annual report 2009

Annual Report 2009

Foreword 01

An overview of our 800th Anniversary 02

Opening doors 04

Great expectations 08

Expanding horizons 12

Making an impact on health 16

Making an impact on the environment 20

Shaping policy and debate 24

Making an impact on the economy 28

Connecting with the world 30

Recognising achievement 34

Charting progress 39

Annual Reports of the Council

and the General Board 41

Reports and Financial Statements 56

Cover photograph: Nigel Luckhurst

800th Anniversary light show

Contents

Foreword 01

This past academic year has been one of celebration.Through public performances, discussions andworkshops described overleaf and throughout thisReport, we have celebrated 800 years of transformativediscoveries and ideas.

It has also been a time to reflect on what has madethese achievements possible.Time and again, we haveseen through this examination of Cambridge’s richhistory that the complex journey from inspiration to impact requires the finest of minds, a modicum ofresources and a great deal of freedom.

The 800th Anniversary, then, has also been aboutsupporting teaching and research with a view to thelong-term future, because world-changing discoveriesand ideas do not happen to order. In a fundamentallyimportant way, Cambridge’s alumni, friends andpartners are underpinning academic freedom throughtheir gifts to the 800th Anniversary Campaign, whichhas now raised over £900 million.

I hope that this Report will provide you with a snapshotof a year in the life of a University 800 years young anddeeply engaged with the modern world.

Professor Alison Richard

Vice-Chancellor

Foreword Celebrating the past, transforming the future

02 University of Cambridge Annual Report 2009

An overview of our 800th Anniversary

In marking our 800th Anniversary, we aimed to strikea balance between academic achievement andcelebration, to pay tribute to the past, celebrate thepresent and leave a legacy for the future.

(Above) A light show was accompanied by a worldwide bell-ringing ceremony to mark the beginning of the 800th Anniversary.

The 800th Anniversary began officially on 17 January,the first Saturday of Lent Term. A spectacular light showfeaturing images from the University’s history wasprojected onto the Senate House and Old Schools.

The celebrations in Cambridge coincided with a world-wide bell-ringing event.Three churches in centralCambridge – Great St Mary’s, St Edward King andMartyr and St Andrew the Great – performed a new work for bells composed for the occasion by Clare College alumnus Phil Earis.The sound of bells celebrating the University’s octocentenary also reverberated across the world as churches in the USA,Japan, Syria, Canada, India and Australia helped to mark the occasion.

In July, two more large 800th Anniversary events took place. More than 9,000 members of University and College staff and their families celebrated theUniversity’s 800th Anniversary with a Summer GardenParty in the Botanic Garden. One of the major events of the 800th Anniversary year, the Garden Party was ajoyous event, featuring a wide range of entertainment,musical and educational activities.

Four days after the Garden Party, the BBC Promscelebrated the 800th Anniversary with a sold-outconcert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Some 240singers from 16 College choirs were joined onstage by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by SirAndrew Davis, baritone Simon Keenlyside and organistThomas Trotter, all of whom studied at Cambridge.Theevening’s repertoire was by composers associated withthe University including Ralph Vaughan Williams,Charles Villiers Stanford and Ryan Wigglesworth.

The Anniversary has been marked by dozens of smallerevents throughout the year as well, many of themsupported by a 2009 Fund for this purpose. More than40 events were supported by the 2009 Fund, includingCambridge Cantat 800, a week-long choral festival in April; a celebration of the University’s famous ADCTheatre; a solar car race across Australia; and the launchof a student-built rocket.

Cambridge Ideas, a series of audio and video productions, presented Cambridge’s cutting-edgeresearch together with comment and opinion onmatters of global significance.

Downing College alumnus and illustrator QuentinBlake made his own unique contribution to theanniversary celebrations, with a mural entitled‘Cambridge 800: An Informal Panorama’. Described as“Cambridge’s answer to the Bayeux Tapestry”, itmeasures approximately 70 feet in length and consistsof 15 original drawings depicting different episodesfrom the University’s history.The finished work wasdonated to the city’s main hospital, Addenbrooke’s,and was unveiled in September.

University staff and students, members of the localcommunity and academics from around the world all took part in a ‘Letters to the Future’ project bywriting to their opposite numbers 100 years from now.The letters were sealed in a ceremony witnessed by Her Majesty The Queen in November, to be opened in 100 years’ time on the occasion of the University’s900th Anniversary.

The life and work of Charles Darwin was alsocelebrated throughout the year, marking 200 yearssince his birth and 150 years since the publication ofOn the Origin of Species.Taking place from 5 to 10 July,the Darwin 2009 Festival featured talks, discussions,performances, workshops, exhibitions and tours.

The final event of the Anniversary took place in January2010, exactly 12 months from the start of the celebra-tions. For three evenings beginning on Saturday 16January, a light show designed by world-renownedlight artist Ross Ashton was projected onto iconiccentral Cambridge buildings. Spectators followed acircular route from Senate House Yard, down SenateHouse Passage and into the grounds of King’s College,where another piece of light art was projected onto theGibbs Building, as well as onto Cambridge’s mostfamous landmark, King’s College Chapel.

An overview of our 800th Anniversary 03

(Below) A special BBC Proms concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 22 July 2009.

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Opening doors

Cambridge is determined to play to the full its part inraising educational aspiration and widening participationand, this year, has invested more than ever in outreachactivities.

(Above) Mr Jon Beard, Director of Undergraduate Recruitment.

The University received a record number of under-graduate applications in 2008, with over 15,000 people applying for its courses. Computer Science saw the largest increase at 53%, Philosophy 43% and Architecture 30%.The proportion of UK students from the state sector admitted in the 2007/08 admissions cycle rose four percentage points to 59%, the highest proportion of maintained sectoradmissions since 1981.

Changes to the University’s bursary scheme,application process and entrance requirements might have contributed to this surge in applications.Cambridge has raised the parental income thresholds at which students qualify for full and partial Cambridge Bursaries, discontinued the use of a separate Cambridge Application Form, andremoved the entrance requirement of a languagequalification at GCSE.

The University is deeply committed to the principlesthat no UK student should be deterred from applying because of financial constraints, and that no student should have to leave because of financialdifficulties.Today, Cambridge has one of the mostextensive bursary schemes in the UK: 1,833 bursarieswere awarded for the academic year 2008–09.

Cambridge ambassadors

Around 100 current students registered an interest in the University’s student ambassadors project,CAMbassadors, which involves students in a range ofrecruitment and widening participation activities toencourage a greater number of academically able state school pupils to apply to Cambridge.

Around 12,000 prospective students visited Cambridgefor the annual Cambridge Open Days; and 235 sixth-formers from all over the UK took part in the CambridgeUniversity Students’Union (CUSU) shadowing scheme,attending and participating in supervisions, lecturesand social events. A group of prospective maturestudents participated in a pilot shadowing day specifi-cally designed for older students, also run by CUSU. Allof these activities are complemented and enhanced bymany initiatives led by the Colleges.

In this past year, too, a record number of students from ethnic minorities gained places at Cambridge.The University’s GEEMA (Group to Encourage EthnicMinority Applications) programme marked its 20thanniversary this year. At the time of its creation in 1989,it was the first programme of its kind in UK universitiesand has been the forerunner of many widening participation and access initiatives. Since its inception,admission figures for ethnic minority students haveshown an increase of more than 10%.

Summer schools

Almost one third of the world’s countries were repre-sented at this year’s International Summer Schools,held at the University’s Institute of ContinuingEducation.The largest such programme since 2000,it welcomed 1,160 students from 62 countries,participating in 163 courses. Study themes includedsuch diverse topics as ‘Atoms to galaxies’,‘History andmemory’,‘Paint and passion’,‘Shakespeare’s stagecraft’,and ‘War and society’. Many students submitted workon the topics covered by the programme from whichthey will be able to gain credit from their home institutions towards a degree.

Opening doors 05

(Below) Teachers from south and central England spent 24 hours inCambridge learning about student life at a residential conferenceorganised by a group of College School Liaison Officers.

(Below) ‘Physics at work’ gives young students the opportunityto come face to face with some of the world’s finest physicistswith the aim of demystifying the subject.

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This year, Cambridge became the EuropeanCoordinating Centre for the Amgen Scholars EuropeProgramme.The Programme will select more than 100 undergraduate students from across Europe toengage in hands-on summer research programmesunder the guidance of academic scientists at three topEuropean universities. More than 50 undergraduatesfrom 15 European countries converged on Cambridgefor a symposium to launch this two-year pilot scheme,which aims to mirror the prestigious and highlysuccessful American programme.

Inspiring teachers

The Colleges’ and University’s programmes toencourage a diverse pool of applicants also encompassactivities for teachers from the state sector. More than200 state school teachers and Higher Education (HE)advisers attended a three-day residential conference atthe University, the largest event of this type for teacherswithin nearly a decade. In addition, a ‘Target Teachers’conference invited teachers and HE advisers to stay atseven of the Cambridge Colleges: Christ’s, Downing,Homerton, Jesus, Pembroke, Peterhouse and StCatharine’s. All came from state schools and collegeslocated within the areas covered by these sevenColleges under the Area Links Scheme, through which every area of the UK is now formally linked with a Cambridge College.

More than 100 maths teachers from schools in disad-vantaged areas took part in a series of workshopsdesigned to equip them with ideas and techniques toteach their subject in more creative and challengingways.These Teacher Inspiration Days were part

of the Fast Forward Mathematics programme, funded by a $1.2 million gift from The Goldman SachsFoundation and run by the University’s MillenniumMathematics Project and Cambridge AdmissionsOffice.The project provides lectures and workshops on subjects ranging from code-breaking to calculatingrisk.The first year’s cohort of over 40 students finishedtheir third residential course this year and is nowreceiving e-mentoring and support, while a secondcohort has now entered the programme.

Easing the transition

A new Transkills project has been set up to facilitate the transition of first-year undergraduates from schoolto university, so that they can take full advantage of the educational opportunities provided immediatelyon arrival and up to the end of their first year.

In addition, the PREP Course helps undergraduatessettle in to their new surroundings and lifestyle.TheCourse provides extra support to a group of first-yearundergraduates before term begins, helping themadjust to the academic demands they will face andproviding them with a support network.

A team of students from University Spaceflight workedwith local school pupils to send four teddy bears intospace as part of an initiative to engage children inscience and engineering. Dressed in special spacesuitsdesigned and made by 11- and 12-year-old pupils, theTeddy-nauts spent two hours and nine minutes in flightfrom the launch site in Cambridge, reaching the Edgeof Space at heights of more than 30,000 metres.

(Below) Teddy-nauts in flight 30,000 metres above the earth.(Below) Local school children working with a team of studentsfrom University Spaceflight.


The University has recently completed an internalreview of its continuing education provision.TheInstitute of Continuing Education is one of the oldestsuch institutions in the country and plays a major role in the University’s commitment to communityengagement and lifelong learning, ensuring that itsacademic strengths and resources are made availableto as many interested learners as possible. Dr RebeccaLingwood, who succeeded Professor Dick Taylor as Director of the Institute of Continuing Education inOctober 2009, will continue to expand the Institute’sofferings to extend the reach of Cambridge’s scholar-ship internationally.

Student diaries

Cambridge is a centre of international excellencebecause it is a meritocratic place. Perhaps no one isbetter placed to convey this message than those whohave just discovered it for themselves, and the diariesof several of these new students have been featuredthis year on the University’s website.They make forentertaining, and sometimes moving reading and sendout an important message.“I’d like to get involved inhelping with access and outreach work while I’m atCambridge,”writes Matthew Green.“I believe it’s reallyimportant to get the message across that Cambridge is for all. If it hadn’t been for my dad and my teachers,like a lot of other people I wouldn’t have thoughtCambridge was a place for me, and that would havebeen a huge mistake.”

(Below) Three students take a break at an International SummerSchool at the University’s Institute of Continuing Education.

Opening doors 07


Great expectations

Cambridge expects great things of its students.In turn, they can expect some of the best teaching andresearch supervision in the world, within a unique collegiate environment where intellectual and personalgrowth flourish.

(Above) Professor Roel Sterckx has become the first JosephNeedham Professor of Chinese History, Science and Civilisation.


Several new professorships and lectureships haveaugmented the strength and scope of teaching andresearch provision at Cambridge. Professor PaulCartledge has become the first holder of the A GLeventis Professorship of Greek Culture.The first suchpost in Classics to be endowed at Cambridge sinceWorld War II, it will focus on the study of 1,000 years ofGreek cultural achievements and highlight theirenduring influence on society today. In his inaugurallecture in February 2009, Professor Cartledge examined common misconceptions about the Ancient Greeks,and the influence of Hollywood in misshaping ourunderstanding of their civilisation, yet also inspiring enthusiasm to study it.

A new lectureship in Jewish Studies has been madepossible by a joint Jewish-Muslim benefaction.ThePolonsky-Coexist Lectureship in Jewish Studies isthought to be the first Jewish Studies teaching post ata major UK university funded jointly by organisationslinked to the two faiths. Its holder will carry outteaching and research designed to deepen under-standing of Judaism, and to examine its relationshipwith the other Abrahamic faiths, Christianity and Islam.

Dr Jude Browne has become the first FrankopanDirector of Gender Studies.The post provides leader-ship for Cambridge’s influential Centre for GenderStudies, which tackles key issues ranging from globaldevelopment to the impact of biomedical advances.

Professor Roel Sterckx has been appointed as the first Joseph Needham Professor of Chinese History,Science, and Civilisation.The endowment of this presti-gious professorship in the Department of East AsianStudies was marked by a landmark public lecture,which explored how deeply embedded assumptionsabout China as a historically continuous and unifiedcivilisation have overshadowed our understanding of its complexities.

Pilkington Prize winners

Twelve of the University’s very best teaching talentswere honoured at the annual Pilkington Prize awardsceremony, including Professor Mike Majerus, who was awarded a posthumous prize. Professor Majerus of the Department of Genetics, was an archetypalCambridge scientist: a natural teacher who leavesbehind a lasting legacy in his field, not only through hisimmense research contribution, but in his pioneeringteaching and mentoring of the evolutionary biologistsof tomorrow.

Dr Matthew Juniper is a Senior Lecturer in theDepartment of Engineering Energy Group. A gifted anddedicated teacher, he has been at the forefront ofadopting new technology to animate his lectures onfluid mechanics. It is largely due to his efforts that thepopularity of fluids as a specialist area for students hasgrown significantly in recent years. He has developed a new type of online resource to supplement hislectures and clarify difficult aspects of the course.

Dr Peter Mandler, a Reader in the Faculty of History,has also been making use of new online materials toenhance his teaching. Dr Mandler has made extensiveuse of CamTools, by using digital images from archives,oral history, journalism and documentaries,in order to introduce students to cutting-edge historical research.

Dr Simon Taylor is a Lecturer at Judge Business Schoolwhose students testify to his flair for communication.His greatest accomplishment to date is the pioneeringdesign and implementation of the Masters of Finance –a course that has won plaudits from the financeindustry and attracted some of the very brightest andbest students in finance to the University.

Dr Kate Plaisted-Grant is a Senior Lecturer in theDepartment of Experimental Psychology.As Undergraduate Director of Teaching for theDepartment, she has played a pivotal role in securingaccreditation for the Cambridge course from the British Psychological Society.

Dr Helen Smith, a University Associate Lecturer in theDepartment of Anaesthetics, has successfully broughttogether clinicians from a wide range of specialities to develop a coherent, exciting course of study which has won accolades from the General Medical Council.The innovative programme for the final year of theCambridge clinical curriculum enables students to experience all aspects of emergency medicine,anaesthetics and intensive care.

Professor Kenneth Siddle, Professor of MolecularEndocrinology at the Institute of Metabolic Science,has led the reorganisation of graduate educationprogrammes, significantly updating and enhancing the structure of the various doctoral and post-doctoral courses.

Dr Charles French,a Reader at the Department ofArchaeology and Anthropology,has developed the inter-play between archaeological theory and practice – acornerstone of the study of Archaeology at Cambridgeand under his leadership,practical work has now becomeembedded across the archaeology curriculum.Hispioneering work in geoarchaeology and the microscopicstudy of sediment structures,has proved key in providinginsights about our past,enthusing generations ofstudents with excitement about archaeology in the field.

The other Pilkington Prize recipients were: ProfessorAndrew Thomason, Professor of CombinatorialMathematics, Faculty of Mathematics; Dr Julia Riley,Lecturer, Faculties of Physics and Chemistry; Dr MartinEnnis, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Music; and Mrs HarukoLaurie, Senior Language Teaching Officer, Faculty ofAsian and Middle Eastern Studies.

Student support

A number of new developments this year have helpedto maintain and enhance the University’s ability to offerfinancial support to students from around the world,so that access to its world-class education is based ontalent alone.

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has announced that the University will be guaranteedfunding for over 580 PhD and MPhil students in the artsand humanities for the next five years, secured througha grant of £23 million.The Block Grant PartnershipScheme will enable Cambridge to allocate funding forfive annual cohorts of postgraduate students,supporting high quality research and training.

The scheme will also give Cambridge greater freedomto assign the AHRC awards, and greater responsibilityfor managing the five-year portfolio. Cambridge wasone of the most successful applicants to this Scheme,receiving an 11% share of the sum awarded nationally.

The Pigott Scholars Programme for UK graduatesstudying in the arts, humanities and social sciences has been created thanks to a gift of £2 million from Mark Pigott Hon OBE. A benefaction from BPInternational Limited will provide postgraduatestudent study awards and undergraduate prizes andawards in the fields of Chemical Engineering andBiotechnology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Engineeringand Physics; and QUALCOMM has supported graduatestudents pursuing Business Studies, Engineering and Computing.

The Colleges continue to ensure that Cambridgeprovides its students with outstanding facilities andresources. Campaign gifts to the Colleges this yearranged from an exceptional anonymous donation of £5 million to Girton College that will underpin teachingand student support in the long-term, to the creationof a Teaching Officer post in Economics at ClareCollege, made possible by the combined generosity of over 400 alumni.

Selwyn College has marked the completion of anotherphase of its multi-million pound development plan.The creation of a £7.5 million student accommodationblock, complete with 40 en-suite bedrooms and nineshared kitchens, was made possible by benefactors Dr Chris and Mrs Ann Dobson, who donated £5 millionto the project through the Ann D Foundation. DowningCollege has completed a £7.2 million, 160-seat theatre,funded by the Howard Foundation. The building isdesigned to minimise heat loss and reduce noise pollu-tion via ground-source technology to provide heatingand cooling, and solar panels to generate hot water.

Partnerships with international institutions are alsomaking an immense contribution to Cambridge’s ability to support students from around the world,and maintain the diversity and vibrancy of its graduatecommunity, of whom over 50% come from overseas.TheCambridge Overseas Trust and the University of CentralAsia have established a co-funded scholarship agree-ment to fund two graduate students each year atCambridge.The scheme aims to bring some of the beststudents from Central Asia to study at the University. ADr D C Pavate Fellowships scheme has been launched toenable graduates from India to undertake a Fellowship


(Below) Twelve of the University’s very best teaching talentswere honoured at the annual Pilkington Prize awards ceremony.

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at Sidney Sussex College. Successful candidates under-take a four-month period of study each at JudgeBusiness School, the Centre for International Studies andeither the Department of Applied Mathematics andTheoretical Physics or the Department of MaterialsScience and Metallurgy.

An agreement between the Islamic Development Bank(IDB), Cambridge Overseas Trust and CambridgeCommonwealth Trust has resulted in the launch of a scholarship scheme to bring outstanding graduatestudents from member countries of the IDB toCambridge.The Shiromani Gurdwara ParbandhakCommittee and the Cambridge Commonwealth Trusthave also signed a scholarship agreement, which will enable five outstanding Sikh students to pursue a Masters degree or PhD in subjects relevant to thedevelopment of higher education in Punjab.

The Manmohan Singh Scholarships have been estab-lished to provide full funding for undergraduate study at Cambridge. Named in honour of India’s PrimeMinister, the Fund has been supported with gifts from: Sir Evelyn and Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschildthrough their family trust, the Eranda Foundation,and from the Bharti Foundation.The University ofCambridge 800th Anniversary Scholarship Programmehas been created for students from Pakistan. It providesfull funding, covering fees and means-tested mainte-nance, for undergraduate study at the University.Both scholarship schemes are being supported byadditional funding from Cambridge Assessment, theparent organisation of University of CambridgeInternational Examinations (CIE), the awarding body thatoffers Cambridge O-Levels and International A-Levels.

(Below) A new student accommodation block for Selwyn College.


Expanding horizons

Several initiatives have been launched this year,helping to ensure that research and teaching atCambridge remains alive to the issues of the day and theneeds of tomorrow.These investments in resources andinfrastructure are producing fertile environments for new thinking, discovery and innovation, across a widerange of academic subjects.

(Above) Professor James Wood, the first Alborada Professor ofEquine and Farm Animal Science.


In a major new development of the way that politicsand international relations are studied, a new combinedDepartment of Politics and International Studies (POLIS)was launched in May 2009. POLIS brings together theseclosely related fields, and their complementarystrengths in teaching and research. As well as buildingon existing strengths in political thought, internationalsecurity, political economy, European studies andcomparative politics, the Department will develop newresearch areas and expand its teaching. A new MPhil inPolitics began this year, and another in Modern SouthAsian Studies will launch in 2010. Such is the signifi-cance of this pooling of strengths and resources acrossrelated specialisms that a new building is planned tohouse POLIS, the related interdisciplinary centres thatspecialise in regional studies, and the Centre forResearch in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities(CRASSH).

The Centre for the Physics of Medicine was officiallyopened this year, bringing together researchersworking at the interface of the physical, life and clinicalsciences.They include four new lecturers in biomedicalphysics, Drs Pietro Cicuta, Jochen Guck, Julian Huppertand Ullrich Keyser. Under the direction of ProfessorAthene Donald, winner of the 2009 L’Oréal UNESCOWomen in Science Award (Europe), this state-of-the-artdevelopment comprises laboratory space and corefacilities for researchers from across the disciplines.Although the Centre is still in its infancy, results andrewards are already being seen: researchers workingwith scientists from the Ludwig-Maximilians University,Munich, and the Max Planck Institute for Brain

Research, Frankfurt, have uncovered the secret of nightvision in nocturnal animals, while two Physics of Medicine researchers have been awarded grantsfrom the prestigious Human Frontiers of ScienceProgramme (HFSP).

Despite being Europe’s second-largest country, Ukrainehas been a relatively unknown quantity in Britishuniversities.This year, thanks to a generous gift to the 800th Anniversary Campaign, a new course in Ukrainian Studies was launched in the Faculty ofModern and Medieval Languages. Under the leadershipof Dr Rory Finnan, in close collaboration with theCambridge Committee for Russian and East EuropeanStudies and with CRASSH, this initiative aims to deepen the understanding of the language, literatureand culture of this country of major geo-political andcultural importance.

The Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy,rated the best in the UK in the Government’s 2008Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), is planning to move to a state-of-the-art facility on the WestCambridge site. Co-proximity with other sciencedepartments, including the Cavendish Laboratory,will provide enhanced scope for the pioneering multi-disciplinary approach to research that has cometo define Cambridge.The Department has been furtherstrengthened by the endowment of a Professorship by Tata Steel, which will help to maintain Cambridge’sstrong record of contributing significantly to industrialmaterials technology, and to academic leadership at an international level.

(Below) The Centre for the Physics of Medicine.(Below) An architect’s impression of what the new Departmentof Materials Science and Metallurgy’s facility may look like.

Strengthening relationships

The University and Infosys Technologies Ltd, India,have signed a Memorandum of Understanding toestablish collaborative research ventures.The agree-ment involves the Departments of Engineering andArchitecture, Judge Business School’s Centre for Indiaand Global Business, and the School of BiologicalSciences. It is another aspect of the strengtheningrelationship between the University and India, and will create exciting opportunities to bring togetherleading experts from academia and industry. ProfessorJaideep Prabhu, the first Jawaharlal Nehru Professor of Indian Business and Enterprise, undertook a four-venue lecture tour in India to officially launch the newCentre for India and Global Business.

The University’s Queen’s Veterinary School Hospital has opened an extension to its cancer treatmentfacility. It is one of only three centres in England thatcan offer radiotherapy to animal patients, and the onlyone that can treat horses and larger animals.The newfacilities mark the first phase in the development of a Comparative Oncology Programme within theUniversity.Working in collaboration with the CancerResearch UK Cambridge Research Institute, this new programme will enhance cancer research in petanimals with findings being translated into humancancer research.The Veterinary School has been further boosted by the appointment of James Wood as the first Alborada Professor of Equine and Farm AnimalScience. In this new role, Professor Wood will lead the management and development of the equine and farm animal section of the School while conducting his research into infectious diseases, including swine fluand African horse sickness.

New centres of research

A new Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) in Nanosciencehas been launched to equip the next generation ofresearchers with the skills and experience to becomenanoscience entrepreneurs by turning basic scienceresearch into future applications.The DTC offers a unique opportunity to bring together researchexpertise and best training practise. Funding of more than £6 million from the Engineering and PhysicalSciences Research Council will support over 50 PhDstudents in a four-year postgraduate trainingprogramme spanning a range of disciplines.The inter-disciplinary programme provides access to innovationand business courses through Judge Business School,and draws together academics from Physics, MaterialsScience, Electrical Engineering and Chemistry.

A new Centre for Islamic Studies opened in Cambridgethis year, funded by a generous benefaction from the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation.Through in-depthresearch and public outreach aimed at fostering a deeper understanding between Islam and the West,the HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of IslamicStudies will initially explore Muslim identities in the UK and Europe.

Research excellence rewarded

Five Cambridge scientists have been awarded grantsfrom the European Research Council’s (ERC) pan-European Advanced Grants scheme in recognition oftheir scientific excellence and track record of significantresearch achievements.The grants, worth a total of approximately £8 million over five years, have beenawarded to Professors Graeme Barker (Archaeology),Sir David Baulcombe (Plant Sciences),Tony Cheetham(Materials Science and Metallurgy), Daan Frenkel(Chemistry) and Dr Alan Tunnacliffe (ChemicalEngineering and Biotechnology).

A further five scholars have received £1.2 million fundingto undertake research that collectively spans fivemillennia of civilisation.The project ‘Civilisations inContact’will provide insight into pre-modern worldhistory and provide fresh perspectives on the worldtoday. Funded by the Golden Web Foundation, theresults of the research will be available online throughthe Golden Web system when it launches in 2011.

Other significant awards include £1.5 million toProfessor Graeme Barker, Department of Archaeology,for ‘Cultural transformations and environmental transformations in North African prehistory’; and nearly £900,000 to Professor Aldo Rustichini, Faculty of Economics, for research into the ‘Endocrine and neural basis of financial decision-making and marketinstability’.This award is one of the University’s largestEconomic and Social Research Council grants inHumanities and Social Sciences.

A donation from The Bonita Trust is supporting a newstudy exploring Charles Darwin’s impact on attitudes togender and sexuality.The Darwin and Gender Projectwill make available Darwin’s private and largely unpub-lished writings and correspondence relevant to gender,and will also fund an education officer to work withschools. Overseen by the Darwin CorrespondenceProject, this initiative will enable the wider public togain insight into the factors and influences that shapedDarwin’s ideas on gender and, in turn, influencedVictorian society, and their continuing relevance today.



(Above) Rosemary Clarkson, Bonita Research Assistant (left), andDr Alison Pearn, Assistant Director, Darwin CorrespondenceProject, with letters relating to the Project.

Keith Keppell


Making an impact on health

Translating research into therapies is a process that,necessarily, takes many years. Based on a firm foundationof pioneering pure research, interdisciplinary collaborationand powerful partnerships, the University has this year continued to make advances in medical research that could revolutionise treatments and patient carewithin a lifetime.

(Above) Professor Peter Jones, Head of the Department of Psychiatry.


The University’s pre-eminence in medical science wasreaffirmed in April when the Department of Healthdesignated Cambridge University Health Partners(CUHP) as one of just five Academic Health ScienceCentres (AHSCs) in the country. AHSC status recognisespartnerships between world-class universities andleading NHS organisations that together have thepotential to compete globally and to enhance theprocess of translating research breakthroughs intopatient care. CUHP is a formal alliance between theUniversity of Cambridge, Cambridge UniversityHospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridgeshire andPeterborough NHS Foundation Trust, and PapworthHospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Leadership in applied health research

A £23 million partnership, funded by the NationalInstitute for Health Research and linking the Universitywith NHS trusts led by the Cambridgeshire andPeterborough NHS Foundation Trust, is set to improvemental health care in the region.The Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care(CLAHRC) will undertake high-quality applied researchunder the directorship of Professor Peter Jones.Working at the front line of the NHS, researchers willdevelop new ways of translating research findings intopatient care and clinical practice. Many departments of the University are involved in this interdisciplinaryinitiative, including the Engineering Design Centre (part of the Department of Engineering),the Department of Psychiatry, Judge Business School,the Institute of Public Health and the General Practiceand Primary Care Unit.

Tackling obesity

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has signed a unique partnershipagreement with the University to create an ‘AcademicIncubator’, which will tap into leading-edge thinking atthe University to optimise the early clinical develop-ment of new GSK medicines for obesity and addictivedisorders.The agreement brings together Universityexperts in neuroscience and metabolic science,providing academic scientists with the freedom topublish results arising from their work on incubatorprojects and directly involving them in developingmedicines for patients.

The University Metabolic Research Laboratories andthe MRC Centre for Obesity and Related MetabolicDiseases are co-ordinating a new European researchconsortium, EurOCHIP, which has received a grant of three million Euros to conduct research into theescalating obesity epidemic.The consortium will

undertake multidisciplinary studies to better under-stand how different diets affect the secretion of guthormones and how the brain responds to thesehormones to regulate appetite, energy expenditureand body weight.The project will provide vital under-standing that will help with the development of effective new strategies to prevent and treat obesity.

Stem cell advances

The launch of the Anne McLaren Laboratory forRegenerative Medicine (LRM) on the CambridgeBiomedical Campus marks the second phase of theCambridge Stem Cell Initiative.The LRM will focus on human stem cell medicine and will enhance theUniversity’s capacity to deliver novel clinical treatmentsthrough stem cell research. Scientists working on the biology of stem cells will be able to interact withclinicians as they work to take advances in researchthrough to the treatment room.The LRM will help toconsolidate the University’s leading role in this growingarea of medical research, which has the potential tohave a massive impact on human health.

Although huge strides have been made in stem cellresearch in recent years, scientists still have only a basicunderstanding of the cell’s unique ability to develop into any of the different types of cells in the body.Researchers from the University’s Wellcome Trust Centrefor Stem Cell Research have now pinpointed the finalstep in a complex process that makes embryonic stemcells pluripotent.This latest research has uncovered theexact biological role of a protein named Nanog.Thesefindings have important implications for efforts toharness the power of stem cells for medical applications.

(Below) Nanog embryos. Researchers from the University’sWellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research have uncoveredthe exact biological role of a protein named Nanog.

Jose Silva


Scientists at Cambridge, in collaboration withresearchers in America, have also identified a crucialsignalling pathway in brain stem cells that may becritical to the development of new therapies.Known as Wnt, this pathway controls how and whenbrain stem cells develop into cells which repairdamaged tissues in neurological diseases such asmultiple sclerosis.

New discoveries

Cambridge scientists have also made a major break-through in understanding how the brain controls theonset of puberty.Working with scientists in Turkey they have identified the crucial role that the hormoneNeurokinin B plays in regulating puberty.Their disco-veries herald the potential for new treatments for sexhormone dependent diseases such as prostate cancer,new approaches to contraception, and new treatmentsfor children with delayed or abnormal puberty.

In cancer research, Cambridge scientists have discovered the reason why some women can develop resistance to the common breast cancer treatment,Tamoxifen. Researchers at the Cancer Research UK

Cambridge Research Institute have discovered for thefirst time the mechanism by which Tamoxifen operates.Two new regions of the human genome linked tobreast cancer have also been found by an internationalteam of scientists led by Cambridge researchers.Theteam has now identified 13 genetic regions withcommon genetic changes that alter breast cancer risk.As more regions are found it will be possible to createtests for combinations of genes that significantlyincrease the risk. Such tests could help doctors makebetter decisions about prevention, diagnosis and treatment for women who are more likely to developbreast cancer.

A new mechanism has been discovered that mayexplain why pancreatic cancer patients are often

(Above) A Ugandan parasitology team, who are also involved in THRiVE, are using a village school classroom as a temporarylaboratory to microscopically screen stool samples for schistoso-miasis, hookworm and other parasitic worm infections, as part of the collaborative studies being carried out with University ofCambridge researchers.

Jakub Wawrzyniak, Cambridge schistosomiasis research group


resistant to a common chemotherapy treatment.In mice studies, pancreatic cancer was shown to beresistant to chemotherapy because tumours tend tohave poor networks of blood vessels, making it harderfor drugs to reach the tumour.

Other research has located a region of DNA which, whenaltered, can increase the risk of ovarian cancer.Thediscovery is the result of eight years of investigationsand is an important step towards being able to identifyand treat women at greater risk of the disease.

Scientists at the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UKGurdon Institute have uncovered a completely newroute by which leukaemia develops.This discovery willhelp scientists find new and better ways to treat people with the disease.

Cambridge scientists have pinpointed a rearrangementof DNA that causes around two-thirds of all cases ofpilocytic astrocytoma – the most common braintumour in five to 19-year-olds.Very little is known aboutthe causes and genetics of childhood brain tumours,but this significant discovery could provide leads forcreating better treatments and make diagnosis of thedisease more accurate.

Cambridge researchers have also uncovered the finalpiece in the jigsaw revealing the structure of ‘effluxpumps’ which allow Salmonella and other disease-causing bacteria to develop resistance to antibioticsand other drugs.The researchers have spent twodecades studying the structure and function of thesepumps and have now elucidated the structure of thefinal component, enabling them to see more clearlyhow the bacteria evade antibiotics and develop resis-tance. Supported by the Wellcome Trust, the researchhas the potential to illuminate new strategies toprevent resistance to antibiotics.

A new method for diagnosing sickle cell disease hasbeen found by researchers from Cambridge and Oxford Universities.This new test would be cheaperand easier to use than existing methods and provides a simpler alternative for use in developing nations.Each year 200,000 infants are born with sickle celldisease in Africa, while the condition affects 15,000people in the UK. Cambridge is participating in the Wellcome Trust’s new African Institutions Initiativethat aims to strengthen health research in Africa.Cambridge will be involved with two programmes inthe initiative:Training Health Researchers intoVocational Excellence in East Africa (THRiVE) and the

Institute for Infectious Diseases of Poverty (IIDP).Both will draw on the expertise of Cambridge scientists and academics, who will provide training,mentoring and supervisions.

DNA sequencing

The University has been named as one of just threegenetic research hubs being created by the MedicalResearch Council to provide scientists with access to cutting-edge resources for DNA sequencing.TheEastern Sequencing and Informatics Hub, based at theBiomedical Campus at Addenbrooke’s, will work inpartnership with other regional institutions.The hubwill ensure that scientists can capitalise on advances inDNA sequencing, enhancing the UK’s competitivenessin this progressive area.

Cambridge Immunology has been launched toshowcase the University’s strength and depth inimmunology research.The new initiative will bringtogether numerous groups working in this diversefield, capitalising on current strengths and raisingvisibility of Cambridge’s expertise to a wider world.

(Below) The assembled multidrug efflux pump spans the innerand outer membranes and intervening periplasmic space, toeject harmful antibiotics from inside the bacterium out into the environment.

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Making an impact on the environment

From architecture to zoology, the University is intensivelyengaged in research into sustainability, climate change andconservation, with real-world outcomes and solutions.

(Above) Dr Michael Ramage of the Department of Architecture.


The University’s current portfolio of energy-relatedresearch grants is £100 million, and its focus is compre-hensive – including putting its own house in order.Energy Champions have been appointed in all adminis-trative and academic departments of the University ina continuing effort to reduce its own carbon footprint.

A team of students and researchers in the Departmentsof Architecture and Engineering have been selected to compete in an international competition to designand build the best solar-powered house. One of only 20 teams chosen to compete, their proposal for theIntegrated Design of Engineered Architecture (IDEA)Home will showcase developments from across theUniversity when it is unveiled in 2010, including photovoltaic cells, natural ventilation, energy efficientdesign and computer-based monitoring. Following thecompetition the house will be used for a further threeyears as a teaching and research tool.

Learning from the past

Dr Michael Ramage, a University lecturer in theDepartment of Architecture, has been involvedin the structural design for one of the first zero-carbonhomes in the UK.The house, called ‘Crossway’, was built using a technique borrowed from 600-year-oldmedieval architecture and may prove to be a blueprintfor energy-efficient living in the future. A design for a house powered by living algae, drawn up by graduate students, has won a prestigious international competition awarded at the 3rd CIB InternationalConference on Smart and Sustainable BuiltEnvironments.The ‘Algae House’ would use thehydrogen and bio-mass created by the cultivation of algae for sustainable, energy-efficient living.

Cross-disciplinary research

An Energy Efficient Cities Initiative was established thisyear with a £2.9 million grant from the Engineering andPhysical Sciences Research Council.The initiative bringstogether 30 researchers from across the University, aswell as other external academic and industry partners,with the aim of strengthening the UK’s capacity toaddress energy demand reduction and environmentalimpact in cities through cross-disciplinary research.

A five-year research programme led by the Departmentof Architecture has found that the Government’s policyof concentrating new housing in existing urban areasand on brownfield sites is not working, and couldcreate problems for the future.The £1.5m ‘SOLUTIONS’study, conducted by five universities, proposes a policyof ‘sustainable suburbs’ which, although they wouldinevitably encroach on green belt land, would reduceliving costs and provide housing in which peoplewanted to live.

A bright idea

A breakthrough at the University could result in house-hold lighting bills being reduced by up to 75%, viaenergy saving light-emitting diodes (LEDs) usingGallium Nitride (GaN) – a man-made semiconductorthat emits a brilliant light but uses very little electricity.Until now, the high production costs of manufacturingGaN LEDS have prohibited widespread use of this newtechnology. But the Cambridge Centre for GalliumNitride, led by Professor Colin Humphreys, has devel-oped a new way of making GaN that could slash thecost of manufacture by 90%. Based on current results,GaN LED lights in every home and office could cut theproportion of UK electricity used for lights from 20% to 5 % – a reduction equivalent to the output of eightpower stations.

(Left) Three green LEDs grown by the Cambridge Centre forGallium Nitride.

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The University has been awarded a £1.4 million ScienceBridges Award by Research Councils UK to developinnovative energy solutions.The award, part of a £12million funding package to be shared between ten UKinstitutions, will support collaborations between Britishuniversities and institutions in China, India and theUSA.The Cambridge team will build on existing collaborations with the University of California at SantaBarbara, with the principal research aim of reducing thecost and increasing the efficiency of energy materialssuch as solar cells.The funding will help to take existingresearch through to prototype products.

Sustainable Bioenergy Centre

The University has been named one of six research hubsin the Biotechnology and Biological Science ResearchCouncil’s new £27 million Sustainable Bioenergy Centre(BSBEC).The BSBEC Cell Wall Sugars Programme willwork to develop strategies to improve plants andenzymes so that more sugars can be obtained fromthem.These sugars could then be converted to biofuels.The Centre is a key facility in efforts to make sustainablebioenergy from plants a viable reality and will help tounderpin the emerging UK sustainable bioenergysector. Cambridge will also be an associate member ofthe BSBEC Perennial Bioenergy Crops Programme.

Energy efficient transport

The University’s Environmentally Friendly EngineProgramme, which brings together a consortium ofacademic and industrial partners under the leadershipof Rolls Royce, has been boosted this year with thecompletion of an industrial-grade aerospace gasturbine combustion simulator. Completed as part ofthe work of the University Gas Turbine Partnership,it is the first of its kind in the UK and one of only a dozen worldwide.

The Cambridge University Eco Racing team designed and constructed a solar-powered car capable ofcruising at 60mph using the same power as ahairdryer.With the advice of academic supervisors andindustry partners, the 75-strong student team provedthe car’s mettle in the World Solar Challenge 2009, a3,000km endurance race from Darwin to Adelaide.The car, Endeavour, demonstrates the enormouspotential of energy-efficient electric vehicle technolo-gies. It is fitted with an energy-efficient hub motor, acontrol system to provide battery management andan electric braking system that generates energy.A series of solar car workshops run for schoolsthroughout the year have given ten and 11-year-oldsthe chance to design and build their own model

solar cars, giving a small taste of the challenges theteam faced.

Biodiversity conservation

The Cambridge Conservation Initiative, announced last year, has appointed its first Executive Director.Dr Mike Rands, formerly Chief Executive of BirdLifeInternational, leads the development of this strategicpartnership between the University and the Cambridgecluster of leading conservation organisations to transform global biodiversity conservation.This initiative will create a unique international ConservationCampus bringing together academics, policy-makersand practitioners.This new post was funded by a giftfrom Arcadia, which has also funded research intoevidence-based conservation in the Department ofZoology. In a further significant development withinthis fast-paced initiative, a new MPhil degree inConservation Leadership has been established,supported by a generous gift from MAVA – Fondationpour la Protection de la Nature. Based in theDepartment of Geography, the course will provide aunique learning experience centred on the distinctivecollaboration between the six academic Departments(Geography, Judge Business School, Land Economy,Plant Sciences, Zoology and the CambridgeProgramme for Sustainability Leadership) and nine conservation organisations that comprise theInitiative.The course will be led by Professor NigelLeader-Williams, newly appointed as Director ofConservation Leadership, and will admit its firststudents in October 2010.


(Below) The Cambridge University Eco Racing team’s solar-powered car, Endeavour.


(Right) Cell Wall Sugars Programme. A cross-section of thestem of the model plant Arabidopsis, taken using a fluorescentmicroscope.The cell walls are stained using Calcofluor white(coloured in blue), while cell walls containing the polysaccharidemannan are labelled with a specific antibody (coloured in pink).

(Above) Environmentally Friendly Engine Programme. Thearray of images shows an aero-engine gas turbine burner flameoscillating due to self-excited combustion instabilities at lowfrequency which is a state termed as ‘rumble’.

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Shaping policy and debate

The University’s engagement with social, ethical and cultural issues results in new thinking that contributesto public debate, influences policy-making, and enriches our understanding of our world and our place in it.

(Above) Professor Robin Alexander, Director of the Cambridge Primary Review.


The University’s newly launched Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP) brings together the best scientificthinking across all disciplines in order to inform public policy. CSaP will build upon the strengths of the University to inform debate by facilitating contactbetween policy-makers and scientific experts.Cambridge has many recognised leaders in a range ofdisciplines whose expertise can be brought to bear onthe increasingly wide range of policy issues whereinput from science, technology and the social sciencesis imperative.

Influencing educational policyThe Cambridge Primary Review, funded by EsméeFairbairn Foundation and based at the University’sFaculty of Education, has published Children, theirWorld, their Education, its final report and recommen-dations, provoking considerable media, political andpublic interest.The Review, directed by ProfessorRobin Alexander, is the most comprehensive enquiryinto English primary education since the 1967Plowden Report. Another Cambridge study, WhatAbout Us?, a collaboration between the Faculty of Education and the Foundation for People withLearning Disabilities, found support for the Governmentpolicy of inclusion, teaching students with specialeducational needs in mainstream settings, butindicated that more needed to be done for effectiveintegration. A further report, Achievement and Inclusionin Schools, written by Kristine Black-Hawkins from the Faculty of Education together with two formerFaculty members, has won a top prize at The SpecialEducational Needs Book awards.

In language teaching, the University has become a major partner in a two-year programme to designand develop an online language-learning resource,the Open School for Languages.This nationalprogramme is designed to motivate more youngpeople to study languages to GCSE and has beencommissioned by the Department for Children, Schoolsand Families (DCSF).The University, in association withAnglia Ruskin University, has also launched a newregional centre offering professional support to the languages community in schools and FE colleges in East Anglia. Links into Languages, a £7 millionprogramme, also funded by the DCSF, is a significantnational programme which aims to have considerableimpact in the teaching of languages across thesecondary sector.The regional centre, Links intoLanguages East, is one of nine centres across England.

The University’s Centre for Family Research is investi-gating the psychological well-being of children created by assisted reproduction.This longitudinalstudy examines relationships within families created bysurrogacy, egg donation and donor insemination, andwhether and when parents decide to tell their childrenabout their origins.The Fertility Society of AustraliaExchange prize was awarded at the European Societyfor Human Reproduction and Embryology conferencein Barcelona to the Centre for this work.

Sustainability leadershipThe Cambridge Programme for Industry has been re-named as the University of Cambridge Programmefor Sustainability Leadership.With offices in Cambridge,Brussels, Cape Town, Melbourne, New York and Seattlethe Programme will build on its pioneering work with some of the world’s most senior business, public sector and civil society leaders, addressing issues suchas climate change, resource depletion and poverty.

(Below) Portrait sculptures of South Asian men and women byBritish sculptor Marguerite Milward, 1935-38. On display inAssembling Bodies: Art, Science & Imagination, Museum ofArchaeology & Anthropology.

The year 2009 saw a renewed focus on the importanceof manufacturing for the national economy, somethingthe University has long recognised through the work ofits Institute for Manufacturing (IfM).The IfM, part of theDepartment for Engineering, has this year moved into anew £15m Arup-designed home on the WestCambridge site.The building will create an interna-tional centre for industrial innovation, its designreflecting and enhancing the IfM's integrated cross-disciplinary approach to global industrial issues. One ofthe best current examples of this integrated approachis the IfM's Emerging Industries Programme.This multi-disciplinary programme addresses the nationalchallenge of turning high-quality science andtechnology research outputs into new industries,products and services. It seeks to understand how newindustries emerge, how they can be supported frominception through to a point at which industrial infra-structure could be introduced, and how scientificbreakthroughs can be translated into businesses thatcreate jobs and generate wealth for the UK.

A new look at alcohol

Funding from the Economic and Social Research Council(ESRC) is supporting a large inter-disciplinary collabora-tion which aims to shed light on the practices, rituals andattitudes surrounding intoxication. Dr Phil Withington inthe Faculty of History has drawn together a network ofover 50 individuals from 27 different institutions in orderto pool expertise across disciplines, geographies andtime-periods. Five members of the network, including Dr Withington, were recently asked to submit reports toa Parliamentary Health Committee considering theproblems associated with alcohol abuse.

Major exhibitions

Cambridge hosted a number of major activities andexhibitions to mark 200 years since the birth of CharlesDarwin and 150 years since the publication of On theOrigin of Species. As part of an international DarwinFestival, some of the world’s foremost thinkers, writersand scientists gathered in Cambridge to celebrate the life and work of Darwin, and to debate his enduringinfluence.The Fitzwilliam Museum staged its largestever exhibition, Endless Forms, which revealed the little-known influence of Darwin’s revolutionarytheories on artists of the 19th century and explored theinterchange between art and science. Record numbersof visitors made the exhibition one of the mostsuccessful in the Museum’s history; more than 40,000people visited in its first eight weeks and total visitornumbers exceeded 90,000.

At the University Library, an exhibition entitled A Voyage Round the World: Charles Darwin and the Beagle Collections featured manuscripts, books andcorrespondence including the original letter offeringDarwin a place on the Beagle and an original sheetfrom the manuscript of On the Origin of Species.The University’s Botanic Garden created a special‘Thinking Path’ so that visitors could follow in Darwin’sfootsteps, recreating his daily routine as he journeyedround his own garden to deliberate on his observationsand research.

In an online poll, A Brief History of Time by LucasianProfessor of Mathematics, Stephen Hawking, was votedas the publication most likely to have the same impactfor future generations as On the Origin of Species.During one of his visits to Cambridge this year, theUniversity Chancellor, HRH Prince Philip The Duke ofEdinburgh, unveiled a bronze statue of Charles Darwinas an undergraduate at Christ’s College. Seated on abench in First Court, Darwin is portrayed gazing acrossto his former rooms, which have been restored to lookas they would have done in his day.

A major exhibition at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology explored our attitudes to the humanbody through different time periods, cultural contextsand disciplinary perspectives, as well as the technolo-gies through which bodies are made visible.The exhibi-tion was part of an ambitious research project thatexplores how and why, over millennia, people’s attitudesto and beliefs about the human body, and theirconcepts of beauty, change. Alongside the Museum’sextraordinarily rich permanent holdings, new workswere commissioned including a unique collection ofbody maps painted by the Bambanani Women’s Groupin Cape Town, documenting the lives of women withHIV/AIDS; and a soundscape of recordings from deepwithin the body (see image on page 25).



(Above) The Endless Forms exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

(Left) Randal Keynes, the great-great-grandson of CharlesDarwin at the Darwin Festival.


Making an impact on the economy

The University’s research has a direct impact on businesspractice and the economy. Moreover, University spin-outs notonly have transformative technological or clinical impact,but also make a major contribution to the regional, nationaland global economy.

(Above) Ms Teri Willey leads Cambridge Enterprise Limited.

Making an impact on the economy 29

Cambridge Enterprise Limited, the University’scommercialisation office, has achieved income inexcess of £18 million over the last two years, demon-strating how Cambridge ideas are reaching the publicthrough commercial channels. It also has an activeportfolio of 499 licence agreements with third partiescommitted to the commercialisation of Cambridgeideas. Despite difficult economic conditions,Cambridge Enterprise has seen more than £62 millioninvested into 22 of its portfolio companies within thepast year and four spin-out companies in the cleantech area – companies that are working on products orprocesses that balance high productivity and efficiencywith reduced energy consumption, costs and pollution– have received £12 million in funding.This includes aninvestment of £5.1 million into Metalysis Ltd, enablingthe company to develop further its environmentallyfriendly production methods for tantalum and titaniumalloys. In total, University spin-outs have raised morethan £475 million in follow-on investment and grantfunding, further demonstrating the economic appeal of Cambridge ideas.

A new home for Cambridge Enterprise

The East of England Development Agency has invested£2 million in the University’s Hauser Forum, which willprovide a new home for Cambridge Enterprise as wellas a state-of-the art enterprise hub to encourage andfacilitate innovative collaborations between academics,start-up enterprises and established businesses.Thisinvestment will augment the £8 million alreadydonated by the Hauser-Raspe Foundation.The mainstructure of the £15.7 million development on the West Cambridge site was finished this year, and thebuildings will be occupied in early 2010.

Nurturing innovation

As part of further efforts to facilitate and encourageinnovation, the University of Cambridge DiscoveryFund has been launched to provide vital pre-licence,pre-seed and seed investment for science-basedventures in the crucial early stages of innovation.This evergreen seed fund is a unique renewableresource giving donors the opportunity to support the University many times over.

Cambridge Enterprise’s portfolio of promising newcompanies heralds exciting times ahead: 11 of thesecompanies picked up more than 20 awards, includingaccolades for CamSemi (UK National MicroelectronicInstitute Startup of the Year), Horizon Discovery (Best Business Proposition for gene-engineeringplatform GENESIS™ and Best Drug Discovery award,

Cancer Innovations category, Medical Futures Awards),and Sentinel Oncology (ERBI Biotech Regional award,Discovery and Development category).

Over the past decade, researchers in the NeurosurgeryUnit of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences havebeen developing software as an aid to monitoringpatients in neurological intensive care.The intensive caremultimodality monitoring system (ICM+) has now beenlicensed by Cambridge Enterprise as a research tool tomedical researchers in over 30 centres worldwide.

CamSemi, a spin-out from the Department ofEngineering, has established itself as the leader in the development of energy-efficient power circuits.In October 2008 the company celebrated the shipmentof ten million chips from its first product line.

Knowledge exchange

Knowledge exchange is becoming increasingly impor-tant and Cambridge will lead a consortium of universi-ties awarded £2.2 million as part of an Engineering andPhysical Sciences Research Council scheme to take anintegrated approach to knowledge transfer.The initia-tive will ensure that discoveries across partner institu-tions are fully exploited and will create an environmentin which knowledge transfer is valued and encouraged.

A new UK Innovation Research Centre has been set upby the Centre for Business Research at Judge BusinessSchool and Imperial College Business School, London.The Centre will lead research into how innovation canmake businesses more competitive, improve publicservices delivery and help the UK meet the social,environmental and economic challenges it faces. It willactively disseminate its work through a ‘KnowledgeExchange Hub’.The new Centre builds on the extensiveexpertise in the two partner organisations and bringstogether leading scholars in the field. In addition totheir research, members of both institutions areinvolved in developing business practice and policyadvice in the fields of innovation and knowledgeexchange at national and international levels.


Connecting with the world

The University is committed to sharing its knowledge and ideas across the academic spectrum, and to forgingconnections with the world at the local, national and global levels. Increasingly, this is facilitated through digitisation, and the University is accelerating its deploymentof this technology.

(Above) Dr Mark Turin leads the World Oral Literature Project.


For eight centuries, Cambridge’s glorious tradition of music-making has resonated around the world,enriching lives and advancing intellectual under-standing of what music means. An 800th Anniversaryconcert was held as part of the BBC Proms series at theRoyal Albert Hall. More than 5,000 music lovers andCambridge alumni, including HRH The Prince of Wales,enjoyed performances by a convocation of Collegechoirs and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.The BrittenSinfonia also premiered a composition by RyanWigglesworth in Krakow, Poland, made possible by agrant from the University’s 800th Anniversary Fund.

Festival success

In honour of the Anniversary, the annual ScienceFestival celebrated ‘Centuries of Science’by presentingmore than 160 events over two weeks, including hands-on experiments, lectures and debates.The eventattracted more than 25,000 visitors to Science onSaturday – the centre-piece of the festival, and 530pupils from 30 different schools within a 70-mile radiusof Cambridge attended the Science Master Classes.

The University also held its first annual Festival of Ideas,which celebrated the Arts, Humanities and SocialSciences.The Festival provided more than 200 freeevents in sites around Cambridge including theUniversity’s world-class museums and galleries.Throughevents on subjects ranging from the politics of Europe to the impact of Facebook on friendship, it provided

visitors of all ages with the chance to understand moreabout the world we live in, and attracted more than8,000 attendees over the course of two weeks.

The Open Cambridge weekend offered tours of eightdifferent Colleges, two University museums, JudgeBusiness School, the University Library, and the world’soldest printing house, Cambridge University Press.Tourswere led by volunteers including College porters,bursars, gardeners and graduate students, who allprovided a personal as well as historical view of thesetting in which they work.The annual Bridge the Gapwalk was held as part of Open Cambridge and tookparticipants on a 4.5 mile route through ten CambridgeColleges and the Scott Polar Research Institute Museum.The weekend attracted more than 5,000 people.

Milton anniversary

A year-long programme of performances, lectures and exhibitions to commemorate the 400th anniversaryof Milton’s birth culminated this year with a concert ofmusic from his time and readings of his poetry andprose.Tens of thousands of people visited exhibitionsdisplaying rarely-seen papers and drafts written byMilton, attended performances of some of his best-known works, tuned in online to the first ever liveinternet reading of his great epic, Paradise Lost, oraccessed new web resources designed for everyonefrom dedicated Milton scholars to those who have neverencountered his work before.

(Below) A Festival of Ideas event at the Fitzwilliam Museum.(Below) St John’s College opened its doors to the public duringthe Open Cambridge Weekend.

Access to archives

The online collections and resources of the Universityare becoming increasingly substantial, providing freeglobal access to the University’s unique and extensivecollections. For the past two years, a team from the ScottPolar Research Institute (SPRI) has been working tocapture and preserve more than 20,000 photographicnegatives that document over a century of Arctic andAntarctic explorations. Freeze Frame, a project fundedby the Joint Information Systems Committee, hascreated an unparalleled online archive of images,enhanced further with extracts from personal journals,expedition reports and related e-learning resources.Theimportance of the work and collections of the Institutehas been recognised by the Heritage Lottery Fund,which has awarded nearly £1 million to SPRI.The moneywill support a major refurbishment project, Explorationinto Science, which will see the current galleriesredesigned and new space created for additionalexhibitions and educational research.The refurbish-ment is due to be completed by June 2010, in time tocommemorate the 100th anniversary of the departureof Scott’s British Antarctic (Terra Nova) expedition.

Preserving cultures

The World Oral Literature Project, affiliated with theMuseum of Archaeology and Anthropology, has beenset up to safeguard vanishing cultures by documentingendangered oral literatures before they disappearwithout record.The first phase of the project hasprovided small grants to researchers working onindigenous cultures that are under threat so they candocument oral literature through new digital media.This includes funding for one project that has recorded17 hours of ceremonial chanting among the 1,890people who speak the Barasana language in theVaupes region of Colombia. Another group ofresearchers has been documenting the oral texts of the shamans of the Thangmi community in Nepal andIndia.The vocal repertoire of Tashi Tsering, the last royalsinger of the Kingdom of Lo Monthang in Mustang,Nepal, has also been documented.

New online resources

A group of undergraduates, graduate students andlecturers from the Faculty of English has joined forcesto produce a new outreach website funded withsupport from the 2009 Fund. Cambridge Authors is a collection of resources relating to ten authors whostudied at the University: Christopher Marlowe, GeorgeHerbert,William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Alfred LordTennyson, E M Forster,Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath,A S Byatt, and Zadie Smith.These resources range from

critical essays to innovative multi-media projects.Thesite has been designed especially with A-level studentsin mind – all the authors involved have had their workas set texts at A-level – and features a new collection ofshort films inspired by Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus,created by Jeremy Hardingham, the manager of theFaculty’s Judith E Wilson Drama Studio.

The Faculty of History has also gone online with aninteractive virtual classroom which invites visitors to‘Take a Journey into History’. The virtual classroomprovides educational resources for teachers andstudents complete with online lectures and exercises.

The University was one of the first in the UK to exploitiTunesU and YouTube’s new educational channels,making over 300 lectures, short films and interviewsavailable to a worldwide audience. In the first year, therewere over two million views of Cambridge’s content.

As part of the 800th Anniversary celebrations, theUniversity has also launched Cambridge Ideas: a year-long series of podcasts and films that showcase thediversity of academic expertise and cutting-edgeresearch.The series, designed for broadcast via theinternet, includes an exploration of the creativeprocess, revelations about our musical tastes,a Darwin-inspired ballet, and an investigation into team dynamics.

Growing relationships

Based at Judge Business School, and working withdepartments across the University, the ExecutiveEducation programme continues to expand andinnovate.The extension of courses to the Middle Eastand Asia is planned and international partnerships are an important facet of this area with key relation-ships in institutions in China, USA and Australia.

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alison Richard, visitedChina to celebrate 120 years of partnership betweenChina and Cambridge.There are currently more than130 official academic, industrial and governmentpartnerships in place, spanning many disciplines fromlanguage teaching and architecture to materialsscience, economics and nanoscience. Professor Richardmet with senior Chinese Government figures andpartner universities, signed historic agreements withthe Chinese Academy of Sciences and the ChineseAcademy of Social Sciences, and appeared on ChinaCentral Television’s premier interview programme,Top Talk. Premier Wen Jiobao made a return trip to theUK to deliver the University’s prestigious Rede Lecture.


Premier Wen also presented 200,000 electronic booksto the University Library, making it a home to one ofthe world’s largest collections of Chinese monographs.The gift is one of the largest single donations receivedin the University Library’s 650-year history and almostdoubles the number of electronic books at its disposal.


(Below) Wen Jiabao, Premier of the People’s Republic of China,visited the University as part of the University’s 800th Anniversarycelebrations and donated one of the world’s largest collections of Chinese monographs to Cambridge University Library.

(Above) Professor Julian Dowdeswell's film The End of the IceAge is a part of Cambridge Ideas, an ongoing series of audio andvideo productions that presents the University’s cutting-edgeresearch to a global audience via the internet.


Recognising achievement

Each year, the University’s staff, students and alumni are recognised for their contributions to society across the academic, cultural, public and private sectors.Here is a necessarily selective account of some of them.

(Above) Professor Sir John Gurdon was awarded the 2009 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research award for his pioneeringwork with stem cells.


Royal Society

Nine Cambridge academics have been elected asFellows of the Royal Society: Ross Anderson, Professorof Security Engineering, Computer Laboratory;Jennifer Clack, Professor and Curator of VertebratePalaeontology, Museum of Zoology; David Glover,Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics, Department ofGenetics; Christine Holt, Professor of DevelopmentalNeuroscience, Department of Physiology, Developmentand Neuroscience; David Mackay, Professor of NaturalPhilosophy, Department of Physics;Wolfram Schultz,Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Physiology,Development and Neuroscience; Henning Sirringhaus,Hitachi Professor of Electron Device Physics,Department of Physics; John Todd, Professor of MedicalGenetics and Director of the Juvenile DiabetesResearch Foundation/Wellcome Trust Diabetes andInflammation Laboratory, Cambridge Institute forMedical Research; and Burt Totaro, Lowndean Professorof Astronomy and Geometry, Department of PureMathematics and Mathematical Statistics.

Professors Ron Laskey FRS, Charles Darwin Chair,Department of Zoology and Joint Director of the MRCCancer Cell Unit, and Christopher Dobson FRS, JohnHumphrey Plummer Professor of Chemical andStructural Biology, Department of Chemistry, have beenawarded Royal Medals.

Professor Jeremy Sanders FRS, Head of the School ofPhysical Sciences has received the Davy Medal; andProfessor David MacKay FRS, Professor of NaturalPhilosophy, Department of Physics, has been selectedto give the Clifford Paterson Lecture.

British Academy

Seven Cambridge academics have been elected asFellows of the British Academy: Professor Simon Baron-

Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre; ProfessorPhilip Ford, Professor of French and Neo-Latin Literature;Professor Jonathan Haslam, Professor of the History ofInternational Relations; Professor Mary Jacobus, Directorof the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences andHumanities; Dr John Marenbon, Senior Research Fellowof Trinity College; Professor Susan Rankin, Professor ofMedieval Music; and Professor John Duncan, HonoraryProfessor of Cognitive Neuroscience.

Queen’s Honours

Two Cambridge academics have been recognised inthe Queen’s New Year Honours list. Professor PeterNolan, Sinyi Professor of Chinese Management, JudgeBusiness School, has been made a CBE for services supporting British business in China and China’sintegration into the global economy; and ProfessorMarcial Echenique, Professor of Land Use and TransportStudies at the Department of Architecture, has beenmade an OBE for services to Urban and RegionalPlanning. A further five Cambridge academics werenamed in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. KnightBachelor: Professor Sir David Baulcombe, for services toPlant Science; CBE: Dr Kate Pretty, for services to HigherEducation; Professor Lynn Gladden, for services toChemical Engineering; Stephen Cleobury, for servicesto Music; OBE: Professor Sheila Rodwell, for services toHealth Care. Professor Rodwell sadly died only a fewdays after her OBE was announced.

Worldwide recognition

Drs Emma Wilson, Head of the French Department and a Reader in Contemporary French Literature andFilm, and François Penz, Reader in Architecture and theMoving Image in the Department of Architecture, havereceived the prestigious Chevalier dans l’Ordre desPalmes Académiques in recognition of their sustainedcontribution to the dissemination of French culture

(Left) Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Master of the Queen’s Music,was commissioned to write a new piece for symphonyorchestra and chorus which was premiered at the CambridgeUniversity Musical Society’s May Week Concert in King’s College Chapel.


and to education. Professor Steve Oliver, Director of theCambridge Systems Biology Centre and member of the Department of Biochemistry, has been awarded the distinction of being made a Fellow of the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Science for hisgroundbreaking work exploring the inner workings of the cell.

Professor Sir John Gurdon has been awarded the 2009Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research award for hispioneering work with stem cells. Professor Gurdon,after whom the Gurdon Institute is named, shares this award with Professor Shinya Yamanaka of KyotoUniversity.Together they have opened up new avenuesfor pursuing aspects of embryonic and adult stem cellresearch though their discoveries relating to nuclearreprogramming. Professor Gurdon was also a jointrecipient of the Lewis S Rosentiel Award forDistinguished Work in Basic Medical Science 2009.

Other notable awards and acknowledgements havegone to: Professor Stephen Hawking, LucasianProfessor of Mathematics, who has been awarded thePresidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US Civilianhonour; Professor Lord Renfrew from the McDonaldInstitute for Archaeological Research, who received the2009 SAFE Beacon Award in recognition of his role as achampion for cultural heritage; Dr Julian Hibberd of theDepartment of Plant Sciences, who has been named inNature as one of the ‘Five crop researchers who couldchange the world’; and Mary Beard, Professor ofClassics, who has won a Wolfson History Prize for herbook, Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town.

Professor Robert Kennicutt, Director of the Institute of Astronomy, is one of three recipients of this year’sGruber Cosmology Prize, in recognition of his work in determining that the Universe is around 14 billionyears old. Sharing the prize with astronomers WendyFreedman and Jeremy Mould, his work over the pastdecade has helped to resolve the long-standingdispute about the value of the Hubble constant, one ofthe most important measurements in astronomy. DrCarolin Crawford, also from the Institute of Astronomy,is one of six Women of Outstanding Achievement for2009 – a title awarded by the UK Resource Centre forWomen in Science, Engineering and Technology.

Cambridge University Press and the Britten Sinfoniahave won the International category in the Arts andBusiness Prize, sponsored by the British Council.Theaward celebrates partnerships that help organisationsreach new audiences and make a global impact.

Cambridge’s ‘Naked Scientists’ continue to go fromstrength to strength in their efforts to take science to a wider audience.This year they won the inauguralEuropean Podcast of the Year award for their world-leading weekly science radio programme.They werepicked as one of five winners by an international panelof judges who selected from a field of over 750nominations from ten participating nations.

Ed Hutchinson, a third-year PhD student in theDepartment of Pathology who completed theUniversity’s Rising Stars public engagement course lastyear, has been awarded the New Researcher Categoryof the Biosciences Federation Science CommunicationAward 2008.The Award recognises research-activebioscientists from UK universities or institutes whomake an outstanding contribution to communicatingscience to the public. Other students who have beenrecognised for their achievements and contributionsinclude Ben Barry, a PhD student at Judge BusinessSchool, who received the Canadian Governor General’sAward in Commemoration of the Persons Case YouthAward in recognition of his efforts to change the faceof the fashion and beauty industries. He is the first manto be given this title. A Cambridge student-led operacompany has won the prestigious Herald Angel awardat the Edinburgh Fringe.The Shadwell Opera is amonga small number of student groups to win one of the top annual Fringe awards in recent years.

HivioSense, a business conceived by students from the Masters in Bioscience Enterprise Programme, hasrecorded success in an international business plancompetition.The business is aiming to develop andcommercialise a novel HIV detection system that can detect the presence of HIV in patients just three weeks after infection. Also concerned with HIV,Stephen Gerrard, an undergraduate ChemicalEngineering student based at King’s College, is part of a research team that has been awarded a $100,000grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as partof its Grand Challenge Explorations initiative designedto promote innovation in global health.Their project, ANew Way to Prevent HIV Infection during Breastfeeding,will develop and test low-cost filters coated with safemicrobicides that can be inserted into the tips of nipple shields.

Sporting success

It has been another packed year for sports at theUniversity and – with the exception of the Boat Race –one with some notable successes.The University’sAmateur Boxing Club edged to a close-fought victory


over their counterparts from the Armed Forces (East ofEngland) Select team; and the Cambridge Dancesportteam won the national Universities Ballroom Dancingcompetition for an unprecedented fourth year in a row,securing their victory at the Empress Ballroom,Blackpool.Varsity success came the way of Cambridgein some close-fought matches throughout the yearincluding netball, trampolining and fencing, and aunited Cambridge and Oxford sealed the Prentice Cupby their most convincing margin since 1931, as theirjoint men’s tennis team overcame their Harvard-Yalecounterparts on American soil.

Honorary degrees

Ten eminent individuals from the worlds of religion,business, science, music, history, philanthropy, politicsand economics were presented to the Chancellor,HRH Prince Philip The Duke of Edinburgh at the 800thAnniversary Honorary Degree Congregation at theSenate House.The Honorands were: His HighnessPrince Karim al-Hussaini Aga Khan (Doctor of Divinity);Mrs Melinda Gates, Philanthropist (Doctor of Law); MrBill Gates (William Henry Gates III), Philanthropist andChairman of the Microsoft Corporation (Doctor of Law);

Baroness (Shirley) Williams of Crosby, Honorary Fellowof Newnham College, Public Service Professor ofElective Politics Emerita in the John F Kennedy Schoolof Government at Harvard University (Doctor of Law);Professor Elizabeth Blackburn, Professor of Biology andPhysiology at the University of California, San Francisco(Doctor of Science); Professor Wallace Broecker,Climatologist, Columbia University (Doctor of Science);Professor Sir Peter Crane, the John and Marion SullivanProfessor in the Department of Geophysical Sciences atthe University of Chicago, former Director of KewGardens (Doctor of Science); Professor Amartya Sen,Fellow and former Master of Trinity College, Professor ofEconomics and Philosophy at Harvard University, NobelLaureate in Economics (Doctor of Letters); ProfessorWang Gungwu, University Professor, Faculty of Arts andSocial Sciences, National University of Singapore,former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong,Historian of China and the Chinese (Doctor of Letters);and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, composer and conductor(Doctor of Music).

This year, the more rarely conferred Honorary MAdegrees were given to two people who have made

(Below) The 800th Anniversary Honorary Degree Congregationat the Senate House.

a significant contribution to the life of the Universityand the city: Sir Miles Hunt-Davis, who became the Duke of Edinburgh’s Private Secretary in 1993,forging a valuable link between the Chancellor and his University; and Allan Brigham, road-sweeper andwell-known and respected local historian and tourguide who campaigns for better knowledge ofCambridge heritage by Cambridge residents.

In April, the Chancellor also presided over a ceremonyto admit recent major donors to the University and theColleges into the Cambridge Guild of Benefactors. 21new benefactors were admitted to the Guild, bringingthe total to over 150 individuals or companies whohave made significant contributions to the future ofcollegiate Cambridge.

Finally, on a rainy summer’s day in July 2009,the sun broke through thick, black cloud to shine onnearly 9,000 members of the University’s staff and their families, at a party in Cambridge’s Botanic Garden.This special event was held to honour the deepcommitment of the University’s staff to Cambridge,to education and to public service.


(Below) Mr Allan Brigham, local historian and Blue Badge guidewas awarded an honorary Masters degree for services to thecommunity as a historian.

* Full-time equivalent student load for year of entry as published in Reporter, Special No. 4,Thursday 8 October 2009.† Acceptances by type of school/college by year of entry or deferred entry for the following year.** Includes all graduate and postgraduate courses by year of entry.†† ‘Home’ includes students from the EU and other overseas countries paying the home rate of fees and students paying the ‘island’ rate of fees.

Charting progress

0 500 1000 1500

2005

1,630

1,287

467

2006

1,554

1,340

445

2007

1,517

1,327

546

2008

1,762

1,277

492

0 500 1000 1500

20051,400

1,167

20061,400

1,114

2007

1,425

1,023

20081,449

1,078

Undergraduates Postgraduates

Men5,946

Women5,662

Full-time students 2008*

Admission statistics† Admission statistics**

Men3,292

Women2,711

Full-time students 2008*

UK maintained

UK independent

Other and overseas

Home††

Overseas

Charting progress 39

Contacts

Information for journalists

Communications

Tel: +44(0)1223 332300

Fax: +44(0)1223 330262

Email: [email protected]

Information on the 800th Anniversary Campaign

Development Office

Tel: +44 (0)1223 332288

Fax: +44 (0)1223 764476


Cambridge in America

Tel: +1 212 984 0960

Fax: +1 212 984 0970


The Cambridge 800th Anniversary Campaign Report 2008-2009 has been published.

If you would like a copy please contact the Development Office. For all other enquiries

please contact Communications.

This information is available in other accessible formats upon request.

Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)1223 339397

Produced by: Communications Services, the Office of External Affairs and Communications, University of Cambridge

Written by: Melanie Gardner and Sally Lewis

Designed by: Smith

Printed by: Cambridge University Press

annual report 2009

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