St John's College Alumni eNewsletter - December 2024
Dear Friends,
December is always a time for reflection and a lot has happened in the past year at St John's. A new portrait of Professor James Maynard FRS was unveiled in February to celebrate the award of the Fields Medal in 2022 for his ‘spectacular contributions in analytic number theory’. There has been continued activity in our Access and Outreach programme as we hosted the Inspire Teacher Lead conference in March, worked with over 900 students from 38 non-selective state schools, ran 22 workshops and awarded ten Aspiration Fund Grants to fund Inspire Teacher Leads.
Our Open Doors event in September was a landslide success, with over 4500 visitors, who were treated to a range of talks, tours, recitals, cream cakes and a special tree trail around the Groves. We saw the official grand opening of the restoration of our magnificent historic libraries in October - and, with the generous support of the alumni community, the reinstated teaching rooms for Fellows. Each of the five refurbished rooms is named after a distinguished College tutor who made a significant impact in their fields and on their students.
Our alumni community is generous and impactful in many ways, in particular - continuing exellence of St John's students through funding scholarships, aiding our research and investing in networking opportunities for our staff and students. We are so grateful for this support.
Sending all good wishes for a wonderful 2025.
Sue
Professor Lady Sue Black, Baroness Black of Strome
President
Oxmas at St John's
The President's Lodgings is now full of decorations, including an illuminated alpine chalet covered in snow, Santa Claus matryoshka dolls, and more. I even have an Anne of Cleves decoration (a kind gift from Black Rod) on our Christmas tree in the Lodgings, most appropriately as Anne’s portrait has returned to College and is now back gracing the Parlour.
College and Alumni News
I am delighted to share some recent College and alumni news. Dr Julia Ebner (2019, Anthropology) has been named 'Austrian of the Year 2024' by the Austrian Foreign Ministry and Austrian daily newspaper Die Presse (the category being 'international success') at a high-profile award ceremony, which took place in October this year. Dr Ebner is leader of the CSSC Violent Extremism Lab, and is celebrated for her work to understand what drives people to commit terrorist attacks.
Sir Chris Wormald KCB (1987, History) has been appointed as the new Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, and will be in post from 16 December. Sir Chris currently serves as the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care.
We also congratulate St John's third year DPhil student Amy McCall (2022, DPhil Psychiatry) on winning the Medical Research Council's Max Perutz Award for outstanding scientific communication. Her video entry, 'Researching Panic Disorder in Young People', explores what panic looks like in young people (13-18), why it happens, and how we can treat it. You can watch Amy's video here.
News of Great Joy named BBC's 'Christmas Choice'
We're thrilled that BBC Music Magazine has named the choir's album, News of Great Joy, as this year's 'Christmas Choice'! In the five-star review, available in the Christmas issue, the recording was lauded as a "purely pleasurable listening experience," with "warmth and luminescence."
This well deserved accolade comes after a string of positive reviews for the recording, including "A most enjoyable disc to which one will want to return" (British Music Society) and "an enjoyable, thoughtfully prepared Christmas album" (Music Web International). We will celebrate the CD's success with a launch party at the Lamb and Flag pub on 13 December. The evening will feature festive favourites, as well as some of the CD tracks sung live by the choir. News of Great Joy is available now to buy via Resonus Classics, or to stream on all major platforms.
Thank you for supporting St John's College over the past year.
See what your giving means for students at St John's.