The College Record 2022

Reports and College Activities
Outside of my ongoing clinical and teaching commitments in Neurology and my
NIHR funded academic research, I was also appointed as the acting Chief Medical
Officer for a biotechnology company, the role is to help accelerate clinical research
trials and drug development for Central Nervous System disorders.
Annalisa Nicholson (French)
This year, I was happy to see the publication of my first
academic articles. One appeared in French Studies and
analysed the influence of Epicurus and Lucretius on the
writings of the seventeenth-century French exile and
self-confessed epicurean, Charles de Saint-Évremond.
The second came out with Early Modern Women and
re-examined the suicide of Hortense Mancini in light of
overlooked manuscripts at the British Library. The broader stakes of this article
converged around the responsible use of speculative history.
I have also been working to turn my doctoral thesis on Hortense Mancini and
French exiles in Restoration London into a monograph. I am currently finalising my
book proposal, which will pitch an academic book on the influence of the French
community that surrounded Mancini. Relatedly, following the award of an Amy
Wygant Research Bursary from the Society for Early Modern French Studies, I am
working with The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe series at Toronto Press to
publish my transcriptions and translations of Mancini's letters, which will mark the
first ever edition of her correspondence.
In addition to these academic outlets, my research on Hortense Mancini has featured
in American wine magazine, Wine Enthusiast, and in the Swedish history magazine,
Historiskan.
Finally, I was delighted to host a workshop on Huguenot history and culture at Oxford
Town Hall in June 2021, generously funded by The Queen's College, the Society for
French Studies, and the Society for the Study of French History.
Credit: John Cairns
Conor O’Brien (History)
This year has been a busy one for me, settling into the
rhythm of organising History at Queen's for the first time in
the midst of a year which began with the pandemic looming
but ended with something like a return to 'normality'.
Admissions interviews were online for the second year
running, but both Finals and Prelims were sat in person
20 The Queen’s College | College Record 2022