College News

Christ Church tutor Dr Richard Wade Martins (left) and his research team are developing a new stem cell technique which uses skin tissue to grow the type of brain cells thought to be responsible for the onset of Parkinson's Disease.

Tess Somervell, a second year undergraduate studying English at Christ Church, has been awarded the Lord Alfred Douglas Memorial Prize 2010 with her poem 'From Mary Spencer to George Stubbs.' Tess has edited poetry for Cherwell (the independent student newspaper of Oxford University) and acted as President of the Oxford University Poetry Society. She was a winner of the Foyle Young Poet Award in 2006  and afterwards co-founded the poetry e-zine Pomegranate, for which she is now Art Editor. As a student in the 2009 Tower Poetry Summer School three of her poems will be available in August in the published collection. Her prizewinning poem 'From Mary Spencer to George Stubbs.' can be read on the Tower Poetry website http://www.towerpoetry.org.uk/poetry-matters/poetry.

Christ Church's Chris Pelling (Oxford University's Regius Professor of Greek, shown left), and Llewelyn Morgan (Classics Fellow at Brasenose College, Oxford) have collaborated on a pamphlet just published by the thinktank 'Politeia', arguing that Latin should be included among the languages that may be taught at primary schools if the schools wish.

Christ Church's Prof. Judith Pallot is leading an important conference entitled 'Gender, Geography and Punishment in Comparative Perspective', on June 22nd and 23rd 2010. The conference is sponsored by the ESRC and will be hosted by the School of Geography and Environment and Centre of Criminology, with events taking place at Christ Church.

Professor Roger Davis has taken on the role of President of the Royal Astronomical Society at what he warns is a critical time for the discipline, as further cuts to astrophysics could result in Britain losing a generation of talented young scientists.

Roger Davies is Philip Wetton Professor of Astrophysics, Chairman of the Physics Department and Dr. Lees Reader in Physics at Christ Church.  

The Tenth Christopher Tower Poetry Prize competition’s theme was ‘Promises’. The entrants (over 1000, all born between 1991 and 1993) from every part of the UK, were inspired with the topic and produced many poems with the hint of promise.

At a lunchtime reception, as part of The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival, in Christ Church on Wednesday 24 March seventeen year-old Emily Harrison (shown left and below), from Cirencester College, Gloucestershire, won the £3,000 first prize for her poem Love Has No Larynx.

The Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Consortium, a team of world-class researchers at the University of Oxford led by Christ Church Tutor Dr Richard Wade-Martins (left), has been awarded £5 million over five years for new research into how Parkinson’s Disease develops and progresses, after being chosen from a shortlist of seven UK research teams by an international review panel for the The Monument Discove

The Christopher Tower Poetry Competition, the UK’s most valuable prize for young poets, is once again open for entries, and this year students between 16-18 years of age are challenged to write a poem on the theme of ‘Promises’.

The Christ Church Admissions Office now has its own Facebook page, which is designed for potential applicants and teachers, and anyone else interested or involved in admissions and outreach. The page should prove popular with visitors preparing for this Friday's Admisssions Open Day. Just search for 'Christ Church Oxford Admissions' on Facebook (or click on the image left) for recent news and admissions updates, and become a fan today!