St John's College Alumni eNewsletter - May 2026
Founder's Lecture 2026
This year's Founder's Lecture was delivered by Professor Kate Nation, Maggie Snowling Fellow in Psychology, on Becoming a Reader. In celebration of the National Year of Reading, the lecture reflected on what it means to be a reader, and why declines in reading need to be taken seriously. You can watch the lecture here, and a summary of the lecture will be available on our website in due course.
Alumni News and Publications
Carles Falcó wins 2025 Reinhart Heinrich award
Congratulations to Dr Carles Falcó (2021, DPhil Mathematics) on winning the 2025 Reinhart Heinrich award for his thesis 'Interactions and dynamics in collective cell behaviour'. The European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology (ESMTB) grants the Reinhart-Heinrich Doctoral Thesis Award annually for the best doctoral thesis in the area of Mathematical and Theoretical Biology. As the 2025 winner, Carles will be invited to give a talk at the European Conference on Mathematical and Theoretical Biology in Graz, Austria, and a summary of his thesis will be published as the lead article in the Society's next annual report.
Climate technology company Gyre Energy proves to cut electricity costs
Co-created by Dougald Coulson (2023, MBA), the Oxford-founded startup Gyre Energy has released results from its first commercial case study, showing a 38% reduction in electricity costs at a UK frozen cold storage facility. The company demonstrated that its cooling platform can significantly cut energy use while maintaining product quality. Combining physics-based AI and thermal energy storage, the cooling platform also delivered a 35% reduction in daily energy consumption. The three co-founders of Gyre Energy met while studying for their MBAs at Oxford's Saïd Business School and founded Gyre Energy shortly after graduating in 2024.
College News
Clarendon Academic Excellence Summit
On 28 April, St John’s hosted an academic excellence summit, organised jointly by students in the College’s MCR and Clarendon Scholars from across the collegiate university. Five St John’s students presented their research in a variety of imaginative formats. Congratulations to all those who participated in this inaugural summit, and a special thanks to Charden Pouo Moutsouka (DPhil Geography and the Environment), Magdalena Blincoe-Deval (DPhil Geography and the Environment), and Sophia Andresen (Lady Margaret Hall, DPhil in Social Intervention & Policy Evaluation) for organising and hosting such a successful event.
Dr Ashkan Sepahvand awarded Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Fellowship
Congratulations to Dr Ashkan Sepahvand, Career Development Research Fellow in Fine Art, on being awarded a Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Fellowship at the New York Public Library. Dr Sepahvand will read, research, and re-imagine the Iranian-American theatre director Reza Abdoh’s final, unrealized work: an adaptation of the Shahnameh (Persian: 'Book of Kings') written in 1993, a year before the artist’s untimely passing from HIV/AIDS. During this Fellowship, Dr Sepahvand's will conduct an exegesis of Abdoh’s work through the prism of 'kharabaat' (the ruins).
Professor Katherine Blundell OBE, Research Fellow in Astrophysics, has launched STEP into the Cosmos, a free and internationally accessible scientific literacy web app. STEP into the Cosmos uses astronomy to help build wider scientific literacy and critical thinking skills with regular content releases in multiple local languages. The material is designed to be both approachable and engaging for its users. Find out more about the app here.
Professor Gareth Lloyd Evans awarded Leverhulme Research Fellowship
Congratulations to Professor Gareth Lloyd Evans, Tutorial Fellow in English, on being awarded a Research Fellowship by the Leverhulme Trust for research on trans lives in the Viking world. With support from the Leverhulme Trust, Professor Evans will offer the first sustained examination of trans lives in the Viking world and of the afterlives of trans vikings in contemporary culture.
Benefactors Dinner
In April, we held our biennial Benefactors’ Dinner, welcoming donors and supporters to St John’s for an exceptional evening in appreciation of their continued generosity to the College. This year, we were delighted to open up the Library for a unique private view, offering guests a rare opportunity to experience at close quarters a carefully curated selection of the Library’s treasures.
The exhibition conveyed not only the depth of the Library’s collection but also the ongoing work required to preserve and make accessible these remarkable resources. We are immensely grateful to Professor Patrick Hayes, Dr Petra Hofmann, Michael Riordan and the Oxford Conservation Consortium for curating and presenting such a wonderful exhibition.
It was a pleasure to celebrate our major benefactors and all the ways they support the College. Much of the work we do is only possible due to the strength of our donor community, for which we are so grateful. If you would like to find out more about how we recognise and thank our benefactors, please contact Kristina McClendon (Interim Director of Development) or visit our website.
Alumni Events
Tuesday 16 June 2026
Friday 3 July 2026
Friday 10 July 2026
Friday 11 September 2026 - Save the date!
Women's Network Dinner: 10th Anniversary
Saturday 19 September 2026 - Save the date!
Thursday 24 September 2026
College Events
5 - 14 June 2026
Dr Anthony Gritten: Organ Recital
Monday 8 June 2026
Concert: Arild Andersen, Rob Luft and Daniel Sommer Trio
Saturday 13 June 2026
Higher Learning in the Post-truth Age
Friday 19 June 2026
Robert Penson Garden History Lecture 2026
Tuesday 23 June 2026
St John's College Commemoration Ball 2026: 'Wish You Were Here’
Saturday 27 June 2026
Exhibition: Kids and Art for Ukraine
1 - 10 July 2026
Pitt Rivers Museum Beatrice Blackwood Lecture
Friday 17 July 2026
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