A Message from the Warden, Professor Irene Tracey

Dear friends,

I hope this message finds you and your loved ones well. As we start a new academic year, I have plenty to reflect on. My first year as Warden was most definitely an interesting one. I am so proud of how our entire Merton community has come together in response to the global pandemic.

We welcomed students old and new to College at the beginning of this month, and we have just finished a successful Freshers’ week and now first week of Michaelmas term. For staff and Fellows, it is not only heart-warming but energising to see students (happily distanced and with face-coverings) wandering about the College, even if we are operating under a ‘new normal’.

We look forward to a successful term and year, and we are doing everything in our power to keep everyone safe while facilitating teaching, research and community life. For example, we have created a new space for socialising in a marquee on Chestnut Lawn – called ‘Chestnut Hall’ – and have introduced screens in dining areas to enable us to eat together as Mertonians have done for more than 755 years. In-person tutorials and small group teaching are going ahead either with face-coverings or online, whilst larger lectures all remain online. The Library have introduced a highly popular ‘click and collect’ service for books, and there will soon be a dedicated booking system for library seats. Throughout the College, there are various one-way systems operating, and there is plenty of helpful signage and hand sanitiser. To minimise the number of people who would need to self-isolate in the event of a positive case of Covid-19, all students have been assigned ‘households’. You can find out more about our response to the pandemic here.

While the pandemic is understandably foremost in our minds, I am eager for it not to diminish the importance of everything else that is happening in College. We must, firstly, remember that this year is a particularly special one, as we celebrate four decades since women first matriculated at Merton in Michaelmas term of 1980. We have much planned to mark this wonderful anniversary, in spite of the current situation. For starters, each week we will be profiling a different Merton woman on a dedicated page on our website. The ‘profilees’ will include a diverse range of alumnae, Fellows, staff, and current students - I encourage you to click-in each week and read their fascinating stories. In addition, we will be holding a series of online lectures, given by some of these talented women. We hope to organise in-person events to celebrate the anniversary in 2021, if government and University regulations permit, including a First Decade Alumnae Lunch in Hilary term and a Study Day and Garden Reception in Trinity. There is a planting project linked to the anniversary by the garden team already in progress and a special exhibition about women’s involvement in the College over the years. You can read more about our exciting plans, and the longer history of women at Merton, in this extract from Postmaster.

Speaking of Postmaster, I do hope that most of you have received your copies. If not, please bear in mind that the post may take a little longer this year, especially for those of you who live overseas. This year’s annual record is truly a bumper edition, and I am sure you will enjoy reading it – for the eager ones among you, it can be viewed online here. Postmaster is, of course, not the only publication of note this term. Fellow Librarian Dr Julia Walworth has written the first ever book on the history of our medieval library, titled Merton College Library: An Illustrated History. I can attest to just how brilliant and interesting it is. You can read more about Julia’s book here and purchase it with a 10% alumni discount at this link using the code OUAlumni.

I was delighted to learn that two of our Fellows, Professor Robert Maclaren and Professor Jonathan Prag, were honoured with Vice-Chancellor’s Innovation Awards on 7 October, in a livestreamed panel discussion in lieu of an in-person awards ceremony. Bodley Fellow and leading ophthalmologist and neuroscientist Professor MacLaren’s research won the Inspiring Leader section of the Awards for his spinout of Nightstar, a retinal gene therapy company. His work was also named the overall winner of the awards by the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Louise Richardson. Fellow in Ancient History Professor Prag’s award was for his I.Sicily, a project that enables access to ancient Sicilian inscriptions: a digital, online, open access corpus and research tool. Many congratulations to both Robert and Jonathan.

Our students have remained as brilliant as ever, and several have made headlines with coronavirus-related research. For example, we were pleased to receive news of a fascinating project to help contain the spread of coronavirus through a creative group testing model in the developing world, which involves Jakob Jonnerby, Edwin Lock, Divya Sridhar (all 2016) and our Bodley Fellow and Lecturer in Physics Christopher Ramsey. I was delighted to see the Merton team on University Challenge for another year running last month, winning big against Wolfson College, Cambridge (see more and a link to watch here). Also on TV last month was History DPhil student Eamonn O'Keeffe (2014), who appeared on Songs of Praise and spoke to presenter Claire McCollum about a fascinating diary entry that is complicating common assumptions about British attitudes to homosexuality in the early 19th century. Our Finalists, despite the rapid change in circumstances in which they sat Finals, have once again done us proud by producing an eye-watering set of results (the Norrington table is delayed this year but see Postmaster for details). Credit and huge congratulations to them and their tutors. I look forward to having our Finalists back to College to properly celebrate their time here, but meanwhile we welcome them as alumni and send them our heartfelt wishes in this next phase of their lives.

Although we unfortunately still cannot welcome alumni and friends back to the College, I very much hope that you will enjoy staying in touch with us through our online channels. There are myriad ways of doing so: our livestreamed Chapel Services (please ‘subscribe’ on Youtube), the 40 years of women celebrations, including the online lectures and profiles, and of course, our Facebook and Twitter pages. If you were at the College in the 1980s, you can also help us to enrich our 40 years of women celebrations by sending over any photos or memorabilia you may have from that decade. Please do pass on anything you think may be of interest for our ’40 years’ collection to my colleagues in the Development Office by email or post.

I wish you and your loved ones all the best in these uncertain times. Stay safe and well, and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions, comments, or ideas about how we can all stay connected – we are always very happy to hear from our alumni and friends.

To close, I’d like to introduce you all to a special new addition to the College community – my family’s golden retriever puppy, Geoffrey Biscuit. He has already spread so much joy around the College, and I hope you’ll be able to meet him soon. In the meantime, do pet him virtually on his Twitter account!

With warmest wishes,

Professor Irene Tracey
Warden