All 31 Cambridge colleges were represented at a dinner in Singapore on Monday April 11th and at a similar event in Hong Kong on Wednesday April 13th to mark the latest stage of the University's endowment campaign – which aims to raise £2 billion to maintain our global reputation for teaching and research. There was a strong presence of Selwyn alumni, along with the Master and the Development Director. The photograph below shows some of the Selwynites and Cambridge colleagues at the Hong Kong launch, with Roger Mosey (4th from left) and Mike Nicholson (2nd from right).

The following day there was a lunch at the Hong Kong Club and also an evening reception for Selwyn alumni, hosted by Sir David Li (SE 1961).

For the Singapore even Harry Oxer (SE 1951) flew in specially from Western Australia - a five-hour flight away. Our photo shows Robert Martin (SE 1984) who is now CEO and managing director of BOC Aviation, based in Singapore.

The Master, Roger Mosey, hosted drinks in Perth, Western Australia, on April 6th for our community there. Alumni who
attended, pictured from left to right, are:

Philip Raymont (SE 2000, Education); Stephen Adams (1976, Medicine); Roger Jennings (1965, Natural Sciences); James
Walters (1997, Theology); Harry Oxer (1951, Medicine) Rob Ross (1992, Chemical Engineering); and Peter Chong (2001, Business
Administration).

There was a large turnout for Selwyn's MA degree ceremony on Saturday April 2nd, which was made up mainly of those who arrived at the College to start their undergraduate courses in 2009. The graduands gathered in Old Court on a glorious Spring day and then processed to the Senate House for the awarding of their degrees.

Later in the day, there was a dinner in Hall. Our photo shows law graduates with Fellows Professor John Spencer (third from left) and Dr Janet O'Sullivan (sixth from left).

There are more details about the Cambridge MA on the University website: http://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/your-course/graduation-and-what-next/cambridge-ma

Cambridge won this year’s men’s Boat Race for the first time since 2012. There was particular pleasure at Selwyn because the victorious boat included our undergraduate Felix Newman, who is reading Engineering; and he took the crucial Bow position for the University. He is the first Selwyn oarsman in the Boat Race for 26 years, though the College had a female Blue last year with Hannah Evans in the historic first women’s race on the Tideway. We believe Felix is the first Selwynite to be in a winning men’s crew since 1971.

Felix began his rowing career at Abingdon School, and he came to Selwyn in 2013. As well as his sporting activities, he is a scholar of the College. The photo below shows him in action (facing the cox and wearing sunglasses) in the Selwyn boat at last year’s May Bumps.

There’s more, including video highlights, on the BBC Sport website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rowing/35908187

A Selwyn PhD student, Rashmi Becker, has been leading a project to capture photographs of people across the UK with learning disabilities and autism. Rashmi, who was also an undergraduate at the College, is behind a book and exhibition depicting images of people with a learning disability. It challenges negative perceptions by highlighting their everyday moments and their milestones in life – from leaving school to getting married.

The book was undertaken with Jerwood Photography prize winner Polly Braden, who spent two years travelling the country photographing people and capturing their stories. As well as helping to turn this into a beautiful book, Rashmi worked with the National Media Museum in Bradford to host a major exhibition in their main gallery which will run until mid-April. The picture (below) shows Rashmi, left, at the opening of the exhibition.

Rashmi will be continuing her PhD in Cambridge’s Department of Psychiatry, where her research focuses on improving care for people with a learning disability.

The College held a three-minute thesis competition this week. The intention was to provide students with an opportunity to
present about their work (projects or dissertations and not regular supervision essays) briefly and in a convivial
atmosphere. A wide range of students from both the JCR and MCR took part, and our photographs show two of the winners. Rob
Byron, an undergraduate Classics student, is pictured with the Master, Roger Mosey, who was one of the judging panel; and
graduate student Camille Stavrakas is shown with another judge, Dr Emily Charnock.

A group of five Selwyn first year students made the national final of a competition to develop the power of the internet to solve social and environmental issues. The challenge was issued by Cisco, who wanted students to show how “the internet of everything” – the concept of embedding physical objects (tools, vehicles, buildings) with technology and connecting them to the internet – is becoming a vital part of the modern world.

The Selwyn group came up with a new app to help people with diabetes: issuing alerts when they need to take action to safeguard their health, and using a ‘smart fridge’ to collect information about their food consumption. They didn’t win the overall prize, but Cisco said they “wowed” the judges.  “I was blown away by the young talent we have across the UK Universities,” said Phil Smith, Chief Executive, Cisco Systems UK & Ireland, and part of the judging panel.

The photograph shows the Selwyn team on the day of their pitch. They are Raghul Parthipan (the team leader, centre), Xiaofan Zhang, Markos Loizou, Diya Rajan and Georgios Patsalidis.

The College is pleased to announce that Dr Janet O’Sullivan has been elected as Vice-Master to succeed Dr Michael Tilby, who will retire at the end of this academic year.

Dr O’Sullivan is a Fellow in Law and also Dean of Selwyn. She went to a state school in Essex before reading Law at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where she was senior scholar and graduated with the highest first in Part II of the Law tripos. She then worked as a commercial lawyer in the City firm Slaughter and May. In 1994 she was elected to a Fellowship at Selwyn, and has been director of studies in Law from then until the present day.

In 1996 she was also appointed to a University Lectureship in the Law Faculty, and subsequently promoted to a Senior Lectureship.  In 2005, she won a Pilkington Teaching Prize for Excellence in University teaching. She was awarded a PhD in 2010 on the basis of published research.

The Master of Selwyn, Roger Mosey, said: “Michael Tilby has done a wonderful job as Vice-Master, and I’m delighted that Janet O’Sullivan has been chosen by the Fellowship to succeed him. She is liked and respected by colleagues, staff and students alike; and I’ll very much look forward to working with her to deliver the ambitions we all have for Selwyn.”

Selwyn’s rowers are in the final stages of preparation for Cambridge’s Lent Bumps: the first big event of 2016 on the river. The College Boat Club is profiling some of the athletes who are taking part, and our photograph on the homepage and below shows Nigel Coburn. He’s a graduate student working for the European Space Agency on Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS devices) for use in space satellites. You can read more about his work, and about why he decided to take up rowing at University, on the Boat Club’s website here: https://selwynrowing.wordpress.com/2016/02/10/athletes-of-scbc-nigel-coburn/

Also profiled is Eleanor Salter (below) from the women’s crew: https://selwynrowing.wordpress.com/2016/01/27/women-of-scbc-eleanor-salter-se-2015-2/

There’s a full guide to the Lent Bumps on the University Boat Club website http://www.cucbc.org/lents.

The College is delighted to announce that its keynote Ramsay Murray Lecture will be given this year by Professor Theda Skocpol. She is the Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University, and a distinguished commentator on American politics and society. In the year of an American election which is more unpredictable than any in recent times – as the turbulent Primary season is already showing – Professor Skocpol will be sharing her insights about the legacy of Barack Obama, and the forces driving US politics.

You can read more about Professor Skocpol here http://www.gov.harvard.edu/people/faculty/theda-skocpol. The title of her lecture will be announced soon, and it will take place on Friday May 6^th at 5.30pm. It’s free, and all are welcome. There’s information online for all Selwyn events: http://www.selwynalumni.com/eventscalendar.

Theda Skocpol

photo credit: Martha Stewart

Last year’s Ramsay Murray Lecture was given by Bridget Kendall on the subject of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. It can be viewed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjSoK1hidww.