January/February - the University Offices - University of Cambridge

The magazine for the staff of the University of Cambridge lent term 2012
Hawking honoured
Scientists, staff and
public celebrate
The job in hand:
spotlight on
careers page 6
Situation critical:
Tackling the dementia
timebomb page 8

snapshot
Fun for kids: Twilight at the Museums, a
once-in-a-year opportunity for families to
visit University museums and collections
after dark, returns on 15 February. This
year will see Kettle’s Yard, the Museum of
Technology and the Farmland Museum
at Denny Abbey take part for the first
time. Further details on participating
institutions, opening times and bookable
events are available at www.cam.ac.uk/
twilight. For further ideas on half-term
activities visit http://www.admin.cam.
ac.uk/whatson/
Red hot: An exhibition of photographs
examining volcanoes, volcanic eruptions
and their hazards and consequences
has opened at PandIS and runs until
5 April. Presented by Dr Peter Baxter, of
the Department of Public Health and
Primary Care, and Dr Clive Oppenheimer,
of the Department of Geography, the
show captures how volcanoes are both
crucial to sustaining life but also a
threat to the populations living in
their proximity.
SIR CAM
contents
Cover
Professor Stephen Hawking
on illness, hope and turning
70. Turn to page 5.
2-5 News round-up
6-7 Getting practical
Thousands of Cambridge students
pass through the doors of the University
Careers Service – and on to an impressive
range of graduate jobs.
8-9 Making a difference
The Cambridge Elan Centre, dedicated
to finding innovative therapies for
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, is a shining
example of interdisciplinary research at
the University.
10-11 Profile
Queens’ boatman Paul Knights discusses
late-night calls, early-morning coaching
and a life lived by, and on, the Cam.
The magazine for The STaff of The UniverSiTy of Cambridge lenT Term 2012
hawking honoured
Scientists, staff and
public celebrate
The job in hand: Situation critical:
spotlight on Tackling the dementia
careers page 6 timebomb page 8
12 People
125 years of history: Hughes Hall
President Sarah Squire and Honorary
Fellow Professor Ged Martin celebrate
the launch of Hughes Hall, Cambridge:
1885-2010. The book, launched at the end
of last year, and produced to coincide
with the college’s 125th anniversary
celebrations, is an illustrated history of
Cambridge’s oldest graduate college.
Copies can be ordered via the Hughes
Hall website.
Trinity announcement: Sir Gregory
Winter will succeed Lord Rees of Ludlow
as Master of Trinity College on the latter’s
retirement in June this year. Sir Gregory,
who has been a Senior Research Fellow
of the college since 1991, is a genetic
engineer and best known for his research
and inventions relating to therapeutic
antibodies. He was until recently Deputy
Director of the MRC’s Laboratory of
Molecular Biology.
13 Prizes, awards and honours
14 Small ads
16 Back page
Front cover photograph: Sir Cam
newsletter
The Newsletter is published for the staff of the
University of Cambridge and is produced by the
Office of External Affairs and Communications.
Please send in ideas for content and other ways
we can improve the publication.
Tel: (3)32300 or email newsletter@admin.cam.ac.uk.
Suggestions for articles for the next edition
should reach the Editor by 16 March.
Editor: Andrew Aldridge
Design: www.creative-warehouse.co.uk
Printers: Labute Printers
Contributors: Andrew Aldridge, Becky Allen
Newsletter online
www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/newsletter
2 | lent term 2012 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter

WHAT’S NEW
Your comments and contributions are always welcome.
Please send them to the Editor at newsletter@admin.cam.ac.uk
The deadline for the next issue is 16 March.
Conference support launched
Academics across Cambridge
can now receive dedicated help when
organising professional conferences
at the University.
Such events are typically run by
professional associations, and many
invite bids from their members.
Hosting a successful conference
can help raise individual and
departmental profiles, encourage
networking and knowledgesharing,
and kick-start academic
collaborations – but the time,
pressures and skills required put
many researchers off.
This is where Conference
Cambridge can help. Its new
Ambassador Programme, launched
this term, offers the following free
services:
• Practical support in demonstrating
the advantages of Cambridge
as a conference destination
The Howard Theatre, Downing: one of many conference venues in the colleges
to professional bodies and
associations
• Help in compiling and submitting
formal bids that provide detailed
information on potential venues,
keynote speakers, accommodation
and ideas for social programmes
• Finding venues, and organising
site recces and guided tours
• Recommending and sourcing
a range of event organisers
• Helping with contractual
obligations
• Acting as a single point of contact
for venue liaison.
Judith Sloane, Assistant Manager
at Conference Cambridge, said:
“The University and colleges have
many excellent venues and facilities
for holding conferences but we
understand that academics often
do not have the time or contacts to
organise them themselves.
“It is also important that
Cambridge’s conference business,
which is worth some £35m a year, is
helping our research staff as much as
possible – and is fully aligned with the
research priorities of the University.”
Find out more
➔ For more information about
the Ambassador Programme, call
(01223) 768740 or visit http://www.
conferencecambridge.com/
Changes to the
Newsletter
From this issue, the University
Newsletter will be published on a
termly basis. A new online version
is due to be developed – details of
which will appear in a future edition.
If you have any suggestions on
what you would like from an online
publication, or would like to be
considered to take part in focus group
sessions, please email newsletter@
admin.cam.ac.uk.
CSAR lectures
The Cambridge Society for the
Application of Research continues its
popular speaker series on 20 February
with a lecture by Professor Felicity
Huppert, Director of the Well-being
Institute at the University.
Professor Huppert’s lecture,
The Science of Well-being and its
Application to Policy, will take place at
the Wolfson Lecture Theatre, Churchill
College on Storey’s Way.
Other speakers due to take part
in the series are Professor David
King, Director of the Smith School
of Enterprise and the Environment
at the University of Oxford, and
Professor David Spiegelhalter, Winton
Professor of the Public Understanding
of Risk.
The CSAR aims to encourage
discussion around the benefits of
academic research, with focus on the
dissemination of knowledge from
scientists to the local community,
industry and businesses.
For more information visit www.
csar.org.uk.
lent term 2012 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter | 3

what’s new
in brief
➔ A comprehensive examination
of Gothic cathedrals and their
place in medieval society is the
focus of the 2012 Slade Lectures
in Fine Art. The lectures, which run
weekly until 12 March, consider a
range of topics – from architecture
and religious experience, to
stained glass and cathedrals’
relationship with their cities.
The series is hosted by
Professor Paul Crossley, Emeritus
Professor at the Courtauld Institute
of Art and an alumnus of Trinity
College.
The lectures take place at 5pm
on Mondays in Lecture Room A
of the Arts School, Bene’t Street.
For a list of lectures and dates,
visit http://www.hoart.cam.ac.uk/
news/sladelectures
➔ The University Combination
Room has reopened following an
extended period of closure.
Current and retired members
of the Regent House can use the
facilities, and visiting academics
may also be issued with access
cards on nomination by their
college or department.
The room will be open Monday
to Friday, from 10am to 4pm. Tea
and coffee are available, although
it is not now possible to buy food.
A range of newspapers, and
access to Eduroam and Lapwing
wireless networks, are provided,
and Cambridge University Press
maintains a selection of books it
feels may interest visitors to the
room.
For further information
about the Combination Room
and how to access it visit http://
www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/
combinationroom/
➔ Patrick Collinson, Regius
Professor of Modern History from
1988 to 1996 and Fellow of Trinity,
will be remembered in a memorial
service at Trinity College Chapel at
2.30pm on 10 March.
Eight Cambridge museums
secure substantial funding
Eight University museums are
set to receive significant new funding
over the next three years following
a successful bid to Arts Council
England.
The University of Cambridge
Museums (UCM) is one of 16 partner
museums across the UK that will
together receive £20 million a year.
The money will support UCM’s
mission to become a world-class
centre of excellence for museum
research, outreach and learning for
all ages.
UCM comprises the Fitzwilliam
Museum, Kettle’s Yard, the Museum of
Archaeology and Anthropology, the
Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences,
the University Museum of Zoology,
the Whipple Museum of the History
of Science, the Polar Museum/Scott
Polar Research Institute, and the
Museum of Classical Archaeology.
The UCM bid focused on
unlocking the University’s world-class
collections, and the research activities
The University of Cambridge
ranks among the very best employers
in the country for lesbian, gay and
bisexual staff, according to a leading
survey of workplace equality.
The 2012 Stonewall Top 100
Employers list, published last month
by the campaigning charity, placed
the University 11th – a rise of nearly
80 places on its 2011 position and
the highest ranked higher education
institution.
Individual praise was reserved for
the University’s LGB&T staff network,
which received ‘star performer status’
for its work supporting and advising
lesbian, gay and bisexual staff, and
in acting as a forum for consultation
between staff and University
governance structures.
The University has worked hard
to understand, engage with and
sir cam
that underpin them, to a larger
and more diverse audience. While
strong emphasis was placed on the
museums working with each other,
the bid also recognised that these
partnerships were strengthened by
the different identities and remits of
the individual institutions, and further
enhanced by working with other
museums and cultural communities
across Cambridgeshire.
Naomi Young, Chair of the LGB&T
staff network
promote the experiences and needs
of its LGB&T staff. Among a range
of activities over the past year, it
has run a sexual orientation at work
questionnaire, worked with local
community groups and held events
at the Festival of Ideas.
Naomi Young, Chair of the
University’s LGB&T staff network, said:
Dr Kate Pretty, Chair of the Joint
Museums Committee, which oversaw
the bid, said: “Cambridge is fully
committed to its museums and their
collections, which are a great national
treasure. We are very pleased that this
partnership with Arts Council England
will enable the museums to work
together even more closely, making
further links between the University
and its partners in the Eastern region.”
University success in leading employer poll
“I am very happy to see the University
succeed and progress in the survey,
which has recognised the work of
the network and the University’s E&D
team in broadening policies and
increasing inclusion of all staff, but
especially the LGB&T community.”
Dr Nick Bampos, Senior Tutor at
Trinity Hall and one of the University’s
three equality champions, said: “The
ranking shows that the University is
a responsive and inclusive employer
that values diversity and looks to
provide a supportive and exciting
environment in which to work.”
The Stonewall Top 100 Employers
list, now in its eighth year, ranks the
most gay-friendly employers in
Britain and showcases institutions
from a broad range of sectors.
To view the full list, visit www.
stonewall.org.uk
4 | lent term 2012 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter

hawking at 70
sir cam
Professor Hawking honoured
“However difficult
life may seem, there
is always something
you can do, and
succeed at”
Professor Stephen
Hawking
A capacity audience gave a
standing ovation at the end of a
moving autobiographical speech by
Stephen Hawking on the occasion of
his 70th birthday last month at the
Lady Mitchell Hall.
Sadly Professor Hawking was
unable to attend the 70th Birthday
Symposium as he was recuperating
at home after a short spell in hospital,
but he was able to watch it online as
cameras broadcasted a live webcast
of the event.
The day began with a welcome by
Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Leszek
Borysiewicz, who paid tribute to the
famous scientist before revealing
that benefactors Dennis and Sally
Avery had offered a gift to establish a
Stephen Hawking Professorship in the
Centre for Theoretical Cosmology.
Lord Rees of Ludlow, the
Astronomer Royal, gave the fateful
news that the Andromeda Galaxy will
crash into our own galaxy in about
four billion years, while Professor Saul
Perlmutter, who won the 2011 Nobel
Prize in Physics for the co-discovery of
dark matter, and theoretical physicist
Professor Kip Thorne, a long-term
collaborator of Professor Hawking’s,
gave insightful lectures on their areas
of cosmological expertise.
The symposium ended with
Lord Rees of Ludlow at Stephen
Hawking’s 70th Birthday
Symposium
a recorded lecture by Professor
Hawking entitled ‘A Brief History of
Mine’, in which he looked back over
his life, from his birth on 8 January
1942 until the present day.
At school he was not a high flier.
“My classwork was very untidy, and
my handwriting was the despair of my
teachers,” he said. “But my classmates
gave me the name Einstein, so
presumably they saw signs of
something better. When I was 12, one
of my friends bet another friend a bag
of sweets that I would never come to
anything. I don’t know if this bet was
ever settled, and if so, which way it
was decided.”
After studying Natural Sciences at
University College, Oxford, he came
to Cambridge to study for a PhD in
Cosmology in October 1962.
“At that time it became clear
something was not quite right with
me. The Christmas after arriving in
Cambridge I went home. It was a
very cold winter and my mother
persuaded me to go skating on the
lake in St Albans, even though I knew
I was not up to it. I fell over and had
difficulty getting up.”
He described spending weeks in
hospital having tests. “They never
actually told me what it was, but
I guessed enough to know it was
pretty bad so I didn’t want to ask.”
After initial depression he
began to accept his condition and
to progress in his work. “After my
expectations had been reduced to
zero, every new day became a bonus,
and I began to appreciate everything
I did have. While there’s life, there is
hope. And there was also a young
woman named Jane whom I had met
at a party. Getting engaged lifted my
spirits and I realised, if we were going
to get married, I had to get a job and
finish my PhD. I began to work hard
and I enjoyed it.”
Professor Hawking discussed
his research in “the golden age, in
which we solved most of the major
problems in black hole theory”, his
belief in M-theory as the answer to
questions such as ‘why do we exist?’
and ‘why is there something rather
than nothing?’, and how he came to
write his famous, multi-million-selling
book A Brief History of Time.
In a moving conclusion he advised:
“Look up at the stars and not down at
your feet,” reflecting that “it has been
a glorious time to be alive and doing
research in theoretical physics. Our
picture of the universe has changed
a great deal in the past 40 years and
I’m happy if I have made a small
contribution.
“Try to make sense of what
you see and about what makes
the universe exist. Be curious. And
however difficult life may seem, there
is always something you can do, and
succeed at. It matters that you don’t
just give up.”
lent term 2012 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter | 5

getting practical
Making it
work
The challenges that new graduates
face in securing their first full-time
job has received much coverage
in the national media. But as Gordon
Chesterman and David Ainscough
of the University’s Careers Service
explain, Cambridge students
have many reasons to remain
optimistic
There are certain landmarks in the
life journeys of Cambridge students
that seem to capture the imagination:
interviews at colleges; time spent
studying; end of term balls.
Far less consideration appears to
be given to the process of leaving
the University – more specifically, the
transition that thousands of young
people make every year from student to
professional, in whatever shape or form
that might take. And yet, as recent news
about the challenges faced by 16- to
24-year-olds in securing employment
suggests, the business of finding a job is
an increasingly complex and difficult one.
At Cambridge, these issues are the
daily concern of the Careers Service,
which provides advice and information
to all current undergraduates,
postgraduates and junior research staff of
the University. Located in Stuart House,
Mill Lane, and staffed by a team of 15
advisers, the Cambridge Careers Service
has the highest rate of engagement with
undergraduates of all UK universities (90
per cent of all final years will have passed
through its doors by the time they leave)
and currently interacts with some 5,500
companies through a range of events,
presentations and placements.
The service is led by Director Gordon
Chesterman who, with Deputy David
Ainscough, is responsible for ensuring
that the provision of careers advice
is tailored to the specific needs of
the University and its students, while
responding to external pressures arising
from higher education reform, public
sector cuts, visa restrictions and an
uncertain economic climate.
There are competing interests to
balance. A Careers Service that is fit for
purpose cannot ignore the possibility
that students who will eventually repay
tens of thousands of pounds in fees may
now place greater emphasis on where in
the job market their Cambridge degree
may take them. On the other hand, the
value placed in independent thought and
scholarship – whether at undergraduate
or doctoral research level – is precisely
what makes Cambridge graduates so
attractive to employers.
The tension is neatly summarised
in a story that Gordon tells about
a representative of a major energy
multinational who visited a University
department and started to advise
students on what they needed to do to
come and work for his company – only
to be told by the head of department
that his students were busy working to
put him and his bosses out of business
by the application of research into new
technology.
Fortunately, employers are attracted
by the calibre of Cambridge students
and the quality of education that
the University and colleges provide.
“Cambridge graduates enter a whole
spectrum of careers,” says David. “The
graduate of history can and does go on
to work in a whole range of professional
roles and sectors. Employers are just as
interested in the intellectual rigour and
skills required to complete a degree at
Cambridge as they are in the subject of
that degree.”
Gordon and David are passionate
advocates of their own careers – moving
from thoughtful analysis of the effects of
changes to higher education policy on
today’s students to an impressive grasp
of the detail and data that pass through
the Careers Service office. A question
about alumni is met with a flourish of a
nearby folder entitled ‘Numbers, lots of’
6 | lent term 2012 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter

and Gordon reeling off the exact number
of interactions the Careers Service has
had that year with former students of
the University. Another enquiry into the
types of events that the service provides
sees Gordon dashing off to retrieve a
frighteningly comprehensive print-out,
concertinaed and listing every single
careers-related interaction his office
has made over the course 2011. Such
thorough data helps inform the work
and future direction of the service by
spotting trends and changing popularity
of certain careers.
Such passion must be reassuring
to the many undergraduates who take
careers advice at Cambridge, but it also
underscores one of the key benefits of the
service itself – that it is personalised.
“We are funded by the University
so the interests of the students are
uppermost in our minds,” says David.
“We are impartial and not motivated by
an agenda – unlike recruitment agencies.
Students can have their own personal
careers adviser, and they can see them as
many times as they like.”
The modern employment world, as
Gordon and David are quick to point
out, is becoming ever more complex and
competitive. Gone are the days when the
country’s brightest students could feel
confident of securing a graduate-level job
by virtue of going to a leading university
and a 20-minute interview with sherry
in the company boardroom. Today’s
employers expect young people to have
“Students can have their
own personal careers
adviser, and see them as
often as they like”
accumulated relevant work experience,
or perhaps to have worked as an intern
for little or no pay, and found the time to
accumulate impressive transferable skills
through their extra-curricular activities.
But how do you fund that when you
are a student who needs to work in the
summer holidays to finance the next
academic year’s living expenses? The
answer is: with difficulty. It was with
such issues in mind that the Careers
Service pioneered its Summer Bursary
Scheme, which offers £500 to Cambridge
undergraduates hoping to gain work
experience in the not-for-profit, media
and arts and heritage sectors. Funded
jointly by key recruiters who are members
of the Careers Service Supporters Club
and the University, the 2012 scheme
will offer 41 bursaries in total. Last year’s
recipients used the money to fund a wide
range of placements, including those at
a performing arts charity in India and
Nepal, the World Health Organization
in Geneva and Coventry Citizens
Advice Bureau.
Another recent development has been
the growth of targeted careers advice for
Cambridge’s postdoctoral research staff.
The Careers Service now has four careers
advisers providing help to research
staff looking to advance their career at
Cambridge, elsewhere or move on to
another related or different profession.
The service is also having to respond
to the growing internationalisation
of the jobs market – both in terms of
staying abreast of the legal requirements
affecting international students and
graduates who wish to work in the UK,
and those who wish to work overseas
(on whose behalf it is drawing on the
help, contacts, expertise and goodwill
of the University’s global alumni).
Can you help?
There are no formal procedures by which the University
Careers Service engages proactively with students – it is reliant on
them dropping in or making contact of their own accord.
Students do not have to have a clear idea of what career they
wish to pursue before visiting the service – the team can help
find ideas. But staff in departments and colleges can help by
encouraging students to use the service. Senior tutors, in particular,
can play an important role in reassuring students that they are
highly sought after by employers, and that Cambridge graduates,
whatever their subject discipline, can enter a broad range of jobs.
Despite three or four very challenging
years for the world’s economy, and the
impact that this has had on the UK job
market, Cambridge students continue to
prosper when they leave the University.
The unemployed rate for undergraduates
who left during the summer 2010
remained at under 5 per cent – compared
with a figure of closer to 20 per cent for all
UK graduates.
In terms of destinations, some 30
per cent of 2010 leavers embarked on a
further degree, either joining a taught
course or undertaking research, while
sectors such as banking, management
consultancy, health, publishing and
media, and IT were popular.
Statistics like this do not capture the
variety of roles and jobs that Cambridge
students take when they leave the
University. In the process of finding
employment, many display the qualities
of tenacity, creativity and independence
of thought that gained them a place to
study here in the first place, whether they
start work as an actuary, journalist or
harpsichord maker.
Whatever their aspirations, they can
find a lot of useful advice from Gordon
and his team.
Pictures, from left to right:
the University Careers
Service interacts with some
5,500 companies through
a range of events and
presentations
Find out more
➔ The Careers Service
can be contacted on
(01223) 338288.
➔ For a range of online
resources and advice,
visit http://www.
careers.cam.ac.uk/
lent term 2012 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter | 7

making a difference
Chris Loades
The scientists with
dementia in their sights
Set up last December in the Department of Chemistry, the Cambridge-Elan Centre is a joint
enterprise between the University and pharmaceutical firm Elan. Dedicated to research into
innovative therapies for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, it is a prime example of the
value of basic science and interdisciplinary research
Every 3.2 seconds, someone in the UK
is diagnosed with dementia, and one in
three people alive today aged over 65 will
die with a form of dementia. More than
820,000 Britons have dementia, a number
set to increase as we live longer.
According to Professor Chris Dobson
who, together with colleagues Professor
Michele Vendruscolo and Dr Tuomas
Knowles, has established the centre:
“Neurodegenerative disorders such as
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases
arguably represent the greatest
challenges to the social fabric and
healthcare systems of much of the
modern world.”
Yet despite the huge personal, social
and economic impact of these diseases
– they cost the UK economy more than
£23 billion a year – just 2.5 per cent of the
government’s medical research budget
is spent on dementia, compared with 25
per cent on cancer, whose costs are about
half of those of dementia. According to
Alzheimer’s Research UK, the combined
government and charitable investment
in dementia research is 12-times lower
than spending on cancer research. “£590
million is spent on cancer research each
year, while just £50 million is invested in
dementia research,” the charity says.
Explaining this disparity is difficult but,
Picture: Professor Chris
Dobson, Dr Tuomas Knowles
and Professor Michele
Vendruscolo believe that
if they can design small
molecules to give our bodies’
natural defence mechanisms
a helping hand, they might be
able to prevent, or slow down,
abberant protein behaviour
that plays a central role in
neurodegenerative diseases
says Professor Dobson, taboo and the
age groups hardest hit by these diseases
may play a role. “It could simply be that
dementias were originally considered as
part of the normal ageing process, and so
were not considered to be as important
to understand as diseases that hit the
young,” he says.
“Moreover, there is still a reluctance to
talk about them openly because relatives
and friends naturally find the symptoms
enormously upsetting.”
Although as yet there is no cure,
Dobson, Vendruscolo and Knowles are
helping to build up a detailed picture
of the molecular basis of these diseases
8 | lent term 2012 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter

– a knowledge that they hope can
be exploited to develop therapeutic
interventions through the collaboration
with Elan.
Only in the past 20 years or so have
researchers realised that aberrant
protein behaviour plays a central role
in neurodegenerative diseases such as
Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Creutzfeldt-
Jakob, Motor Neurone and Huntington’s
diseases – as well as other seemingly
unrelated conditions. “One of the most
important findings has been that many
neurodegenerative diseases seem to
have very similar underlying molecular
origins,” Professor Dobson explains.
“Perhaps more remarkable is that the
same processes are also responsible for a
variety of non-neurological disorders
with quite different symptoms, such as
type-2 diabetes.”
What unites this seemingly disparate
group of diseases is a phenomenon
known as protein folding, something that
Professor Dobson had been studying for
years before it was linked with disease.
Constantly produced and degraded in
our cells, proteins, which are molecules
involved in essentially all biochemical
processes in living organisms, begin their
existence as long polymer chains, but
must then fold individually into specific
three-dimensional shapes to function
correctly.
“It was a very exciting intellectual
problem to understand the process of
protein folding,” says Dobson. “So for 20
years, until the mid-90s, that was what
most of our research was on – this basic
understanding of proteins and how
they fold.”
Then, while working on a protein
called lysozyme – which Dobson admits is
“not in itself the most exciting biological
molecule in the world” – a chance
conversation transformed this basic
research into something highly relevant
to human disease.
“One day we were contacted by a
medical colleague who told us that he
had come across a very small number of
patients who had enormous quantities
of lysozyme deposited in their bodies,”
he says.
“We then found out that rare genetic
mutations in these patients stopped
lysozyme from folding properly and
caused it to aggregate into intractable
deposits. Astonishingly, these looked
just the same as the ‘amyloid’ deposits
that are found in the brains of people
suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.”
Armed with the experience gained
from the lysozyme studies, Dobson then
set about investigating the proteins
involved in the much more common
neurodegenerative diseases. “What
seems to happen is that perfectly
normal proteins, which are soluble
and functional, start to clump together
when they misfold and eventually
end up in these amyloid structures,
the most famous of which are plaques
in Alzheimer’s and Lewy bodies in
Parkinson’s,” he explains. “And the crucial
issue is that during the course of the
clumping together, you first get much
smaller particles that we now know are
very toxic.”
Proteins constantly misfold and
aggregate in our cells, but do so at a rate
that the body’s defence mechanisms can
normally cope with. “It’s a widespread
phenomenon but we have quality
control mechanisms that degrade
the aggregates,” explains Professor
Vendruscolo. These mechanisms
function amazingly well when we are
young but, says Vendruscolo: “With
age, they become impaired and are less
effective in maintaining proteins in their
soluble functional states, so they go on
aggregating and eventually start killing
neurons or other types of cells.”
Dobson, Vendruscolo and Knowles
believe that if they can design small
molecules to give our bodies’ natural
defence mechanisms a helping hand,
they might be able to prevent, or slow
down, the aggregation process. But
to discover where along the protein
misfolding pathway they might be able
to intervene, they needed to develop
new tools to study the process at a
molecular level.
“The question of what’s going on
and how we might be able to interfere
with the process wasn’t really amenable
to traditional biochemical methods,” Dr
Knowles explains. This is partly because
working at very small scales is key to
studying one of the most crucial events –
how the misfolding process begins.
According to Knowles: “It’s called
nucleation, and probing it in the lab is
very difficult because typically in a test
tube you would have 1,020 molecules
and might only see one of these events,
so we’ve had to find ways of making
measurements in very small systems.”
Using his background in solid state
physics and nanotechnology, he turned
to techniques more commonly found in
the semiconductor industry than in a lab
studying human disease.
“We developed microchips to make
“Cambridge
attracts bright
people but
it also takes
openness to do
collaborative
research. We are
extremely lucky
because our
group shares this
aptitude”
Professor Michele
Vendruscolo
“Our dream
drug would be
preventive in the
way that statins
reduce the risk
of heart disease”
Professor Chris
Dobson
very small compartments – the size of a
living cell – of protein solution in a carrier
fluid,” he says. “Physical methods like this
are becoming increasingly important to
problems in biology where it is essential
to have a quantitative understanding of
what’s happening.”
Coupled with Dobson’s discoveries
and Vendruscolo’s work on a technique
call nuclear magnetic resonance
spectroscopy, which has allowed him to
record ‘movies’ of how proteins move and
change shape en route to aggregating,
the trio’s progress is a persuasive
advertisement for interdisciplinary
research.
“Research into neurodegenerative
diseases must include tools from
maths, physics and chemistry, through
to molecular and cell biology and
medicine. None of these components
can be neglected, and I consider myself
a component in this big picture. We each
bring our own experience and ideas,” says
Vendruscolo.
As well as contributing different skills,
interdisciplinary researchers also need
to leave something behind – their egos.
“One has to accept that collective efforts
are essential in order to make significant
contributions to very complex problems,”
he explains.
“Cambridge attracts bright people,
but it also takes openness to do
collaborative research. We are extremely
lucky because our group shares this
aptitude.”
Knowles agrees. “That’s why this setup
has been so successful, because it’s
brought together people with diverse
backgrounds and has harnessed their
energy in a way that’s really pushed
things forwards. There aren’t that many
environments where this happens, but it’s
something that Chris Dobson has spent
many years and a lot of effort creating.”
Their eventual aim is to come up with
small molecules that could help prevent
proteins misfolding. “Our dream drug
would be preventive or risk-reducing in
the same way that statins reduce the risk
of heart disease,” says Dobson. And as a
result of what they’ve achieved so far, the
group are in upbeat mood.
“We’re very excited about where we
are because we have a set of fundamental
concepts and powerful technical tools to
follow them up,” explains Vendruscolo.
“And because we have this collaboration
with Elan, a pharmaceutical company that
can then take our results further, we think
we have an extremely good arrangement
now for making a contribution.”
lent term 2012 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter | 9

ehind the scenes
photographs: Chris Loades
Tales from the river
Rowing unites people at Cambridge
like no other sport, and it is thought
that nearly half of the University
population will try it during their time
here. But while the competitions,
training and social aspects are well
known, few people are aware of the
contribution of a handful of dedicated
boatmen. Paul Knights of Queens’ is
one of them
In the early mornings, during term time,
the River Cam experiences its very own rush
hour. Scores of rowers in dozens of eights
from the more than 30 college boat clubs
descend on the narrow ribbon of water that
winds its way from Jesus Green to Bait’s Bite
Lock. But behind the armada of boats is a
small band of college boatmen who make
Cambridge’s most famous sport possible.
“If you go down to the river in the
morning at sunrise, all the college crews
push off at the same time,” says Paul Knights,
one of the longest-serving boatmen on
the Cam.
“Because the river’s so narrow it’s hard
to overtake, so each boat becomes part of a
giant flotilla making its way downstream.”
Paul has worked for Queens’ College
since 1984, and has lived above the
current boathouse since it was built in
1987. Looking out across the Cam to
Midsummer Common, it is, he admits, an
enviable place to live. But living above
his office means that students think he’s
always on call.
“Although I can just walk down the
staircase to work, occasionally there are
times when you get students knocking
on the door because they’ve left their
keys somewhere,” he says.
Like many employees of the
University, Paul has a close relationship
with its students. And although coaching
isn’t part of his job description, it is
10 | lent term 2012 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter

something he often does in his spare
time. “I like doing it if I get something out
of it – when you get results it’s wonderful,”
he says.
“Last Lent term I coached the first
women’s crew two mornings a week,
leaving here at 6.30am, while a friend
of mine, Bill Sadler, coached them at
weekends,” explains Paul.
When their boat excelled in the Lent
bumps, he was delighted. “They did very
well. They went up four places and won
their oars. In the May term they decided
to bring in some younger blood to coach
them – a nice guy, but they only went up
two places in the Mays!”
Getting on with the students, as
well as looking after college boats and
blades, is all part of what makes a good
boatman, he says. “You have to be willing
to do anything and everything. A good
boatman should not just be concerned
with coaching or repairs – he or she has
to get on with the students and advise
them on their technique.”
As much as it demands physical
fitness, rowing is a supremely technical
sport and Paul’s success as a club and
England rower means he has bags of
experience to pass on.
Before arriving at Queens’ he lived in
the London area and rowed for Waltonon-Thames
Rowing Club, racing at many
events and winning most of them,
including a gold medal in Belgium. “At
Henley Royal Regatta we lost to the crew
from Lea Rowing Club who went on to
win the Britannia Cup that year,” says Paul.
After racing at the National
Championships in Nottingham his crew
was asked to represent England at the
Home Counties at Strathclyde Park Loch.
“We raced against the Irish police, An
Garda Síochána, but they beat us quite
convincingly.”
Still rowing on the Cam and racing
locally, Paul competed in the British
Indoor Rowing Championships in
1997/98, where he held the British 40-
plus lightweight record for two years,
and went on to the World Indoor Rowing
Championships in Boston, taking bronze
in his age category.
He has won so many pots – which line
his bookshelves – that he’s started giving
some away, and his medals hang around
the frame of a very special drinks cabinet
made from the bow of an old clinker-built
cedar wood eight.
“On the water the boat was called Wet
& Willing, and when I arrived at Queens’
in 1984 it was broken. It had hit the bank
and smashed so it couldn’t be used – it
was my first repair,” he remembers. “They
raced it in the Lents and trashed it again,
this time so badly that it wasn’t worth
repairing, so I decided to keep it as a
cabinet. The boat was built in 1957, the
year I was born, so it’s got a bit of history
to it and sentimental value.”
Cambridge born and bred, Paul
began rowing when he left school for an
apprenticeship at Rattee & Kett. “I bought
my first sculling boat from B&H Racing
Crafts. When it needed varnishing and
canvassing, Roger Silk, the boatman at
the Lady Margaret Boat Club, carried out
the work.”
At the end of his apprenticeship, work
took him to London. “As a carpenter
and joiner I was doing shop-fitting,” he
explains. “The hours were awkward – you
“A good
boatman
should not just
be concerned
with coaching
or repairs – he
or she has to
get on with the
students and
advise them on
their technique”
Far left: Queens’ boatman
Paul Knights and, top, in his
workshop by the Cam.
Left: passing on his experience
start work when the shops shut at 5pm
and finish at 8am – and I didn’t fancy
doing that all my life.”
So when the previous Queens’
boatman Reg Pettit retired, Roger Silk
suggested that Paul applied. His wood
skills and rowing achievements secured
him the job and Roger taught him the
boat-building skills he needed.
It is the design of boats and blades
that has changed most over the 26 years
since Paul first started working as a
boatman: “When I first came here all the
boats were wooden except for one plastic
four. Now we have just two wooden
eights and everything else is plastic. It’s
been a big change.”
They may look lovely, but Paul does
not miss wooden boats. “They were
forever leaking. In clinker boats, the
boards would shrink and expand,” he
explains. “When I started you would have
to put a boat in the water the day before
you wanted to use it for it to swell.”
Student rowers have changed too,
observes Paul. “If they’ve rowed before
they are fitter and stronger. And they’re
definitely taller. Most of the men are over
six feet now, whereas that used to be
considered tall.”
So tall are some of the men, that boat
builders need to tweak the design of new
boats to accommodate them. “We have
some rowers who are six feet six or six
feet eight. They are so long that they can
only fit in one place in the middle of an
eight,” Paul explains.
His day to day work, bar mountains
of email, remains much the same today
as in 1984: repairing boats and blades,
cleaning the showers and changing
rooms and, most importantly, making
sure the boat house and its equipment is
safe and healthy to use.
“I have to check the boats for anything
that might cause injury – from missing
heel restraints and bow balls to sharp
edges,” says Paul. “And once a month
I check the life jackets and survival kit
bags, which all the coaches now have to
wear in the cold months.”
The move follows an accident last
winter when a rower was ejected from
the boat and into the near-freezing river.
“Since then we’ve introduced a system
whereby all coaches carry a bag with first
aid kit, a thermal blanket and warm, dry
clothes.”
So next time you spot boats out on
the Cam, or watch the bumps from the
towpath, remember it’s not just the
rowers, but the small band of boatmen
working hard to make it all possible.
lent term 2012 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter | 11

people
Lectures aim to raise equality awareness
Mariella Frostrup, journalist
and campaigner for women’s rights
and gender equality, will give the
International Women’s Day Annual
Lecture on 8 March.
She will be joined by a variety of
speakers from EQUALS, a coalition
of charities and arts organisations
brought together by Annie Lennox to
celebrate International Women’s Day
and encourage a younger generation
to call for a more equal world.
The lecture, which starts at
5.45pm in the Howard Theatre,
Downing College, will be hosted
by Professor Dame Athene Donald,
equality champion for gender at the
University.
Mariella will talk about her work
for global charity the GREAT Initiative,
which engages in issues of gender
imbalance and works to encourage
improvements for women, children
and families on the African continent.
Other events across the University
and city will be taking place to
mark International Women’s Day,
among them ‘No Going Back! What
next for women today?’, a series of
talks, exhibitions and workshops by
some 20 groups and organisations
across Cambridge. Speakers include
Professor Donald, Julie Spence
OBE, former Chief Constable of
Cambridgeshire Constabulary,
Antoinette Jackson, Chief Executive
of Cambridge City Council, and Kat
Banyard, author, critic and feminist
campaigner.
Also in March, Dame Anne Begg
MP will deliver the 10th Annual
Disability Lecture – ‘Two Steps
Forward, One Step Back: Challenges
to Disabled People in 2012’.
The lecture, which starts at 5.30pm
on 22 March in the Palmerston Room
at St John’s College, is open to all, and
will be followed by a drinks reception.
Fully wheelchair accessible, there will
also be a sign language interpreter
present.
Dame Anne is a British Labour
Party politician and former teacher
who has been the Member of
Parliament for Aberdeen South
since 1997.
She was the first full-time user of
a wheelchair elected to the House
of Commons and is now Chair of the
Work and Pensions Select Committee.
For more information on either
event, visit http://www.admin.cam.
ac.uk/offices/hr/equality/cambridge/
Left: Mariella Frostrup, journalist
and campaigner, will speak at the
International Women’s Day Lecture.
Above: Dame Anne Begg will give the
Annual Disability Lecture
Lucy Capewell
Lucy Capewell, New Media Manager in the Office
of External Affairs and Communications, was the
driving force behind much of the University’s work
in digital and new media.
Lucy joined the University in 2006 after a 20-year
career in broadcasting, most of which she spent
working on television documentaries. Her brief at
Cambridge was to lead the development of ‘new’
➔ Professor Ian White has been elected
the 40th Master of Jesus College with
effect from 1st October. He will succeed
Professor Robert Mair, who has been
Master since 2001. Professor White was an
undergraduate, graduate student and then
Research Fellow at the college. He is van
Eck Professor of Engineering in the
University’s Engineering Department,
Head of Photonics Research and Pro-Vice-
Chancellor for Institutional Affairs.
12 | lent term 2012 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter

prizes, awards and honours
Awards
➔ Dr Dora Alexopoulou,
Dr Henriette Hendriks, Dr Napoleon
Katsos, Dr Teresa Parodi and
Dr Brechtje Post from the
Department of Theoretical and
Applied Linguistics have been
awarded a grant under the Cambridge
Humanities Research Grants Scheme
with Dr Claire Hughes (Department
of Experimental Psychology) and
Dr Michelle Ellefson (Faculty of
Education). The project will attempt
to integrate linguistic and cognitive
perspectives in the development
of bilingual children, as well as
pioneering internet-based testing
methodologies.
➔ Dr Elizabeth Boyle of the
Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse
and Celtic has been awarded a Marie
Curie Fellowship for Experienced
Researchers in the Gerda Henkel
Foundation’s M4HUMAN programme.
Dr Boyle will spend two years in the
Department of Early and Medieval Irish
at University College Cork, conducting
research on ‘The End of the World?
Apocalyptic Expectation in Eleventh-
Century Ireland’.
➔ Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta
(Faculty of Economics) has been
inducted as Distinguished Center
for Economics Studies Fellow at the
University of Munich. He delivered
the Munich Lectures in Economics on
‘Time and Generations’.
➔ Professor Andrew Fabian,
Dr Mike Irwin and Dr Paul Murdin of
the Institute of Astronomy have been
honoured by the Royal Astronomical
Society. Professor Fabian was awarded
the society’s highest honour – the
Gold Medal – in recognition of a
lifetime’s achievement in astrophysics.
Dr Irwin received the Herschel Medal,
the premier award for a researcher
in observational astrophysics, while
Dr Murdin’s many contributions to
astronomy in the UK and Europe
were recognised with the RAS Service
Award.
➔ Professor Timothy Gowers, of the
Department of Pure Mathematics and
Mathematical Statistics, was awarded
the 2011 Stefan Banach medal.
The medal, awarded by the Polish
Academy of Sciences for outstanding
achievements in mathematical
sciences, was set up in 1992 to
honour the centenary of the great
mathematician.
➔ Professor Peter Mandler,
Faculty of History, has been elected
President of the Royal Historical
Society. Professor Mandler, who will
take up the position in November
of this year, succeeds Professor
Colin Jones of Queen Mary College,
University of London. The society,
founded in 1868, is the foremost
learned society in the UK promoting
and defending the scholarly study
of the past, with more than 3,000
elected fellows and members. Also
in the Faculty of History, Professor
Alexandra Walsham has won the
American Historical Association’s Leo
Gershoy Award 2011 for her book The
Reformation of the Landscape: Religion,
Identity and Memory in Early Modern
Britain and Ireland, and Professor Sir
David Abulafia has been awarded
the Mountbatten Literary Award by
the Maritime Foundation for his book
The Great Sea: a Human History of the
Mediterranean.
➔ Dr Richard Samworth, Reader in
Statistics in the Statistical Laboratory,
Centre for Mathematical Sciences,
has been awarded the Guy medal
in bronze from the Royal Statistical
Society. The award, typically given
to individuals under the age of
35, is for his work on theoretical,
methodological and computational
aspects of non-parametric statistics.
➔ Sir John Meurig Thomas has been
invited by the American Philosophical
Society (APS) to give the next Jayne
Prize Memorial Lecture later this year.
The APS is the oldest academy in
the Americas, founded by Benjamin
Franklin in 1743. Its 800 or so elected
members consist of 102 living Nobel
Laureates.
➔ Dr Chris Young (Department
of German and Dutch) has been
awarded a Leverhulme Major Research
Fellowship for the next two years. He
will work on his project ‘German Sport
c. 1920 – c.1960: Media Entertainment
in Four Political Systems’.
Dr Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta
Dr Janet Deane
Dr Richard Samworth
New Year Honours
Six members of the University were
recognised in the 2012 New Year
Honours List. Professor Patrick Sissons,
Regius Professor of Physic, Head of
the School of Clinical Medicine and
Fellow of Darwin, has been knighted
for services to research and education
in clinical medicine. Dr Venkatraman
Ramakrishnan, Senior Research Fellow
at Trinity, has been knighted for services
to molecular biology. Dr Ramakrishnan
works at the Medical Research Council
Laboratory of Molecular Biology in
Cambridge. Professor Geoffrey Hill,
Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel, has been
knighted for services to literature, while
Professor Trevor Robbins, Head of the
Department of Experimental Psychology,
Director of the MRC Centre for
Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience
Institute and Fellow of Downing was
awarded a CBE for services to medical
research.
Honours were also conferred on
Peter Carpenter, founder and Honorary
Executive Secretary of Cambridge
University’s Kurt Hahn Trust, who
was awarded an MBE for services to
Anglo-German relations and to higher
education, and Matthew Moss, Private
Secretary to the Vice-Chancellor,
who becomes a Member of the Royal
Victorian Order.
Royal Society
Research Fellows
Seven Cambridge scientists have
been appointed University Research
Fellows by the Royal Society, the UK’s
national academy of science.
The University Research Fellowship
scheme aims to provide outstanding
scientists with the opportunity to build
an independent research career.
The list of appointments is: Dr Edward
Brambley, Department of Applied
Mathematics and Theoretical Physics;
Dr Kevin Chalut, Department of Physics;
Dr Janet Deane, Cambridge Institute
for Medical Research; Dr Andras Juhasz,
Department of Pure Mathematics and
Mathematical Statistics; Dr Stephen
Morris, Centre of Molecular Materials for
Photonics and Electronics, Department
of Engineering; Dr Jerome Neufeld,
Department of Applied Mathematics and
Theoretical Physics; Dr Jason Robinson,
Department of Materials Science.
lent term 2012 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter | 13

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newsletter@admin.cam.ac.uk
HOUSES TO RENT (UK)
➔ Butley, Suffolk
Comfortable, spacious, wellequipped
cottage with piano
in Butley, Suffolk. Available for
Aldeburgh Festival, weekends and
short breaks throughout the year.
Close to Orford, Sutton Hoo, Snape
and Minsmere. Sleeps up to eight.
Phone Miranda on (01223) 357035
or email info@butleycottage.
co.uk. More information at www.
butleycottage.co.uk.
➔ Cornwall
Traditional granite cottage in
peaceful countryside between St
Ives and Penzance. Sleeps five in
three bedrooms, with comfortable
sitting room, kitchen-breakfast
room and bathroom. Sunny garden
and off-road parking. Close to
beaches and coves, coastal path,
sub-tropical gardens, historic
properties. Email Penny on pb29@
cam.ac.uk or phone (01638)
507192. Details and photos at www.
tinminerscottage.co.uk.
➔ North Yorkshire Moors
Low Mill, Farndale, with sitting
room, dining room, play room,
kitchen, four bedrooms, two
bathrooms and garden with lovely
views. Sleeps seven. All mod cons.
Fabulous walks in all directions.
Near Rievaulx, Castle Howard,
Runswick Bay. 2012 rate: £400/week.
Phone Horace or Miranda Barlow
on (01223) 366618/333867 or email
hbb10@cam.ac.uk.
HOUSES TO RENT (OVERSEAS)
➔ Algarve, Portugal
Spacious, family owned apartment
sleeps up to five in idyllic village.
Private patio and roof terrace with
shared pools. Picturesque beach five
minutes walk. Restaurants within
village. Tennis, golf, water parks
and shopping close by. Faro airport
45 minutes. Stunning and quiet
location. Short and long breaks
available. Email Helen.floto@gmail.
com, phone 01954 267291 or visit
www.holiday-home-rentals.co.uk
(property 4995).
➔ Amalfi Coast, Italy
Small bed and breakfast in
peaceful, traffic-free mountain
village above Positano. Ideal for
those seeking a quiet mountain
retreat with modern conveniences.
All rooms ensuite with panoramic
sea views of the Amalfi coast.
Situated on the famous Sentiero
degli Dei (Footpath of the Gods).
English speaking host. Double room
and breakfast from 60 euros per
night. easyJet flights to Naples from
Stansted. Contact Penny Marrone
on 01954 210681. For further
information and photos visit http://
ninobb.moonfruit.com.
➔ Florida
Luxury four-bedroom, threebathroom
villa ten minutes drive
from Disney World. The villa is
beautifully furnished and has its
own pool and games room, highspeed
internet, free international
phone calls and BBQ. Can sleep up
to ten people. Rate is £400 a week
for any week of the year, extra days
also available. For more information
phone 01403 257662 or visit www.
starvillaflorida.com.
➔ Lagos, Portugal
Individual, superb four bedroom/
four bathroom villa with pool set
among the tree-lined links of the
western Algarve’s premier golf and
leisure resort Parque da Floresta.
Near Costa Vicentina Nature
Reserve, historic port of Lagos,
pristine beaches and quaint fishing
villages. Luxury accommodation,
sleeps eight to ten. Contact Graham
on gb313@admin.cam.ac.uk or Lyn
on lb334@medschl.cam.ac.uk
➔ Nice, France
Quiet apartment near the
Promenade des Anglais and city
centre. It is in the ‘Musicians’ area’
on the fourth floor, accessed
by lift. Sleeps two, with living
room, bedroom with double bed,
separate, fully equipped kitchen,
modern bathroom, separate w/c,
small balconies front and back. Price
per week, including linen, £350
October to March, £400 April, May,
September, £450 June to August.
Contact Robin Spence on rjs2@cam.
ac.uk or 07808932943.
➔ Paxos, Greece
The Amfitriti Hotel on the Ionian
island of Paxos is a small, friendly,
family run establishment of 17
rooms. It is set in front of a small,
pebbly beach (sand when in water)
with superb views. If peace and
quiet, and terrific walks, is what you
are after the hotel is ideal. For more
information email sallywynne23@
googlemail.com or visit www.
amfitritihotel.gr.
➔ Provence, France
Large, comfortable flat in famous
Côte Bleue resort of Carry-le-Rouet,
close to the Camargue, Marseilles
and Provencal places of interest.
Seafront, beach and coves within
100 metres. Excellent for swimming,
snorkelling, scuba diving, sailing,
walking and cycling. Twenty
minutes from Marseilles airport
and 30 minutes from Marseilles
TGV station. Sleeps six comfortably.
Private parking. WIFI network.
Contact Anita Ogier on ao10001@
cam.ac.uk.
➔ Sitges, Spain
Located between the Garraf
Massif and the sea, Sitges village is
known for its good micro climate,
gastronomy and a peaceful
environment just 30 minutes away
from Barcelona. Quiet apartment,
comprising one double and one
single bedroom, lounge/living
room area, and fully equipped
kitchen and bathroom. Close to
the beach and a short walk to the
centre and rail station. Nearest
airport is Barcelona El Prat. Contact
Azucena on aj365@cam.ac.uk.
➔ St Malo, France
Quiet holiday flat within ancient
building in central St Malo, near
beaches, shops and amenities.
Excellent transport links by air,
sea or train. Near to a range of
interesting places for day trips,
including Jersey and Mont
St Michael. £375 per week or
less depending on the time
of year. Contact Kelley Green
on 07885 686947 or email
kelleyofcambridge@googlemail.
com.
➔ Western Crete
Stunning new villa, stone-built in
traditional style, for rent in beautiful
mountain and sea location on the
outskirts of a pretty and upsoilt
village. Two double bedrooms
and a further mezzanine, sleeps
four to six, Villa Adrasteia provides
luxurious accommodation with
large private swimming pool.
Located 20 minutes drive from the
airport in nearby Venetian port city
of Chania, close to unspoilt beaches
and superb mountain and gorgewalking
and cycling. Rates for 2012
range from £500 to £900 per week
according to season. Long rentals
negotiable. Contact c.butler@
jbs.cam.ac.uk and visit www.
villaadrasteia.com for information.
property for sale
➔ Istanbul
Furnished luxury villa for sale in
Silivri, the idyllic harbour town
near Istanbul. The property is
in a secured housing complex
and shares a 50-metre seawater
swimming pool, private beach
and jetty. It has four floors, four
bedrooms, two bathrooms, three
toilets, granite floors, a modern
staircase, three balconies, a garden,
BBQ, as well as a panoramic roof
terrace with amazing views over
the Bosphorus. Airport 30 minutes,
centre of Istanbul 40 minutes, and
golf and riding courses 20 minutes’
drive. Price £195,000. For further
information email ed316@admin.
cam.ac.uk.
SERVICES
➔ Lovely food, sensible prices
The University Social Club (USC) in
Mill Lane is the ideal place for lunch
and to unwind after work. It boasts
real ales, delicious, affordable food
at lunchtime, and snooker, pool,
darts and table tennis. The club
has function and meeting rooms
available for hire, and is open to
all University staff, students and
affiliates. The USC is open from 12
to 2pm and 5pm until 10.30pm
Monday to Friday. Various dancing
classes (salsa, tango and ceroc) are
held most week nights. For further
information phone 38090 or email
enquiries@socialclub.cam.ac.uk
➔ Knee clinic
The Cambridge Knee Clinic
provides specialist care for knee
disorders for all ages of people,
including arthroscopic surgery,
ligament reconstruction, and joint
replacement and realignment. The
clinic is run by Mr Jai Chitnavis,
consultant orthopaedic surgeon.
Operations are performed by him at
both private hospitals in Cambridge.
For more information, call 01223
253763 or visit www.jai-chitnavis.
co.uk.
VOLUNTEERS
➔ Coton Countryside Reserve
Cambridge Past, Present & Future,
the local charity that champions
enjoyment of green spaces and
sustainable development of the city,
is looking for people to help out
at the Coton Countryside Reserve.
Volunteers maintain the reserve,
with assistance conducting wildlife
surveys, practical conservation
tasks and research on the history
and archaeology of the site of
particularly high importance. To
find out more about volunteering,
call (01223) 243830 or visit http://
cambridgeppf.org/volunteering.
shtml
➔ Help with professional skills
Cambridgeshire ProHelp has
relaunched for professionals
committed to making a difference in
their local community by providing
free advice and expertise. Expertise
from marketing and businessplanning,
to architecture and law
is sought. Volunteering can be a
great way to develop skills while
benefiting the community. If you
are interested in finding out more,
please visit http://www.bitc.org.
uk/east_of_england/programmes/
prohelp/
➔ Local charity seeks trustees
The trustees of Cambridge United
Charities manage 29 almshouses
in the city, administer grants to
local people in need of financial
help and support organisations
working with young people. Would
you consider joining us? If you
have an interest in housing for the
elderly, experience of property
or investment management, or
practical concern for the welfare of
others we would like to hear from
you. For further information phone
Chairman of Trustees Philippa
Slatter on (01223) 701733 or visit
www.cambridgeunitedcharities.org
➔ Blood cell study
Would you like to help with a
research project? Are you male,
aged 45-75, or female, aged 55-75?
We are seeking volunteers to
help us with a research project
looking into how specific white
blood cells behave in the body.
If you are healthy, or have mild
or moderate asthma, and would
like to help, please contact Ros
Simmonds, Research Nurse on
(01223) 762007 or 07525 803785
for further information. You will be
compensated for your time and
inconvenience.
OTHER NOTICES
➔ House swap
My wife and I will be spending
a brief sabbatical in Cambridge
this year from April to June and
are seeking a nice, furnished
two-bedroom apartment or house
to rent for the period. We have a
luxury three-bedroom apartment
in Boston – near Harvard Medical
School, MIT and Harvard University
– that we might be willing to swap.
To discuss further, please email
me, Professor Alfred L Goldberg, at
alfred-goldberg@hms.harvard.edu.
The University of Cambridge
accepts no responsibility for the
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14 | lent term 2012 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter

lent term 2012 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter | 15

ack page
Branching out
Cambridge research staff can find themselves
bedding down in the most unlikely of places.
Here conservation biologist and Churchill
Research Fellow Dr Ben Phalan describes the
sights, sounds and thoughts that greet him as
the sun sets on a Ghanaian tropical forest
Night comes quickly, a steady
dimming of the light as crickets and frogs
take over from the daytime chorus of
birds and cicadas. I and my local guide,
Kwesi, tuck into rice and fish cooked over
a camping stove. On other occasions, I
have accompanied hunters to the forest
and eaten kusie (giant pouched rat) with
cassava, cooked over a campfire. It was
surprisingly good. Giant pouched rats
reproduce quickly and their populations
seem able to withstand hunting pressure,
but other species are less resilient. The
unique subspecies of red colobus monkey
once found in Ghana has now been
hunted to extinction, and other monkeys
are not far behind.
The concept of extinction is alien here.
To the market women who sell bushmeat,
animals are a gift from God, sent down
for people to “chop”. Hunters will tell you
that now-absent species have “run away
deeper into the forest”. But try to push
deeper into the forest and, after a few
kilometres, you come out the other side
into a patchwork mosaic of cassava and
maize fields with plantains, chilli peppers
and garden eggs; cocoa farms, many
with a canopy of remnant forest trees;
overgrown plots of oil palm; and dense
thickets springing up on land left fallow
for a few years to regain its fertility.
My research in Ghana looks at the
biological richness of such landscapes,
comparing them with forests and oil palm
plantations, in an attempt to get a better
understanding of a contentious debate:
should conservationists focus more of
their efforts on preventing conversion
of forests to mosaic farmlands, or on
preventing the homogenisation of those
mosaics into uniform but high-yielding
monocultures?
Kwesi himself is a hunter, and I ask
him about monkeys. He knows five kinds
well, and I ask if he would be sorry if they
“finished”. He says he would be happy
to see one kind finish. He calls it kraa,
and says it is a “very stubborn monkey”
that raids farmers’ crops. I know it as
the white-naped mangabey, globally
endangered, which has declined by 50
per cent or more within my lifetime.
I encourage Kwesi not to shoot those
species he sees becoming rare but, as
an outsider, my words don’t carry much
weight. It will take far more dedicated
efforts to regulate hunting, protect
habitats and find culturally acceptable
alternatives to bushmeat if declines of
this and other species are to be reversed.
It’s fully dark now. I go to “bath” in a
forest stream. Little fish dart away from
my light, and freshwater shrimps with
long pincers peer up through the clear
water. From the dark treetops, a rhythmic
series of dreadful cries starts up. It sounds
like an animal in pain, or perhaps in the
throes of ecstasy, or both. It’s an owea, a
tree hyrax, a dumpy, shaggy little creature
with rather human-like toes. From further
off, the quavering laugh of an African
wood owl drifts through the trees. The
night air is alive with the hum of insects,
but mosquitoes are mercifully few.
I retreat to my hammock, slung
between two trees and covered over with
mosquito netting. I’m not expecting a
downpour so I’ve left the fly sheet pulled
back, and through the dense foliage 40
ana rodrigues
“Through the
dense foliage 40
metres above
my head I can
see a few silvery
stars”
metres above my head I can see a few
silvery stars. I call out a good night to
Kwesi, and soon fall into a deep sleep.
Who knows what the morning might
bring? Delicate butterflies drinking sweat
from my shirt, new and unfamiliar bird
sounds to be traced and identified, a
blitzkrieg of driver ants, a bewildering
diversity of trees to be measured and
catalogued, perhaps a lucky sighting of
a very stubborn monkey. One thing is
certain: in a tropical forest like this there
will always be something I have never
seen before.
find out more
Taken from the series ‘Extreme Sleepover’.
For other features visit http://www.cam.
ac.uk/research/category/features/
16 | lent term 2012 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter