News

A Christ Church undergraduate welcomed one of the fashion industry’s leading editorial figures to Oxford earlier this month, as the Oxford Fashion Society hosted Adam Baidawi, the newly appointed Global Editorial Director of GQ, for a special ‘in conversation with’ event.

Christ Church undergraduates Holly Culhane and Mimi Barsham were part of the Oxford University Competition Dance (OUCD) team that was named Best Overall University at the Loughborough University Dance Competition, a national event bringing together around 30 universities from across the UK.

A Christ Church graduate student is at the forefront of a groundbreaking study aiming to transform how sports-related concussion is diagnosed and understood – research that has recently attracted national media attention.

Last month, an exhibition curated by Christ Church doctoral student Aniq Shamsi and artist Alice King brought together student and professional artists to reflect on art, technology, and what it means to create in the age of artificial intelligence.

Christ Church’s Dr Joram van Rheede has been awarded a prestigious five-year EPSRC Open Fellowship worth over £1.95m to develop the next generation of ‘sleep-aware’ brain stimulation therapies – an important step towards smarter, more targeted treatments for neurological conditions.

Ahead of International Women’s Day on Sunday 8 March, we celebrate the work of three Christ Church academics whose research not only advances knowledge in their fields, but places women, gender and equity at its centre.

Christ Church Boat Club is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Ben Reed as its new Head Coach, marking a return to the House for the alumnus.

Dr Tamar Koplatadze, Associate Professor in Postsocialist Literature and Culture at Christ Church, has published a major new monograph with Oxford University Press examining postcolonial identity in the literatures of the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Jenalla Rhaine Waddington, a second-year student of French and Linguistics at Christ Church, has been awarded a £3,000 ‘NextGen’ grant from Youth Music UK to support the creation of her new concept album, Kuchalo.

A new book by Christ Church theologian Andrew Davison and Cambridge engineer Julian Allwood challenges dominant assumptions about how the climate crisis will be solved – and who is responsible for solving it.

Christ Church undergraduate Evie Duckworth has been awarded third prize in the Oxford–Intesa Sanpaolo Prize for Economics and Management, which recognises outstanding student writing on contemporary business challenges.

Groundbreaking findings from an interdisciplinary team of researchers led by Dr Tapabrata Rohan Chakraborty, Lecturer in Computer Science at Christ Church, have been published in the leading journal Nature Communications. The study demonstrates how artificial intelligence can improve the accuracy and usefulness of cancer predictions by generating synthetic molecular data from routine pathology images.

The King’s New Year Honours list for 2026 has been released, recognising and celebrating the extraordinary achievements and service of individuals across the UK. We are delighted to announce that four members of the Christ Church community have been honoured this year. 

Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas has conferred on Christ Church’s Emeritus Professor John Cartwright the title of Docteur Honoris Causa at a ceremony on 1 December 2025.

Dr Yu Mo, Houser Career Development Fellow at Christ Church and Research Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute (ECI), has led a new international study revealing how changes in tropical cyclone behaviour are reshaping risks to mangrove ecosystems worldwide. The research has been published in the leading journal Science Advances.

Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, Senior Associate Research Fellow at Christ Church and Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford’s Pandemic Sciences Institute, has played a central role in the launch of the world’s first Phase II clinical trial of a vaccine against the deadly Nipah virus. Professor Gilbert was recently elected Honorary Student (fellow) of Christ Church, recognising her remarkable contributions to global public health.

Christ Church is delighted to announce that it has received an extraordinary and historic gift: Lewis Carroll’s personal copy of the 1865 suppressed first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The donation – reported today in The Times – brings to Oxford what has been described as the most significant surviving copy of the world-famous story.

Christ Church is proud to be a Higher Education Partner of IntoUniversity, a national charity dedicated to widening participation and transforming educational opportunities for young people facing disadvantage. This year has seen the charity – working closely with its partners – continue to make a profound difference both locally and nationally.

The UK Knowledge Exchange Hub for Mathematical Sciences (KE Hub), led by Christ Church’s Professor Chris Breward as Scientific Director, has been named ‘Knowledge Exchange (KE) Team of the Year 2025’ at this year’s prestigious national KE Awards, held on Thursday 27 November at The Lowry, Salford.

An international collaboration involving Christ Church’s Professor Stephen Smartt has been recognised with an Into Change Award by the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science. The awards celebrate outstanding European research groups whose work drives scientific breakthroughs, benefits society, and reflects core values such as curiosity, collaboration and openness. 

Ancient Greek music took centre stage at the new Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities on Saturday 22 November, when Christ Church DPhil candidate Maggie Tighe joined fellow Classics researchers to present The Call of Kinnaru, a concert reimagining the sound worlds of antiquity.

Christ Church is delighted to announce that this year’s W. H. Auden Prize has been shared between two outstanding student poets: Sarah Liu and Ruby McCallion.

The current exhibition in the Upper Library, “To love truth for truth’s sake”: John Locke and Christ Church, contains many fascinating items, but the star of the show is John Locke’s desk. Lindsay Judson, Emeritus Student and Professor of Ancient Philosophy, unlocks the story behind the escritoire of one of the Enlightenment’s most influential thinkers.

Giving Day 2025 is now underway, bringing together the entire Christ Church community in celebration of our 500th Anniversary year. Over the next day and a half, alumni, students, staff and friends will unite to reflect on what Christ Church means to them – and to give back in support of its future.