Message from the Warden – Sir Neil Chalmers

Welcome to Wadham College.  Wadham is one of Oxford’s liveliest and most informal of colleges whose students come from a wide range of backgrounds both from within Britain and from around the world.

Wadham was founded by a woman, the redoubtable Dorothy Wadham, who, if she were alive today, would no doubt be pleased to observe that half of our students are women.

A bit about myself.  I am a biologist and came to Wadham as Warden in 2004, having previously been Director of the Natural History Museum in London for 16 years.  Before that I was at the Open University for 18 years, almost from its time of its creation and before that, again, I lectured in biology in the University of East Africa in Uganda. 

I have two main academic passions.  The first is to make top quality scholarship available as widely as possible to people.  The second is to encourage people from different academic disciplines to work together to spark off new creative ideas.

Wadham provides exactly the right environment for these two goals to be realised.  I look forward to welcoming you to Wadham, either as a student or as a visitor.

Neil Chalmers