Academic Dean's Report

Guy Jacobs has joined the College as an Official Fellow and a Tutor. Guy was an undergraduate at Clare and worked in Southampton and Singapore before returning to Cambridge as a Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology, where he will work on human evolutionary genetics and bioinformatics.

Raj Pandya has been elected as a Research Fellow. Raj is a physicist who is studying energy transport at nanoscopic lengthscales and ultrafast timescales. These fundamental studies have implications for building better batteries and also for developing new medicines.

Four Research Fellows are moving on from Clare. Josie O’Donoghue will continue to teach English in Cambridge. Gareth Wilkes moves to Jesus College to teach Mathematics. Leah Weiss will continue doing Physics in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago. Fred Smith is moving to Balliol College, to an early career Fellowship. We wish them well for their future research and teaching. Two senior College administrators are also moving on. Paul Warren steps down as Bursar after eight years, and Bill O’Hearn has become the Executive Director of Alumni Relations and Development at Trinity College.

Two of our most senior Fellows died this year: Richard West, our most senior Fellow and Professor of Botany; and Mike Bown, who joined Clare as an undergraduate in 1946. Between them, they were Fellows of Clare for more than one and a quarter centuries. Bye-Fellow, David Swensen, Chief Investment Officer at Yale University, has also died.

The pandemic has disrupted many activities over the academic year but the achievements of members of the Fellowship have continued to be rewarded.

David Rowitch has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, in recognition of his work as a physician-scientist in developmental neuroscience and paediatrics. The Royal Society has awarded the Sylvester Medal to Honorary Fellow Frances Kirwan. David Hodell has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for his work in palaeoclimatology. Paul Cartledge has received the Commander of the Order of Honour from the Greek state for his contribution to enhancing Greece’s stature abroad. Former Fellows have also received numerous honours, including an OBE for economist Jagjit Chadha and the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Rising Star in Industry Award for former Research Fellow, Steve Dalby. Nigel Seaton, former Director of Studies in Chemical Engineering, has been elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which he joins at the same time as alumna Anne Glover.

A number of Fellows have been on academic leave during the year, relieved of the pressure of teaching and administration but with only COVID-restricted opportunities to travel. The University’s annual process of recognising academic excellence in its staff was suspended. For the first time in several years, therefore, no Clare Fellows have been promoted to be Professors or Readers. However, from October 2021, the University of Cambridge will follow Oxford in changing the job titles of University Lecturers, Senior Lecturers and Readers. Next year, the majority of the Fellowship will be Professors, Associate Professors or Assistant Professors.

Professor Jonathan Goodman | Academic Dean