Magical Michaelmas Moments

Thank you to everyone who helps to make the Wadham community such a vibrant one. Our close and supportive community is more important than ever in these challenging times.

The many Michaelmas highlights include Queer Week, which culminated in the legendary Queerfest. Well done to everyone involved in organising and supporting it. Our students play an important part in our crucial Schools and Outreach work, with many of them working with us as Student Ambassadors. Our Black History month lectures are a true reflection of the collaborative nature of our community, with students and staff coming together to host our alumni and speakers.

Our academic results continue to be excellent. We congratulate everyone who took their final exams this year. A particularly striking achievement was that of Cara Addleman and Ren Ping Phua (both BA Philosophy, Politics and Economics), who took the top two places in their cohort across the entire University — surely an unprecedented result for PPE at Wadham. "It’s been a privilege and a pleasure to work with the whole Wadham PPE cohort, and we are delighted by Cara and Ren Ping’s remarkable success," their tutors commented. Wadham's 7th place in the Norrington Table for 2022 reflects our students' hard work and the commitment and support from our tutors.

Our graduate students make impressive contributions to the academic life of College and to solving the most pressing problems in the world today. Maral Bayaraa (Engineering Science, 2020) is the lead student of a University of Oxford group that has won a prize at COP28, the 28th annual UN climate meeting. 'Digital Twins 4 Tailing Dams' is a satellite-based warning system that could prevent mining disasters. The project was selected under COP28's Prototypes for Humanity initiative and won in the Data Sciences & AI-Enabled Solutions category.

We have been delighted to catch up with the backlog of degree ceremonies that were postponed due to COVID-19 and to applaud our newest graduates and members of our alumni. We look forward to hearing about your next steps and hope you will return to Wadham soon and often.

Our Music Society has gone from strength to strength this term. Events have included a termly Folk Night in the MCR bar, a DJ workshop during Queer Week, and the Wadham Music Exchange, where we share and discuss tracks of music. Our Choir's Choral Scholars came together to sing a special service for All Souls Day. The Choir performed in our Chapel on Remembrance Sunday and sang with the choirs of Mansfield and Corpus Christi colleges on the feast of Richard Hooker in New College Chapel. We have enjoyed Nine Lessons and Carols in Wadham's Chapel as well as the Wadham Christmas Concert in the Holywell Music Room for 'Oxmas'. The Drama Society provided wonderful festive entertainment with 'Rapunzel: the 80s Panto'.

Wadham's sports teams have had another busy term. It has been challenging for the Boat Club's newest members to spend much time on the river due to high water levels. However, they have powered through the land training and did not let the cancellation of the Michaelmas novice regatta stop them. Instead, they hosted their own 'ergatta', where composite crews competed in an intense 500m-relay on the boathouse rowing machines. The Boat Club is planning a big recruitment drive for next term, particularly for coxes. They hope to encourage everyone to give rowing a try and we are all looking forward to Torpids in Hilary. Special congratulations to Josephine Blyth (Engineering Science, 2021) and Leah Harper (Physics, 2020). Both have been selected for the Women's Squad in the 2024 Oxford - Cambridge Boat Race.

Our students help the local community in many ways. At the end of Trinity term, the clothing and other items they donated raised funds for the British Heart Foundation. This term, our Students' Union have provided a Giving Tree in the atrium of the Access Centre. We've all been bringing in the items written on the tree's gift tags and the donation boxes are looking full! The items requested are from the wish lists of local charities- the Oxford Crisis and the Oxford Hospitals Charity (the Oxford Children's Hospital). At the end of week 9, the items will be wrapped up and taken to the respective charities. Thank you to the SU for this great initiative!