annual-report-2007-report

Annual Report 2007

Contents

02 Foreword

04 Achieving excellence

06 Global reach

08 Supporting students

10 Teaching for tomorrow

14 Connecting with communities

16 Culture and society

20 Groundbreaking discoveries in medicine

24 World-leading partnerships

26 Innovating for the future

28 Transforming society

30 Recognising achievements

34 Charting progress

35 Annual Reports of the Council and the General Board

45 Reports and Financial Statements

Mahalia Miller (Downing College), MIT exchange student

02 – 03 University of Cambridge Annual Report 2006-07

Foreword

Welcome to our Annual report for 2006 –07. The

following pages offer a glimpse of life at Cambridge

over the past year and give an insight into the

University’s careful stewardship of its capital assets.

Permeating the particular accounts of activities and

achievements in this report are a set of values and

ambitions that, in my view, define the character

of the institution: the pursuit of excellence in

all we do; commitment to education as well as

research; determination to seek out and attract

students of the greatest talent, achievement and

potential, regardless of background; and an active

engagement with society here in the UK and, more

and more, around the world.

By our best estimates, we have over 200,000

alumni, with more than 40,000 of them outside

the UK. Over the past year I have been able to visit

just a tiny fraction of our alumni, partners, friends

and supporters around the world, with my travels

including visits to Australia, Hong Kong, China,

Canada and the USA. I look forward to further travels

over the next year.

We approach our 800th anniversary in 2009, and

that will be a time of celebration. But Cambridge

remains, indefatigably and proudly, a work in

progress. Although our history has formed us, the

distinction of our future will be determined by how

we respond to, participate in, and ourselves shape,

the society of which we are a part today. This report

gives just a flavour of what has been accomplished

this year.

Alison Richard

Vice-Chancellor

Gonville and Cauis College, looking through

the Gate of Humility into Tree Court

Achieving excellence

Cambridge continues to be placed at the top of the

world’s university ranking tables. In the 2007 UK Good

University Guide, it comes top of 113 universities for

35 of the 46 subjects for which it is ranked. Cambridge

remains in the top five in the Shanghai Jiao Tong

University’s 2007 world rankings, the highest placed

European university. Cambridge was ranked as the

best university in the UK for the tenth consecutive

year in the Sunday Times Good University Guide, where

it was also named University of the Year.

The Cambridge 800th Anniversary Campaign,

at just past its mid-way point, has raised

£663 million of the £1 billion fundraising target,

which will provide collegiate Cambridge with

vital additional resources and investment

capability. The growing Cambridge Endowment

is now being managed by the newly formed

Investment Office, which is working to diversify

the University’s investment portfolio. The

endowment fund is crucial to the University’s

continuing ability to attract and support talented

students and staff; preserve its collections and

architectural heritage for future generations; and

develop the financial independence that underpins

its freedom to discover.


The Stephen Hawking Building, Gonville and Caius College

Several new professorships, fellowships,

studentships and teaching posts have already

been established as a result of gifts to the

Campaign. The new Sir Evelyn de Rothschild

Professorship of Finance, funded by a gift from The

Eranda Foundation, will support the accelerated

development of existing finance programmes

at Judge Business School. The QUALCOMM

Research Studentship in Computing has also been

established in perpetuity as part of the University

Computer Laboratory Research Students Fund.

These gifts and endowments, together with the

many more received over the course of the past

year, ensure that the University can maintain and

enhance its teaching and research provision.

Cambridge is above all a collegiate institution, and

the provision of College accommodation, facilities

and support is an integral part of the student

experience. Downing College is set to build a new

theatre, thanks to a £7.2 million donation from The

Howard Foundation; Trinity Hall has completed

its most ambitious building programme to date;

Queens’ College is extending the Cripps Building to

accommodate the new Stephen Thomas Teaching

and Research Centre; and the Stephen Hawking

Building at Gonville and Caius College has opened,

funded by donations from over 2,000 Caians and

friends of the College. All of these developments are

set to enhance collegiate Cambridge.

“The thirty years during which I have

had the honour to serve as Chancellor

are like the blink of an eyelid in the long

history of the University, yet I suspect

that there have been more radical

changes in Cambridge during that time

than in all the previous 770 years.”

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in an essay written

for University staff on the occasion of his 30th

anniversary as Chancellor

Vice-Chancellor Professor Alison

Richard has been named as the CASE*

Europe Leader of the Year. The award

recognises her exceptional initiative

to promote and support education,

acknowledging her vision, attitude and

management style.

*Council for the Advancement and Support of

Education

The plaque to mark the official opening of the

Stephen Hawking Building was unveiled by HRH

The Duke of Edinburgh, when he spent the day

at Cambridge to mark the 30th anniversary of his

Chancellorship. This landmark was commemorated

with a full day of activities including a ceremony

in Senate-House and the inaugural lecture from

the first Prince Philip Professor of Ecology and

Evolutionary Biology, Tim Clutton-Brock. The

Chancellor also took the opportunity to visit Hughes

Hall, which has recently received full University

College status, 121 years after it was founded.

Much of the work of the University goes on out of

the public eye: a strong infrastructure is essential

to academic and teaching success. For example,

developments to the University’s institutional

systems and procedures continue steadily. The

first phase of the Cambridge Human Resources

System has successfully gone live and a wide range

of policy matters have been addressed, including

disability and gender equality schemes, pension

provision, age discrimination and fixed-term

working. Work has also begun on leadership and

management development programmes to be

introduced in 2008. Dr Timothy Mead retired after

10 years as University Registrary. The University is

grateful to Dr Mead for his many contributions and

welcomes his successor, Dr Jonathan Nicholls.

A significant area of recent development for the

University has been in its relationships with India.

The connection stretches back more than 150

years, and has received new financial support with

the launch of the UK India Education and Research

Initiative (UKIERI). This partnership is backed by

the UK and Indian Governments, and by corporate

champions BAE, BP, GSK and Shell. It will forge

stronger educational links between India and

the UK and is already delivering thriving research

collaborations.

India is one of several regions that are a particularly

active focus for the University. A Regional Advisory

Group for the sub-continent has recently been

formed, together with groups for East Asia, the

Middle East, and Africa. An International Activity

Database is being set up by the International Office

to map the many and varied projects across the

University and to ensure that opportunities for

collaboration are not missed.

Exchange schemes continue to expand, including

a new research exchange between Emmanuel

College and the Chinese University of Hong Kong,

made possible with support from the S H Ho

Foundation, a new partnership for PhD students

from Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology

and Research, and a partnership agreement between

Cambridge and the National University of Singapore.

The University also signed an academic agreement

with Canterbury University in New Zealand, made

possible with funding from the Erskine Foundation,

and in the Summer of 2008, Cambridge will, in

collaboration with a number of other partners from

the International Alliance of Research Universities, be

launching the Global Summer Programme, a unique

initiative that will facilitate exchange between students

from ten of the world’s leading research-intensive

universities.

In the past year the Vice-Chancellor, accompanied by

senior academics, has visited China, Australia, the USA

and Canada. In 2008 she will make her first official visit

to India. These trips serve many purposes. They are

an opportunity to meet and reconnect with alumni,

as part of a broader effort to build and reinforce a

sense of Cambridge community. Such visits also foster

and encourage academic collaborations, open new

avenues for learning and teaching opportunities,

and help relationships to be built with key leaders

in government and the private sector. The visit to

Australia included the second annual meeting of the

International Alliance of Research Universities, of which

Cambridge is a founding member.

The international dimension of higher education has

been a topic of much debate within Government

and in June the Vice-Chancellor was invited to give

evidence to a cross-party Commons Education and

Skills Select Committee. The main inquiry has been

looking at the future sustainability of the higher

education sector but has developed an increasing

international focus. The Vice-Chancellor reiterated the

need for further investment in higher education if the

UK is to remain a world leader; she also warned that

quality of higher education and research must not be

undermined by the drive to raise student numbers.

These are areas that Cambridge is working hard

to address: sustaining its pre-eminence in UK higher

education and continuing to develop its position as

a world-leader in teaching and research.

Global reach


The Jawaharlal Nehru Professorship of Indian Business and Enterprise

has been established at Judge Business School following a £3.2 million

endowment from the Government of India. This professorship will be

supported by a new Centre for Indian Business, initiated by a gift from

the BP Foundation.

Olayemi Oyebode (Peterhouse College), MIT exchange student


Cambridge offers a diverse and active programme

of widening-participation and aspiration-raising

activities, with more than £3 million invested in this

area each year.

The Students’ Union (CUSU) Shadowing Scheme

goes from strength to strength, enabling around

200 Year 12 students each year to get a taste of

undergraduate life. CUSU is still the only Students

Union in the UK to have a full-time access officer,

and each year between 600 and 1,000 students

volunteer to help with access schemes.

University activities this year included the first ever

Information Day for FE students, open days, summer

schools, and Challenge Days for students in Years 8, 9

and 10. Teachers and higher education advisers also

had the chance to learn more about Cambridge

at an annual two-day conference, while school

children from across the country visited Cambridge

Colleges and departments to experience life at the

University.

Cambridge doesn’t only attract young people. A

new preparatory course for mature students has

been launched to enable them to improve their

study skills before embarking on a Cambridge

degree. The PREP course, funded initially by a grant

from the Sutton Trust, will help ease the transition to

Cambridge degree courses. The University already

has a 98 per cent completion rate, the lowest

drop-out rate in the country, but initiatives such

as this will ensure that students get the most from

their time at Cambridge and will provide added

reassurance that support is in place for anyone

thinking of applying.

Additional financial measures have been

launched to support students. The University has

significantly raised the income thresholds entitling

undergraduates to bursaries. In 2008 a third of

students enrolling will receive some form of bursary

support. This extension of the bursary scheme,

run by the Newton Trust, made Cambridge the

first university to match new Government grant

arrangements.

The Goldman Sachs Foundation is supporting

a far-sighted project at Cambridge which will

work with disadvantaged schools to develop

mathematical and problem-solving skills and

raise educational aspirations. It will deliver training

to hundreds of maths teachers working in these

schools and will give 120 GCSE-age pupils the

chance to study maths in Cambridge at intensive

residential courses. The programme will be run

by two award-winning divisions of the University:

NRICH, which is part of the Cambridge-based national

Millennium Mathematics Project, and the University

Group to Encourage Ethnic Minority Applications.

Children as young as 12 were also given a taste

of University life at a special summer school; the

event was hosted by the universities of Cambridge

and East Anglia, and is part of the newly formed

Excellence Hub programme. Part of the National

Programme for Gifted and Talented Youth, the

Excellence Hubs provide enrichment opportunities

for students identified as gifted and talented, with

a special focus on those from families who have

not traditionally gone on to higher education.

Supporting students

In total, 100,000 pupils and 6,000

teachers took part in face-to-face

activities run by the University and

Colleges in 2006–07.

As a pupil at a South Tyneside sixth

form college, Simon Burdus had not

even wanted to visit Cambridge:

“All those posh people … I wasn’t

keen. But my school said two of

us could apply for the Shadowing

Scheme and my mam said – ‘just

go and have a look.’ I spent three

days shadowing an undergraduate:

I lived in College, went to lectures,

socialised and discovered for

myself what life is really like as

a Cambridge student. It was

awesome – I just fell in love with it.

People say Cambridge is stuffy, but

it’s not.”

Simon Burdus, CUSU Business Manager

Small-group instruction and supervision remain

the cornerstone of teaching provision at

Cambridge, but academics continue to work hard

to enhance their teaching methods and practices.

The Learning Landscape Project is mapping

teaching and learning provision in the University

and Colleges. It will provide information about how

students learn and will serve as a basis for new

initiatives.

The Pedagogy Project in the Department of Plant

Sciences was launched in 2005 and has now

Teaching for tomorrow


The University has launched a new

course in media and film studies.

The interdisciplinary MPhil in Screen

Media and Cultures is based in the

Faculty of Modern and Medieval

Languages, and has the support

and participation of faculties and

departments throughout the

University.

been awarded first place in the British Education

Research Association SAGE Awards 2007. Working

with the Centre for Applied Research in Educational

Technologies, the project team investigated how the

teaching and learning experiences in the department

could be improved; greater student engagement with

their subject, easier access to resources and greater

guidance from supervisors on successful essay

writing were identified as key factors. As a result of

the project, virtual resources have been put together

featuring online course notes, podcasts, animations

and electronic teaching resources.

Professor David Trotter, Course Director, with students

on the MPhil in Screen Media and Cultures, Media Centre,

Sidgwick site

The project is part of the Teaching for Learning

Network, a collaboration funded by the Cambridge

MIT Partnership to develop evidence-based

approaches for innovation in teaching practice,

and is a prime example of the type of initiative

being advocated in the new Learning and Teaching

Strategy. The Strategy, finalised in 2007, has two

over-arching aims: to maintain and enhance

excellent student learning opportunities at both

graduate and undergraduate level; and to provide a

stimulating environment in which good teaching is

recognised and rewarded.

As part of this intense focus on undergraduate

education a University-wide consultation on the

Tripos has been set in train to ensure that the integrity

of the Cambridge approach to teaching and learning

is m aintained but that opportunities for progress

are not overlooked. Course structure and delivery are

being examined to increase flexibility and student

choice, and to attract prospective applicants.


A major review of graduate education has been

completed, looking at procedures for admission,

fees, provision and bursary support. Work is now

beginning to implement the recommendations,

which include the re-organisation of Postgraduate

Admissions, more part-time Master’s programmes

and support for more interdisciplinary

collaborations.

The Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences

and Humanities has established a new Centre

for Disciplinary Innovation (CDI) as part of a four-

year project funded by the Andrew W Mellon

Foundation. The CDI will be a focus for collaboration

and innovation at graduate level and beyond. It

will encourage disciplinary innovation and support

collaborative teaching fellowships. Crucial to all

of these graduate reforms and initiatives is the

continuing effort to provide improved scholarship

support, which is essential to attracting the finest

graduate students from the UK and across the

world. It is one of the four primary goals of the

800th Anniversary Campaign.

The first students from the award-winning two-year

postgraduate Notarial Studies course have now

graduated. This Professional Studies course at the

Institute of Continuing Education uses an innovative

approach to learning, combining short periods of

intense study at the University and a virtual learning

environment which allows online interaction

and discussion with tutors on the course. The

Department of Chemical Engineering is also using

virtual technology to enhance learning and this

year launched the UK’s first ‘weblab’. It is the first

time a live, physical experiment has been controlled

remotely and the principle has huge implications for

the sharing of resources in the future.

A project involving collaboration between the

Faculty of Education and University of Cambridge

International Examinations has been launched to

provide accredited professional development to

international teachers. This collaboration will include

the development of new programmes, such as the

International Advanced Certificate in Educational

Research and a Master’s in International Education.

Outstanding teaching at the University is recognised

annually by the Pilkington Prizes. Awarded following

nomination by peers and students, the prizes

acknowledge exceptional contributions to the

development of teaching.

Dr Toke Aidt has transformed several undergraduate

courses in the Faculty of Economics and has been a

driving force in restructuring the Macroeconomics

teaching syllabus. Dr Helen Thompson is a

dedicated innovator whose work has transformed

the teaching of Politics to undergraduate students.

Dr Jonathan Silverman, Associate Clinical Dean and

Director of Communication Studies in the School

of Clinical Medicine, has played a major role in the

development of medical education in Cambridge.

He has made an outstanding contribution to the

Clinical School and his work is recognised nationally

and internationally through his development

of the Cambridge Calgary method for teaching

communication skills, a method which has been

adopted widely in medical schools throughout the

world. Other recipients of the 2007 Pilkington Prize

include: Dr James Carleton Paget (Divinity); Dr Neil

Dodgson (Computer Laboratory); Professor Charlie

Ellington (Zoology); Dr Mike P Hobson (Physics);

Dr Tom Hynes (Engineering); Dr Gabriel Paternain

(Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics);

Dr Dan Tucker (Veterinary Medicine); and Dr James

Warren (Classics).

Dr Thompson has led the design

and delivery of a new undergraduate

programme in the Department of

Politics and has conceived and taught

a wholly original course, described

by one of her students as “the most

engrossing, fascinating, accessible and

challenging learning I have done.”

Dr Helen Thompson, Senior Lecturer, Department of Politics

The outreach activities of the University are wide-

ranging and diverse. A recent HEFCE survey

placed Cambridge first in the country for free-of-

charge public lectures, with huge turnouts giving

Cambridge a 42 per cent higher attendance than

any other university in the UK. Sharing expertise,

enthusiasm and knowledge beyond the boundaries

of the institution is a vital component of the

University’s activities. A major new initiative was

launched this year to give early-career researchers

and aspiring academics training for public

communication and educational outreach

activity; Rising Stars was the first course of its kind

in the UK.

In a new partnership with the City Council’s Children

and Young People’s Participation Service, the

University held a summer programme of children’s

activities designed to encourage participation in

sport and learning. The events were so successful

that a continuing partnership has now been agreed,

reaching out to communities that the University has

not traditionally worked with.

The annual Science Festival continues to thrive,

reaching more than 23,000 people through

the Schools Roadshow, Science on Saturday,

Masterclasses and Spotlight lecture series. For the

first time Science Festival podcasts were produced;

presented by Carol Vorderman, four podcasts were

downloaded by more than 70,000 people in the

first two months alone. The Festival also received

the Public Body Award at the inaugural Directory

of Social Change Awards. The award recognised

the Festival’s contribution to the community,

acknowledging its work to achieve shared social

objectives. In 2008, the University will be launching

the Festival of Ideas, its first arts, social sciences and

humanities festival.

In 2006–07 the Active Community Fund

(HEFCE funding administered by the University)

allocated nearly £60,000 to community initiatives at

collegiate Cambridge. Projects included The Triple

Helix, a new student society to facilitate science

debates in schools, and continuing support for the

Community Sport Scheme at Fenner’s. Initiatives

supported by the fund make up just a fraction of

the community work undertaken. It is estimated

that more than 8,000 staff and students give up

their time each year for voluntary and outreach

work, providing a cumulative total of more than

370,000 hours.

The range of activities is vast. For example,

local primary school children investigated DNA

and genes with Professor Andrea Brand from

the Department of Physiology, Development

and Neuroscience; and young archaeologists,

on a dig in Essex with Carenza Lewis from the

Department of Archaeology, unexpectedly

unearthed a mysterious woman who could be

more than 1,000 years old. Local pupils also

worked with the Botanic Garden to create the

new Schools’ Garden, which will now become

a resource for schools across the region.

Connecting with communities


In a triumph of skill and expertise,

the Fitzwilliam Museum has

completed the restoration of three

seventeenth-century Chinese vases,

smashed in an accident in 2006. The

vases are back on public display in a

specially designed case.

Dan Friess, Rising Star and PhD student in the Department of Geography

Academic research at Cambridge contributes

significantly to the social, political and cultural

fabric of society. Dr Wendy Pullan, Department of

Architecture, is leading a project to investigate how

cities that have been torn apart by ethnic unrest

or war can regenerate. The five-year project will

involve scholars from Cambridge, the University of

Exeter and Queen’s University Belfast, supported by

contributions from researchers in other countries

Culture and society

16 –17 University of Cambridge Annual Report 2006-07

in Europe and the Middle East. Funded with a £3.1

million grant from the Economic and Social Research

Council, the project will focus on Jerusalem and

Belfast, but will also look at the structure, layout and

life of other cities such as Mostar, Beirut and Berlin.

Dr Pullan’s research in this area has already been

recognised with a Royal Institute of British Architects

President’s Research Award.

Dr Mark Goldie, Faculty of History

“The Entring Book has such an

enormous scope that it tells us

about far more than the politics of

the time. It also covers publishing,

plays, business, military and religious

matters. We hear about foreign affairs,

public opinion, London life, gossip

and rumour, plays and coffee houses,

books and censorship.”

Dr Mark Goldie, Faculty of History

Deeply rooted in scholarship, The Cambridge

Inter-Faith Programme (CIP), part of the Faculty of

Divinity, plays an active role in encouraging dialogue

and advancing understanding between Islam,

Judaism and Christianity. CIP this year established an

exchange programme between Cambridge and the

Al-Azhar University in Egypt. Egypt’s highest-ranking

Muslim official, the Grand Mufti Dr Ali Goma, spoke at

the Faculty and explored possible future relationships

between Christian and Muslim scholars. CIP also

organised a major international two-day conference.

Involving key policy-makers and leading figures from

around the world, the conference explored many

issues around Islam in the present day and focused on

the relationship between Islam and the non-Muslim

world.

There is also much to learn about the way we live

today by understanding more about the past. Roger

Morrice’s Entring Book has been painstakingly restored

by an international team of academics, led by Dr

Mark Goldie from the Faculty of History. The team has

spent seven years working on the project and even

had to recruit a specialist code-breaker to decipher

the author’s seventeenth-century shorthand. Virtually

forgotten since the 1700s, the book is the longest

and richest diary of public life in England during the

later Stuart Age; now published for the first time, the

six-volume work gives an invaluable insight into life,

politics and opinions in Restoration England.

Whilst interest in Roger Morrice may be a relatively

new phenomenon fuelled by the recent availability

of his diary, public interest in Captain Scott continues.

Heart-breaking final messages written by Scott to his

family went on public display for the first time this

year at the Scott Polar Research Institute. Scott’s last

letters were given to the University by descendants

of the famous explorer; the collection also includes

messages sent by his wife and young son.

“I would like to thank Cambridge University and its partners, the

Coexist Foundation and the Weidenfeld Institute for Strategic Dialogue,

for hosting this important conference. As many of you will know, The

Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme is at the forefront of innovative

teaching and research in terms of the study of world religions, their

inter-relations and their relations with secular society.”

Tony Blair, former Prime Minister, speaking at the Cambridge Inter-Faith Conference

held at Lancaster House, 4 June 2007

18– 19 University of Cambridge Annual Report 2006-07

Interest in Charles Darwin (Christ’s College, 1827)

continues unabated in the run-up to 2009, which

marks the bicentenary of his birth and the 150th

anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of

Species. Following the successful online publication of

the entire works of Charles Darwin, his diary from the

Voyage of the Beagle has been serialised on BBC Radio

4. Each reading was introduced by Dr John van Wyhe,

the Cambridge historian of science who is leading

the Darwin Online project.

As part of this project, the diaries of his wife, Emma

Darwin, can now also be found on the internet,

chronicling 60 years in the life of the Darwin family.

In addition, 5,000 letters written by and to Charles

Darwin are now available online. This diverse

and varied correspondence provides insight into

Darwin’s life and work, as well as illuminating our

understanding of Victorian science and society.

Dr David Norman from the Department of Earth

Sciences and the Sedgwick Museum has led a trip to

the Galapagos Islands tracing the journey of Darwin.

Specimens collected on the trip will be used for an

undergraduate research project and will also form

part of a new permanent exhibition – Charles Darwin

the Geologist. The exhibition has been awarded a

Heritage Lottery Fund grant of more than £500,000

and is due to open in 2009 as a centre piece for

the Darwin and Cambridge 800th Anniversary

celebrations.

Other lesser known collections and artefacts

have also been brought to prominence thanks to

research at Cambridge. Dr Gilly Carr, an affiliated

scholar in the Department of Archaeology and a

lecturer at the Institute of Continuing Education,

is the first scholar to fully investigate the artefacts

made by Channel Islanders during World War II. She

is piecing together a detailed picture of how the

islanders quietly refused to acknowledge German

rule and how they made life as tolerable as possible

in times of great uncertainty and hardship.

Dr Paul Russell has led a project to restore and

publish a set of early medieval Irish glossaries

neglected since the nineteenth century but now

at the forefront of Celtic scholarship. More than 100

letters and other documents written by the notorious

acid bath murderer John Haigh are also now

available to scholars at the Institute of Criminology.

Academics hope that the documents will provide

fresh insight into his mental state and inform

ongoing research into the causes of crime and into

the assessment of potential re-offenders.

Research Assistant Sytske Besemer at the Institute of Criminology

American criminologist Lawrence Sherman has become the fourth Wolfson

Professor of Criminology at the University. World-renowned for his work in

identifying crime ‘hot-spots’ to be tackled with intensive policing and his

pioneering experiments using science to promote justice, his research at the

Institute of Criminology focuses on crime prevention strategies and restorative

justice in the UK.

The grants and prizes awarded to University

researchers are testament to the contribution they

make to medical understanding and new therapies.

Dr Dennis Bray, Department of Physiology,

Development and Neurology, has won the £170,000

Royal Society and Academie des Sciences Microsoft

European Science Award, one of the largest prizes in

science. His innovative use of computer simulations

in research on bacteria has been seminal in the

growth of computational biology, which has now

become an essential discipline for processing the

vast amount of data available to scientists. Dr Bray is

using his prize to set up a computational facility for

his department, which will provide much needed

computational power for his work and that of

others.

Dr Dino Giussani has won the highly competitive

Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. The

five-year Award is given to individuals of proven

outstanding research ability and is designed to help

universities retain internationally recognised scientists.

Dr Giussani’s work in prenatal physiology has led to

exciting possibilities for preventative medicine in

the womb.

The Cambridge Institute for Medical Research has

been awarded a £4 million grant by the Wellcome

Trust for research into how diseases arise and

for training tomorrow’s academic doctors and

medical scientists. Veterinary teaching and research

have also been enhanced thanks to a £10.7 million

Wellcome Trust initiative to encourage students

to pursue research careers in veterinary medicine.

The programme is a partnership of the seven UK

veterinary schools, and will include several new

fellowships and a range of scholarships.

On the Cambridge Biomedical Campus at the

Addenbrooke’s site, the research excellence of

the University works in synergy with the clinical

infrastructure provided by the Cambridge University

Hospitals NHS Trust and other organisations such as

the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research

UK. The Government has recognised the contribution

made by these partnerships, as well as the potential

for more, and the Campus has been designated

as one of the UK’s five Comprehensive Biomedical

Research Centres. The Centre will receive substantial

new research and development funding from the

National Institute for Health Research and will address

major health priorities such as cancer, cardiovascular

disease, neurosciences, metabolic disorders and

transplantation.

Groundbreaking discoveries in medicine


In collaboration with colleagues

in Scotland, India and Japan,

researchers from the Department

of Pharmacology have, for the first

time, been able to film the interaction

between a bacterial enzyme and a

DNA strand from an attacking virus.

The real-time footage of these nano-

scale events has marked implications

for scientists looking for new cancer

treatments.

Final year graduate student in Professor David Neal’s laboratory at

the Li Ka Shing Centre


HM Queen Elizabeth II at the opening of the Li Ka Shing Centre

“We now have a far stronger service for patients than we had five years ago

and one that integrates surgery, pathology, radiology, and cancer medicine

through new multidisciplinary teams. These deliver first-class care and are the

foundations for our research. The overall aim is to bring world-class research

to bear on medical problems. We can make earlier diagnosis which will in

turn mean better treatment.”

Professor Sir Bruce Ponder, Li Ka Shing Professor of Oncology and Director of the Cancer Research UK

Cambridge Research Institute

Research into cancer is advancing rapidly in the

Schools of Biological Science and Medicine. An

international team of researchers, led by Cambridge

scientists, has conducted the world’s first large-

scale ‘whole genome search’ for faulty genes that

increase breast cancer risk. They studied the DNA in

nearly 50,000 women and isolated five regions of the

genome containing genes which can increase the

risk, opening up exciting new research directions.

Research in the Department of Pathology has also

revealed new findings in the battle to understand

breast cancer.

Cancer research at Cambridge has been further

boosted with the official opening of the Cancer

Research UK Cambridge Research Institute. Housed

in the new Li Ka Shing Centre and opened by HM

The Queen, the Institute is a unique partnership

between the University and Cancer Research UK,

dedicated to research into the causes of cancer, and

to developing new treatments and bringing them to

the clinic. The generous philanthropy of Sir Ka-Shing

Li, Chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, together

with other donors, has helped bring this project to

fruition. The Li Ka Shing Foundation has also funded

the Li Ka Shing Professorship of Oncology, which is

held by Professor Sir Bruce Ponder.

Research led by University scientists has identified

for the first time a gene linking Crohn’s disease

and type 1 diabetes. The studies were part of the

Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, the

largest ever study of the genetics behind common

diseases. Although much work is still needed

to investigate this link, the discovery is being

heralded as a promising avenue to understanding

these debilitating diseases. A breakthrough in

understanding multiple sclerosis has also been

made with the discovery of new genetic variants

associated with the disease; this landmark discovery

has ended three decades of research frustration.

In other success stories Cambridge researchers

have developed a novel strategy to tackle

neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s

disease: encouraging an individual’s own cells

to ‘eat’ the malformed proteins that lead to

the condition. Research carried out at the Brain

Mapping Unit may now result in more effective

treatment of depression, paving the way to

a personalised approach in the future. The University

Autism Research Centre (ARC) has also been

involved in the development of a new DVD to help

young children with autism to recognise human

emotions. The Transporters has been produced by

the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport,

based on the latest research from the ARC.

Academic collaboration is becoming increasingly

important. The multidisciplinary Cambridge

Neuroscience partnership was launched in 2007

with a three-day symposium. The new initiative

extends across the University and affiliated institutes,

and has partnerships around the UK and the

world. Cambridge Neuroscience already has nearly

300 international collaborations in 29 countries.

It is aimed at maintaining Cambridge’s position

as a leading international centre in this field. It

will build upon the last 50 years of neuroscience

research at Cambridge, including some of the most

fundamental discoveries of the twentieth century.

Cambridge Neuroscience is encouraging and

facilitating collaborations and is set to strengthen

Cambridge’s position as a world-leading research

and teaching centre.

Research activity increasingly brings Cambridge

academics into partnership with scientists from

other universities and from the private sector. The

University has signed a new partnership agreement

with Nokia that will see an extensive and long-

term programme of joint research projects initially

focusing on collaboration with nanoscience and

electrical engineering. An association between the

Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics and

Carl Zeiss SMT will give University researchers access

to the latest electron-beam imaging equipment

and expertise.

Microsoft Research Cambridge

celebrates 10 years of research

and co-operation. Now one of

five facilities of its kind, Microsoft

Research Cambridge was the first

Microsoft research centre to be set

up outside the United States.

The University is also part of a £6 million research

collaboration in quantum physics. Cambridge,

Oxford and Imperial College London will work

together on this Engineering and Physical

Sciences Research Council funded project to

improve understanding of the quantum world

and to develop fundamental new technologies

in nanoscience.

A pioneering Kavli Institute of Cosmology is to

be established following a multi-million dollar

endowment from the Kavli Foundation. The

Institute will bring together researchers from the

Department of Physics, the Institute of Astronomy

and the Department of Applied Mathematics and

Theoretical Physics to engage in distinctive research

addressing fundamental questions about the early

universe.

World-leading partnerships


A team of astronomers led by Cambridge has taken pictures of the stars that

are sharper than anything produced by the Hubble telescope, at a fraction

of the cost. Researchers from Cambridge and the California Institute of

Technology have achieved these remarkable results using a technique called

‘Lucky Imaging’.

Graduate student Sharvari Dalel at the Centre for Advanced

Photonics and Electronics

The Cavendish Laboratory is leading a new Carbon

Trust funded project in collaboration with The

Technology Partnership and Cambridge Enterprise.

Using plastic instead of silicon to create solar cells,

the group has developed a more cost-effective

solar panel. A prototype panel that can power

a calculator has been built and the team is now

working to advance the technology for large-scale

production. If the project achieves its objective of

deploying more than 1 gigawatt of power by 2017,

it could deliver CO2 savings of more than 1 million

tonnes per year.

The University is increasingly active in the area

of climate change and the environment. Dr Chris

Hope, University Reader in Policy Modelling at

Judge Business School, has been recognised for his

groundbreaking work on climate change over the

past 15 years. He has received the prestigious 2007

Aspen-EABIS Lifetime Achievement Award for his

influential contributions to the field: he played a

crucial role in developing the PAGE (Policy Analysis

of Greenhouse Effect) model which is used to

calculate the financial cost of global warming; the

model formed a major part of the Stern Review on

the Economics of Climate Change.

Dr Terry Barker and colleagues at 4CMR (the

Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation

Research) have also contributed to the Stern Review

and addressed influential international conferences.

Dr Barker appeared before a Joint Committee

of the House of Lords and House of Commons

to give evidence on behalf of the Royal Society

in the Committee’s consideration of the draft

Climate Change Bill. He also made substantial and

significant contributions to the Reports from the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with

Al Gore. The award recognised “their efforts to build

up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-

made climate change, and to lay the foundations for

the measures that are needed to counteract such

change.”

A Cambridge Centre for Energy Studies has

been established at Judge Business School,

complementing and supporting the raft of

environmental initiatives already underway at the

School, and across the University. Acting as a bridge

between the academic and business worlds, it will

examine key issues relating to energy security and

global warming, with implications for public policy.

Research on biofuels in the quest for a sustainable,

carbon neutral fuel is being conducted by the

Department of Biochemistry.

A new lecturer has been appointed to the

Department of Geography thanks to a gift from

James and Jane Wilson. Dr Michael Herzog’s

expertise adds to the growing interdisciplinary

teaching and research strengths at Cambridge

in climate modelling and the environment. The

Centre for Mathematical Sciences hosted the

first international Summer School on Climate

Modelling, reaching the next generation of climate

scientists. Junior scientists from the UK, Japan and

other countries were taught the latest theories and

methods in climate modelling and heard from some

of the pre-eminent practitioners in the field.

Innovating for the future


The University joined more than 70

leaders from Cambridge schools,

businesses, churches and community

groups to launch the Cambridge

Climate Change Charter. The purpose

of the initiative is to stimulate, co-

ordinate and communicate action

across Cambridge to address the

causes and consequences of climate

change.

Dr Terry Barker, Director, 4CMR

Plastic Logic has raised over US $100 million to build

a manufacturing facility. This is one of the largest

agreements in the history of European venture

capital financing and will enable the pioneering

technology of Plastic Logic to be produced on a

commercial scale.

At the other end of the spectrum, new ideas

are just beginning to germinate. The Varsity

Pitch competition – a showcase for the best

entrepreneurial ideas from Cambridge and Oxford

students – was won by the Cambridge TouchSight

team. The winning invention went on to take

first place in the international Next Generation

Entrepreneur Forum and had already achieved

success in the Cambridge University Entrepreneurs

£1k Business Ideas competition. Developed by

final-year engineering students Pete Davies, Karan

Keswani, Samaan Rahman and Jessi Baker, the

TouchSight Vision Mitt is set to improve the lives of

millions of blind and visually impaired people across

the world.

Cambridge Temperature Concepts (CTC) had

success in the Cambridge University Entrepreneurs

‘Where Angels Dare’ competition, securing the

£15,000 first prize as well as a £17,000 Proof

of Concept Grant from the East of England

Development Agency. CTC has since gone on to

win the Enterprise Educators UK National Business

Plan Competition. Company founder, Shamus

Husheer, is now setting up trials for the product

which helps women determine when they are

ovulating in order to increase their chances

of conception. Other budding entrepreneurs

showcased their ideas at the Institute for

Manufacturing Design Show. The highlights of

an impressive range included SpeedSmart, an

intelligent ‘speed calming’ system, and the Braille

Belt, a pocket-sized device that can capture text and

translate it into braille.

Cambridge Enterprise helps University academics

to develop their discoveries and innovations

commercially. First set up as an independent office

in 2004, it has now been established as a limited

company, wholly owned by the University. The

company provides access to commercial partners,

investors, mentoring and early stage funding, as

well as supporting academics in their consultancy

activities. A gift from The Hauser-Raspe Foundation

is enabling the construction of the Hauser Forum

which will provide a new home for Cambridge

Enterprise and new common room facilities for other

University staff based on the West Cambridge site.

Pocket-sized projectors capable of

screening movies from a laptop

or mobile phone could be on the

market within three years following

a licensing agreement between the

Department of Engineering and Alps

Electric Co. Ltd.

The investments made by Cambridge Enterprise

over the years continue to pay dividends, with the

benefits felt across the University, business and

society. Solexa, established as a spinout in 1998,

has this year been acquired by US-based company

Illumina for US $600 million, becoming one of the

biggest commercial success stories to emerge from

the University.

Spinouts DanioLabs and Plastic Logic have also

found further success this year: DanioLabs has been

acquired by Summit plc, a leading UK biotechnology

company, creating a major player in the

pharmaceutical industry that will help get products

through development, testing and to patients; and

Transforming society


In fiscal year 2006–07 Cambridge Enterprise:

• generated knowledge and technology transfer income of £6 million and returned more than £5.3 million to academics and University departments

• closed 60 deals to commercialise research and intellectual property

• assessed 118 new invention disclosures and 44 UK or US priority patent applications filed

• concluded 95 consultancy agreements, reflecting the demand for academics’ technical advice and expertise.

Pioneering technology from Plastic Logic: ‘take anywhere,

read anywhere’ flexible displays using E Ink® Imaging Film

The achievements of the institution are first and foremost the achievements

of individuals. These are recognised every year by the many awards and

accolades that are bestowed on members of the University. It is impossible

to feature them all, and here we offer just a small selection.

Recognising achievements


The University water polo team in action

Seven Cambridge academics were elected to the

Fellowship of the British Academy: Dr Zara Steiner

(Senior Fellowship), Professors Paul Binski, Robert

Foley, Christopher Hill, Boyd Hilton, Ian Roberts

and Richard Smith. A further five have been made

Fellows of the Royal Society: Professors Mike Bickle,

Barry Everitt, Bill Harris, Peter Littlewood and

Robert Mair.

Former Cambridge academic and Christ’s College

alumnus, Sir Martin Evans, was jointly awarded

the 2007 Nobel Prize for Medicine in recognition

of his discovery of embryonic stem cells. Current

academics Drs Richard McMahon, Mike Irwin and

Nic Walton from the Institute of Astronomy, and

Dr Nelson Nunes from the Department of Applied

Mathematics and Theoretical Physics were jointly

awarded the 2007 Gruber Cosmology Prize.

Professor Gehan Amaratunga was presented with

the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Silver Medal; and

Dr Adam Tooze and Dr Chris Clark were awarded

Wolfson History Prizes. Professor Peter Bayley was

made a Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Palmes

Academiques – France’s highest academic honour.

Professor Ekhard Salje was awarded the Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany,

first class.

In the New Year and Queen’s Birthday Honours

Lists the following people have been recognised:

Lord Martin Rees, Professor of Cosmology and

Astrophysics and President of the Royal Society, has

been appointed as a member of the Order of Merit;

Professor Ann Dowling has been made a Dame and

Professor Christopher Bayly has been made a Knight

Bachelor. Professors Andrew Hopper, Azim Surani

and Myles Burnyeat, and Dr Pamela Ewan have all

been awarded the CBE.

Jo da Silva, a graduate of the Department of

Engineering and now a lecturer on the MPhil in

Sustainable Development was named ‘Individual of

the Year 2006’ (British Expertise awards) for her role

in a UNHCR project following the Asian tsunami.

Sporting achievements also contribute to the

success and reputation of the University. Alex

O’Connell and Anthony Crutchett have been

selected for the British Fencing team to compete

in the World University Games in Bangkok. Sam

Cutts has been named University Sports Woman

of the Year in the annual Ospreys Awards and also

triumphed in the inaugural International Student

Horse Race at the historic Longchamp racecourse

in Paris.

The Cambridge women’s eights won the flagship

Championship Eights event at the British University

Sports Association Regatta and have now been

selected to represent Great Britain at the European

Universities Regatta; the Cambridge men’s eights

triumphed in the 153rd Boat Race, preventing an

Oxford hat-trick and extending the Cambridge

series lead to 79 victories to 73. Success was also

achieved in many hard fought Varsity contests

throughout the year, including penalty success in

the men’s football, victory against the odds in the

men’s Varsity Rugby Match and a clean sweep in

the athletics and in the swimming pool. The men’s

water polo team also claimed victory in the annual

Tilsbury Tournament.

The University bestows Honorary Degrees each

year in recognition of the recipient’s outstanding

contribution in his or her field. This year eight

eminent individuals were honoured.

Four people became Honorary Doctors of Law.

Swedish-born diplomat and politician Dr Hans Blix

is former head of the United Nations Monitoring,

Verification and Inspection Commission. He was

educated at the University of Uppsala and studied

for a PhD at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. From 1981 to

1997 Dr Blix oversaw inspections of Iraq’s nuclear

programme, and presided over the re-introduction

of inspectors in 2002. Ann Cotton is the founder

and director of CAMFED (Campaign for Female

Education), a charity that raises money to educate

girls in Africa. Beginning as a stall on Cambridge

market, selling food to pay for girls in Zimbabwe

to attend school, CAMFED now reaches more

than 427,000 children. Ann’s achievements in girls’

education have won her a series of awards, including

an OBE. Philosopher Baroness O’Neill is President

of the British Academy and chair of the Nuffield

Foundation, one of the country’s best-known

charitable trusts. From 1992 to 2006 she was Principal

of Newnham College. Onora O’Neill is a leading

authority in medical ethics and has written widely

on political philosophy, international justice and

bioethics. She became a Life Peer in 1999. Alumnus

and Honorary Fellow of Peterhouse, Sir Nicholas

Stern was the Chief Economist and Senior Vice-

President of the World Bank from 2000 to 2003. He is

now an economic adviser to the British Government.

In 2005 he was appointed to lead a review of the

economics of climate change, which led to the

publication of the Stern Review. He was knighted

in 2004.

Two eminent scientists were presented with

Honorary Doctorates in Science. Renowned

palaeo-anthropologist Dr Richard Leakey has

spent much of his life in Kenya. Fossils discovered

by his team include the 1.6 million-year-old Turkana

Boy, one of the most complete examples of Homo

Erectus found. Dr Leakey has authored and co-

authored more than 100 scientific articles and books,

including the Origin of Humankind. He has been

active in Kenyan politics and in 1997 was elected

to the Kenyan parliament. Developmental biologist

Sir John Gurdon is known for his pioneering

research in nuclear transplantation and cloning.

Cloning experiments he carried out in the 1960s

led to the development of tools and techniques still

used today. In 1989 he was a founding member of

the Wellcome Institute for Cell Biology and Cancer

in Cambridge, which was renamed in his honour

in 2004. From 1995 to 2002 he was Master of

Magdalene College.

Two individuals became Honorary Doctors of

Letters. Most famous of all contemporary British

artists, David Hockney began his career at Bradford

School of Art, winning a place at the Royal College of

Art in 1959. Developing a distinctive modern style, he

moved to the USA to become a key figure in the Pop

Art movement. He has worked in photography and

stage design, producing sets for the Metropolitan

Opera in New York and Covent Garden in London.

Prize-winning biographer, Claire Tomalin has

explored the life and times of many eminent figures,

including Mary Wollstonecraft, Jane Austen and

Samuel Pepys. Her most recent book is Time-Torn

Man: A Life of Thomas Hardy (2006). She was educated

at Newnham College and worked in publishing

and journalism, becoming literary editor of the

New Statesman and the Sunday Times. Claire is an

Honorary Fellow of both Newnham College and

Lucy Cavendish College, and an Honorary Member

of Magdalene College.


The 2007 Honorary Graduands with Vice-Chancellor Alison Richard

and the University Chancellor HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

Charting progress

34 University of Cambridge Annual Report 2006-07

Undergraduate admissions statistics**

2003

UK Maintained 1,643

UK Independent 1,360

Other and overseas 432

2004

UK Maintained 1,588



2005

UK Maintained 1,630



2006

UK Maintained 1,554



Full-time students 2006*

Undergraduates

Men 5,896

Women 5,686

Postgraduates

Men 3,493

Women 2,770

* Full-time equivalent student load for year of entry as

published in Reporter, Special No. 9, Tuesday 22 January 2008

Undergraduate applications

for 2006 exceeded 14,000;

3,339 were accepted.**

Postgraduate admissions statistics*

2003

Home** 1,046

Overseas 896

2004

Home 1,363

Overseas 960

2005

Home 1,400

Overseas 1,167

2006

Home 1,400

Overseas 1,114

Colleges and departments

organised over 100 open

days for students, parents and

teachers throughout the year. In

one week alone in July, 14,000

people came to Cambridge for

open days.

*Includes all graduate and postgraduate courses by

year of entry

** ‘Home’ includes students from the EU and other

overseas countries paying the home rate of fees and

students paying the ‘island’ rate of fees

**Acceptances by type of school/college by year of

entry or deferred entry for the following year

Documents

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