the brick
the newsletter for keble alumni • issue 77 • michaelmas term 2023
FEATURE
Twelve New Endowed Graduate Scholarships Announced
Keble has received a transformational pledge to endow twelve graduate scholarships for DPhil students from an alumnus and friends from around the world, and match-funding from the University’s Graduate Endowment Matched Scholarships scheme.
College News
We would like to welcome the following individuals, who joined the Fellowship in 2023. Each Fellow brings a wealth of expertise, contributing to the vibrant academic environment at the College.
Lucy Fortson is an observational astrophysicist and a Professor of Physics at the University of Minnesota. She joins Keble this year as a Visiting Fellow and is also a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at the Department of Physics.
On 13 December we were delighted to hold our inaugural Carol Service in London for Keble Alumni and friends. All Saints Margaret Street provided the perfect venue for the College alumni community to gather together before Christmas, bringing a snippet of Keble to the heart of London
This term saw the inauguration of an exciting new series, Poetry and Painting, led by Professor T J Clark — one of the world’s most renowned art historians.
Keble mathematicians assembled for the first Keble Complexity Cluster Workshop of the year. This was organised by Professor Gui-Qiang G Chen (Professorial Fellow), Professor Helen Byrne (Professorial Fellow in Mathematics), and Dr Yaron Ben-Ami (Keble Research Associate).
Honorary Fellowship for Alumnus Frank Cottrell-Boyce; Diane Purkiss wins Guild of Food Writers Prize; New Book from Former Warden Averil Cameron.
Student Life
We are pleased to share the success of Thien Udomsrirungruang (2020 CompSci), a Keble third-year, who, along with his teammates, propelled the Oxford student team 'NewJeans' to victory at the Northwestern European regional leg of the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC).
Kelsey Doerksen, a DPhil candidate in Autonomous Intelligent Machines and Systems, has recently participated in several prestigious internships with NASA JPL, UNICEF and the European Space Agency International Telecommunication Union. Through her work, Doerksen is helping to further the fields of machine learning and climate science, while also leveraging technologies for the betterment of society.
We interviewed Eleanor Warrington (2021 DPhil Engineering Science) and Ben Futcher (2021 DPhil Oncology) who have recently secured bronze at the UKTA UK Open 2023 and gold and silver at the Autumn BUCS Championship 2023 in Taekwondo while active committee members of the Oxford University TaeKwon-Do School (OUTKD).
The first Graduate Research Showcase of the term was held on 23 November. Entitled “Locking People Up and Locking Them Out”, the themed night brought together research on history of the English prison system, contemporary staffing of English prisons by former military personnel, and the increasing use of algorithms and AI in border security and immigration decisions throughout the world.
Keble Association Study Grant recipient Ruby Wood (DPhil Health Data Science) writes about presenting at the 26th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI).
VIDEO
Research Feature: Professor Lucy Fortson explains Citizen Science and AI
New Visiting Fellow in Physics, Professor Lucy Fortson, talks about her research in galaxy evolution and how Citizen Science and Machine Learning can help us make sense of Big Data.
You can also find an interview with Professor Fortson in the College News section here.
Alumni News
Andrew Hunter Murray spent 14 years as a writer for the BBC panel show QI, and co-hosts the podcast No Such Thing As A Fish. He also writes for Private Eye magazine, and co-founded the Jane Austen-themed improvisational comedy troupe Austentatious. His third novel, A Beginner’s Guide to Breaking and Entering, will be published in 2024.
Andy Mayo studied Engineering Science at Keble, matriculating in 1989. He is the Chief Development Officer and Chief Technical Officer at the HoverAid Trust—a unique charity that uses hovercraft (amongst other vehicles) to reach remote communities in Madagascar.
As part of our series highlighting alumnae who are leaders in business, we were delighted to speak to Ishveen Jolly (2003 Economics and Management), CEO and Founder of OpenSponsorship, a digital marketplace connecting brands to athletes for digital marketing campaigns.
Alumni and friends gathered in London over drinks and nibbles for our highly anticipated Entrepreneurs Evening, the first to happen in person since the pandemic. We were kindly hosted by Adam Turtle (1998) at Rede Partners Offices in Mayfair, where we listened to three inspiring presentations given by Keble entrepreneurs Ishveen Jolly (2003), John Vardakis (2009) and Nick Greenhalgh (2019).
Recent publications from the Keble alumni community. Authors include Sally Coulthard (1994), A Melanie Dixon (1995), Gregory Esangbedo (2017), Jeremy Howick (1995) and Colin Summerhayes (1963).
Upcoming events
We warmly invite alumni and friends of the College to join us at our events. A full list of our upcoming events can be found on the Keble website. We look forward to seeing you soon!