News Articles

Three hostels at 29 and 31 Grange Road and 1 Selwyn Gardens (a recent purchase) have been handed back to the college after extensive refurbishment by contractors.

The work has included installing ground source heat pumps, underfloor heating and high-quality insulation to ensure that the properties are environmentally-friendly. They will provide more than 30 rooms for graduate students, and will be fully operational in the next academic year. In the meantime, they are available to book for bed and breakfast along with other rooms in the college site. Booking can be done online via https://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/conferences/accommodation-booking; or for more information please contact conferences@sel.cam.ac.uk. All are welcome.

Our photographs show some of the bedrooms and bathrooms along with one of the kitchens and communal areas.

We’re very grateful to the alumni and friends who have made contributions to the project as part of our 140th anniversary appeal.

It has become a Selwyn tradition that we invite students to design the college Christmas card – and we’re delighted to share this year’s winning entry. It’s a painting of the chapel and one of our visiting foxes, and it was created by Frances Dixon who is a fourth-year student of veterinary medicine.

May we take this opportunity to wish all Selwyn students, staff, alumni and friends a Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year.

We’re delighted to announce that over 36 hours our first ever Giving Day raised a total of £114,381 for Selwyn students.

Alumni and friends donated to help current students make the most of their time in Cambridge, as well as sharing memories from their own time at the college. A huge thank you to everyone who has already taken part. If you would like to add your support to Giving Day, please visit www.selwynalumni.com/makeagift at any time and select Student Support – Giving Day on the drop down.

These are some comments from students and alumni about why philanthropy matters:

"During my matriculation year we were very lucky to our Christmas dinner provided by donors. This made me feel so at home and part of a family that I want to pass that feeling on."

"Thankful for the wonderful memories I have had during my time at Selwyn, and for the generous support I was offered during a particularly challenging time."

"It's such a pleasure to support an institution that values excellence and a down-to-earth sense of community in equal measure. Floreat Selwyn!"

To see more detail of the donations, please visit the special Giving Day webpage here: www.selwyngivingday.sel.cam.ac.uk. And please get in touch via development@sel.cam.ac.uk if you’d like to talk about how you may be able to help.

Labour’s shadow Health secretary Wes Streeting visited Selwyn on 26 November to talk to students and to carry out research for a book he’s currently writing. He found time to visit the Bartlam library too. Wes is a Selwyn alumnus and a former JCR president, and he was elected to parliament in 2015. In his session with students, he faced questions on current issues ranging from the planned strike by nurses through to reform of the House of Lords. Wes Streeting is pictured with current JCR president Bella Cross.

This is one of a number of college events at which we bring interesting speakers to students, alumni and friends. Some of the other recent sessions are available to view online.

·         Professor Jane Clarke featured in a session about leadership in science, and the particular challenges that women of her generation faced: https://youtu.be/xZT9KXlV6Mw

·         Best-selling author Robert Harris, a Selwyn alumnus and honorary fellow, took part in a webinar about his new book on the killers of King Charles I: https://youtu.be/RqIDa2X9wf8

Selwyn's JCR president for 2023 will be Elina Smith, who was elected by students this week.

Elina is a 2nd year undergraduate reading Theology. She is half Ukrainian and half English, and grew up in Ukraine - but her family home is now in West Sussex.

She is photographed in Independence Square in Kyiv.

Elina will join the Selwyn college council and the governing body in January, and we wish her every success in her new role.

The college has welcomed its new undergraduate and postgraduate students, with a series of introductory events – and the traditional photographs in Old Court.

The photo below of undergraduate freshers was taken on Monday 3 October by Howard Beaumont.

Graduate students arrived a little earlier, and their matriculation was on Friday 30 September. They’re seen in a more informal pose. This year’s postgraduate intake represents 35 different countries: Algeria, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark , France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Italy, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Republic of Korea, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Myanmar, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, USA, UK and Zambia.

We wish all our new students success in their studies, and we are delighted that they are now part of our community.

The college will welcome two new Research Fellows this autumn.

Zeina Al Azmeh joins us in October as the Centenary Research Fellow. She completed her PhD in Sociology at Selwyn and her work sits at the intersection of the political sociology of knowledge, memory studies and migration studies. More specifically, she studies the cultural sociologies of knowledge production in exile and their impact upon political subjectivity, with a focus on revolutions and counter-revolutions in the Middle East. In 2021-22 she was awarded a research grant from the Arab Council for the Social Sciences to expand on her dissertation and complete a monograph, which is currently under review with Cambridge University Press. The monograph offers a cultural sociology of Syrian intellectuals, examining their role in civil resistance and the Syrian Revolution of 2011. A native of Syria, Zeina was also trained as a pianist and a composer and holds a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from the Queens University of Charlotte, North Carolina, and a master’s degree in music composition from the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music in Beirut.

Carrie Soderman joins Selwyn in October 2022 as the Henslow Research Fellow in Earth Sciences. She completed her Natural Sciences BA, MSc degree and PhD at St John’s College and the Department of Earth Sciences. Her PhD research focuses on developing geochemical tools to better study Earth’s interior, combining chemical and non-traditional isotopic measurements of rocks erupted from ocean-island volcanoes, such as Hawai’i and the Galápagos, with a theoretical thermodynamic modelling framework. This combined approach gives powerful new perspectives on the dynamics and processes occurring in Earth’s interior, which are ultimately reflected in the erupted rocks at the surface. Carrie also has an active interest in the role of geoscience in addressing our future energy transition needs, from both a research and policy perspective, and worked with a House of Commons Select Committee during her PhD on aspects of natural resource and energy policy. Beyond her research, Carrie is a keen hiker, and a ballroom and Latin American dancer, having competed for the Cambridge University Dancesport Team throughout her PhD.

Following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on September 8th, the Master Roger Mosey wrote to the Selwyn community:

“The college, the nation and millions of people around the world are grieving for Queen Elizabeth II. In her long life, she provided a model of service and dedication; and, during times of disruption and change, she was a figure of stability as the only monarch most of us had known. The Jubilee earlier this year showed the Queen’s ability to unite the people of these islands as we celebrated a reign whose length alone made it unique in our history – but which will also be distinguished by the monarch’s constitutional wisdom.”

Selwyn held a short service in Chapel on the day after the announcement of the Queen’s death, which was attended by fellows, students and staff. A book of Condolence was opened which will be available to sign during the national mourning. We send our deepest sympathies to the King and the Royal Family.  

The University of Cambridge has published data about the undergraduate examination results in 2021-22. Selwyn was placed second in the collegiate university for the percentage of students achieving ‘good honours’ – which represents the combined total of Class I and Class II Division I results. We congratulate our students on their excellent performance, and also thank our academic and support staff for this achievement.

There is more information on the university website:

https://www.information-hub.admin.cam.ac.uk/university-profile/ug-examination-results/results-college-dashboard

To read more about applying to Selwyn, please click here:

https://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/joining-selwyn/undergraduates

The British Ecological Society (BES) announced on September 2nd the winners of its annual awards and prizes, recognising ten distinguished ecologists and groups whose work has benefited the scientific community and society in general.

We're delighted that they include Selwyn fellow Lynn Dicks, who has won the Ecological Engagement Award, which recognises an ecologist who has bridged the gap between ecology and other groups.

Lynn is a lecturer in animal ecology at Cambridge. A key part of her work focusses on how farmers can benefit from ecosystem services. Lynn and members of the Cambridge Agroecology group work with farmers to co-design research projects and gather data on how they manage their systems with the overall goal of understanding how we can reduce impacts on wildlife in realistic commercial contexts.

We congratulate her on this recognition.