A Message from the Warden, Professor Irene Tracey

First and foremost, I hope you are safe and well. For those of our community who have suffered loss and hardship we send our thoughts and sincere condolences. Trinity Term has arrived in Oxford and with it the usual blossoming of spring in the gardens at Merton. Sadly though, the term will be very different this year in that we will not see the return of our students to the College site. Nonetheless, they will all be with us in spirit via digital means and through the extended online Merton community.

As noted in my previous messages, teaching, research and assessment will move online for the coming term and everyone in the College is working hard to support our students as we all acclimatise to this new way of teaching, studying and examining. There is still much to do to iron out all of the administrative challenges that this new set of circumstances present us, but I am confident that Merton and the University will rise admirably to the occasion.

In the past couple of weeks, we have been reviewing the various areas of support that the College offers current students, from different aspects of welfare provision to redirecting the use of our hardship funds. Indeed, we have already noted that our Student Support Subcommittee will give priority to those who find themselves in financial difficulties as a result of Covid-19. We are therefore enormously grateful to Mertonians whose ongoing donations help us to provide this much-needed support and to those who have enquired about how they might help. There is further information on our website here.

I hope that this edition of Merton Messenger sees all alumni keeping safe and well. Do keep in touch, save the date for the Merton Society London Lecture online on 19 May (by me!), and send your news and updates to your Year Rep!

Finally, please enjoy some photographs I took recently of Merton in lockdown.