We are delighted to confirm that three Somervillians have been short-listed in this year’s Vice-Chancellor’s Awards, including our Principal, Jan Royall.
The Vice-Chancellor’s Awards are a University-wide celebration of outstanding colleagues. There were 250 award entries across 11 categories this year, with 1,500 individuals included in the nominations. Here at Somerville, those shortlisted are Dr Claire Cockcroft, who was shortlisted in the Support for Students category for her work with the Somerville Skills Hub. Also shortlisted are Somerville’s former Junior Research Fellow, Dr Shobhana Nagraj, and our Principal Jan Royall, who were co-nominated alongside members of Green Templeton College and Oxfordshire County Council for Dr Nagraj’s campaign to tackle child food poverty in Oxfordshire.
Dr Shobhana Nagraj, Dr Claire Cockcroft, Principal Jan Royall
Introducing the Somerville Skills Hub
The Somerville’s Skills Hub is a unique resource offered by Somerville College. It offers weekly seminars and workshops to optimise students’ academic and intellectual development, wellbeing and career aspirations. A range of events is organised termly, aimed at different constituents: freshers, finalists, postgraduates and students identifying as minorities (BAME, 1st generation, international, neurodivergent or with disabilities). From essay writing and public speaking, to interview skills and time management, the Skills Hub delivers in-reach support, to help students attain their academic potential, adjust to university life, and graduate with transferrable skills to succeed in their careers.
Now in its eighth year, the Somerville Skills Hub recently incorporated a tailored programme of sessions within the Somerville College Freshers’ week. These included workshops on essay writing; how to research, analyse and reference efficiently; ‘Test-Drive-a-Tute’; Time Management; and ‘Imposter Syndrome & Perfectionism’. Evaluation indicated freshers better understood the expectations of tutorials and the Skills Hub supported their transition to University-style learning.
Tackling childhood malnutrition in Oxfordshire: From Grassroots to Policy Actions
Child poverty is now endemic in Oxfordshire. One-third of children in Oxford live in poverty, and 9 children in every class of 30 in Oxfordshire face daily food insecurity. This has led to a ‘double burden’ of underweight and overweight childhood malnutrition within Oxfordshire. Seeking to tackle this crisis, Dr Shobhana Nagraj launched her community-led research partnership to evaluate and mitigate child food poverty in 2022.
Members of the partnership during a 2023 meeting at Somerville College
The project started with two roundtable meetings at the University of Oxford on childhood malnutrition and accessing healthy food, which galvanised the partnership’s research and membership. Since those early days, the partnership has arranged development days for community groups, contributed evidence for a Scrutiny review of child poverty in Oxford, persuaded organisations including the University of Oxford to sign up to a Food Charter, conceived a Food Strategy for Oxfordshire, and produced a policy brief with key recommendations to improve local childhood nutrition. Dr Nagraj and her partners have also engaged in national policy and advocacy dialogues through the public policy exchange, where their model of community engagement has been shared at the national level as an example of best practice.
Today, the partnership Dr Nagraj established brings together 65 stakeholders from grassroots food organisations, schools, religious groups, public health and local authorities, housing associations, local business alliances, academics and policymakers. The partnership’s activities have been supported by Somerville College and Green Templeton College throughout.
Huge congratulations to everyone on being shortlisted for their amazing work.