Wadham in Headlines 2026
Additional stories from Wadham's community, bundled with your e-newsletter.
June 2026
Our alumnus, Melvyn Bragg, is interviewed about his his book, 'Another World' in Cumbria Life.
Our alumnus, the judge who presided over the inquest into the shooting of three IRA operatives in Gibraltar, in what became known as ‘Death on the Rock’, dies aged 95.
April 2026
The University of Oxford and MIT have joined forces to bridge the worlds of academia and entrepreneurship through the MIT-Royalty Pharma Faculty Founder Prize Competition. This two-year initiative (October 2025 – May 2027) empowers faculty at both institutions to translate human health technologies - including diagnostics, therapeutics, devices, and AI‑driven digital health into real-world impact. The 12 finalists for its third prize competition include six each from MIT and the University of Oxford. The initiative, recently renamed in recognition of a gift by Royalty Pharma, runs a two-year programme that supports biotech innovators and faculty entrepreneurs interested in commercialising their solutions.
Our alumnus and honorary fellow receives this award in recognition of his lifelong contributions to children’s literature.
The Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international recognition given to an author and an illustrator of children's books. Given every other year by IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People), the Hans Christian Andersen Awards recognize lifelong achievement and are presented to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important, lasting contribution to children's literature.
Michael Rosen answers questions from readers, friends and writers on losing his son Eddie, surviving Covid, who he’d invite to his perfect birthday dinner and where he goes for inspiration.
Patron of the Agricultural Economics Society, attended their Centenary Conference at Wadham on 24 March.
'Another World - The Oxford Years: A Memoir' is reviewed by Neil Armstrong.
The judges described Xintong's essay ‘Picturing Your Body, Imag(in)ing Your Place: Japanese Imperial Postcards of Women Entertainers in Manchuria’, as 'an original and well-structured study of 1930s Japanese imperial postcards of women entertainers in Manchuria'.
This book by our alumnus and Honorary Fellow, Professor Stuart Russell (Physics, 1979) is on Analytics Insight's list of 'Best Artificial Intelligence Audiobooks to Listen to in 2026'.
Chris Mitchell (Modern History, 1974), a former social worker, called for a boost to fostering allowances to tackle the carer shortage, after he and Denise were awarded the BCA for fostering 12 babies, many with complex needs, over 14 years.
As part of her Fellowship, Vangeline will engage with Wadham's community through public events, student workshops, and ongoing scholarly exchange.
Beginning as the Joint Action Committee Against Racial Intolerance, Jacari was founded by University of Oxford students back in 1956. If you were involved during your time in Oxford, please contact eleanor.tomlinson@jacari.org to find out more about the 70th anniversary celebrations in Oxford this June.
You can read the obituary written by Tony Simcock published by the Scientific Instrument Society.
March
Each year, a team of Wadham runners take part in the annual Town and Gown 10K race. In 2026, on 10 May, we will run in memory of Chemistry student, Yihong Wang, who passed away in 2024, and is very much missed by the College community.
With the support of Yihong's family and friends, we aim to raise money for Headway - the brain injury assocation. The organisation works to promote understanding of all aspects of brain injury and provide information, support and services to survivors, their families and carers. In addition, Headway campaigns to reduce the incidence of brain injury.
Historian,Tehila Sasson, will be in converation with urban geographer, Matt Thomson, about her book, 'The Solidarity Economy: Nonprofits and the making of neoliberalism' on 22 May at St Katharine Cree, London. This new book festival explores power, place, and possibility in Britain.
The Cherwell article, Who Owns Net Zero? Climate Action in a Collegiate University, compares the experience of different colleges, including Wadham, where '...sustainability is integrated into the college’s medium‑term strategic planning and aligned with the University’s 2035 targets', and considers whether this is a universally replicable model.
Richard Lofthouse wrote about Professor Tunbridge's lecture, 'Everyday Beethoven, which celebrated the ‘everyday’ meaning of music.
Researchers including our Associate Professor of AI and Society, Dr Ekaterina Hertog, investigate how care-experienced young people develop critical digital skills in this Nuffield Foundation-funded project.
The ITV drama based on Ann Ming's campaign to change the UK’s double jeopardy law and secure justice for her murdered daughter, received awards for produced by our alumna, Liza Marshall, picked up three awards at the Royal Television Society North East and the Borders annual TV Awards, including Best Drama.
The Goethe-Institut Award for New Translation was founded in 2010 and is presented by the Society of Authors and the Goethe-Institut London every two years. Of Nick Browne's work, the judges said: "Among many excellent renderings, the winning translation stood out for its elegance and accuracy. It dealt creatively with the text’s challenges, and contained just the right touches of wit and the vernacular, keeping it both modern and crisp. A most engaging piece of work."
Titled, 'Drugs, Race, and the Politics of Modern Slavery Law', this open access book "explores how the UK’s fight against ‘modern slavery’ often harms the very communities it claims to protect." Oxford University Press
'Noether' was devised and performed by Cartesian Productions at the Maths Institute, Oxford, 25 - 28 February.
https://www.wadham.ox.ac.uk/news/the-play-noether-can-be-seen-at-the-maths-institute-25-28-february
Congratulations to the winners and all those shortlisted, whose poems will be published in the annual Jon Stallworthy Poetry Prize booklet, available to read in Oxford libraries, later in the year.
Written under the pseudonym, Leatrice, 'Yearbook Signing' chronicles relationships and entanglements - recognising the lasting impact that humans have on one another, and the persistence of memory. Reconnecting Rainbows Press
Saba Ahmadzadeh Noughani's article about Wadham's first Ramadan formal is published in the Oxford Blue.
Our alumnus talks about his latest illustrated book for children, The Big Journey, at 2pm on Sunday 29 March.
Our alumnus speaks to Victoria Trumbull at the event, 'Solidarity: The Work of Recognition', at 12pm on Thursday 26 March.
"I feel that the ability to think and to focus—for no greater aim than the sheer pleasure of it—might, in today’s world, be the truest luxury there is."