Wolfson College

Wolfson will be returning to the Oxford & Cambridge Club in London for a drinks reception. This will be a chance to meet our incoming President, Professor Ijeoma Uchegbu. Tickets are £30 which includes drinks and refreshments for the evening. Please use the link below and book early to avoid disappointment! https://lnkd.in/dXN9MvEq

Proud of our continued commitment to supporting postgraduate students at Wolfson College, and thankful for our many generous donors.

Congratulations to Dr Francesco Fournier-Facio, a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson, who has received the 2024 Mary Ellen Rudin Award - a prize for young mathematicians working in topology and related areas! "I am very happy to receive this award," said Francesco, "especially because many former awardees are colleagues of mine that I greatly admire." Along with a $10,000 prize, Francesco will be invited to be a plenary speaker at the Spring Topology and Dynamics Conference (STDC) and the annual Summer Conference on Topology and its Applications (SUMTOPO). Well done Francesco!

We are thrilled to announce Owen Thompson, CEO and Co-Founder of Cambridge Future Tech, as a speaker for the Wolfson Entrepreneurship Panel Discussion on ‘How to make a smooth career transition into entrepreneurship’. Owen studied for a master’s degree in Entrepreneurship at Wolfson (2018) and will be joining a dynamic panel featuring Dr Chris Coleridge (2022), Professor Ijeoma Uchegbu FMedSci (2024), and Omar Majid (2018).   Book your place today for the panel on 7 December with the link below: https://lnkd.in/dtjP5nga   Cambridge Future Tech is a technology-first venture builder working with top-tier UK universities to spin-out the most promising deep technologies into commercial ventures with global impact.    Prior to his role at CFT, Owen was a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force (RAF) for over a decade, and then subsequently General Manager for Advanced Technologies at BAE Systems, which included running multiple R&D sites with technology focus areas such as microwave materials, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), printed electronics, and additive manufacturing. In the last year, Owen has successfully shaped multiple start-up funding rounds, including taking six portfolio companies through their pre-seed rounds and supporting multiple external fundraising engagements. Under his leadership, CFT’s portfolio continues to grow at pace, having created over 70 highly skilled jobs and raising over $10m in external funding.  

Entrepreneurship Hub Panel and Dinner - 07/12/2024 at 17.30 Join Dr Chris Coleridge (2022), Professor Ijeoma Uchegbu FMedSci (2024), Omar Majid (2018) and other experts for an insightful discussion about how you can transition to a career in Entrepreneurship, exploring both the challenges and rewards along the way. Alumni and all other members of the Wolfson community are welcome to attend. Following the panel discussion, you will have the opportunity to attend a formal dinner and connect with others interested in entrepreneurship. For more details and to book your place, please use the link below. https://lnkd.in/dtjP5nga

Earlier this year, we were joined in College by sixty prospective postgrads on the University’s research experience outreach scheme. The cohort heard from five of our wonderful postgraduate ambassadors, who chatted openly with our outreach officer about their diverse journeys to higher education. We covered a whole range of topics, from imposter syndrome and being the first in your family to pursue postgrad study, to finding a supervisor and making friends in Cambridge. “I really wanted to help prospective students with insights beyond what’s available online,” emphasised MPhil student in Population Health Sciences, Tess Zermanos. Wolfson Academic Skills Librarian, Alberto Garcia, also joined the panel to share his journey to Wolfson. He reflected, “It was wonderful to be on the same panel with our amazing students, hearing their stories of how they came to College, and talking to prospective students about how Wolfson can support their academic skills development. The most important takeaway: it doesn’t matter where you come from, Cambridge can be for you!” You can hear more about life as a Wolfson postgrad at the University’s College panel session on Tuesday 12 November at 1:15 PM (UK time). Our Senior Tutor, Judith Bunbury, will be discussing exciting new funding awards, as well as the benefits of being part of such a vibrant postgrad body. Sign up for the session via the link below. https://lnkd.in/gv6jPHgh

Applications are now open for fully-funded Derek Ingram Press Fellowship. For the second year and in conjunction with the Commonwealth Journalists Association, we are now inviting applications for a Derek Ingram Press Fellow to join the Wolfson Press Fellowship Programme. The Ingram/CJA Fellowship is open to established journalists from any Commonwealth country. The Press Fellowship Programme is an opportunity for journalists in mid-career to research a project of their own choosing under light academic supervision. Although each Press Fellow can choose what they wish to investigate, their project must be relevant to one or more of four broad themes. - The changing role of media in a networked world - Improving the reporting of business, the environment, sustainable development, medicine, bio-science and technology - The role of free media in democratic governance - The implications of AI for journalism The Derek Ingram Press Fellowship covers all of the fees, living, travel and project-related expenses of Fellows from the moment they arrive until they depart. Travel to, from, and within the UK, along with any Visa application costs, will also be covered. The Fellow is provided with a room in College, as well as full dining rights. Press Fellows become members of Wolfson College, and gain access while they are in residence to the social, intellectual and scholarly resources at the University of Cambridge. During their stay, they work in close collaboration with the Director of the Programme, Professor John Naughton, who is the co-founder of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy in the University, and the Technology columnist of the London Observer newspaper. For more details on the programme and how to apply, see the link below. https://lnkd.in/gn23K8Er

Professor Ijeoma Uchegbu FMedSci, a pioneering nanoscientist and President of Wolfson College, Cambridge, will be delivering a talk on how cutting-edge nanoparticle technology is revolutionising drug delivery to improve efficacy, reduce side effects, and offer safer treatments for patients with chronic conditions. The event is open to all and free to attend. The talk will be followed by a drinks reception in The Gallery. For more information about the event, and details on how to book, see the link below. https://lnkd.in/g262iE84

Thanks to Wolfson alumnus, Karti Chidambaram (1993), a group of Wolfson alumni were able to join us for the Erste Bank Open tennis tournament in Vienna last week. Alumni from Austria, Germany and Slovakia were present to enjoy some sensational tennis and generous hospitality. And we were delighted to learn subsequently that the tournament was won by British number one, Jack Draper!

A warm welcome to Professor Ijeoma Uchegbu FMedSci, the seventh President of Wolfson College! 👋🏾 Professor Uchegbu has now arrived in Cambridge and becomes the University's third Black Head of House, after spending many years in the lab finding ways of reducing harmful side effects from modern medicines 🔬 "I’m focused on trying to apply my science to real world problems and making medicines with fewer side effects," Professor Uchegbu said. "We’re also looking at pain relief where the pain is really severe and forces people to turn to opioids, morphine, fentanyl or oxycodone. These medicines are very effective at relieving pain, but they also have a lot of side effects. We have 40 opioid deaths a week in the UK from opiate poisoning and in the US it's about 80,000 a year because they have a bigger opioid crisis." During her time working in science, Professor Uchegbu has seen many changes, particularly in the backgrounds of people going into the field 🥼 "In the beginning when I used to go to conferences, there wouldn't be a Black face there at all, especially conferences in the UK. Sometimes you would go to a conference in the US and you might see the odd Black scientist. "I’ve begun to see more and more scientists from ethnic minority backgrounds, either from Black African or Black Caribbean backgrounds. It is changing, but it's not changing as fast as you would hope." Read Professor Uchegbu's full interview as she talks about her career in science, breaking down barriers, and how thrilled she is to be taking over the helm at Wolfson College 👉🏾 https://lnkd.in/dX-rG7qU 📷 Lloyd Mann #BlackHistoryMonth #CambridgeUniversity