On Tuesday, November 16th, the Claren-

don Scholars met at Oxford Town Hall

for their annual reception. The keynote

was delivered by University of Oxford

Vice-Chancellor Prof Andrew Hamilton,

who spoke of the importance of the Clar-

endon Scholarships to the life of the uni-

versity: ‗The Clarendon Scholarships are

a great success story showing Oxford‘s

ability to attract and support the best stu-

dents from around the world. The support

the University has received from Oxford

University Press for these life-changing

scholarships is a truly outstanding sign of

its commitment to scholarly excellence.

Graduate students are a vital part of the

University and its world-leading research,

and for ten years the Clarendon Fund has

enabled Oxford to attract scholars from

around the globe who will become the

next generation of academics and leaders

in their fields.‘

Oxford University Press Chief Executive

Nigel Portwood spoke of the relationship

between OUP and the Clarendon Schol-

ars: ‗Oxford University Press is im-

mensely proud to support the Clarendon

Fund, and our involvement is seen by all

of us in the organisation as something of

great importance and value to the Press.

The relationship between the Press and

the individual scholars is also very impor-

tant to us. This year we are marking the

10th year of the programme. Since the

scholarships began, over 900 students

have now come into the scheme.‘

‗We see the Clarendon Scholarships as

embodying the sorts of values that make

OUP successful, and that are consistent

with our objectives. Like OUP, you are a

truly international and global group.

Scholars have now come from over 60

countries. OUP is rooted in Oxford, but

has offices in some 50 countries and a

presence in a further 40. 85% of our sales

come from outside of the UK. And of our

5,500 employees, more than 60% are out-

side of the UK. That diversity is tremen-

dously important to us as an organisation

now, and will be more so in the future.‘

‗OUP is all about supporting educational

progress for people around the world, and

we like to think that the international

scholars that come to Oxford with the

Clarendon Fund are ultimately a product

of that overall endeavour.‘

Scholars Gather at Annual Reception

Vice Chancellor Professor Andrew Hamilton

addresses the crowd in the Oxford Town Hall

Volume 1, Issue 1 Michaelmas 2010

Edited by

Claire Higgins Annette LaRocco

Rob Persson & Jen Thum

newsletter of the clarendon scholars’ association

IN THIS ISSUE

Annual Reception

Message from the President

Hongliang Zhang’s success

Scholar presents at European Conference

Featured Scholar Profile

Fieldwork on Three Continents

Scholars’ new science website

Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference

An Organ Scholar in Oxford

OUP’s New Release

Classical Romanticism at the Sheldonian

Big Band Tour

Archaeologists to organ-ise conference session

1

2

3

3

3

4

4

4

5

5

6

6

6

Have you submitted

your Scholar Profile ?

Email:

clarendon@admin.ox.ac.uk

And visit the Clarendon

Fund online for other

Scholar Profiles!

www.clarendon.ox.ac.uk

The Scholars were then treated to the

first screening of the Clarendon Scholar-

ship Film, in which familiar faces dis-

cussed how the Clarendon Fund had

helped them to achieve their goals at Ox-

ford.

After the reception, the Scholars

made their way to The House Cocktail

Bar on Blue Boar Street for the after

party. They were greeted by free cock-

tails, a variety of cheese and crackers,

and fresh fruits. The House's comfortable

and private setting was an ideal venue

for the Scholars to exchange information

and ideas.

As the night went on, many

friends were made and collaborations

started, and the Scholars left brimming

with good spirits and new ideas.

—Derek Hollman, 2nd Year DPhil

Condensed Matter Physics, Merton

College

Scholars Gather at Annual Reception (cont’d)

A Message From The President

All of the events hosted by both the Uni-

versity and the CSA have been incredi-

bly well attended this term, including the

fantastic OUP Bookshop Reception. Fur-

thermore, the CSA has been working

hard to ensure that the rest of the year

remains just as exciting. We have a jam-

packed social calendar (stay tuned for

events coming up in Hilary – West End

expeditions, theatre trips, a day trip to

Stonehenge, concerts, the Talking Heads

lecture series and the Global Scholars

Symposium. Make sure you keep check-

ing your emails for a full update on

what‘s going on!

I wish you and your families a

very Merry Christmas and festive holi-

day season.

—Amber Hood

President 2010-2011

Clarendon Scholars’ Association.

Dear Scholars,

Welcome to the first newsletter

of the 2010/2011 academic year and in-

deed the first newsletter of the Clarendon

Scholars‘ Association! The Clarendon

Scholars‘ Association (CSA) has voted

in our first constitution and is now regis-

tered as an official university student

body with the University.

The aim of the CSA is to facili-

tate networking and communication be-

tween Scholars – we are all united as

Clarendon Scholars, but are often di-

vided across departments, divisions and

colleges. Our activities and events mean

that there is continuous dialogue and

friendships built among Scholars who

would not normally have the chance to

meet during everyday university life. A

once-a-term newsletter provides another

avenue for Scholars to communicate and

engage in our community.

Page 2

OUP Chief Executive Nigel Portwood speaks

at the Clarendon Scholars’ Reception

Above: Members of the Claren-

don Scholars’ Council enjoying

the Clarendon Scholars’ Recep-

tion after party at House Bar.

(left to right ) President Amber

Hood, Secretary Laura Pereira,

Treasurer Claire Woods, Gen-

eral Councillors Caitlin

McElroy and Sam Whitehead

Clarendon Scholars now

receive a 20% discount

at the Oxford Univer-

sity Press bookshop on

High Street

To take advantage of this,

take along your Bod Card

and the letter from the Uni-

versity stating that you are a

Clarendon Scholar

Above and below: Clarendon

Scholars enjoying the OUP

Bookshop Reception,

18th October 2010.

newsletter of the clarendon scholars’ association

Clarendon Scholar Hongliang Zhang has

achieved great success over the course of

2010. In October he presented a paper on

Electronic and morphological investiga-

tions of In2O3 nanostructures and thin

films at the 17th Joint Annual Conference

of the Chinese Society of Chemical Sci-

ence and Technology in the UK and the

Society of Chemical Industry Chinese

UK Group, and was duly awarded the

First Prize for Excellence in Chemical

Research. He has also presented at other

prestigious international conferences,

including invited talks at the European

Materials Research Society Fall Meeting

2010 in Warsaw and the 16th Interna-

tional Conference on Crystal Growth,

Beijing. In addition, his group has pub-

lished five papers on their research, in-

cluding „Surface energies control the self

organisation of oriented In2O3 nanos-

tructures on cubic zirconia‟ in Nano Let-

ters, the foremost journal in the area of

nanoscience.

—Hongliang is in his 3rd year

of the DPhil in Inorganic Chemistry at

Keble College

Success for Clarendon Scholar Hongliang Zhang

Scholar Presents at European Conference

Clarendon Scholar Sashikesh Gane-

shalingam presented a poster presenta-

tion this July at the European Confer-

ence on Atoms Molecules and Photons

(ECAMP) titled ‗Interaction of hydro-

gen Rydberg molecule with silicon

semiconductor surface‘. Sashikesh‘s

group‘s presentation focused on how

different states of the Hydrogen

Rydberg molecule, an electronically

excited state of molecular hydrogen,

interacts with doped silicon surfaces.

The ECAMP in held in Salamanca, Spain, ‗selected some interesting scientific post-

ers to present during a poster session‘, says Sashikesh. He says that the conference

was the best opportunity to present his work, and that he is ‗really thankful to the

Clarendon Scholarship for giving an opportunity to share my research work with

other researchers and gain much knowledge in my area of research.‘ More details of

the conference, including its speakers, can be found at www.ecamp10.com

—Sashikesh is in his 4th year of a DPhil in Physical and Theoretical

Chemistry, and is a student of Magdalen College.

Page 3

My academic interests

include anthropology of

religion, gender and eth-

nic politics in China, as

well as feminist and post-

structuralist theory. My

Master's thesis will focus

on Muslim women in

China. I recently gradu-

ated as Valedictorian from

Marymount Manhattan

College. I currently aspire

to a career in academia or

p u b l i c p o l i c y .

M y r e c e n t w o r k ,

―Mongolian Music in Post

-Secular China: The

Search for a New Cultural

Identity‖ has been pub-

lished in the April 2010

issue of Asian Journal of

Literature, Culture, and

Society Vol 4.1 (2010): 1-

19.

Singapore

2010

MSc Modern Chinese Studies

Featured Scholar Profile

ANGELA POH

Hongliang Zhang accepting his

award, the First Prize for Excellence

in Chemical Research

Sashikesh’s poster presentation

Volume 1, Issue 1, Michaelmas 2010

Over the past year I have been pur-

suing my research around the

world. I have conducted fieldwork

in Namibia and Chile, attended

conferences in Switzerland and

Costa Rica, and worked with a

research team in South Africa. I

am investigating international min-

ing firms‘ contribution to develop-

ment in the areas they operate. In

particular, I am researching the

role of corporate foundations es-

tablished by mining firms and now

providing a hybrid model of pri-

vate sector investment in develop-

ment. Through this work I have

not only gained valuable information for my DPhil, but in trekking in and out of ura-

nium and copper mines had the privilege of working in the communities of people

involved in and affected by these operations. This research has been a remarkable

personal opportunity of challenging independence in remote and often beautiful land-

scapes. Moreover, in this time in the milieu of the fieldwork process I recognized the

significance of what I could access, reflect upon and contribute to from the unique

position of an academic. In writing my thesis I aim to mobilize my opportunity for

engagement through academic research to contribute to our understanding of the use

of different corporate governance structures to better integrate private sector contribu-

tions to development.

—Caitlin McElroy, 3rd Year DPhil, School of Geography and the Environment

and Brasenose College

tos and images from across different

fields of science, updated weekly and

selected especially for your computer

desktop or wallpaper. We would love

you to visit, have a look around, let us

know what you think and even submit an

image from your own research!

—Jonathan Webb

3rd Year DPhil Physiology, Anatomy

and Genetics

Worchester College

Late this summer, something new ar-

rived on the web. Something new and

nerdy. Set up by Clarendon Scholars

Jonathan Webb and Neil Rabinowitz,

among others, Nerd Alert (http://nerd-

alert.net) is a science-based website that

aims to entertain and to promote scien-

tific thinking.

Nerd Alert features a podcast

that is also webcast live on Oxide Radio,

a blog with weekly essays on science-

related topics, and also a series of pho-

‘Nerd Alert’: Two Scholars start science website

Page 4

Fieldwork on Three Continents

Above: Caitlin McElroy at the Atacama Desert

altiplano volcano and glacial lakes, Chile

Above: Neurons and their

fibres in a Zebrafish brain.

A ’Desk-top of the Week’ from

http://nerd-alert.net

newsletter of the clarendon scholars’ association

Clarendon Scholar Amanda

Clarke has been invited to

speak at a conference on

Youth Participation in Poli-

tics, organised by the Brit-

ish Group of the Inter-

Parliamentary Union.

Amanda will discuss

strategies for engaging

young people in the de-

mocratic process.

The conference will be

held in 9th week, Decem-

ber 8th and 9th at the West-

minster Palace.

Hailing from Canada,

Amanda is in her first year

of a DPhil in Information,

Communication and the

Social Sciences within the

Oxford Internet Institute.

She is a student of Balliol

College. Best of luck

Amanda!

Scholar to speak at

Inter-Parliamentary

Union Conference

Organs are probably not the first thing

that one associates with Oxford, but for

the organist, this city is an absolute de-

light. Within ten minutes of my accom-

modation, I can play instruments suited

to a repertoire as diverse as Bach, Cou-

perin, Guilmant, Widor and Messiaen!

From the sparkling precision of the

Queen‘s College Frobenius, to the rich

tonal pallatte of the St. John‘s College

Aubertin, I feel as though my ears have

been opened to entirely new ‗sound

worlds.‘ It is not, however, a matter of

mere ‗tones‘: some organs at Oxford

have caused me to radically rethink my

playing style, as the combination of sen-

sitive playing actions and appropriately

voiced pipework encourage a more nu-

anced approach to the music. Coming

from a place with comparatively few

organs and even fewer organists

(Australia), I am enjoying the new per-

formance opportunities and friendly

community of organists that Oxford of-

fers. A rich selection of masterclasses,

recitals and opportunities for tuition have

given me new challenges and perspec-

tives, and I feel my playing style matur-

ing as I am exposed to new ideas and

techniques. These opportunities provide

a breadth of perspective that I find is im-

proving the quality of my research, and

reinforcing my belief in the inseparabil-

ity of musicological research and per-

formance studies.

— Andrew Cichy, 1st Year DPhil in

Musicology, Merton College

• Designed and compiled for use by both

English and Chinese native speakers,

with over 300 cultural notes

“a superb reference work, one that should

wind up on the desk of every English-

Chinese and Chinese-English translator”

—Professor Howard Goldblatt,

Chinese language specialist

Endorsed by academics world-

wide, the Oxford Chinese Dictionary has

been produced using the unique diction-

ary resources of Oxford University Press

in Oxford, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, as

well as the Foreign Language Teaching

and Research Press in Beijing, together

with an international body of expert ad-

visors.

For more information, contact

Julia Hall on 07986 683940 or at

julia.hall@oup.com.

On September 9, Oxford University

Press released the Oxford Chinese Dic-

tionary, a new single-volume work with

over 300,000 words and phrases and

370,000 translations. It‘s the world‘s

largest, most up-to-date, most accurate,

and most authoritative Chinese-English /

English-Chinese dictionary.

• Includes 12 months of FREE access to

Oxford‘s online dictionary service, Ox-

ford Language Dictionaries Online, in

Chinese

• With thousands of new words from

fields such as computing, business, and

the arts

• Simplified Chinese characters and

lookup by Pinyin and radical indexes

• Practical support for students, includ-

ing example letters and emails

Page 5

An Organ Scholar in Oxford: Andrew Cichy tells us of the city’s rich resources

OUP’s New Release

Volume 1, Issue 1, Michaelmas 2010

Above and below: Some more

pictures of Clarendon Scholars

and OUP staff enjoying the

OUP Bookshop reception, 18th

October 2010

On Sunday 28th November

30 Clarendon Scholars were

treated to ‘Classical Roman-

ticism‘ by the Oxford

Philomusica, in the beautiful

surrounds of the Sheldonian

Theatre. They enjoyed Bee-

thoven‘s Violin Concerto in

D, featuring the incredible

Nicola Bernadetti on violin,

and a superb rendition of

Brahms‘ Symphony no. 2 in

D. The tickets were organ-

ised through the Clarendon

Scholars‘ Association, and

we can look forward to more

Clarendon outings at the

Sheldonian next term!

Scholars enjoy Classical

Romanticism at the Sheldonian

Standing on a large stage and belting out

monosyllabic attempts at Mandarin isn‘t

something I typically expect to do on my

summer vacation (or ever). However,

thanks to the wonderful people at the

2010 World Expo in Shanghai, I was

given the opportunity to travel with the

Oxford University Big Band to perform

in the opening ceremony of their Music

Month (kudos to them for organizing

anything at all in 40° weather and the

kind of humidity that hasn‘t existed since

the early Roman steam baths).

Having played, recorded and

toured pretty extensively before coming

to Oxford, I didn‘t think I‘d be able to

handle cutting out music cold turkey.

Luckily, OUBB took pity on me and I

was offered the bass. Not used to (or ex-

pecting) much compensation, the pros-

pect of a few free ball tickets had me

very excited to be a part of the group. At

the end of Michaelmas term, it was an-

nounced that we‘d be off to China the

following summer, a quite unexpected,

and exciting, perk.

Shanghai was a bit of a

culture shock. We were

routinely stopped on the

streets and asked to have

our picture taken with one

of the locals. And then the

locals‘ friends. And then

they needed a group pic-

ture. By that time a queue

of people would have

formed, all waiting to have their picture

taken with us.

Overall, the people really were

fantastic and I was treated to one of the

best trips of my life. So if you play an

instrument, wipe the dust off your trom-

bone and get involved. There are plenty

of bands around Oxford that need musi-

cians. Maybe you too could end up play-

ing ‗When the Saints‘ on the Great Wall

or be asked to promote a Mongolian

dance show on Chinese national televi-

sion.

—Scott Culligan

2nd Year DPhil Inorganic Chemistry

Jesus College

Mitchell's work and respond to it in the

context of their own fieldwork. Jen will

present a paper about ancient and mod-

ern interaction with the Fayoum Portraits

from Graeco-Roman Egypt, based on her

undergraduate thesis. Rob's paper will

examine how shifts in the foci of schol-

arship manifest in Egyptology, and syn-

thesize them to examine the scenes that

recount the Battle of Kadesh.

—Jen Thum is in her 1st year of the

MPhil Egyptology at University Col-

lege, while Rob Persson is in his 1st

Year of the MPhil Egyptology at St.

Cross College

Jen Thum and Rob Persson's proposal

for a session at the Theoretical Archae-

ology Group conference at UC Berkeley

in May 2011 has been accepted. The title

of their session is "What Do Pictures

Want? Picture Theory in Archaeology ",

a concept modeled on W.J.T. Mitchell's

What Do Pictures Want?: The Lives and

Loves of Images (The University of Chi-

cago Press, 2004), which purports that

images are "not just inert objects that

convey meaning but as animated beings

with desires, needs, appetites, demands,

and drives of their own". The two have

asked participating archaeologists to read

Page 6

Scott Culligan’s Big Band Tour

Archaeologists to organize conference session

newsletter of the clarendon scholars’ association

The next issue of the

Clarendon Scholars’

newsletter will be

published in Hilary

Term 2011

Have you attended a

conference, completed

fieldwork, or travelled to

interesting places?

Submit your photos and

stories to the newsletter

team via

claire.higgins

@merton.ox.ac.uk

The Clarendon Fund

website contains all

the news of upcoming

social events, Scholar-

ship Profiles and the

new Clarendon Schol-

arship Film!

www.clarendon.ox.ac.uk

Submit your

Clarendon Scholar

Profile to :

clarendon@admin.ox.ac.uk

Scott Culligan in Shanghai on

the Oxford University Big

Band Tour