A Message from Mike Rands, Master

Lent term has seen the College hunker down through a third major lockdown as the SARS-CoV-2 virus once again spread rapidly throughout the UK. Fortunately, and thanks to the professionalism of our staff and the restraint and compliance by everyone in the College community, we have had very few cases and no serious illness in College since the start of the year. The resilience, resourcefulness and patience of our students, staff and Fellows has been deeply impressive, but the pandemic has certainly taken its toll on people’s wellbeing and ability to both work and participate in what colleges do best, social engagement and intellectual stimulation.  

A major Darwin College contribution to feed and foster intellectual curiosity did however take place this year; namely the Annual Darwin College Lecture series. In 2021 the topic was BLOOD and, for the first time in the series’ 35-year history, it took place entirely online. It was unclear until six weeks before the first lecture was scheduled whether some form of live delivery could take place in Lady Mitchell Hall, but once we knew this was impossible, the team who so brilliantly planned, organised, and supported this year’s lectures, rose to a new challenge.  

Lectures were recorded over Zoom, with speakers in their attics, kitchens, and spare bedrooms – and one even taking an emergency call from her hospital ward while in mid flow of delivering her lecture! – before being efficiently edited and placed on the College YouTube channel. They then went online at the usual time and remain available here. I’m happy to say that viewing figures were as high as they would have been for live lectures with the benefit that they could be watched from anywhere in the world. The obvious downside being that the audience could not experience the lecturers in person, and we were unable to host the speakers in College and enjoy their knowledge and company over drinks and dinner. 

BLOOD turned out to be a profoundly suitable topic for 2021. For hundreds of years, curiosity about the biological and mystical functions of blood has fuelled both innovative discoveries and dangerous misunderstandings that have changed our society. From these eight lectures we learnt that blood can convey, with equal power, the violence of death and the giving of new life; it can be the focus of calm scientific enquiries and of heated passions. It can take us back into our deep ancestral past, or forward into the realm of artistic imagination. And, of course, it plays a vital role in combatting infectious diseases, such as Covid19.  

I am deeply grateful to our distinguished speakers, our College Fellows – especially Dr Iosifina Foskolou and Professor Martin Jones who organised BLOOD – our staff who skilfully managed the series and our loyal global audience for maintaining their enthusiasm and tolerating another Zoom experience.  

Now our attention turns to the 2022 Darwin College Lectures. At a time when the world is confronting challenges such as climate change, sustaining biodiversity, and the threats of regional and global insecurity, the issue of FOOD and its place in our lives now, in the past and in the future, has universal relevance. We look forward to another exciting and multidisciplinary series of talks that will explore food science and ethics, the role that food plays in our lives aesthetically, historically, and politically, and how decisions about the food we eat may destroy or save the planet.  

Food and drink are ‘hot topics’ in College. A few weeks ago, the catering department began offering an exciting range of freshly cooked delicious, sustainable meals out in the gardens and we have warmly welcomed back real crockery, alongside new reusable take-away food boxes, and the reopening of the DarBar (also tempting us with sustainable beverages). 

‘Darwin College Green Week’ is a new exciting annual initiative; this year Catering Manager Ivan Higney and the DCSA (Darwin College Student Association) Green Officer Megan Groom orchestrated an excellent series of events and talks to inform, engage, and encourage us all in how we can live more sustainably. Alongside this, the College Environmental Infrastructure Working Group is actively working out how we can reduce our carbon footprint, including exploring the use of innovative renewable energy sources. Meanwhile the College has fully divested from its direct fossil fuel holdings and continues to monitor and reshape its portfolios to support low-carbon, sustainable, and renewable solutions, alongside good corporate governance, and social responsibility. 

As we move into the British summer, we plan to organise a number of workshops/discussion fora on how the College can contribute more to achieving an environmentally sustainable world that is socially equitable and just. Building on the success of recent alumni Zoom talks, I hope you will join us for such discussions since I know an increasing number of Darwin alumni have expertise, ideas and a passion that can help us make Darwin a beacon of sustainability alongside its strong and ever-growing interdisciplinary, international, and intellectual strengths.