Gazette: Summer vol.3

MCR and around the College

Churchill College Road Project

Your thoughts, ideas, and opinions are wanted. The College road needs reconstructing. This practical necessity offers an opportunity for a more expansive rethink of the College’s spaces in and around the road. Where once the road was a peripheral service access, it has, over the decades, become a critical artery. There are many types of user – students, staff, visitors; many contrasting communities, and (literally and metaphorically) many different ecosystems. Here is a by-no-means exhaustive list of questions that arise:

  • How do we balance the sustainability agenda with the continuing need for parking by those who need to live at a distance?
  • How do members and visitors navigate the College?
  • Do we want a conventional road or a ‘Dutch-style’ ambiguation of vehicular and pedestrian and cycle users?
  • How do we wish to integrate the Storey’s Way gardens without compromising their distinctive character?
  • How do we reconcile the campus’s precious openness with the need for personal safety?
  • Where, in the long term, might we wish to locate new buildings?
  • Should the west end of the road, with its postgraduate and family ‘village’, be treated differently from the east end, the public entrance?
  • How should the College articulate its boundary with the junction towards Eddington?
  • Do we wish to create new courtyards and/or new kinds of green spaces along the road?
  • How should be re-imagine the route that connects the road to the Porters’ Lodge via the staff car park and the Squash Court bridge?

The College has commissioned four firms of architects to offer projects for our road. There will be an exhibition of shortlisted designs in Michaelmas Term. A jury will make a selection in the New Year. Representatives of College constituencies will have opportunities to present to the architects, but this letter is an open invitation for comment from the whole community, which may be emailed to churchill.road@chu.cam.ac.uk, by 15 October 2022.

 

Mindful Walk and Talk

A chance to savour mindfulness before dinner! A ‘Mindful Walk and Talk’ at Churchill has been organised for Friday 9th September at 6.30pm.  This is led by UofC’s Mindfulness Practitioner, Dr Elizabeth English, and offers you the chance to relax and refresh before your evening, and to enjoy a mindfully-imbued stroll around the College gardens. The ‘talk’ is short and experiential, and aims to add enjoyment and interest to the walk, as well as sharing ways in which mindfulness can promote wellbeing.

Elizabeth teaches the mindfulness classes at the university, having delivered them for the UofC ‘Mindful Student Study’ research trials (published The Lancet, 2017). She is author of Journeys to the Deep: A Gentle Guide to Mindfulness Meditation (Mud Pie Books, March 2022) – an evocative approach to meditation in prose and poetry, with Foreword by Rowan Williams.

Other mindful events available over the summer include ‘Mindful Walks and Talks’ in other College gardens, and these will be advertised soon; or for a longer taste of Mindfulness, the Mindfulness alumni group (Mindfulness after Cam) are running a weekend retreat in August at Madingley Hall.

To sign up for the walk on 9th September, or to indicate interest in further dates if you can’t make this one, please click (or Ctrl click) on the following link:  Click here to register for the event  Once signed up you will be contacted nearer the time with where to meet.  In the event of inclement weather a mindfulness session will be held inside instead.

Please direct any queries to Louise Ranger, Churchill’s Wellbeing Coordinator, on emailwellbeing@chu.cam.ac.uk

 

Summer Common Tables

For those still in Cambridge, there will be a series of common tables over the summer on a somewhat fortnightly basis. Enjoy a yummy dinner with your friends.

  • Friday 12 August
  • Saturday 27 August
  • Friday 9 September

Booking is the same as formal halls.

 

Churchill Summer Rowing

Join the long tradition of rowing in Cambridge without having to suffer through cold, early mornings! Whether you’ve never been in a boat before or you’re an experienced rower looking for a nice paddle, rowing over the summer is absolutely fantastic.Summer rowing aimed at anyone in residence over the summer (or part of the summer), including undergrads, postgrads, postdocs, alumni, friends, and partners. Complete beginners and experienced rowers are all welcome – if enough senior rowers are around, then there is a possibility for a more serious senior boat. Sign up here today!Outings will be planned according to rower availability with the first novice outings likely taking place from the first weekend in July. If you have any questions or queries, don’t hesitate to email Elre (etv21).

Churchill Connect

Churchill Connect is a special networking platform just for Churchillians.

It works a bit like a cross between Facebook and LinkedIn (you can use it for tracking down/keeping up with friends after you graduate, as well as informal networking and mentoring from alumni), but with no ads and no selling your data to anyone!

This is the website we use particularly to advertise opportunities that we hear about such as internships, and you can also reach out to alumni who have marked themselves as willing to help, in order to get some career-related advice.

You can search for users by degree, industry, company, etc, and message them within the platform to ask for help, perhaps by looking over your CV. Registration is free, join here: Churchill Connect.

 

Around the University

Student Societies Climate Fund

A new fund for all student societies at the University has been setup by Cambridge Zero, supporting projects, events and proposals that will directly accelerate a transition to a zero-carbon world 🌱 or support the education that will enable this transition. Full details found here.Funding for Michaelmas Term 2022, application deadline: Fri 12 Aug 2022

Basic details:

  • Societies should either be official University societies and registered with the Cambridge Students’ Union and Junior Proctor Office  or projects that have an official affiliation with a College J/MCR, College Student Association, or Cambridge Students’ Union.
  • Apply for a share of £1000, available termly, with no lower limit for funding bids and societies able to apply for up to the full amount.
  • Apply by the advertised deadline for the following term.

Any questions, please email: info@zero.cam.ac.uk with the heading ‘Student Societies Climate Fund’

 

Accelerate Science/C2D3

New funding opportunity: AI for research and innovation

They are offering small grants for Cambridge University researchers to start or scale interdisciplinary collaborations using artificial intelligence for research and real-world applications. Applications are open to any member of staff at the University of Cambridge, working in any discipline, including natural, physical, social, medical, and computer sciences, arts, humanities, and engineering. They anticipate awarding grants of up to £25k, depending on level of interest.

They are interested in projects that contribute to advancing the use of AI for research or innovation; this might include, for example, the use of AI to accelerate discovery in a specific research area, or the deployment of AI to tackle real-world challenges. Funding can support a variety of activities, including events, workshops, teaching, software development, or research, with a focus on interdisciplinary collaboration. Further details about the scheme and how to apply can be found hereDeadline: 17:00, 9 September

 

Ambassador Opportunity – Saturday 17 September 2022  

The University of Cambridge Development and Alumni Relations office are looking to recruit a team of energetic, friendly Cambridge students to act as Student Hosts at a prestigious event on Saturday 17 September in Cambridge.

The event is to celebrate the close of the ‘Dear World…Yours, Cambridge’ £2billion fundraising campaign for the University and the 31 Colleges and will see our most generous donors return for a day of intellectual discovery and celebration.

Our aim is that our donors leave with a sense of having been part of something special. We want to ensure they have positive interactions with our top academics and researchers, and a chance to hear from current students.

For more information and to apply for this exciting opportunity, please complete this form.

You will be recompensed for your time and involvement in this event. Many thanks for considering.

 

Upcoming Medical Library research skills training

The upcoming Medical Library research skills sessions teach you how to effectively and efficiently find the papers you need, and how to communicate your research using conference posters.  The sessions are online, and require booking via the bookings website herePlease read all the instructions here carefully: they answer commonly asked questions about this training.

Please note: all training sessions are being delivered online, please do not go to the Medical Library to attend training. You will be contacted via email about how to participate in the online training, should you book a place on any training course.
When you book a place on the bookings website, you will receive automated reminder emails. Please do not respond to these automated emails or direct questions about upcoming courses to that automated email address: you will not get a timely response. Please contact the library directly at librarytraining@medschl.cam.ac.uk.

 

Help for Ukraine

The University of Cambridge has launched Cambridge University Help for Ukraine, a comprehensive package of new support for visiting doctoral students and academics displaced by the war on Ukraine.

The programme, developed by the collegiate university in partnership with the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian universities, will support those who have been forced to leave the country or are unable to return, as well as those who have remained to ensure that the Ukrainian higher education sector continues to operate, or because they cannot leave.

Help for Ukraine includes fully funded residential placements, in a wide range of subjects, for more than 30 visiting doctoral students and academics to continue their work in Cambridge, as well as clinical placements for medical students. The University, in collaboration with the National Research Foundation of Ukraine, will also provide individual grants, with financial support from the university, for researchers from Ukraine who have been displaced by the war and are currently living in Ukraine.

A hardship fund is already in place to help affected students currently studying in Cambridge, and a project to boost the studies of evacuated Ukrainian school children scattered around the world is also included in the support package.

Along with academic colleagues, here in the UK and across the world, the university has been appalled by Russia’s war on Ukraine and the terrible suffering inflicted on Ukrainian civilians. Help for Ukraine was developed by bringing together capacity, expertise and goodwill from across the collegiate university.

You can learn more about the individual initiatives, and receive updates on how they develop, at the Help for Ukraine website.

 

Other opportunities

2023 CSAR Student Award

The Cambridge Society for the Application of Research is pleased to announce that it is now accepting applications for the 2023 CSAR Student Award programme.

Submission deadline: December 2022
Selection: Candidates will be notified of the outcome in February 2023
Interviews: We aim to interview shortlisted candidates in April 2023

The CSAR PhD Student Award of £1000, is intended to recognise outstanding research with real world application and to assist students to pursue their research or careers.

The application link can be found here.

 

Announcing the new UK Young Academy

The Royal Society is pleased to announce the launch of the UK Young Academy, a new interdisciplinary organisation providing a voice to individuals who are early in their career and are passionate and enthusiastic about driving societal change.

The UK Young Academy is currently searching for its first group of members, through an open call for applications which closes on the 8 September. On behalf of the seven senior partner Academies involved in this first-of-its-kind initiative, we would like to ask you for your help to pass on the message to your networks and early-career colleagues.

They are looking for talented, early-career individuals from across academia, industry and professional sectors who are emerging leaders, have already made significant contributions to their fields and could contribute to establishing the UK Young Academy in its first years.

More information can be found at ukyoungacademy.org.

 

Society of Fellows Nominations 2022

The Society of Fellows is now receiving nominations for three-year Junior Fellowships beginning July 1, 2023. Information regarding the purpose and scope of the fellowship and the current rules for its administration can be found on the website. People interested in any field of study are eligible for the fellowship; they should be of the highest caliber of intellectual achievement, i.e. manifesting extraordinary creativity and shaping the future direction of their chosen field.

The deadline for nominations is Friday, August 12thAll nominations must be submitted electronically via the nomination form on the website.

The Society has always sought the best possible candidates at an early stage of their scholarly careers, regardless of their fields. No rigid formula governs our choice, but we expect that candidates will have completed their routine training for advanced study and will be far along in the dissertation stage, able to submit samples of independent work (e.g. articles, papers, dissertation chapters) in support of their candidacies. If pursuing the Ph.D., Junior Fellows should be prepared to finish their degrees within a year of becoming fellows. If already a recipient of the degree, they should not be more than one year past the Ph.D. at the time the fellowship commences. Most Junior Fellows receive the Ph.D. just prior to the start of the fellowship.