The post room is full of parcels, the dining hall is reverberating with the sounds of happy diners, and some extremely well dressed new Somervillians have recently been sighted on their way to the Sheldonian. It can all mean only one thing: we are back!
The familiar rhythm of the beginning of the academic year has been joined by a new beat this year in the form of our new initiative to give our freshers two extra days at the start of term for sessions to help bridge the gap between school and university. Inclusivity is a value at the heart of Somerville, and this is inclusivity in action.
You can see it too in our Sanctuary work, which we are extremely proud to report goes from strength to strength: there are now 8 refugee and displaced scholars studying at Somerville, the most to date. In our wider college community, our fellows Professor Noa Zilberman and Professor Louise Mycock with assistance from DPhil Student (2022, Engineering) took underrepresented students under their wing and gave them valuable experience of the postgraduate research world as part of the UNIQ+ scheme. If there were an extra, unofficial Somerville motto, it might be that actions speak louder than words!