Plans & Prospects 2023

A year in Development
and Alumni Relations
Development Director Huw David reflects on a year of both continuity and change, in
which Wolfsonians continued to invest in the relationships, research and resources at
the heart of our community, whether at Linton Road or further afield.
As we begin the long vacation, it’s
satisfying to reflect back on what the
President referred to in his recent
Foundation Dinner speech as “a normal,
extraordinary year” at Wolfson. Normal
in the full resumption, for the first time
in three years, of the regular patterns of
lectures, seminars, lunches and dinners
that are the hallmark of Wolfson life;
extraordinary for the accomplishments
of our students and fellows, the
generosity of our alumni and friends, and
the progress of our decarbonization and
other building projects around College.
Once again, Wolfson benefitted from
remarkable philanthropic support. For
the Zero Carbon project, the Wolfson
Foundation’s grant of £500,000 enabled
us to complete the replacement of
the remaining single-glazed windows in
our original Powell & Moya buildings.
From September, Wolfson will have
Oxford’s first electric minibus thanks
to a donation of £86,000 from an
anonymous alumnus, eliminating many
tonnes of diesel emissions as it shuttles
back and forth to Broad Street. With
Wolfson’s crest emblazoned on the side,
it will also be a powerful embodiment
of the College’s commitment to clean
energy and, we hope, a catalyst for other
institutions to electrify their fleet.
While the Zero Carbon project has
specialised in transforming Wolfson’s
hidden infrastructure – the heating,
plumbing and electrics that make the
College run – other building projects
have a much more visible impact. Over
the winter, the Private Dining Room and
Coffee Room were amalgamated and
comprehensively redecorated to create
a bright modern space overlooking
Harbour Quad. The Levett Room, as
it is now named in gratitude for the
generosity of Honorary Fellow Christian
Levett, has become an outstanding
space for events, art exhibitions, and
entertaining. Two other projects in the
26
coming months will similarly transform
much used but tired spaces, both thanks
to exceptional gifts: the Music Practice
Rooms underneath the Marble Hall and
the Lower Common Room. Across
the Cherwell, in Wolfson’s floodplain
meadows, the generosity of the Aspen
Foundation in memory of the late Sir
Martin Wood is restoring and enhancing
the biodiversity of these SSSI grasslands.
Wolfson’s vibrant research clusters have
also attracted some tremendous gifts.
For the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing,
we are hugely grateful for two donations
of £100,000, one from the Dorset
Foundation and one from an anonymous
benefactor, and for the support of
OCLW’s many friends in sustaining
its outreach work with disadvantaged
communities and neurodivergent young
people. The new Law in Societies
cluster revived Wolfson’s longstanding
expertise in sociolegal studies thanks to
significant philanthropic support. We
were once again indebted to Honorary
Fellows Lorne Thyssen for enabling
so much outstanding research under
the Ancient World Research Cluster’s
aegis and Simon Harrison for his
remarkable support for the Boat Club,
towards our planned new Sports and
Wellbeing Centre, and for scholarships
in Physics and Quantum Computing.
In January we established the Baruch
Spinoza Scholarship in solar physics,
named in honour of the Enlightenment
philosopher and inspiration to Isaiah
Berlin, thanks to a kind gift from alumnus
Matthew Levy.
Physics – of the quantum kind – was at
the heart of this year’s London Lecture
given by Vlatko Vedral, of which more
can be seen across the centre pages
of this magazine. Attended by a rapt
capacity audience at the House of
Lords, it was one of several memorable
alumni events throughout the year.
September’s alumni reception in College
Credit: Femke Gow
was for the first time preceded by a talk,
livestreamed for Wolfsonians across
the world, on ‘The Unfolding Story of
the Hittite Empire and its Collapse’ by
Christoph Bachhuber. Our Christmas
reception at the Oxford & Cambridge
Club in London as ever brought together
alumni of many eras. And following
three years of Covid confinement to
British shores, the President and I were
delighted to travel to the US in March
to meet alumni and friends in Chicago,
Washington, New York and Boston,
where a drinks reception brought
Wolfsonians from across New England
together at Tufts University thanks to
the kindness of Tufts’ President Tony
Monaco and his wife Zoia Larin Monaco,
an alumna.
With a full programme scheduled for
2023-24 we look forward to meeting
you on our travels or to welcoming you
back to College soon. Thank you again
to everyone whose generosity, at all
levels, helps to make Wolfson the special
place it is.
Would you consider supporting
Wolfson’s students by establishing
a bursary or scholarship?
Please contact Dr Huw David,
Fellow and Development Director,
to discuss how your support
can help Wolfson’s students and
postdocs thrive.
E: huw.david@wolfson.ox.ac.uk