.
And finally, a short update on the progress of the search for my successor. We had dozens of applications for the role, and I understand that Professor Mike Payne, the College’s President who is leading the effort, and others have drawn up a shortlist, with the next stage of the process beginning in the new year. Thank you to everyone who responded to Mike's email and suggested potential candidates.
One of my tasks over the next year and a half, before I (regretfully) step down from the Mastership, is to complete the editing of a “coffee-table book” on “The Buildings and Gardens of Pembroke”, to coincide with the opening of the Mill Lane site as a whole next autumn. It was for “the buildings and grounds of Pembroke” that Ray Dolby bequeathed his wonderful legacy to us, and Mill Lane – and this book – will be the way we honour both his generosity, and the generosity of so many more of our alumni too.
I want to take this opportunity to send you and your family our warmest and best wishes - from us all here at Pembroke - for the festive season.
Chris Smith
Master of Pembroke
