It’s a recent tradition at Selwyn that the college Christmas card is designed by students. There’s a competition open to all JCR and MCR members during the Michaelmas term after which the best entry is chosen, and it then becomes the image for the card that is sent to hundreds of people.

This year’s winner was Harriet Palmer, a third-year medical student. She created the picture of a snowy Old Court – with a hint at the Master’s dog-walking across the lawn – using pastels. We congratulate her on her artistry.

It also gives us the chance to wish “season’s greetings” to all Selwyn students, staff, fellows, alumni and friends. All the very best for 2025.

Selwyn’s MCR, our representative body for postgraduate students, has elected a new president. He is Jeffery Pendleton, and he will join the college’s council and governing body in 2025.

We asked Jeffery to introduce himself:  

“I am a second-year PhD candidate in Psychology at Selwyn College, originally from the United States (Southern Kentucky).
Previously, I completed a research-based MPhil in Biological Anthropology at Girton College and an Anthropology BA with Arizona State University.
This past year I served as MCR Secretary, and also currently hold the role of Selwyn exchange officer at our sister college Keble in Oxford — where I’m an associate member. 
As MCR President, I aim to draw on my previous experience — both at Cambridge and other institutions — to advocate for the MCR, further enhance the postgraduate student experience, and strengthen ties with our sister college as well as others.”

The college has formally admitted its newest Fellow Benefactor, John Bamford. The role of Fellow Benefactor was created by Selwyn in 2016 to mark exceptional philanthropy. Mr Bamford, who has particularly supported our school outreach activities, becomes the 10th in this category of college members. He is an alumnus (SE 1962) and a retired chemical engineer.

Our other Fellow Benefactors are:

Jim Dickinson 
Robert Martin 
Katya Speciale 
Robin Jeffs (who sadly died in 2021) 
Tom Bartlam 
Gareth Quarry 
Jill Whitehouse 
Peter Dawson 
Christina Dawson

The photograph, taken on Friday December 13th, shows from left to right: Professor Janet O’Sullivan, vice-master; Roger Mosey, master; Mr Bamford; and Professor Stewart Sage, praelector, who oversaw the admission ceremony.

Selwyn is hosting prospective students throughout December for undergraduate admissions interviews. Most of our interviews take place in person, and applicants are welcomed to the college by existing students who staff a helpdesk. The photo below, by schools liaison officer Shireen Nawaz, shows some of our team poised for action.

You can read more about Selwyn’s practices on interviews, and there are links to useful videos, here: https://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/joining-selwyn/undergraduates/applying-admission/interviews

We wish all applicants the best of luck.

Selwyn College and Cambridge United Foundation (CUF) have agreed a new partnership between their two organisations to give students the opportunity to participate in Foundation community activities including volunteering and fundraising.

This forms part of the wider Club and Cambridge University agreement announced last year which has seen some colleges work with the Club on outreach for prospective students and also led to the Abbey Stadium hosting the Varsity matches in March. The Foundation and Selwyn are keen to use this as a pilot to see what might be possible with a view to other Colleges potentially becoming involved in the future.

Cambridge United Foundation works with over 10,000 individuals on an annual basis across the city and in all parts of the community. It aims to use the power of sport to tackle inequality, provide sporting opportunity to those who may be excluded from it and to bring the communities it serves closer together.

Roger Mosey, Master of Selwyn, said: “We are very pleased to be partnering with Cambridge United by opening up new opportunities for Selwyn students to volunteer their time on Foundation programmes.”

“Civic engagement is vitally important for Selwyn, and we believe for the wider University and we value the partnership with Cambridge United. We know how much the football club matters to many of our staff and the community and what important work it does more widely so it is great that there is now this chance to actively participate in it.”

Tim Walker, Head of Programmes at CUF added: “We are very grateful to Roger and Selwyn College for their commitment to the Foundation and their enthusiasm to pioneer this initiative. The wider partnership between the football club and Cambridge University has been very positive in a number of different areas and this is a chance now to extend this work. We ultimately want to give more opportunity to students from many more colleges to work with us and this initiative is a great place to start. We are excited about the future and look forward to welcoming Selwyn students onto our programmes in the coming months.”

The work of Cambridge United Foundation takes many forms, from sport-based mentoring programmes in schools (photo) to open-access football for vulnerable groups and monthly Seniors’ Lunches. These programmes are ever evolving, and it is hoped that the support of Selwyn student volunteers through this new partnership will be vital in increasing their impact.

For further information about the work of Cambridge United Foundation, please visit www.cufcfoundation.com or email foundation@cambridgeunited.com

Cambridge United Foundation mentoring in action with local children

Selwyn has been running a busy programme of events through the autumn, at which students, staff, alumni and friends can engage with some of the big issues of the day. In addition to the packed audiences in the Quarry Whitehouse auditorium, who are able to put questions direct to the speakers, our events are streamed live and on-demand on YouTube – where they have attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers.

Among the highlights:

Mark Urban, the journalist and broadcaster, spoke on October 29th about the new world disorder – the crises in the Middle East and Ukraine, and the geopolitical tensions across the globe. You can watch the session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt-4r8D38Cc&t=6s

We also hosted a panel discussion on the outcome of the American presidential election. Speakers were Dr Lauren Wilcox, political scientist and Selwyn fellow; Professor Brendan Simms, specialist in the history of international relations; and Dr Christopher Wadibia, an academic and Selwyn alumnus who supported Donald Trump on November 5th. Click here to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goGniz28xWA&t=1s
 

The final event for the term was a conversation with Dame Sally Davies, the UK’s special envoy on antimicrobial resistance, who discussed the alarming prospect of a world without antibiotics. It is also online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tJWlx_XMv0

To browse all our events, please go to our YouTube live page: https://www.youtube.com/@selwyn1882/streams

Selwyn has made another major step towards greater sustainability across its site. The college has added around 70 solar photovoltaic panels to the existing installation on the roof of Cripps Court, increasing green power generation capacity by 50% and meeting around one third of the annual electricity usage of the building. 

We have also installed a battery set at ground level to store photovoltaic power generated by day, and then release it at times of peak use – principally early morning and evenings. The projected value of the electricity savings ranges from £12,000 to £16,000 per annum. In sustainability terms, the 45,000 kWh generated from the panels and the battery array equates to saving over 22,000 kg of CO₂ annually, which will make a material contribution to the college’s reduction of its carbon footprint. This follows other initiatives including the installation of ground source heat pumps in the student accommodation at 29 and 31 Grange Road and 1 Selwyn Gardens.

We’re grateful to the Cripps Foundation which has continued its support for the college with a significant contribution to this project. 

The photograph shows the mix of new and old solar panels on the roof of the Cripps Court buildings.

Selwyn welcomed its new graduate and undergraduate students at matriculation ceremonies on October 4^th and October 7^th respectively. Both included the traditional photograph in Old Court, and the postgraduate students were entertained to dinner in Hall later the same day. The undergraduate matriculation dinner follows a few days later.

We welcome all our new members, and wish them the best of luck in their studies at Selwyn and in Cambridge.

The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025 was published in September, and it confirms that Selwyn had an excellent year academically.

We are in 5th place of all the Cambridge colleges for our exam results in 2024. Some of the detail shows that we were top of the entire collegiate university for good honours - categorised as firsts and 2:1s - and we also had the best performance for avoiding thirds and fails. We were 9th overall for our number of firsts. Sixteen students won University of Cambridge prizes, and six were awarded starred firsts.

We warmly congratulate all our students on this terrific performance; and thanks go too to our academics for teaching and supporting them.