St John's College Alumni eNewsletter - April 2023

College and Alumni News for April 2023

April 2023

Local Primary School opens new library thanks to St John's support 

On 3 March 2023 Bayards Hill Primary School's brand-new library officially opened its doors with a World Book Day celebration. 

Beginning over six months ago, St John’s Access team members and generous student volunteers have been travelling regularly to Bayards Hill to deliver and organise the numerous boxes of books for the pupils donated by St John’s. The College has also donated bookshelves and supported the school with a £5k grant that enabled their most disadvantaged students to participate in school trips.

This work forms part of the wider Inspire Primary initiative at St John’s which partners the College with local primary schools. By sharing the facilities and resources of St John’s, the goal of the programme is to inspire young learners and break down barriers between the university and the local community.

Read more about the library here

College News

Current student represents Team GB for International Modern Pentathlon 

Sophia Lubiecki (2021, Jurisprudence) represented Team GB in Poland finishing within the top ten. 

Professor Pandit appointed Editor-in-Chief of world's leading anaesthesia journal

Professor Jaideep Pandit has been appointed as the next Editor-in-Chief of Anesthesia & Analgesia (A&A).

Professor Maini awarded IMA Gold Medal 2022 

Professor Philip Maini has been awarded the medal in recognition of his profound contributions to mathematics in biology and medicine. 

Professor Obłój wins Hugon Steinhaus Award 2022

Professor Jan Obłój has received the award for his overall contributions to mathematical finance with particular emphasis on novel methods for studying robustness of models. 

Alumni News

Alumnus elected President

Jakov Milatović (2011, Economics) has recently been elected the President of Montenegro declaring victory over the long standing leader Milo Djukanovic. Jakov's inauguration will take place on 20 May 2023.  

Nuffield Medal for alumnus

Dr Peter Rackstraw (2011, Medicine) was awarded the Nuffield Medal for coming top in the country at the primary examinations of the Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthetists. 

'A dance album like no other'

Congratulations to James Holden (1997, Mathematics) on his fourth album Imagine This Is a High Dimensional Space of All Possibilities - the vintage rave soundtrack he would have wanted as a teenager.

Pattern Book - Kate Montgomery

Kate Montgomery (1985, Fine Art) is pleased to share details of her upcoming exhibition.

Date: 30 June - 27 July 2023

Venue: Long & Ryle, 4 John Islip Street, London, SW1P 4PX

Visits to the Library

We're delighted that alumni can once again visit the Library.

Where possible please bring your Alumni Card with you, and report to the front desk on arrival. If you wish to visit with a large group please contact the Library Team to arrange this. 

You can find out more about visiting the Library, including opening times, here​. 

Town & Gown

The annual Oxford town-gown 10k takes place on Sunday 14 May 2023, to raise funds for Muscular Dystrophy UK.  This is Oxford’s mass participation road run with a beautiful (and very flat!) route culminating in University Parks. Runners from across the College: JCR, MCR, Professional Staff and Fellows will all be taking part, and we very much welcome any alumni runners to sign up and join the 'St John’s Team’.  For the last two years the Senior Tutor has been the fastest fellow, and there’ve been some incredible student performances. But (fortunately for the sports fellow, who will be lagging well behind the Senior Tutor), it’s really is the case that it’s the taking part and raising funds for a good cause that counts.

Race information and sign up can be found here.

The Fellow for Sport will be hosting a post run brunch for students, staff, fellows and alunmi runners in the president’s garden after the race.  Alumni runners who want to join for the brunch can sign up here.

Alumni Publications

Tim Ambler (1957, Mathematics)

Shrinking Whitehall to Improve Government Efficiency (The Adam Smith Institute, 2022)

Alumni Guest Room Bookings

Alumni can check availability, book and pay for rooms within Alumni House online, with rooms being confirmed immediately. The automated system is far more user-friendly and can be found on the Alumni Benefits page of our website.

To make a booking, you will need to enter a promotional code to identify yourself as an alumnus/a and this can be found in the monthly e-newsletter

Please click here​ to find answers to frequently asked questions, along with further details about the Alumni Guest Rooms.

TW Magazine

The deadline for submissions to 2022's edition of TW has now passed.