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HIPPOCAMPUS 2020/21

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Editor: Danielle Hitchenor

Hippocampus 2020/21

Contents

College Welcomes College Updates College Societies

Dedicated StaffCareers Trevelyan Bursaries

Alumni AnnouncementsTravel Bursaries

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28 30 32

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Welcome from the Principal

thank you for your continued support. Our students are making good use of the many facilities made possible by the generous alumni donations – the Dowrick theatre, the gym, and the Garden of Reflection, to name a few. The students are also extremely appreciative of the opportunities that have been created for them through donations of time and experience, such as our careers programme.

I have ambitious plans for Trevelyan. My plan is to create a vibrant, supportive, and enabling environment where every student is empowered to venture out of their comfort zone and be the best they can be. I want our College culture to celebrate and encourage lifelong learning – as a student, an alumnus, or a member of staff. These elements are captured in our new College tagline, “Explore without limits". I have engaged with some of the stakeholders on how to move our bold agenda forward, and I am very pleased with the level of enthusiasm and support we’ve received so far.

To make the College more inclusive and accessible to all students, we have introduced a new bursary. The Trevelyan Bursary will remove the financial barriers to participate in Junior Common Room activities and will allow students from lower-income households to fully access the wider student experience. I am delighted to report that an alumna has already made a very generous donation that has allowed us to start building the Trevelyan Bursary over the next three years. We are extremely grateful for this donation. It has enabled us to make

I would like to warmly welcome you to my first edition of the Hippocampus. As you may know, I recently completed my first year as Principal of Trevelyan College, having joined Durham University in January 2020. I would like to thank the Trevs community for a warm welcome to the College for me and my family. What an interesting and remarkable first year for any Principal!! I was fortunate to meet with students and attend some of the JCR organised events before the first lockdown in March 2020. Despite the unpredictable experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been a remarkable and exciting journey of growth and self-discovery for our students. I am very proud of what they have achieved despite the lockdown, as you will see from this edition of Hippocampus.

Let me begin by thanking you for your tremendous contributions to the College over the years. On behalf of our students,

significant progress in our pursuit of equal opportunities for all our students. Recipients of this bursary so far, have been very appreciative of the support.

There are so many ways that you can contribute to the College. No doubt you can help in ways that I have not even thought of, so if you have ideas please do get in touch. I would love to hear from you.

We have three priorities for the academic year 2021/22 that I would like to ask for your help with:

1. Removing financial barriers to participation in College life so that all of our students can enjoy the full collegiate experience;

2. Developing career opportunities and internships that will support and empower our students as they start out on their career paths;

3. Funding academic awards that will recognise our students’ academic excellence and encourage them to be the very best they can be.

If you would like to discuss any of these projects further, please do get in touch.

Once the College reopens to visitors, I would be delighted to meet you in person. I am very excited for what we can achieve together, and look forward to many fruitful engagement opportunities.

Professor Adekunle AdeyeyeTrevelyan College Principal

Welcome from the Acting Principal

“Trevelyan? That’s the College I know least about.” I heard this from pretty much everyone when I explained I was to become the College’s Acting Principal in October 2019. “It’s the Music College, I think,” was another common response. Even after 23 years in Durham, I was not well versed in Trevs-lore. My main experience had been attending a darts match in the bar around 1998 when Trevs vs Cuth’s had escalated to the point the darts were taken away lest they end up in someone. Playing a darts match without darts is impossible so both teams hit the bar and a few pints later we left as friends.

When I arrived at Trevs it was not a happy time. I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice to say the College found itself starting Freshers’ Week without any College Officers. Furthermore, delayed building work meant nearly two hundred students arrived to learn they would have to stay somewhere else. Universities were facing ferocious criticism for having too little accommodation for too many

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Welcome from the Acting Vice Principal

first bounce), listening to the amazing bands, choirs and music groups that Trevs contains (so what if we are a “music college” after all), and watch the women’s football team smash past the opposition to win the Floodlit Cup (it was bitingly cold and I nearly lost toes, but it would have been worth it).

When I left, reluctantly, in early 2020 to make way for the esteemed Professor Adekunle Adeyeye people were very kind. I would gladly have stayed for years. At the time I knew that I had helped navigate a troubling moment in Trevs’ history and the rest of 2020 would no doubt be smooth sailing and blue skies. I assumed the only rule of six on the horizon would be planning for a future extension to the Library. One kind first year rugby player told me, whilst leaning against a wall for balance, that I was the best principal he’d ever known. He slid down the wall before I could point out that I was the only principal he’d ever known, but I appreciated the sentiment. Being given Full Colours was a real honour. The certificate proudly sits framed on my new office wall in South College. It was underserved though.

I have a big ego and I like it to be fed on a regular basis. However, anything I achieved was really down to the staff, students and alumni who made, and continue to make, Trevelyan one of the greatest College’s in Durham. If I were to name people, I would exceed my word count, but suffice to say, the staff and students are without equal and though my time equated to a matter of months, they were some of the happiest of my life. I hope that Trevs continues to be

students. Trevs was entirely blameless, but our travails still made national news. When I arrived from my role as the University’s Head of Access and Engagement, I possessed two key attributes: experience as Acting Principal at Hild Bede, and the clincher, I could start straightaway.

I fell in love with Trevelyan almost at once. Obviously, the spatial sickness that afflicts everyone hit me too. It’s not easy to learn to live your life in a six-sided building with corridors that makes the International Space Station look roomy. In the offices you can hear the occupants above and around sneezing in bed, leaving you hoping nothing embarrassing comes through the ceiling when you are hosting the Pro-Vice Chancellor. The artwork defies explanation, and, in the dining hall, defies gravity (I loved the colours used in the large dining hall paintings until on inspection I realised they consisted mostly of red wine and gravy). I loved the Formals. The JCR President told me they were so complicated I would need a manual. I laughed until he gave me a copy.

Trevs’ people are amongst the finest in the University. I cannot begin to explain how much I enjoyed spending time talking to our students. The young man from China who told me over lunch that he loved Trevs, but the food was “really, really bad”. He later explained that he meant all UK food, which made me feel marginally better. A postgrad told me after a formal how much he had enjoyed my speech, though he “had a few pointers” that he was happy to go through after he’d downed his Jägerbomb. I enjoyed taking part in cheerleading (apparently, it’s okay to drop someone as long as you catch them on the

the College that people know the least about, because it feels like a secret that I don’t want to share. I hope one day to be back in the Buttery, ordering a waffle amongst friends and laughing at the rest of Durham who have no idea that a hexagonal utopia lies on their doorstep.

Lee WordenActing Principal Michaelmas Term 2020

As I write this in mid-March, Trevs’ famous daffodils have just started to bloom and we are looking forwards with hope to the gradual easing of lockdown restrictions. It has truly been a year like no other. Our thoughts are with every member of our community who has been affected by the pandemic – our students, our staff, and our alumni.

In a year of difficult and unwelcome changes we must also find space to celebrate the positive changes that have occurred at Trevs. We have welcomed a new Principal and three wonderful new staff members – Debs, our new Assistant Principal, Kayleann, our new College Administration Coordinator, and Indre, our new Student Support Administrator.

Perhaps most importantly, we have also welcomed a whole new generation of students into our Trevs community. Although these students have found themselves in a very different environment to any cohort before them, they have still displayed that unique Trevs spirit for which we are known. They have navigated a difficult year with strength and fortitude, making the best of the opportunities that lay before them. As many beloved College traditions were placed on hold in light of the pandemic, I was consistently impressed by the resilience and resourcefulness of our community - socially distanced Christmas dinners, a virtual Trevs Day, and even a corridor marathon in place of our traditional sporting ventures. We are all very much looking forwards to the point in the not-so-distant future when we can induct our new students into the true Trevs experience that so many of you will remember fondly – the formals, the Trevstocks, and the musical and sporting ventures that are such a crucial part of College life. I hope that you will enjoy this edition of Hippocampus: that it will give you some insight into the fantastic things that members of our community are capable of, even in times of great difficulty, and that it will make you proud to be a Trevelyanite.

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MCR President’s Review

Trevs is normally quiet during the months of late spring, as students are busy preparing for, or sitting exams. Last year, however, it was silent due to the effects of COVID-19. Very different from how the academic year started given Trevs was a building site then, full of dust and builders. Fortunately, this had little impact on the incoming members of the MCR, but it made things more exciting (or stressful? I can never remember the difference!).

November 2019 saw the first of our events, the black-tie Inter-MCR formal which attracted students from across the colleges. Aside from the stress over organising such an event, I found time to enjoy myself, and the night went well. Mixing with other postgraduate students is always a pleasure, and a very important part of what the MCR is about - something I hope will continue in years to come.

Christmas is always a fun time within Trevs. Concerts, carols, and fantastic formal dinners sent Michaelmas off in style. We also saw in the Lunar New Year with the usual inter-common room celebration, while also holding our own celebration with making traditional dumplings and crafts. It was one of the most successful events and showcased how well the international contingent of postgraduates has been integrated into the MCR this year. We have also had huge input from our Associate members, who play an important role in MCR life every year.

We continued to hold our Research Buffet in Epiphany term, seeing work from both

MCR and SCR members on mental health of deaf adolescents, computer simulations of oil extraction and the alienating effects of complex societies. It’s always great to showcase the amazing skills of our members, and the variety of disciplines within Trevs MCR. I was also extremely proud to oversee the premiere of a brand new MCR event, the H.M. Evans Music Prize which was set up in honour of our previous Prof. Evans. The Dowrick Suite was packed out for an evening of spectacular classical music performances; the winner and runner-up will be added to a brand new honours board in the Mowlam Room.

There is no doubt that the current pandemic has knocked everyone, and it’s definitely not how I saw my tenure as President going, but we have found ways to keep everything ticking over. The Exec has planned a series of events after exams, including the annual G.M. Trevelyan Research Prize which is going online for the first time ever! The College

We all knew that the 2020-21 academic year would be different. Over the summer, College had put in place numerous plans and precautions, I had come up with many iterations of a Welcome Week timetable and we were focused on ensuring that everyone had a safe induction to the Trevs family. The hopeful reprieve of loosened restrictions faded into a local, and then national, lockdown. Our plans for in person, yet socially distanced, events faded away as it became clear that we would be on for a long term, focused on limiting the spread of COVID-19 and doing our part to protect the community.

We managed to still run a well-attended online matriculation and saw the formation of strong households in college who bonded brilliantly, to ensure the new students were welcomed into our family, told the stories of the MCR and encouraged to get involved when possible. Whilst we have not been able to do much, there is a lot of interest and excitement for the events which are to come, with an Exec ready to jump at the opportunity to run a myriad of activities for the Common Room. There is still

and the MCR is adapting to and coping with the situation the best we can. Trevs is always happy to offer support, and in these difficult times, I think as ever, we are showing that Trevs is made of sterner stuff.

Ben Vickers MCR president 2019-20

2019-2020

2020-2021

time for Easter term to be in full flow, with a range of academic and social events, which will bring the whole community together.

This year has really shown the strength of Trevs spirit. During Freshers Week we had Freps from across the college helping each other out, with us all wanting to make sure that the welcome was as ‘normal’ as possible. The household communities have helped each other through the period, showing each other round and taking responsibility for each other. Everyone has stepped up to the challenge of adapting to the situation, following the changing rules, and working with the excellent College staff to ensure that everyone is kept safe and happy during this tough time. It has been an honour to see the MCR adapt to the circumstances and continue in the knowledge that one day we will be able to all come together again.

Rory ClarksonMCR President 2020-21

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JCR President’s Review

My tenure as President has been one of change and development for both the JCR and College, all of which geared towards improving the offering to students and alumni, while maintaining the fabric of the Trevs community - what makes it special and such a wonderful experience.

During my presidency, we managed to host all our events apart from the final one, Handover Formal - but even these saw changes. For the first time, Summer Ball was held outside of College at Derwent Manor, which allowed for more Ents than ever before and it was a fantastic night. Winter Ball became a formal event, while Trevs Night became themed with fancy dress costumes encouraged. Charity Ball moved to Durham city. Sports Dinner happened twice (post-2019 exam season and

Epiphany 2020). And this year Re-Freshers’ Week was re-introduced to make up for a part-lost Fresher’s Week and to welcome our new Principal, Kunle. Re-Freshers involved daytime talks and events for socialising, as well as evening events for entertainment, with Winterfest being my personal highlight. Hopefully it will maintain its place on the Trevs social calendar in years to come – if only so I can attend!

Over the course of the year the Trevs extra-curricular once again punched well above our weight. However, as with most years in Trevs, this one wasn’t without it’s drama. The 2019 Fresher’s Week was heavily interrupted by the over-running summer building works, lasting well into November and meant the Fresher’s move-in was across four sites (Trevs, Teikyo, Collingwood and Stevenson). Equally, JCR Presidents began to question the relationship and role of Durham Students’ Union, leading to several disassociating with the SU and the Trevs JCR writing a letter of intent to do so. The alumni network was re-thought. The JCR voted to have a Sabbatical President from the end of my tenure, and also has a very strong possibility of returning to a charity status in the near future. A year of plain sailing this certainly was not, but I believe all the trials and tribulations which Trevs has recently undergone will lead to a stronger community than ever.

I now leave the Trevs JCR in the capable and (because he’s sabbatical) unoccupied hands of Alistair Stark.

Giorgio RandJCR Presdident 2019-2020

2019-2020

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2020-2021

The pandemic has presented unique challenges for the JCR, but the community spirit of Trevs is alive and well. It has been great to see the college coming together to maintain a sense of normalcy, despite being so far apart. A new Facebook group was formed during the first lockdown, where students shared ideas and activities to provide entertainment for each other, including recipes, quizzes and live DJ sets.

As one might expect, events have been few and far between this year. Summer term saw the cancellation of many of our biggest events. However, Trevs Day went ahead online, as a celebration of the end of exams and the year. This included music, activities and a virtual formal to give everyone a taste of Trevs from home.

Freshers’ Week proved to be somewhat of an exception to the year, as we were able to put on a great variety of events to

welcome the new Trevelyanites. Ensuring that everything was done in a COVID-safe manner proved a daunting task, but I’d like to commend the Senior Freps (Charlie Procter and Amar Shah) and the entire Frep team for their hard work and commitment. A highlight of Freshers’ Week proved to be our outdoor music festival – ‘Freshtival’ – which was described by a certain Pro Vice Chancellor as the “greatest event [he’d] seen put on during a pandemic”.

Michaelmas term was definitely one of highs and lows. Initially, we had hoped to open up spaces like the gym, restart music and sport, and maybe even have (socially distanced) events. Obviously, this was not the case, but there were still some positives to term. This included the continuation of some of our societies, albeit online, an inter-household competiton and a livers-in Christmas Dinner. We also took this opportunity to look inwards to how the JCR runs and how it can better benefit it’s members. This has included establishing a Working Class Students’ Rep, sitting on the Welfare team and reforming our Outreach Officer role, to improve how we contribute and give back to our local community.

This has been a tough year for everyone and definitely an unusual one to be president in. As the first sabbatical president, I’ve had significantly more time to dedicate to the role, but unfortunately I’ve not been able to spend this how I had envisaged. Although the JCR, and Trevs as a whole, have missed out on a lot this year, I am incredibly confident that we will

persevere and emerge stronger than ever. We are a community full of incredible individuals, ready to get involved and help make a difference. The return to normality is in sight, and whilst I became President as the world shut down, I hope to leave the Presidency in July just as things are opening up!

Alistair StarkSabbatical JCR President 2020-21

I’m asked the same question at every open day I assist, “Did you apply to Trevs?” and every time I’m honest and say that I didn’t. I made my application to Durham without ever visiting, and my college choice was based on the fact I was born in a hospital of the same name. I still knew very little about Trevs by the time I arrived and (to use the vocabulary of my youngest sister) I was ‘nervicited’. However, when I pulled up to Trevs I was swarmed by a sea of blue jumpers and my emotions shifted to pure excitement. My mum was especially impressed by the puns on the welcome banners; for her that was the moment she felt her own nerves vanish. So no, I did not apply to Trevs, but it is such a big part of my life that if I were to apply now, it would absolutely be my first choice.

Making the choice to run for President was a huge decision for me. Since my first year, I had lost not one or two, but three elections, and each one was a blow to my confidence. But I never let my losses stop me. I learnt from each one, and continued to give back to Trevs

in other ways. Suddenly, I was voted in as the DSU rep, a member of both the JCR and MCR Execs and I learnt invaluable skills that I knew I’d bring to the role of President if the JCR would let me. And they did! As President I will use my experience as Trevs’ ambassador to the DSU to keep influencing university decisions with Trevs’ interests at heart. I will assist in the continuation of the incredible effort the JCR Exec have made this year and work to keep the spirit of Trevs alive. As our favourite librarian/DJ/artist/Mastermind contestant, Tim Fowler, once said, ‘Trevs is more than just bricks and mortar’. I couldn’t agree more. Truly Trevs, much like Asgard, is not a place, it is a people. As much as Trevs has made me who I am today, it is every member of Trevelyan College, past and present, who makes Trevs what it is. And so, any alumni, old or new, you are always welcome to visit as soon as it is safe and feasible to do so.

Alannah Life Sabbatical JCR President 2021-22

Incoming 2021-2022

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The Buttery Review

For some lockdown entertainment, our inter-household competion comprised of a series of fun challenges to complete over a week. After the points were tallied up, the top two scoring households entered the live finals, hosted in the temporary marquee in the Quad. Many of the households put in a lot of effort, and it was great to see spirits were still high despite the circumstances. Congratulations go to Household 1 who were crowned the overall champions, winning a deluxe film night hamper, but were closely matched by Household 18, who won a giant inflatable flamingo.

The Buttery has seen a lot of exciting changes over the last year, as the shop evolves to better suit the needs of Trevelyanites. The Buttery Committee started trialling extended opening hours prior to closing due to COVID-19. In response to student feedback, the service was extended by an extra hour in the evening, to cater for students who missed dinner or livers-out with no access to college catering. This proved successful and was welcomed by the students and workers alike.

The Buttery has also had a make-over in the redesigning and re-painting of the counter mural. The designs were submitted by students in a competition with the committee chosing the winners. Although the painting was cut short, one half is complete and brings a bright new aesthetic to the space, and we plan to complete the project next term.

With the launch of the Butter-Eco campaign in 2019, we have been working towards reducing our environmental impacts. This included adapting our stock to exclude products and companies reliant on unsustainable palm oil. This change was received well, and the stock managers have worked

hard to ensure that the same high standard is maintained. Additionally, we’ve introduced custom re-usable plates for our toasties, which are optional to students but help to cut down the toastie bars’ waste.

Perhaps most exciting of all is the addition of a waffle machine. Opening in February 2020, we now serve waffles on weekends in addition to toasties. With a wide range of toppings available, the waffles are a great addition, helping to make Trevs stand out among the other college shops.

A final major improvement is the addition of a card machine, making shopping more accessible and bringing the Buttery up to speed. This also enabled the Buttery to re-open at the start of the academic year with social distancing measures, even offering a click and collect service, and room delivery for students who were isolating.

Whilst COVID-19 has resulted in the shops’ closure the last few months, we are excited to re-open soon and continue providing an excellent service for the students at Trevs.

Alice CooperButtery Chair 2019-2020

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The Bar Review

The 2019/20 academic year was short but sweet for Trevs Bar, but a great deal was packed into the time we were open. Michaelmas Term saw the introduction of an array of new things for Trevs students to enjoy. A new supply contract meant a change to the draught selection, with Carling replacing Carlsberg as the standard lager for all college bars, and Kronenbourg returning after a year-long hiatus. In response to several student requests, we also expanded our spirits range to include new products such as Parma Violet gin and Bumbu rum, which sold out on its first night and has been given a permanent place on the back bar. Prior to opening, the Coffee Bar was also improved; we began selling a new range of cakes and smoothies to accompany its usual offering of hot drinks and softies.

One of the most exciting changes to happen this year was the introduction of our branded reusuable cups. They significantly cut down the Bar’s plastic waste by removing the need to resort to single-use plastics when all of our glasses “go missing”. They have proved extremely popular with the students, and have been a great way for the Bar to contribute to College’s wider environmental efforts.

January brought a brand-new event during Re-Freshers’ Week - Winterfest - a celebration of music, Gunther the Bratwurst man and seasonal drinks. The pop-up bar was placed in the dining hall, selling a wide range of specialist Bavarian and craft beers, as well as an enhanced selection of non-alcoholic options. The

event was so popular that the bar sold out of the draught ale within the first few hours – hopefully an indication that it will become a permanent feature in the Trevs social calendar, and a note to future Bar Sabbs to prepare accordingly!

This year also saw an exciting new addition to our family of college drinks. Developed by two of our junior staff, the Drowning Horse is not just a drink, it’s an experience. I’m sure it will be a strong favourite on our menu for years to come, and makes Trevs Bar continue to stand out from the other college bars.

Unfortunately, we had an abrupt end to a great year for the bar, having to miss out on our busiest term. However, it wasn’t all bad news. Before our closure, we managed to achieve important

As with all bars across the country, Trevs Bar has experienced a very unusual year. We’ve been shut for longer than we have legally been allowed to be open. However, the bar still enjoyed a relatively successful Michaelmas term. All service became table service, which was greatly helped by the brand new wooden tables and chairs that arrived over the summer to replace the well-loved but tired existing furniture. Although there were a few hiccups along the way, the staff adapted extremely quickly to the necessary operational changes and we were able to provide the Freshers with a great taste of what Trevs Bar is like. We hosted a range of different events during Freshers’ Week to showcase the variety of drinks on offer at the bar, including an OktoberFest with especially imported European beers and a black-tie Jazz and Cocktail/Mocktail Night Becoming entirely table service also led to the first creation of a printed Trevs Bar menu, which Nicole Barrett, our Art Princess, did a fantastic job at designing.

The walls in the bar have also been given a facelift. Previously collecting dust in the archives, Trevs Day and Freshers’ Week t-shirts from across the years have been framed and are now proudly on display. We’ve also displayed the end of

year society photos, which will be updated each year. Our final improvement was the installation of new electric shutters, a relief to all bar staff who have fought with the infamous middle shutter after a long night!

With not being open for long enough, there were very few changes to our product range. We continued making a big effort to push the weekly specials and continued the tradition of special pink drinks to support Breast Cancer Awareness Week, as well as a Trick or Treat shooter special for our Halloween evening. Unfortunately, our supplier no longer stocks a vital ingredient for the Trevolution, a slightly illusive member of the college drinks, meaning that for now we’ve had to take it off the menu - but watch this space.

Both staff and students can’t wait for the bar to re-open, but when it does re-open, the bar will be as popular as ever. If this isn’t during my last term as Bar Sabb, then I’m certain my newly appointed successor, Georgia Missen, will do an excellent job taking the bar under her wing. Danielle Hitchenor

Sabbatical Bar Manager 2020-21

2019-2020handover preparations, appointing a new team of Senior Servers and the next Bar Sabb ready for when the bar re-opens.

Sarah TaylorSabbatical Bar Manager 2019-20

2020-2021

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Music Review

Trevs Music has been going from strength to strength in recent years. When I took over in Easter term 2019, Trevs Music events were getting great attendance, and I was determined to keep this up. As the first year for Summer Ball to be held out of college, we made a point of trying to make it the best ever in terms of the music. We hired 4 of Durham’s largest bands to perform on a main stage, as well as a variety of acoustic artists in a more subdued acoustic space, and the event was a great success!

Throughout the year, I aimed to make music the most exciting bit of any event, frequently hiring a variety of the most popular student bands and making sure that they were given the limelight in as many ways as possible. One especially fantastic event was the WinterFest that happened in January 2020 as the pinnacle of Refreshers’ Week. The first event of its kind, we transformed the dining room for the evening. We moved the tables to the edges for sitting and chatting, and cleared the front section to create a massive

dance floor in front of the stage, which had 4 different bands performing fantastic sets.

The largest event in the Trevs Music calendar by far was Live on the Hill - we completely sold out of tickets in a record time of about 40 minutes! The theme of ‘Legends’ led to some fantastic arrangements of truly legendary tunes, and the Musical Directors (Aidan Hughes and Tommy Wise) put together talented singers and a jazz orchestra. It really was a night to remember, finished off with a standing ovation like never seen before (I don’t think the tables will ever recover!) and raising over £1,500 for our chosen charity, Music in Hospitals and Care. This fantastic charity helps provide music to a huge variety of hospitals, palliative care and other treatment facilities, bringing joy through music to those who otherwise cannot access it. In hindsight, I am so glad that we chose this charity: music has continued to be a great source of joy for everybody in the current circumstances.

Trevs Music Societies have also been spreading this joy even more so than usual! Our Orchestral Society and Chamber Choir performed a phenomenal concert in St Margaret’s Church, Crossgate, even collaborating on some pieces, such as Zadok the Priest. The Musical Society also had a huge success with their productions of Working and The Addams Family - the latter getting a record amount of nominations for the D’Oscars. Finally the college jazz band, The Manglers, hosted their first ever charity gig in Trevs Bar. The event was a great success and they raised over £100 for Jessie’s Fund, a charity helping children with complex needs, through music.

As lockdown hit, societies still kept running as much as possible online. We even had a fantastic new choir being formed - Trevle Clefs - who are an un-auditioned society and sing lots of popular music.

Eve BattersbyMusic Representative 2019-20

With the continuation of the lockdown, I tried to keep some sort of celebration for Trevs Music running and showcase the music talent we have within the Trevs community. I put together our first ever virtual Unplugged for Trevs Day (featuring a lovely tribute from the Roasted Mellows dedicated to Eve, our previous Music Rep), as well as another during the 2nd lockdown to lift spirits.

We also had a virtual showcase produced by the Musical Society in replace of their usual summer show. You’ll Never Walk Alone saw members past and present come together to perform hit musical favourites from their homes, such as Take Me or Leave Me from RENT, as well as an excellent Coronavirus parody, Lockdown Tango from Chicago. Although the recent lockdown has brought some obstacles to the music scene, I am sure that Trevs Music will continue to thrive, thanks to the wonderful work of all the Presidents, Execs and performers that Trevs is blessed with.

Damon CleaverMusic Representative 2020-21

2019-2020

2020-2021

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TCMS Presents The Addams

Family

“Hilarious physical comedy and nuanced comic timing” ~ PALATINATE

“The audience were fully absorbed into the life (or rather, death) of the Addams” ~ THE BUBBLE

“TCMS had truly put trememdous effort into bringing this piece of musical to life” - DST

Sport Review

Trevs sport has seen great success this year. Despite first term being very uneventful due to the weather - many fixtures were cancelled due to flooded pitches - Epiphany term made up for it.

A key highlight of the college sporting season was the Floodlit finale, which saw Trevs Women’s Football team win 3-2 against Josephine Butler. Trevs’ team, led by Imogen Eddison, showed great skill and endurance in an impressive team performance against a tough opponent, and thoroughly entertained the large crowd of Trevs students who were cheering and chanting in support. After an incredible season, we can’t wait to see TCWFC continue to succeed!

This years Sports Dinner celebrated Trevs’ success and acknowledged some of our key players and leaders. Our outstanding Freshers, Tiggy Teare and Jamie West, have both shown outstanding commitment and dedication to their respective sports. Our outstanding Non-Freshers were

Jessamy Edwards, who is involved in numerous college sports, and Ryan Scorer, who has been a key figure in the Men’s Football Club ever since arriving in Durham. Trevs’ Club of the Year, Badminton, had a very successful season, especially their Women’s team who remained unbeaten and secured promotion to the premiership. Trevs’ Team of the Year had to be awarded to TCWFC for their well deserved Floodlit win. The Contribution to Sport award went to Dom Gommo, who continues to encourage college sport participation, progression and success by playing, captaining and coaching various teams and shows great appreciation of Trevs’ sport. Last but not least, this year’s Wooden Spoon Award went to Rory Walsh, who captains the Darts A team that has had a hard time beating the B team…

It has been incredibly rewarding to be Trevs’ Sports Rep this year and I’m very grateful to have had this opportunity.

Phoebe TebbSports Representative 2019-20

2019-2020

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Although COVID-19 may have stopped college sport from happening this year, it certainly hasn’t stopped Trevs from finding ways to still incorporate teamwork and competition within our sports clubs.

During lockdown, the Men’s and Women’s Darts took part in the Race2Porec, which saw them compete against 36 other UK University Sports Teams to run/walk 970 miles in 10 days. They finished 20th overall and raised a grand total of £872 for Leonard Cheshire, a fantastic charity providing social care and enables individuals to live, learn and work as independently as they choose to.

Team Durham organised an intercollegiate running/walking and cycling Strava competition, encouraging all members to get involved from home and keeping students active during lockdown. Over the 4 weeks, Trevs finished 4th out of all the colleges, a great achievement! The Palatinate and College Sports Awards also took place virtually, which saw the Trevs Women’s Football Club win College Team of the Year - it was great to see their hard work recognised at a wider university level.

Overall, Trevs sport has continued to remain positive and in high spirits, despite facing the disappointment of training and fixtures cancelled throughout the year. There is no doubt that Team Trevs will come back next year with more competitive spirit and success than ever!

Gwyneth JonesSports Representative 2020-21

2020-2021In November 2019 we were delighted to welcome Suzanne Williams, Val Mouncey and Sara Cox of the Teesdale Art Network to exhibit their work in the bar for our Michaelmas exhibition, Elemental Layers. Although we’ve not been able to hold any more exhibitions since, we look forward to hopefully holding another one later this year!

We held our last annual Julian Trevelyan Art Competition in February 2020 with many wonderful entries spanning

Art Review

painting, collage, photography and textiles. The winner was the brilliant An Aesthete in the Making (left) by Jasmine Cash with Eva Moss’ A Woman’s Prerogative (top right) coming in second and Amie Kirby’s Reality? (below right) placing third. We’ve planned this year’s competition a little later than usual for June and are eagerly awaiting to see what brilliant art Trevs members have up their sleeve this year!

Nephele PennyArt Representative 2020-2021

In Michaelmas term, Trevs Running Club took part in a charity challenge, running a collective 775km for the 775 million people who are illiterate globally. This was in aid of The Literate Earth Project, a new non-profit in the UK, which uses funds to support the education of children, particularly in Uganda. Our fundraiser involved tracking our runs on a joint Strava group, with many being sponsored by family and friends for each kilometre they ran. For those isolating, individuals were challenged to run around the back lawn in their daily exercise allowance! We totalled £140, all of which has contributed to buying books and setting up libraries in Uganda.

Katie TooleyRunning Club President 2020-21

24 25

The annual Fashion Show raised over £3000 for the “If You Share, Care” Foundation, a great local charity that focuses on suicide prevention. By combining music genres with fashion, it was a fantastic evening for all hand raised money for a fantastic cause,. Some of the key sponsors this year included Dominoes, Greggs and Krispy Kreme.

CHARITY FASHIONSHOW 2020

The annual Charity Fashion show raised over £3000 for the If You Care, Share Foundation, a great local charity, which focuses on suicide prevention. By combining music genres with fashion, it was a fantastic evening for all, and raised money for a fantastic cause. Some of the key sponsors this year included Dominoes, Greggs and Krispy Kreme.

Charities Review

This year, the Charity Committee has continued to raise awareness and involve the college community in supporting both local and national charities. Our combined efforts and generous contributions from Trevs students have made a fantastic difference in the community, elevating awareness for important causes and raising a total of £4,000, shared amongst 9 different charity organisations - well done Trevs!

In October, we hosted a themed formal and bar night in aid of Breast Cancer Now including an auction with items such as Gloria Latham’s boob cake on offer. For our Movember campaign, the committee worked alongside the Trevs Rugby and Football clubs, to create a light-hearted but extremely important video, raising awareness of just some of the issues surrounding stigmatisation albeit common issues - thank you to Dom Gommo for putting it together.

During the Christmas season, we worked with a local foodbank to secure supplies and sustain the foodbank throughout the busy period. A team of volunteers

2019-2020

set up a station for students to drop off food and helped to raise more awareness of the issues happening right on our doorstep. Big thanks to Amrit Grantham for carrying the team!

The latter half of the year continued to be a success, as we organised the annual Charity Ball with the Social Committee - our biggest event in the calendar. This year we raised money for the local St Cuthbert’s Hospice. Two representatives from the hospice were invited to speak at the event about their amazing work providing care for the elderly. It was a wonderful and unforgettable evening of live music and dance performances, raising money for an important cause.

Finally, the annual Charity Dinner this year happened to fall just a few days before Valentine’s Day, so we hosted a Valentine’s themed evening. We had a classic formal dinner followed by a bar night. We raised money for the charity Rape Crisis Tyneside through selling roses and delivering love letters, as well as allowing students to move those on the seating plan around for a suggested donation.

Katie SkinnerCharity Officer 2019-20

26 27

This year the Charity Committee rose to the difficult challenge of raising money and awareness for various charities through only online events. At Trevs Day, we ran a ‘Superlatives’ competition where people voted for their friends to receive awards (e.g. Most likely to be found in Trevs Bar) to raise money for the Runnymede Trust. We also encouraged students to make donations to the Durham foodbank (or another foodbank local to them at home) as a replacement to the traditional Trevs Day Breakfast.

For Breast Cancer Awareness month, we hosted an online quiz and in collaboration with the Bar we sold pink themed cocktails and shooters to raise money and awareness. We ran another successful quiz for Movember, with a special ‘Guess the celebrity Mo’ round, and also hosted a ‘Grow your Mo’ competition - congrats to our President Alistair for winning! We supported Trevs Rugby club by directing all donations to their page to help them reach their target and raise money altogether as a College. Durham foodbank collections continued as well, with the support of the Rugby club, who offered a collection service for livers-out not allowed into College during lockdown.

Thank you to the committee for your creative ideas and assistance, and to the Trevs community for your continued contributions in supporting vital charities throughout these difficult times.

Anna WoolhouseCharity Officer 2020-21

2020-2021

Outreach Review

COVID-19 has presented significant challenges for conducting our usual Trevs outreach projects this year. However, during December 2020, Trevs students came together to spread the festive cheer in the local community, by writing and making Christmas cards for the residents at St Margaret’s Care Home on Crossgate. This was a lovely way to keep intergenerational connections going through the pandemic, and to help fight loneliness amongst patients. Feedback from the care home expressed that the residents really appreciated the gifts and they were delighted to know people were still thinking of them through this tough time, when family and friend visits were greatly restricted, and they enjoyed reading the personalised messages from the students.

Jessamy EdwardsOutreach Officer 2020-21

In October 2020, one of the livers-in households – Household 14 – collectively ran a marathon along their landing whilst quarantining, to raise money for Help Musicians UK. This is an important cause for the household, as they were assigned to their household based on a mutual love for music, and it is music which has kept them going. This charity supports professional musicians from all genres, particularly in times of hardship. Support is needed now more than ever for this vital industry, as COVID-19 has brought devastating impacts on The Arts, with many facing unprecedented financial difficulty. Their story gained widespread attention, even making the BBC News headlines. In total they raised an amazing £3,234 - thank you to the generosity of Trevs members past and present for your support.

Household 14

We also believe in the power of local impact; our profits are donated to three local charities in County Durham, with the customer selecting which charity they would like to donate to at the till. This year, we have chosen to support charities that address the specific challenges of food poverty, homelessness, and sexual assault prevalent within the North East, as the need in these sectors has been further exacerbated by COVID-19. The charities are Fare Share North East, Durham Action on Single Housing (DASH) and Rape and Sexual Abuse Counselling Centre (RSACC).

The hard work of our volunteers is already making an important social and environmental impact, with the shop expecting to raise over £1,000 for the local charities and save 500kg in plastic packaging within its first year. In spite of the pandemic, we’ve started to provide a positive and lasting change within the local community, as part of a growing network of other similar initiatives across the UK; 3 other successful branches launched this year. Here at Scoop Durham we are always keen to engage alumni in our efforts and appreciate your ongoing support.

Lois Minnis and Elodie Lunt, on behalf of Scoop Durham

A new student-run, non-profit, zero waste food shop – Scoop Durham – recently launched in October 2020 along the river walk. Although it’s a Durham University-wide initiative, currently two of us from Trevs sit on the Executive Committee, and a couple others volunteer on the shop floor (Jessamy Edwards and Cadan Hoare). At Scoop Durham, we believe that living sustainably shouldn’t mean compromising your budget and therefore we provide the local community with an opportunity to buy plastic-free dried food and household goods at an affordable price.

28 29

We run regular careers events, and look forward to welcoming alumni again when the restrictions are lifted. If you would be interested in giving a careers talk, please get in touch trevelyan.development@durham.ac.uk

In June 2020, Trevs held its very first virtual careers event, designed to provide careers and employability support to current students, especially with many graduate schemes and internships being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a particularly special event because it was run with the invaluable contribution of a network of Trevs alumni, spanning hundreds of different professions, career paths and even countries.

In organising the event, I discovered that the Trevs spirit was alive and well in the alumni community. I was overwhelmed by the number and range of responses I received for my request for contributions – from very recent graduates to one of Trevs’ first students in the 1966 cohort. Each contributor created a short video explaining their current role, the route they took into their profession, and specific advice for students interested in a similar area. The videos were then collated into a talk series for the students to watch. Some highlights included content from a New York-based FinTech specialist and a Team GB sports broadcaster.

The central Careers and Employability Centre were also very helpful, providing access to 15 different skills workshops focusing on application and interview skills, as well as ways to improve employability during the pandemic.

On the day of the event I hosted a live question and answer session with four Trevs alumni as panelists. Each of the alumni have expertise in areas that had been requested by the students, as introduced below. It was a great opportunity for attendees to have their

Careers Events

specific questions answered, and gain general careers advice on common themes that emerged during the discussion, such as dealing with rejection and changing careers.

All of the materials from the event, including a recording of the live session, are still available for current Trevs students to access through the College website.

Sarah TaylorSabbatical Bar Manager 2019-20

Matthew ChampkinAfter graduating, Matthew moved to London to become an auditor for a top 10 accountancy firm. Six years into the job, he moved into recruitment for top accountancy and law firms. He was able to offer advice on interview techniques and CV building in general, as well as getting into law and accountancy.

Trevs 1994-97; Classics

Jo CroftPost-graduation, Jo took a gap year to travel. The following year she enrolled in the graduate programme at Unilever in the HR department and has worked there ever since. She was able to offer advice around grad scheme applications, interview techniques and experience working for a big global company.

Trevs 2002-06; Modern Languages

Paul GratrickAfter various sales and marketing roles based in the Manchester area, Paul worked in the careers service at Manchester University and now at the University of Liverpool. He was able to offer advice on CV building, video interview techniques and attending assesment centres.

Trevs 2004-07; Philosophy

Barry GrimesAfter working in communications, public engagement and event organisation, Barry now works for a charity based in Oxford, which focuses on effective altruism. He was able to offer advice on how graduates can make an impact with their careers and the decision-making process behind this.

Trevs 2005-09; Combined Social Sciences

Meet The Panel

We have been lucky to work with Trevs alumna, Claire Wilkinson, to provide ongoing careers support to our current students. Claire studied French and German at Durham, and went on to have a fascinating career in law and asset management – most recently working as Legal Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at asset management firm Payden & Rygel. In January 2020 she came up to Durham to talk to Trevelyan undergraduates about non-linear careers. This pre-formal talk was popular with students from a wide range of

subjects, and was a fascinating insight into an extremely interesting career path.

Later on in the year Trevs teamed up with Claire again, this time in conjunction with Edinburgh University, to host Payden & Rygel’s “Insight into Asset Management” virtual speaker series. The week-long series featured an introduction to asset management, followed by more specialised sessions on credit research, portfolio management and strategy, client relationship management, and legal and compliance. Each session was hosted by a company specialist, giving students an excellent chance to learn all about asset management from industry professionals. These kind of opportunities are truly invaluable for Trevs students, giving them great insight into potential careers and allowing them to make valuable contacts; we are very grateful for your support.

Careers in Asset Management

30 31

The staff are an essential part of the Trevelyan community and they work extremely hard to improve the student experience, whether they provide wellbeing support, serve food, clean the building, fix broken things, provide a great library, deal with the mountain of post, offer financial support or simply smile at passing students, the list goes on. Some of our longest serving staff members share their fond memories from their time here.

Housekeeper “bedder”

Worked for 11 years

In addition to my general cleaning duties and being a friendly face around college, I’m also known for being a fancy dress modeller.

My favourite thing about Trevs is the friendliness of the students, as they’re always happy to talk and have a laugh. Often as the students leave, they bring cards or gifts, some of which are handmade. I’ve still kept a few given to me in my first year here.

Linda Anderson

College StaffMy role involves providing food for students and guests alike. We ensure that they all receive courteous and friendly service, as well as keeping the servery clean and safe for use.

The best thing about Trevs is the students, as they are always friendly and polite. I also look forward to going to work because I enjoy working as part of the catering team. A nice memory I have from my time here is of Brian, a kitchen porter. He used to sing all the time whilst he was at work, and we all especially enjoyed when he took requests from the staff.

Food Service Assistant

Worked for 20 years

Lorraine Elloway

As part of my role I do general reception duties and maintenance. I’m also a fire warden, general waste and recycling operative, cleaner, problem solver, chief cook and bottle washer and a friendly face always willing to lend an ear.

The best thing about Trevs is the community spirit and the close knit of both the students and staff. It’s good fun to work here and every day is different. I have many great memories from Trevs, but not all are printable. When the JCR President lived in D flat, the Exec filled the flat lobby from top to bottom with scrunched up newspaper, and upon opening the door the President was met with the wall of paper and had to dig his way in.

Porter

Worked for 25 years

David “Davey” Gillham

Receptionist

Worked for 30 yearsMy role involves taking bookings for functions and rooms, dealing with post for the staff and students, and I work alongside the porters.

My favourite thing about Trevs is the friendliness of my work colleagues and the students. Some of my favourite memories are from my time working in the kitchens. At the time the College used to trade and we would go on SAGA holidays, and hold various events over the summer months.

Kath Cullen

Librarian

Worked for 18 yearsMy role is to run the college library for the benefit of all Trevelyanites, but the things I really love about working here are all the other things I do; mentoring, DJing and chairing the academic committee.

My favourite thing about Trevs is...everything. and everybody. My favourite moment was being awarded Full Colours in 2009; I can’t tell you how proud I am to be a JCR member for life. I also love every single rendition of Country Roads at the end of bar nights.

Tim Fowler

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Eve Moore

As a first-year undergraduate

studying mathematics, Eve Moore

is the first recipient of the Ian

Cooper Bursary, a new Trevelyan

Bursary introduced in 2020.

The bursary aims to support a

student throughout their time at

univeristy with a total of £15,000,

and can be used to fund things

such as their tuition, college library

membership, academic resources,

society involvements and wider

student experience opportunities.

Exploring this creative language fascinates me; the rigorous proof of an abstract concept can be used to logically describe and explain the physical world around us. It is this beautiful combination of logic and creativity that excites me and I am really looking forward to exploring new mathematical ideas during my time at Durham University.

Receiving the Ian Cooper Bursary will make a significant difference to my studies; it will enable me to focus more time on my education as I will be less reliant upon a part time job or family to fund my degree. I will be able to pursue my passion for learning mathematics without having to worry as much about the financial costs associated with studying at a higher education institution.

During my time at Durham, I personally aspire to discover as much as possible about the subject I love, by focussing on the understanding and construction of mathematical proof. The way in which mathematical proof can draw upon both well established theorems and newer concepts, linking areas of maths which may seem very different, fascinates me.

I also aim to get involved in the wider student experience during my time at university and have already signed up to various societies such as Trevs Ultimate Frisbee, Trevelyan College Running Club, Instep Dance Society, AstroSoc and MathSoc. I have also become a Durham Student Ambassador and hope to get involved in various outreach and recruitment events inspiring more females to study STEM subjects.

I am very grateful to receive the bursary. It has already given me a sense of confidence in attending university this year and I’m sure it will continue to make a significant difference to my studies throughout my time at Durham.

Ian Cooper Bursary

University is about so much more than just your degree. I’m sure you will all have many fond memories of your time at Trevs, and that most of these will be linked to the common rooms, clubs, and societies that made up your college experience. We at Trevelyan are committed to making the college experience accessible to every single one of our students. We recognise that there are financial barriers to participation in many activities, and we are determined to do everything we can to dismantle these barriers. That is why we have established the Trevelyan Bursary.

The Trevelyan Bursary covers the college costs of undergraduate students from lower-income households, paying for things like common room levies and academic gowns. We believe that the Trevelyan Bursary is a significant step on the way to making our College truly accessible to all of our students. The bursary launched this academic year (2020/21), and has been generously funded for the next three years by one of our Trevs alumna. We are extremely grateful for this donation and for the opportunities it has given to its first recipients – many of whom have written in to tell us and the donor all about the exciting activities they have been involved in in their first year at Trevs.

Looking forwards to the future, we hope to expand the Trevelyan Bursary further still - to include more opportunities, and to help more students in need of our support. If you are interested in donating to the Trevelyan Bursary, or to any other bursary please get in touch with ustrevelyan.development@durham.ac.uk

TREVELYAN BURSARIES

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TREVELYAN TRAVELBURSARIES

Every year, the Trevelyan Travel Bursaries allow our students to travel the globe doing charitable, academic, and voluntary work. They are very grateful for this opportunity, as many of their experiences and vital contributions to the communities they visit, wouldn’t be possible without the generous donations from our alumni.

If you would like to contribute to one of the travel bursaries we have at Trevelyan College, or set up one that tailors to your own interests, please get in touchtrevelyan.development@durham.ac.uk

DISASTER RELIEF AFTER HURRICANE FLORENCEEmma Hart

Emma Hart used her SCR Travel

Bursary to volunteer with All

Hands and Hearts in North

Carolina, helping to rebuild homes

that were devastated by Hurricane

Florence.

SCR Travel Bursary

It’s difficult to know where to begin in describing the incredible experience I had in North Carolina. My journey started in Gatwick airport at 4am, tired from the coach, in the middle of July. That seems like a lifetime ago now. I was incredibly nervous about arriving to the All Hands and Hearts (AHAH) programme on my own, despite working with the same charity before on other projects. I knew the nature of the work would be different and I wasn’t sure how I’d find my place amongst the other volunteers. Thankfully, I had no reason to be worried. From the moment I hesitantly pushed open the back door of the church centre (which would be my home for the next 5 weeks), to the moment I hugged the last friend goodbye at the airport, I was made to feel so welcome and loved. The atmosphere around both base and the work sites on the project were something I’ve never experienced anywhere before and will be lucky to find again. Everyone there from short-staying volunteers, to the staff who worked tirelessly for months on end, were dedicated to transforming the lives of the homeowners affected by Hurricane Florence.

I had three weeks of prior experience in mudding and painting – which isn’t much, but more than other volunteers. My first days were spent working on Mr Jones’ house, a quiet but kind man whose house was a skeleton inside. My team carried out a muck and gut, then sanitised the wooden framing to kill mould from the flooding. The house was beautiful from the outside. It was brick, uncommon in an area of wooden ranches and trailers, with a small

The first of many reminders that hurricanes don’t discriminate against who they hit

36 37

porch at the front. This was the first of many reminders that hurricanes don’t discriminate against who they hit. Despite having a home you and I would describe as strong and appropriate for a storm-prone area, the floodwater had risen several feet into the rooms, allowing mould to spread.

My journal describes one of those days:“a really tough day on site… we moved a load of belongings from one room to the side rooms already sanitised, then got to work scrubbing all the beams seven times with the dry bristle brushes and marking them off with red lines. That took all morning. It was surprisingly exhausting, especially doing the ceiling beams from a ladder. The heat was there to stay, unfortunately. I was so tired and gross. Toni’s view is that when you’re breathing your own puddle of sweat through the respirator, it’s time to cool off and drink. It got to that point very quickly”.

The response-phase work wasn’t my cup of tea. I was quietly relieved to work on repainting the local hotel for my next few days. AHAH primarily send teams to rebuild homes, but each programme also has a community project. The House Hotel is not only a gorgeous, colonial-style wooden building but also a cornerstone of the community and the home of the owner and his wife. The Scottish owner, Gus,

worked alongside us when he could. He was exceptionally friendly and grateful for the help. I liked to think he particularly warmed to me, being English and taking up his offer of a cuppa, but in reality he was one of many welcoming locals who opened his heart to the organisation. I was lucky enough to hear his account of the hurricane. Him and his wife, and I gather most of the community, weren’t well drilled in hurricane procedure. If he hadn’t been home on the day of landfall to work a pump in his basement, he would’ve lost the whole place to mould. The exterior paint was peeling from sun and rain damage, not the storm. They didn’t have much gas, thinking they could siphon some from their car, but discovered their car didn’t have the ability to, and were getting dangerously low. Luckily, the police and emergency response showed up in the town and wanted to put a communication aerial on their roof. That system needed gas, so Gus was given more by proxy. He was better prepared for next time when I met him: a huge petroleum tank, plastic surround on the house and reinforced decking in the windward corner.

I spent the next four weeks almost exclusively working on the same site: Ms Greene’s house. It was such a privilege to see the progress made in that time, and to know that my work contributed to getting the homeowner back to where she belonged. The Site Supervisor became my best friend on the project. She is only my age but has so much knowledge of construction and was an incredible teacher. Her passion and work ethic inspires me to work with AHAH in the future.

comfortable so she could move back in, but we didn’t finish it with painting. AHAH refers its homeowners to other organisations for help with the finishing. Whilst I would’ve loved to have stayed longer and been a part of the handover, I also recognise the importance of reaching more people and getting them to the stage of having a safe home to return to. Many of those affected by disasters move in with friends and family whilst they arrange a more permanent place to stay. There is such a mental toll on all those around the homeowners, so bringing hope to the community is vital. The hurricane hit in September 2018 and there are still hundreds of displaced people, forgotten as the media and charities move on.

My first days were spent learning to put up drywall. This is what I became best at, and there was plenty of opportunity to practice in the house. As I said in my journal: “I’d never done any of this, and it was a steep learning curve”. It wasn’t a complete shell like Mr Jones’ house, but several of the rooms had exposed ceilings or exposed walls, or both. Our work on Ms Greene’s house was a critical repair; her house was made safe and

The work was often physical and always exhausting, but we always found ways to make it fun. There was such comradery and closeness between us all. We taught each other on the work sites, and the learning didn’t stop there. I’d never been to a roller disco before, made bagels, eaten American biscuits and gravy, been to a slumber party with an 11pm curfew, driven in a big truck, camped in profoundly unpleasant mosquitos, toasted marshmallows over a fire with a skewer spinning in a drill, sung karaoke in a bait and tackle shop, or had so much affection for a place so quickly. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to volunteer with AHAH, and cannot thank you enough for the support in getting me there.

There is such a mental toll on all those around the homeowners, so bringing hope to the community is vital

38 39

I had the opportunity to undertake a medical placement, working at different hospitals and rehabilitation centres in Kathmandu, alongside medical professionals to treat patients, both children and adults. Not only was I shown how to best take care of people with special needs and allowed to observe a wide variety of surgery, I also received first-hand and practical experience, through diverse treatment sessions at healthcare facilities. I had two main roles in this placement. I worked in a local rehabilitation centre as a physiotherapist assistant and helped the physiotherapists to treat patient with cerebral palsy and Down syndrome. My second role was to go to the local hospital and visit different departments to see how the hospital is run. Here, I got to observe a variety of surgery including C-section, percutaneous nephrolithotomy, and tumour removal.

MEDICAL PLACEMENT IN KATHMANDUAlex Ngai

Supported by the SCR Travel

Bursary, Alex Ngai learned valuable

skills working in a hospital and

physiotherapy rehabilitation centre

in Kathmandu. He has since used

this experience to further pursue

a career in physiotherapy with the

hope to one day return to Nepal. This was my first time witnessing a birth to triplets... it was just amazing to see how the surgery is performed quickly and safely

One of my favourite memories from the placement, was observing C-section surgery. Since the patient was giving birth to triplets, the surgery was necessary because a natural birth in this case is not recommended due to the higher risk of labour complications and infant mortality. This was my first time witnessing a birth to triplets and a beginning of a life. It was just amazing to see how the surgery is performed quickly and safely, but it was also a bit overwhelming to see how the surgeons pushed the guts aside to be able to remove the baby.

I would like to go back to Nepal to provide a free physiotherapy service and try to make a contribution to the local community

I am really thankful for the opportunity to do this placement, as it offered me an insight into how medical services are run in real life and really made me think what I wanted to do in my future career. I also had the chance to meet people around the world and build stronger communication skills, which are key in the field of physiotherapy. This experience definitely enhanced my application for my master’s programme and I am now a student physiotherapist in the Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.

Whilst working as a physio assistant in a local rehab centre, I found there are lots of children who suffer from cerebral palsy during birth. I was told that the main reason for this, is that the local government doesn’t have enough funds for the medical service in Nepal.

Therefore, pregnant women tend to have a poor prenatal examination. The medical system also doesn’t provide people with a good quality of secondary healthcare. This is what has driven me to study a master’s degree in physiotherapy. I would like to go back to Nepal to provide a free physiotherapy service and try to make a contribution to the local community.

SCR Travel Bursary

40 41

RESEARCHING MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Anita Milne Scholarship

Although I had spent some time in a molecular biology lab before, most of the techniques I learned about during my stay in Prof. Melamed’s laboraty were new to me. I learned how to maintain a cell culture and several new protocols, including RNA extraction using columns, reverse transcription, quantitative RT-PCR, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), and ELISA. These laboratory skills gave me an essential toolset to conduct research in the area of epigenetics and molecular endocrinology in the future and potentially pursue a PhD in this area.

By writing an interdisciplinary thesis, I also hope to have demonstrated how anthropologists can work across disciplines to provide experimental evidence for findings in the field. In particular, medical anthropologists play a key role in the development of personalised medicine in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, through appreciating the way genetics, environment, and experiences shape organisms throughout their life span.

As a medical anthropologist, I specialise in evolutionary approaches to human health and development. I conducted my master’s research, at the Technion in Haifa, Israel, in Prof. Philippa Melamed’s lab, which focuses on molecular endocrinology. I investigated how and why do early life conditions affect the timing of sexual maturation in women, in particular in Bangladeshi migrants to the UK before aged 8, when adrenarcheal development and dehydroepiandosterone (DHEA) production occur. The two developmental milestones of adrenarche and puberty indicate the maturation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis respectively. For the second half of my thesis, I focused on the regulation of the gene Srd5a1 in GnRH-neurons. This gene has previously been suggested to play a role in delaying pubertal onset after immune-stress experienced during development, by altering neurosteroid production in the hypothalamus.

Alongside my own research, I was also able to attend many interesting talks at the Faculty of Biology and was invited to see what other colleagues were working on. In this way I learned more about a diverse range of topics, from animal use in research to optical

tweezers. Additionally, I gained an insight into Israeli life and society by traveling on the weekends to explore the country and experience its’ cultural richness, including a day trip on Shabbat to Mount Gilboa.

My research report has since been accepted for the Endocrinology session in the Fertility 2020 conference in Edinburgh, which brings together reproductive endocrinology and fertility experts from all over the UK. Finally, as a result of my successful visit to the Technion, I have been asked whether I want to return as a research assistant for a new pilot migrant study (contingent on funding). The novel study will be set up to see whether similar alterations in reproductive development can be observed in other populations that migrate from low- to high-resource settings, by looking at the timing of sexual maturation of Ethiopian migrants to Israel, the so-called “Falashas”. If this project goes ahead, I will be collecting data in Gondar, Ethiopia, where the Falashas are originally from, and in Israel, where most of the Falashas currently live.

I was also able to attend many interesting talks at the Faculty of Biology

Anthropologists can work across disciplines to provide experimental evidence

Sarai Keestra

Supported by the Anita Milne

Scholarship, specifically awarded

to postgraduate research students,

Sarai Keestra travelled to Haifa,

Israel. Here, she worked in a

molecular biology lab to research

the effects of early life conditions on

the timing of sexual maturation in

women.

42 43

The most complicated structure I studied presented itself between Church Bay and Carmel Head. Most of the 7 weeks I spent in Anglesey was used trying to interpret this incredibly complex area. The Carmel Head Thrust Zone is a belt of 10 intense, north dipping thrust faults. This occurs because of compressive forces, approximately 435 million years ago. This is best illustrated in the photo bottom left.

Sam Cooper

Supported by the Trevelyan Trust

Bursary, for his dissertation, Sam

Cooper explored the structural and

lithological characteristics that make

up part of Anglesey’s geology. He

attempted to reconstruct the events

and conditions under which the

geological structures seen today

were formed.

The first few days were spent getting settled in and getting to know the important outcrops, including a basic overview of each area and how best to access these regions. Anglesey is renowned for its beautiful coastline, and many of the areas were along the world famous ‘coastal path’, making the research much more enjoyable.

GEOLOGY OF ANGLESEY’S NORTH COAST

Trevelyan Trust Bursary

After this, I visited Cemaes Bay, a tourist hotspot on the Isle of Anglesey. Here there was a complicated picture of the contact between two rock units. Both the ‘Wylfa formation’ and the ‘Cemlyn Formation’ were formed under very high pressure and relatively low temperature metamorphism (100-200°C, 0.5-0.7 GPa). This causes alignment of grains within both rock types making them appear similar. The higher-pressure formation leads to a Schist, and the lower pressure creates a Phyllite.

Faulting that occurred at some point during the opening of the Iapetus Ocean in the Pre–Cambrian transition 550 million years ago, allowed extensional tectonics to occur. As a result the rock units have been juxtaposed, making their relationship hard to identify.

Many of the areas were along the world famous ‘coastal path’, making the research much more enjoyable

‘Thrust ramps’ were common along this part of the Anglesey coastline

Once I had got my bearings, the detailed description, observations and mapping of geology began, with the first stage of the research focussing on the north edge of the map. An interesting feature here was the cross cutting characteristics of the ‘Ogof Gynfor Conglomerate’ formation, deposited in a lagoonal environment during the Ordovician period (485 million years ago). This unconformable relationship occurs because of tilting of the rocks below before the unit was deposited.

An imbricated model of the thrusting, gives rise to a series of ‘thrust ramps’ with steep dip angles. These ‘thrust ramps’ were common along this part of the Anglesey coastline and are part of a large ‘wedge’ system, with the floor thrust (the fault at the base of the system) being responsible for this thrusting. The compressive forces are interpreted to be a result of the Iapetus ocean closing, causing plate collision and the brittle thrusting seen in the area.

44 45

primary observations of the museums’ displays, and then underpinning this with museological theory of how one critically assesses the effectiveness of a museum display. Within these museums, I studied displays in terms of their colour and lighting schemes, text panels and the narratives within them, and spatial relationships between objects. All of this research culminates in the importance of displaying the Near East and its importance in the history of the human world. Particularly interesting to me is how the Near East’s visual culture is understudied and, to an extent, undervalued when compared to Egypt.

BECOMING THE CRITICAL MUSEUM VISITORAmie Kirby

Amie Kirby used the Trevelyan Trust

Bursary to carry out her dissertation

research, which focuses on the

comparative histories, acquisitions

and display of Near Eastern

collections within UK museums.

For the final stage of my research trip, I travelled to Cambridge to explore the Fitzwilliam Museum. Admittedly, I was happy I had saved this museum for last as it was the one with the smallest collection, meaning my very tired brain wouldn’t have to do too much. The Fitz was definitely a contrast to the other two museums: it was dimly-lit with a grandiose interior and sweeping staircase that mimicked that of a stately home. I actually struggled to find the Near Eastern collection as it was tucked away down a corridor. I found this rather telling of the volume of Near Eastern finds the museum housed in comparison to, say, Egyptian finds, which had its own spacious gallery. To me it was puzzling how much effort had actually gone into presenting the collection, as the display seemed a little blasé and definitely easy to miss. Moreover, the collection of later Assyrian reliefs were placed in random niches along staircases, almost as though decorative if nothing else. Nevertheless, I documented some good observations about the gallery that are instrumental to understanding how one interprets displays of Near Eastern archaeological material. My trip was significant to my dissertation research; I found interesting insights from all three museums and look forward to (well, as much as you can) writing this up into a 13,000 word dissertation...

Trevelyan Trust Bursary

In July I undertook a three-day research trip to Oxford, London and Cambridge to support my dissertation research. My research relies upon primary evidence from the Ashmolean, British Museum and Fitzwilliam, comparing how Near Eastern material (namely that of Mesopotamian and Levantine regions) is displayed in these three major museums, which house the most well-rounded of these collections. I chose this topic as an Archaeology student greatly interested in museology and the study of museums, and what the contemporary museum is and should be in the modern day. I am also interested in the heritage of the Middle East, particularly in a time where this heritage is increasingly threatened due to contemporary political situations. I was particularly looking to explore the link between acquisition history and display from comparative

After a brief rest I boarded my train to London. I was excited for London; I was staying with a friend, I’d be able to be in the city again, and I was going straight into the belly of the beast… the British Museum. The last time I was in the museum was my first ever visit, so naturally I spent almost an entire day running frantically from the Elgin Marbles - named as such after the kind and generous man who…rescued them, shall we say, to safety - to the Balawat Gates and the Rosetta Stone. It was an odd thought that this time I would primarily be spending my day in the same three galleries (galleries 55-57).

I was also the most nervous about this portion of the trip, because the British Museum had the largest collection of material by far, so I would really have to narrow down which object cases I wanted to concentrate on. Even in reviewing my notes I don’t think I’ve 100% decided yet. The British Museum was truly astounding, and I found it all too easy to let the hours slip away whilst I documented the galleries. I noted how people were moving around the gallery and how object cases were spaced, how text panels were written and what narratives they communicated, and how colour and lighting had an impact on how one views the objects clearly.

The Near East’s visual culture is understudied and to an extent, undervalued

On the first day of my trip, I travelled to Oxford, fuelled by about three and a half cups of coffee. On the way there I thought about what I was expecting from the Ashmolean’s Near Eastern gallery, as a key part of my methodology is assessing my pre-visit assumptions of the displays. Looking out of the window at the lovely scenic views, I reminded myself of my research aims. After a spot of lunch and another quick review of my notes, I marched into the Ashmolean with my purpose clear. Slowly walking into the Near Eastern gallery, I took a second to take in everything around me: the dark blue walls, the large sprawling timeline on the front wall, and the exquisite objects highlighted under a spotlight in pristine glass cases. I got to work, snapping pictures and scribbling notes of key objects such as the Sumerian King List (bottom right) and before I knew it, I had spent three hours in the gallery. I reviewed my notes a final time and left, hoping to let my feet rest.

46 47

On my trip to India, I helped to create, produce and deliver 7 weekly projects based on mental health awareness and support, to a variety of different groups in Indian society. One of the projects was at a primary school in Mysore. Here the school children did not suffer from any known mental illnesses, therefore the sessions were more focused around mental health awareness, illness prevention and taboo avoidance. We encouraged the children to discuss emotional expression within a socially normative climate and to support each other without stigma or discrimination. The importance of running these sessions with children is perhaps highlighted by the fact that any attempted suicide in India is punishable by law, with imprisonment of up to a year, as well as fines. Since the suicide rate in India is above average compared to other countries, many citizens are pushing for changes in legislation and the end to taboo around mental health.

SUPPORTING MENTAL HEALTH IN INDIAGeorgia Crowther

Georgia Crowther used her SCR

Travel Bursary to travel to India,

volunteering on a wide variety

of different projects surrounding

important mental health issues

affecting Indian society.

SCR Travel Bursary

The mental health issues varied widely across each of the projects I helped with, and therefore required different focuses and services. For example, at a homeless men’s rehabilitation centre, the individuals often suffered from depression, schizophrenia, poverty and isolation. With over a thousand dialects of Kannada, India’s national language, the men at the centre often couldn’t communicate with the others, leading to trust issues and furthering many of their anxieties. However, by the end of our trust-building and teamwork focused projects, it was heart-warming to see the men almost excited in anticipation

It was heart-warming to see the men almost excited in anticipation for our sessions

for our sessions. In contrast, at their sister organisation for homeless/poor women, a couple were severely handicapped and bedridden. As a result, they had little to no interaction besides their two carers. We aimed to bring enjoyment through singing old Kanada folk songs, highlighting the powerful relationship between music and psychology, whilst others enjoyed hand massages and making origami.

Another project was at a government deaf and blind school for boys, where the children often become frightful, withdrawn and socially isolated. Here, we provided afterschool sessions that built trust between the individuals to give them a sense of community. We hoped to show the under-supported staff and supporting families how to aid them emotionally, build their self-esteem and to discourage isolation, through team games using bells in balls and creating group bunting.

I also had the opportunity to help at a psychiatric hospital. Here I supported families of patients in the waiting room as well as spending time on the wards and with psychiatrists treating patients. The culture in India is very different to the UK. For example, in the UK patients have private 1:1 consultations with a doctor, whereas in India, in addition to myself, the doctor and the patient, there were about 25 other people in the room, including other doctors seeing other patients, families of the patients, secretaries and unknown people wandering around in an office like lobby. Whilst rushing through a staggering 15 patients in 30 minutes, another difference I noticed was that 99% of the

The staff were incredibly caring and interactive

patients I saw were only prescribed medication alone. When asked, the doctor confided in me that therapy treatment is too expensive, and medication is always the first resort for mental illness.

The final project I ran was at a Cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and Autism centre for children and young adults. The stigma surrounding these developmental disorders in India results in sufferers almost being ‘hidden away’ and centres receiving little government support, however the

These children taught me more than I could have imagined

staff were incredibly caring and interactive. The service users loved music and interactive sessions focused around animals and learning. Due to their disabilities, the mental age of the users is less than their actual age, and as a result our sessions focused on learning and psychological growth. However, these children taught me more than I ever could have imagined, having never really been around severely quadriplegic cerebral palsy sufferers. Although it was challenging, I learnt so much on this placement and it was an invaluable experience, thank you!

48 49

Trevelyan Trust Bursary

Lucy Adams

Lucy Adams used the Trevelyan

Trust Bursary to travel to the Kosovo

International Summer Academy,

where she developed her knowledge

about Kosovo post-conflicts and

how to approach rebuilding peace.

I also really enjoyed the sessions focused on Transitional Justice processes in Kosovo, which provided me with insight on an international level. Bekin Blakaj, Executive Director of the Humanitarian Law Centre Kosovo and Prof. Dr. Remzije Istrefi, Coordinator of the first Transitional Justice Research Centre in Kosovo delivered lectures on Transitional Justice processes and how they’ve been used in peacebuilding in Kosovo. These were invaluable as a key part of my dissertation focuses on the role of gender in Transitional Justice, and the lectures allowed me to understand this on a wider scale and how it functions across the Balkans.

Transitional Justice and Peacebuilding processes between the two. Meeting others studying similar fields to me was invaluable as we were able to learn from each other’s experiences, sharing resources and insights to help one another and develop new interests.

Whilst studying at the academy, we received lectures from a wide variety of academics and experts in the fields of Transitional Justice Mechanisms, Nation Building, Etiquette and Protocol etc. Speakers included Ambassador Jan Braathu of Norway who is Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, H.E. Ms. Pia Stjernvall, Ambassador of Finland to Kosovo, and Mr Bernd Thran, Acting Head of Mission for EULEX.

A particular highlight of the programme were the lessons on Etiquette and Protocol. It was a privilege to be taught by Arbnora (Lola) Gojani Mazreku, UNDP Executive Associate and Master of Protocol and Soft Diplomacy and founder of ProProtocol. She taught us key skills within the world of diplomacy, such as flag protocol at the UN, terms of address and order of precedence. This was extremely interesting, providing me with new skills and invaluable knowledge on the UN and NATO.

BUILDING PEACE IN POST-CONFLICT KOSOVO implemented not only in global peace

negotiations, but also in everyday life when trying to resolve disputes. only in global peace negotiations, but also l in everyday life when trying to resolve disputes.

We went on a number of field trips whilst we were in Kosovo, as well as spending our evenings in Pristina learning more about the culture and heritage of the city. We visited Mitrovica, where the city continues to be split based on ethnicity. North Mitrovica is predominantly inhabited by Serbs, whereas South Mitrovica is mainly populated by Albanians, as well as Bosniaks, Turks and other ethnic minorities. Mitrovica is a contested part of Kosovo, and the Mitrovica Bridge continues to separate the two areas, monitored by KFOR forces. This was extremely interesting to see, showing the dormant conflict which still exists in Kosovo, and the need for international peacekeeping forces. When we crossed the bridge (only possible by foot), I was amazed at how quickly the tone changed in our surroundings. North Mitrovica functions mostly autonomously from the rest of Kosovo, with support from Serbia - the Serbian flags are flown on almost every building.

In August 2019 I attended Kosovo International Summer Academy (KSA) in partnership with Kosovo Centre for Diplomacy and Kolegji Universum. The academy was based in Pristina and was attended by 60 individuals from across the world, focusing on “Peacebuilding in post-conflict areas – Diplomacy, Leadership and Negotiations”, linking closely to my degree in MSc Defence, Development and Diplomacy with Durham Global Security Institute.

My interest in this academy stemmed from the research I have already done on Bosnia and my work with Remembering Srebrenica as an intern and the North East Regional Board Chair. I saw this as an incredible opportunity to develop my existing knowledge on the Balkan Conflicts, to learn more about the case of Kosovo and to be able to compare

We learned about the skills required to be successful in negotiation

We also had the opportunity to learn about negotiation on both a local and international level whilst studying at KSA, receiving lectures from Prof. Dr. Veton Latifi of the South East European University and Dr Valon Murtezaj from IÉSEG School of Management, France who is also the Former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Kosovo. Having taken modules on conflict mediation during my degree and reading into negotiation, it was extremely interesting to see how these strategies had been implemented in Kosovo and the results they had. These classes focused on the role that negotiation plays in conflicts and how this can be implemented at an international level to mediate between global powers, ensuring that peace is achieved. We learned about the skills required to be successful in negotiation, and how this varies depending on the type of conflict, and the actors we are working with to achieve peace. I found this highly valuable as it can be

So many women are unable to tell their stories due to trauma or fear of stigma

50 51

Other trips included Prizren, Radavc and the Memorial Complex at Prekaz. The Memorial Complex was the site of the Prekaz Massacre, where around 60 members of a family were killed by Special Anti-Terrorism Unit of Serbia in 1998. The family home still stands, and acts as a reminder of the attack.

Whilst exploring Pristina we visited the Heroinat Memorial. This memorial was constructed to honour the sacrifice of ethnic Albanian women throughout the war in Kosovo and is made up of medals to honour the contributions these women made to their country. It is thought that around 20,000 women were raped during the conflict. This links closely to the statement made by the UN Security Council in 2003, which highlights that war disproportionately impacts women. Whilst the war ended 20 years ago, the true number will never be known, as so many women are unable to tell their stories due to trauma or fear of stigma. This is something which is not exclusive to Kosovo; it impacts male and female survivors all over the world and is a continuing issue with the impossibility of bearing witness and the prosecution of wartime rape and sexual violence. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has made huge progress in this area, but many survivors still do not have justice or peace. I found

this visit particularly harrowing but the extremely inspiring, as a key element of my dissertation focuses on the use of rape as a weapon of war and looks closely at the stories of survivors. During our field trips to these war memorials and massacre sites, I was able to learn about the memorialisation of war, which has inspired me to pursue this topic further after my degree.

Children are often among those who are impacted the most by the war, and Kosovo was no exception, as we learned when visiting the ‘Once Upon a Time and Never Again’ exhibition, organised by the Humanitarian Law Centre Kosovo. Belongings have been donated by families, and the exhibition tells the stories of 1024 children who were killed in the Kosovo War, and the 109 children who are still missing. As with the

Heroinat Memorial this visit was truly harrowing, but shows the real impact of war on children and their families.

One of my favourite trips was spending a day in Prizren. We climbed to the top of the city to see the castle, and the views were incredible. It wasn’t impacted as much as other areas by the war, so lots of the original architecture remains but some cultural monuments were destroyed during the unrest in 2004.

Something that I found really inspiring whilst I was in Kosovo is how proud people are. Every single lecturer asked us to tell the truth about Kosovo, to tell people what we saw and to defy the stereotypes of Kosovo – a country of war. Kosovo is a beautiful place, bursting with culture and potential. As one of the world’s youngest countries there is progress to be made, but by studying at KSA we were able to contribute towards this progress and ensure that people seeit’s true beauty.

Our experience at the academy was rounded off with a trip to the Parliament of the Republic of Kosovo where we learned about Kosovo’s political processes and visited the Government building. In the evening we had our Graduation where we were presented with our certificates for completing the academy. This was a lovely way to end our time in Kosovo, celebrating new friendships and all that we had learned. Overall, I found the experience hugely rewarding, and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I am very grateful to have studied at the Academy, and I would highly recommend it.

Kosovo is a beautiful place, bursting with culture and potential

Ran Cao

Supported by the Trevelyan Trust

Bursary, Ran Cao attended the Local

Roots of Global Peace International

Conference in Armenia, to present

his masters research on the crime of

genocide.

PRESENTING RESEARCH ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Trevelyan Trust Bursary

52 53

discussions on the accessibility of solutions in legal practice. Thanks to their feedback, I have updated my essay, and the new version has a chance to be published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Global Development and Security Studies. This is a huge step for my student career.

The 2019 Local Roots of Global Peace: Junior Voices on Global Security Studies Annual International Conference was hosted by Eurasia Partnership Foundation (Armenia), Stonehill College (United States) and Eurasia International University (Armenia) in Yerevan, Armenia. The conference was held over two days, involving 16 panels and general discussions. The visit definitely made an impression on me, considering what I saw in a state that had just experienced the Velvet revolution, whom I made friends with from Near and Middle East countries, and what I felt when I flew over the Persian Gulf at the same time as American and Irani Airforce were fighting close by.

My research studies focus on redefining and identifying the protected groups of the crime of genocide, within international criminal law, human rights and genocide studies. Attending the conference provided me my first opportunity to present my research in a completely unfamiliar country, discuss my studies on genocide with people who suffered from genocide 100 years ago, receive high-quality peered reviews, and a chance for my work to be published in an academic journal.

My conference session was hosted by Prof. Esitashvili from Florida International University. He is a kind and skillful scholar who tolerated my speech running into overtime and allowed me extra time during discussions to explain my essay. Before my presentation, the panel had carefully read my article, which included Prof. Ohanyan (Richard B. Finnegan Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Stonehill College, USA). As a result, they were able to point out some critical weaknesses of my study, especially that the essay lacked discussions on the accessibility of solutions in legal practice. Thanks to to point out some critical weaknesses of my study, especially that the essay lacked

I received many interesting and helpful ideas from other young scholars and students

Besides the panel, I received many interesting and helpful ideas from other young scholars and students, especially those who talked about educating refugees and preventing climate change. These human-right-related discussions showed me how my peers around the world approach such problems from a different view.

Armenia witnessed a velvet revolution in April 2018. Therefore, the lessons of this revolution became a hot topic at the conference, raising debates between local politicians and foreign scholars. Some MPs and the first lady, who attended the conference, argued that the revolution is a success; while academics from America and Europe hold a totally different opinion. In my view, the revolution is a “happy revolution” with a peaceful but unhappy ending. The unpopular Prime minister went down, leaving the outdated and corrupt civil-servant system to the

people. Since then, the country has not changed as the people wanted; corruption continues and poverty is still spreading. According to this, it is not surprising that many Armenians told me frankly that “there is no real revolution here.” This makes me think about the need for the sustained focus on the Velvet Revolution, which means the world should not leave the post-revolutionary societies alone after cheering for their fight. When I returned to Durham, I wrote an article about my observation on post-revolutionary Armenia, which has been published on the Initium, a mainstream media in Hong Kong.

During the journey, I also met a large number of friends from America, England, Georgia, Armenia, Iran and Iraq. Parsa, an Irani journalist, who I have kept a close connection with since, is knowledgeable about the history of the Middle and Near East and has personal experiences in every country in this area. What I admire most is that he can dress like a local and explore the most dangerous regions in Iraq and Syria, where he suggests I should never visit. However, with him and my Iraqi friends, I at least saw some second-hand views of these war zones.

Another surprise to me is that I met some university students from southern Iraq, since normally we can only reach Iraqi people who come from the north as it is more peaceful and accessible than the south. It was an impressive experience talking with them. They told me that south Iraq is lovely with rivers and lakes, but also very dangerous due to the long-time war and terrorism. However, this situation also means that some business, like medical services, can earn lots of money there, and as such some of them decided to return home after graduation. Sadly, Parsa told me

Facing the bloody history can always make visitors think more about the nature of genocide

The world should not leave the post-revolutionary societies alone after cheering for their fight

that he could not contact them anymore since the uprising started in October 2019. When hearing this news, I tried to find the photo of all of us that I remembered a US professor had taken at the end of the conference, but it had disappeared. It is truly terrible that I can do nothing to help these people, and my hope of keeping the images of them is also in despair. I wish that they, and all the Iraqi people, can enjoy a safe, peaceful life, and achieve what they want through the revolution.

After the conference, I visited the genocide museum of Armenia. The museum, located underground, is designed to make visitors experience the age when Armenians were slaughtered by the Ottoman Empire. Facing the bloody history can always make visitors think more about the nature of genocide. I must say, I learnt a lot from this journey.

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EXPLORING SOCIAL POLICY PRACTICE IN CHINA

Trevelyan Trust Bursary

In mainland China, the state - NGO relationship is subject to the authoritarian political system and the lack of a robust civil society, which leads to a government-dominated relationship and even non-existence of autonomous NGOs. As for SWSOs, although the Chinese government has increasingly encouraged them to provide social services, it has limited their roles as parts of civil society to weaken their ability to mobilize the public and challenge the authority. This has framed the condition in which SWSOs and social workers engage in policy practice.

My research revealed a number of interesting findings. For example, the government will usually consult with social workers who have expertise and rich experience in certain fields of social service, are trustworthy, work in big and influential SWSOs and hold important positions in their organisations.

Many of the interviewees in the study also compare the government to the helmsman who controls directions, and SWSOs work as rowers. Some interviewees quoted the CCP’s principle in social governance, which requires that the CCP leads, the government takes charge, and the social organisations assist. In most cases, when engaging in policy practice, Chinese social workers work as advisors and assistants, whose

work is to provide information and suggestions (not criticism) within the policy framework set by the government.

In reactive policy practice, the government puts forward a policy idea and intentionally requests for policy advice from SWSOs; while in proactive policy practice, social workers propose a policy idea proactively and attempt to make the government develop a new policy or change an existing one. The participants showed more engagement in reactive policy practice than proactive policy practice and they think it is more effective in terms of governments’ decisions, as government officials have stronger motivation for policy change.

For my research, I interviewed 19 senior social workers in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, two of the most advanced cities in developing social services in China. All the interviewees had over 10 years of experience delivering social work services, and they held important positions within their organisations. The semi-structured interviews focused on their experience interacting with government officials in order to influence policies at various levels.

Policy practice is an essential aspect of social work practice, which focuses on the formulation, implementation and revision of policies in order to promote social justice. However, so far there are few empirical studies on how social workers in China engage in the policy-making process. Social work in China has experienced explosive development since 2006, when the Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) pointed out that China is in urgent need of “building a well-structured and high-quality workforce of social work professionals”, which marked the first time that social work was put into the central government’s core agenda.

When engaging in policy practice, Chinese social workers work as advisors and assistants

Tian Cai

Tian Cai used his Trevelyan Trust

Bursary to travel to China to conduct

his postgraduate research in

Sociology, investigating how Chinese

social work service organisations

engage in policy practice.Chinese social workers participate in various forms of policy practice, both reactive and proactive. These range from attending consultations organised by the government, being invited to draft policies and informal communication between government cadres and social workers, to piloting new social service projects, submitting service reports to governments and providing policy advice, and using media to introduce social service projects. Finally, I found that Chinese social workers use a variety of tactics and skills to influence government decisions. These include adopting the official style of language used in government documents to propose policy suggestions, complement existing government policies and propose suggestions that further develop these existing policies, using insider perspectives to consider the governments’ needs and concerns, and refraining from radical actions.

Social workers use a variety of tactics and skills to influence government decisions

China completely embraces state-NGO cooperation

The majority of social workers in China are employed by social work service organisations (SWSOs), which are specific types of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). SWSOs are mainly made up of certificated social workers, and their primary mission is to undertake professional social work practice, including poverty relief, child protection, women protection, elderly care, and youth development. Unlike the UK, the Chinese government does not choose to develop state social work, in

which social workers work as public servants. Instead, China completely embraces state-NGO cooperation and chooses to outsource social services to SWSOs.

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The placement started with orientation and training in the first week, where we were introduced to Balinese culture, and attended workshops about mental health work with local service users. We got to know the other volunteers and were given examples and ideas of possible sessions we could prepare throughout the remaining three weeks for service users with varying abilities and characteristics.

At the end of the first week, we were treated to a jungle adventure break in Tangkup Village, a village camp designed in traditional Balinese style where we lived in huts roofed with coconut leaves. There we trekked the surrounding jungle and enjoyed a 2-hour long white water rafting along Ayung River, the longest and widest river in Bali. The hours flew by as we paddled through rapids and tranquil waters, surrounded by towering tropical foliage, intricate carvings on moss-covered rocks, and waterfalls hidden around every corner. It was a way to appreciate the beauty of Balinese nature that was both exciting and relaxing.

PROMOTING POSITIVE MENTAL HEALTH IN BALIClarice Lee

Supported by Trevelyan’s SCR

Bursary, Clarice Lee travelled to Bali

to volunteer for a month with

SLV.Global – a mental health

organisation that aims to promote

positive psychology around the

world.

SCR Travel Bursary

For the hands-on work, each volunteer was assigned six weekly projects; Activity Support, English for Development, Children’s Development, Special Education Activity Support, and Community Outreach. Every week, I had the opportunity to teach English in two local schools and an orphanage, perform art therapy in a community home for individuals with schizophrenia, visit and interact with children at a centre for autism, and hold therapeutic sessions in the ward and rehabilitation facilities of the local psychiatric hospital, which is the only hospital of its kind in Bali.

thanks to the guidance and support from the project coordinators and helpers. At the end of sessions, it was truly heart-warming to see the users smile and say “suksma” (meaning thank you) and for the children to hold our hands against their foreheads to express gratitude and love. I especially liked the sessions we held in a local orphanage, as the teenagers were keen to learn and very sweet. They were happy to help one another to perform well in our activities, and their kindness, humour and energy made me feel like I was part of a big family.

Each session lasted 1 to 2 hours, starting and ending with a brief easy yoga session, in order to bring the mood of service users and volunteers onto the same calm level. We planned and prepared materials for every session ourselves based on information and themes of the session given to us by project leaders. It was no easy task, as we had to adapt activities according to service users’ needs, characteristics and abilities, which varied lots. Challenging as it was, the sessions turned out well

Their kindness, humour and energy made me feel like I was part of a big family

One of the best memories, was taking off at 2am to watch the gorgeous sunrise on Mount Batur

Although my individual stay in Bali was only brief, I am confident that over time, the combined efforts of the project’s many volunteers will result in more positive mental health in the service users.

During the weekends, we got to explore Bali. We visited the Tegalalang rice terrace, the monkey forest sanctuary, and went to countless local markets, temples and beaches. Every one of these places was unique and beautiful with its own local colours. One of the best memories, was taking off at 2am to watch the gorgeous

58 59

religious rituals sometimes takes a toll on the locals, especially on elderly women, but it was still quite common for them to deem their commitment insufficient. In serious cases, this could lead to mental health problems like anxiety. Before learning about this, I had never imagined that such a beautiful culture could cause distress in some individuals. Yet, culture-dependent mental health problems do exist, and the causes of mental disorders may vary largely around the world. Nevertheless, I found Balinese culture and religion very beautiful, and I am glad to have learnt about both the positive and negative sides.

The placement ended with a farewell dinner, where we dressed in Balinese clothing and watched traditional dances, whilst enjoying local food that we had come to love. Throughout the placement, not only did I gain useful experience with hands-on mental health work, I also lived in a foreign culture that was completely unfamiliar to me. It was an unforgettable experience for a good cause, and I cannot be more grateful to have been a part of it.

sunrise on Mount Batur. We hiked 1717m to the top of the active volcano, to see the seas of clouds dispersed around the rising sun, revealing the river and forest below. Seeing that breath-taking view reminded me how as a city dweller, I often forget to take the time to appreciate the beauty of nature, and I will not hesitate to sign up for another sunrise hike in the future.

One of my favourite things about the programme was getting to experience Bali very close to the Balinese. We stayed in a homestay village for three weeks, allowing us to see many of the local religious rituals. Every morning, the local families put out offerings made with rice and flowers, and little square baskets woven with long palm leaves, on their doorsteps and around their home. They collect frangipani and hibiscus flowers from blooming trees and put them behind their ears, and sometimes put rice on their foreheads. We were told, however, that the amount of time spent performing

STUDYING MANDARIN ABROADAlexander White

Alexander White used the Helena

Biss Scholarship as part of his year

abroad to China, where he fully

immersed himself in the culture to

develop his confidence and ability

in Mandarin.

and history. China is different from Britain in so many ways - climate, culture, and ideology to name a few. While the initial culture shock was great, and bureaucratic issues with passports and bank accounts stressful, I am now an official resident of Beijing.

It has been two months since I arrived in China. The academic demands of Tsinghua University are testing; even as an exchange student, enrolled on their intensive Mandarin programme, work is vigorous and unrelenting. Typically, classes begin at 8am, and amount to fifteen hours a week. English is seldom used, aside from fleeting instances where translations cannot be provided through our pre-existing range of Chinese vocabulary. While my grasp of Mandarin is limited, and communication issues frequently arise, my linguistic skills are improving exponentially.

Helena Biss Scholarship

Without a shadow of doubt, moving to Beijing has been the most challenging experience of my life. The relocation has taken me out of my comfort zone, and I feel that I am yet to return. The cobbled streets of Durham, somehow, do not quite compare to the immense magnitude of the Chinese capital, a city alive with activity and life, full of contradictions, and the bastardisation of tradition and modernity. My year abroad had always seemed some far-off event, forever on the horizon, but never quite an immediate reality. As I sat on the plane, having said goodbye to my family, I finally realised that, for the next ten months, I would be living in China. Never have I felt a greater yearning for home, but Beijing has welcomed me with open arms. The people are kind and hospitable and the city opens a world of opportunity to learn about the intricacies of Chinese language, culture

The amount of time spent performing religious rituals sometimes takes a toll on the locals, especially on elderly women

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My family are no strangers to the tribulations of language learning in a foreign country, with my grandparents having emigrated from Hong Kong to the UK in the 1960s. Aware of the difficulties emigration causes, my Grandfather was quick to remind me that ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. Learning any language is a slow and tedious process, and, honestly speaking, can be quite isolating at times. The mere inability to articulate oneself clearly can foster a sense of frustration and leaves one feeling that they lack control over their surroundings. Nonetheless, simply by being in China, I am learning so much more than I would in my Durham-based classroom. Being surrounded by flowing Mandarin conversation, refreshingly natural compared to the rigid constraints of textbook examples, provides an authentic feel for the language, whereas constant exposure to Chinese characters helps engrain a script so alien from our Occidental languages.

As November approaches, so do our mid-term examinations. Time must now be juggled between the continued study of our new syllabus, and the revision of what

we have already covered since our arrival. Mornings are generally spent in class and afternoons are dedicated to individual study. Endeavouring to memorise new vocabulary, along with their individual nuanced meanings and their tonal pronunciation, is a time-consuming process. Combined with the need to comprehend new grammar and sentence structures, one is never quite finished with work. In Chinese, there’s an idiomatic expression (huó dào lào, xué dào lào). Roughly translated as ‘continue to study for as long as you live’, it expresses that one should study for the entirety of their life, as we are never done with learning; in the case of learning Mandarin, this is certainly true.

Simply by being in China, I am learning so much more than I would in my Durham-based classroom

Aside from the academic demands of my year abroad, an equally important aspect is experiencing the rich and vibrant culture that this historic nation has to offer. The extent to which I immerse myself in Chinese culture outside of the classroom, will undoubtedly be the biggest influence on my language development over this next year. From attending tea ceremonies, to dining with Chinese students, I am slowly starting to integrate myself more fully into my Chinese setting. Although Western music provides a source of home nostalgia, I know that surrendering to Chinese music and television is another resource I must utilise. Throughout my time in China, I plan to travel the country and experience the varied sights it has to offer, from the historic capital of Xi’an, to the Western metropolis that is Shanghai.

In early October classes were paused in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. My friends and I took advantage of this free time to camp on the Great Wall of China. After an hour-long coach journey, we arrived in a rustic Chinese village, from where we proceeded to hike up the ‘Wild Wall’, the name given to the unmaintained sections of the Great Wall. With bricks giving way under foot, and the late summer sun watching over our steep ascent, the trek was difficult and tiring. Nonetheless, the scenery was simply beautiful, and I feel extremely privileged to have been in a

Despite being of Chinese descent, I am overtly aware that I am a foreigner in this country, perhaps betrayed my Western features, London accent or mispronunciation of Mandarin. Although seen as a foreigner, I am not treated as a stranger. Any effort to speak Mandarin is enthusiastically received, and slowly I begin to feel more comfortable speaking the language. I know that fluency is an unrealistic target by the end of this year, but I’m confident that my progress will be great, and both the academic benefits and personal growth immeasurable. While a year abroad can be overwhelming and difficult at times, it has been one of the most rewarding and worthwhile experiences of my life! I’ve learnt so many life lessons since I’ve been here, and as an opportunity that seldom arises after university, I would definitely recommend it!

position to see, let alone climb, such a historical and picturesque location. Aside from natural beauty, the trek also provided a powerful insight into the nature of today’s China, as steel telegraph poles juxtaposed the pale grey masonry of the Great Wall, reflecting the contrast of a nation rapidly modernising, but still firmly rooted in its past. Lying beneath a starlit sky, with a modern Wonder of the World as my night’s bed, is an experience I shall never forget.

Although seen as a foreigner, I am not treated as a stranger

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job, especially when starting from a disadvantaged position. As a volunteer my responsibilities were mainly teaching English, but I was extremely happy to offer emotional support and be the ‘outsider they could talk to’, or even a friend they could have fun with. The bursary allowed me to contribute monetarily to various events organised by the orphanage, but I was also able to contribute to creating joyful memories – or at least I hope I did. The reactions to small acts of kindness, such as receiving Christmas gifts and sweets, were really memorable from my experience.

My experience in Kumamoto was also a life lesson; it inspired me to use myself as a tool for something good and to inspire others to do the same. Volunteering as a teacher was also a great confidence booster and it definitely helped to develop my presentation skills. It was a delight to watch the children’s language growth and to help to organise the events and games. It was also a vital experience for cultural immersion and understanding.

My volunteering experience offered numerous opportunities to be involved with a variety of people and situations, while learning and teaching those around me. Volunteering can facilitate self-discovery and self-development, but more importantly I would define it as a stimulating tool that I would definitely recommend; sometimes the small gesture of an outsider can make a positive difference for someone else.

In December 2019 I travelled to a local orphanage in Kumamoto, to assist young children in learning the English language. I heard about this particular vacancy from a few friends that had previously volunteered there; winter break was approaching, and I thought involving myself in something useful would be beneficial. Although being a country with an ageing population and low birth-rates, Japan has a total of 39,000 children in orphanages with no proper guardians, coming mostly from abusive environments. With adoption unfortunately being frowned upon and legally difficult, most of these children live in insufficiently budgeted orphanages relying on volunteers like me for educational and emotional support. Despite the sheer severity of their predicament, most orphans once reaching adulthood lack the knowledge or life skills necessary for an effortless integration into society.

In today’s global society, simple knowing a second language can have a significant influence on the outcome of obtaining a

Trevelyan Trust Bursary

VOLUNTEERING IN A JAPANESE ORPHANAGE

SCR Travel Bursary

Giammarco Di Gregorio

Supported by the SCR Travel

Bursary, Giammarco Di Gregorio

attended the ‘Children at the Heart

of Human Rights Summer School’

at Geneva University, Switzerland.

community have towards children” (O’Neill, 1988). I smiled. I felt like I was in the right place and learning to write the questions down as they came; I was settling into really being present. The lecturer was Dr Nevena Vuckovió Šahovió, and I loved her warm personality and authentic passion about child protection. She explained to us the origins, historical background, and main contents of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), one of the most comprehensive of the human rights treaties. Since the UN General Assembly adopted it in 1989, all nations, except for the USA, have ratified the UNCRC making it the most ratified convention in history - a global promise to all children to respect, protect, and fulfil all their human rights.

Walking back to my flat, the sounds of traffic fell away. The global endeavour we’d been talking about made me feel hopeful and encouraged me to do more; it reminded me that our role is to protect all the children and young people we meet every day, ensuring they feel safe and valued and take actions when this is not the case. They really are at a greater risk of abuse, neglect, violence, exploitation, and trafficking than anyone else on this planet. I was reminded that when we meet a child, we may be the only approachable person in that child’s life, so it is so important that we all take time to actively listen to them and report any concerns. I am drifting off

It is 8.45am on a blue-sky day. Dressed in a yellow shirt, time was running out while I’m rushing around the streets of Geneva looking for the university campus. Google Maps isn’t working. I’m late. Excellent! I let go, calm down, and eventually ask for directions. I’m here, at 9.05am, running through the Uni Mail building. Wow: the ceiling glass and its reflection form a rainbow. Move! It’s late! Room MR060, ground floor. OK – here we go. There is still a free seat. I squeeze, I smile, I sit silently: the welcome session is just starting. My mind is filled with dreams of changing the world, and I’m already drifting off into thoughts, planning, and questions. I’m not happy with myself for drifting off. But I moved through it. Great first day!

The next day was very different. The lecture began with a heartening citation: “if we care about children’s lives, we should rather identify what obligations parents, teachers, and indeed the wider

CHILDREN AT THE HEART OF HUMAN RIGHT

Giusy Lawani

Giusy Lawani used her Trevelyan

Trust Bursary to provide educational

and emotional support in an

Orphanage in Kumamoto, Japan.

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on it! We visited several NGOs, including Child Rights Connect and World Organization Against Torture (WAT), and numerous UN agencies, such as the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). WOW! What a wonderful first-hand experience of the work that these organisations carry out every day to improve the lives of millions of children around the globe. We observed working sessions in action and had the opportunity to ask questions and network with world-leading experts in children’s rights policies.

into questions again: If child protection is everyone’s responsibility, can we ensure and monitor the implementation of the UNCRC on the ground? If so, how?

We soon found out that there is indeed a way to monitor the legal obligation to implement the CRC that States Parties have. Dr Roberta Ruggero and Dr Jean Zermatten described the details of these monitoring mechanisms, which require States to submit reports every 5 years and an international body of 18 independent experts (the Committee on the Rights of the Child) to periodically supervise compliance. In line with article 45(a), the review of States’ progresses, requires the committee to also review several independent reports submitted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other UN bodies, NGOs, Independent National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and children themselves. These complaints about of violations of rights are significant for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of State’s initiatives to fulfil their obligation.

I started being familiar with all these weird abbreviations: CHR, HRC, NGO, OP, OPAC, OP3-CRC. Yes, I hated them, but I was

others and reconcile it with our personal interests and privileges. What can I do to improve human conditions and empower young people, especially the most vulnerable? How can I be of use? Where will I make the largest impact?

I was able to rethink what my role could be in society and I rebuilt my ambitions more meaningfully. I spent the following 4 months researching the biographical narratives of children and young people growing up in alternative care, in order to understand the impacts of institutional care on their development, wellbeing, and academic achievements. The evidence was overwhelming: at each phase of life, there was a significant achievement gap between them and all other children. In 2019, UNICEF estimated that 2.7 million children were in institutional care globally. Consequently, I set up the “Towards my Future” project with the intention to understand these causes and provide an empirical framework to design, implement, and evaluate interventions aimed to reduce such gap. In March 2020, my research project was selected to be awarded the 2020 Laidlaw Scholarships in Research and Leadership at Durham University, and will allow me to research how to enhance the academic achievements of children growing up in alternative care.

My heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who helped me in this experience (including Susan, Diana, Sarai and Sam). I have grown in understanding and become more aware of what kind of impact I want to have in the world and what actions I need to take to actually make that difference. Geneva made me brave and encouraged me to think big and go faster. I met so many good people there. Their dreams about making this world a better place has kept alive my own dreams and my conceptualisation of purpose and impact. Everything was a heartening reminder that I am not alone in my mission.

Over the next 10 days, we worked in groups of 5 to draft an optional protocol to address a gap or weak legal provisions in the CRC - a treaty that complements an existing human rights treaty. It was fun and we learned so much! The exercise encouraged us to engage with the Convention more critically and consider the potential controversy that the optional protocol could raise among member States. It was an invaluable opportunity to reflect not only on the effort it takes to draft even the smallest unit of a human rights treaty, but also to see the challenges faced in the attempt to reconcile the convention with cultural relativity and the diverse historical, cultural and social backgrounds we all bring to the table

I could endlessly write about the incredible endeavour occurring within and between these humanitarian organisations: promoting access to justice for children, employing strategies to develop evidence-based approaches

We can build a better world if we’re willing to work hard together, across different disciplines and cultures

to child migration, and the international cooperation aiming to eliminate any form of abuse, neglect, exploitation, torture, and detention among children. However, the most transformative experience during the weeks at Geneva was realising that we can build a better world if we’re willing to work hard together, across different disciplines and cultures. Achieving a worldwide convention to recognise the rights of children hasn’t been an easy or linear success story, but rather a cooperative cycle of failures, understanding, and innovations. Although there is still a lot of work to do, through interminable macro-level monitoring processes, the priceless contribution of many people has made the world a better place for children since the first Declaration on the Rights of the Child in 1924.

Sitting quietly on the Airport bus, my thoughts start bubbling up. I wonder what I’m doing here and what I could contribute to the community based on what I’d just learned during this experience. Each of us has the opportunity to make differences big and small, to somehow tackle the world’s injustices and to cultivate a sense of care towards those who are suffering. It is about choosing every day to serve

How can I be of use? Where will I make the largest impact?

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EXCAVATING SKELETAL REMAINSGeorgia Clarke

Supported by the Trevelyan Trust

Bursary, fourth-year Biological

Anthropology student, Georgia

Clarke took part in an archaeological

training course with the Poulton

Research Project.

This year I focussed my master’s dissertation on Forensic Anthropology, which applies principles of human variation from Biological Anthropology to aid in identifying human remains in the contexts of crimes and mass disasters. So far in my degree, I have learnt how to identify human skeletal remains by using a range of visual and metric methods to estimate an individual’s age-at-death, sex and ancestry, but I was interested in gaining experience in excavating skeletal remains.

The Poulton Research Project is based in a farming hamlet, five miles south of Chester. A Medieval chapel was first discovered there in the 1960s and research excavations began in the 1990s by Chester Archaeological Services and the University of Liverpool. In the excavation seasons from 1995-1998, the upper foundations of a Medieval chapel and a cemetery were revealed. Since, the Project has held training courses each summer to excavate material culture and skeletal remains from the chapel and the surrounding hamlet, in an effort to learn more about the populations occupying the area over a period of 10,000 years. I worked to record and excavate skeletal remains in the Medieval cemetery, which were then sent for more thorough analysis at Liverpool John Moores University. The remains are re-buried near the site after analyses are complete. So far, around 800 individuals have been excavated from an estimated population of over 2000 individuals.After an introduction to the site and safety requirements, we were trained on how to use trowels to ‘clean’ the ground, whereby the long blade of the trowel is scraped along the ground to remove a layer of soil. This makes colour and texture changes in the soil visible, which indicates that the soil has been distributed at some point, like when a

we had exposed the full skeleton. Next, we needed to document everything about the skeleton on a dedicated form: its position, which elements were present/absent, signs of disease, type of burial, as well as take photographs draw a sketch. Next, we lifted the skeleton from the grave by carefully removing the soil surrounding each bone until it was loose, lifting it and placing it in a labelled bag (side, type of bone). The cranium was particularly difficult to lift, as it was fragmented from the weight of the soil on top of it, so we removed it in a block of soil and put it in a bag. Then we recorded the grave context, again by filling in a form and taking photographs, including the size and soil type. All of these forms and the bagged remains were sent to the University for further analysis by forensic anthropology students, who would attempt to construct a biological profile for the individual, including age-at-death, sex, ancestry, trauma and disease.

To make this more exciting, BBC Four came to film us lifting the skeleton for the series ‘Digging for Britain’, which aired on the 27th of November 2019, and on the programme they feature the specific skeleton I was excavating. I thoroughly enjoyed the training course as it allowed me to gain hands-on excavation experience, which I hope to use in future digs and potentially a future career in forensic anthropology.

grave is dug. As I was working on the cemetery, I also took part in osteology training, learning to identify the different skeletal elements and any signs of disease on the bones. After this training, we began our first excavation on a fully articulated (connected) male adult skeleton. We worked to continue to expose the elements below the cranium (already started by a previous group) and also search for the cranium, which hadn’t previously been located.

We used small wooden tools to carefully remove the soil around the bones

For the elements already exposed, we used small wooden tools to carefully remove the soil around the bones, ensuring we did not damage or move them. As the post-cranial skeleton was fully connected, we had an idea of where the cranium would be found. In this area, we used a trowel to remove soil layer by layer, before switching to wooden tools when bone fragments became visible. Any bone fragments or cultural items unearthed during the excavation were recorded and bagged, which were labelled as the ‘fill’ layer.

Eventually, after many days of carefully removing soil from around the elements,

Trevelyan Trust Bursary

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For my research trip I visited Gujo-Hachiman, Shirotori and Ugo, three regional cities in Japan. The objective of my project was to understand the relationship between Bon dance tradition and the modern society in regional towns in Japan. Bon dance is part of the Buddhist ritual in mid-summer called Bon; its traditional purpose is to welcome ancestral spirits back to the earth for three days. My focus was to observe how Bon dance had transformed under the influence of increasing tourism and modernized society. The research project consisted of two sections – a week-long ethnographic research trip to Gifu Prefecture, followed by a month-long internship at the tourism association in Akita Prefecture.

Gifu Prefecture is situated in central Japan, 270km west of Tokyo. The journey had started with an 8-hour ride on a night bus from Tokyo to Nagoya, followed by a train journey to the city of Gifu. After exploring a stunning castle and traditional street in the afternoon, I set off to study the Bon dance.

RESEARCHING JAPANESE BON DANCEYuji Niimi

Yuji Niimi used his SCR Travel

Bursary to visit three cities in Japan,

as part of his music dissertation

research into the tradition of the

Japanese Bon dance.

Trevelyan Trust Bursary

My first destination was Gujo-Hachiman, a vibrant inland town with a population of around 15,000. Nicknamed the Mizu no Machi (town of water), this town is known for its beautiful rivers and a castle, but most importantly, a Bon dance called Gujo Odori. Held for a total of 32 nights between July and September, this series of events attracts around 300,000 participants every year.

Upon arrival, I spent the first day walking around the town. What surprised me the most was its vibrant atmosphere; a crystal clear river combined with traditional housing, especially around the centre. At the river, many teenagers were playing after school, whilst elderlies were catching fish nearby.

The event is only called off when a weather warning is given by the government

After a few days staying in Gujo-Hachiman, I set off by train towards Shirotori, a town situated 20km further north. After arriving at the station, I quickly headed to the Shirotori Tourism Association. There, I again interviewed Mr Otsubo (Head of Shirotori Tourism Agency) and Mr Shosha (Head of Shirotori Odori Preservation Society). It was another unique opportunity to deepen my understanding of Bon dance, and how local culture has a huge impact on traditional folk dances.

That night was one of 23 days during summer in which the Bon dance took place; it went ahead despite the heavy yet intermittent rain. According to the locals, the event is only called off when a weather warning is given by the government, highlighting dedication towards the local tradition. Drenched to the skin from rains and sweats, I enjoyed dancing and interacting with locals.

On the following day, I had the privilege to interview Mrs Okazaki (Head of local tourism agency) and Mr Fujita (Head of Gujo Odori Preservation Society). Preservation society, as the name suggests, is an organisation that aims to maintain the traditional intangible performance and arts, and to hand down the tradition to the future generation. For around two hours, I learnt how the Bon dance tradition had been inherited for centuries and how they promote it as a tourism experience.

On the same night, there was an opportunity to participate in Gujo Bon dance. At the venue, hundreds of people with yukata were dancing in a circle, with musicians at the centre. I enjoyed being part of this incredible atmosphere with locals and enthusiasts from various cities across Japan.

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On the following day, Mr Otsubo had kindly offered to take me to some famous locations in Shirotori, including some that relate heavily to the history of Shirotori Bon dance. The first location was a Shinto shrine called Nagataki Hakusan Jinja. With a history of over 1,300 years, this shrine was traditionally an important hub for Yamabushi (mountain hermits) to climb the sacred Mount Haku. Furthermore, this shrine is also a place where Shirotori Haiden Odori – the predecessor of Shirotori Bon dance – takes place every September.

Mr Otsubo’s word became clearer when we arrived at Amidagataki, a beautiful 60m high waterfall. Despite its location deep into the mountainside, nearby car parks were full, and the somen noodles restaurant was packed with people of all age groups. Mr Otsubo had also pointed out the existence of several ski resorts nearby, allowing Shirotori region to welcome tourists throughout the year. After visiting a few other shrines where Shirotori Haiden Odori takes place, I set off to return to Tokyo, with sorrow of parting from this beautiful town and memorable experience.

The next destination was Hakusan Cultural Museum, which introduces local history as well as various local cultures and traditions including Bon dance and Haiden Odori. There, I discovered the development of Shirotori Bon dance for the past century, as well as its relationship with other local traditions. Mr Otsubo also told me that the town benefits greatly from nature tourism, thus local culture – including Shirotori Odori – flourishes without excessive influence from tourism.

It was simply exhilarating to participate for hours in a traditional Bon dance

From this week-long research trip, I deepened my knowledge on Bon dances in Gujo-Hachiman and Shirotori, but also learnt about the cultural aspect of these traditional events to the local community and economy. Most importantly, however, it was simply exhilarating to participate for hours in a traditional Bon dance for the first time in my life.

With the council’s permission, I had the chance to be a cameraman on the last night of the event

For the final part of my research project, I worked as an intern at the Tourism and Products Association in Ugo, studying Nishimonai Bon Odori. Ugo is a small inland town in the north of Japan. Despite its population of just over 14,000, the town is well known nationally for Nishimonai Bon Odori. Unlike the participatory style of Gujo-Hachiman and Shirotori, this elegant Bon dance is famous for over 1000 people performing in beautiful traditional clothing.

Whilst working at the association, I helped the officials from the local council prepare for the upcoming Bon dance event. The jobs ranged from placing barricades around the town centre, to helping set up an art exhibition, which gave me an insight into how the event is organised. With the council’s permission, I had the chance to be a cameraman on the last night of the event. Later, the photos were used for our mission, which was to create a new leaflet for the association.

Once the Bon was over, we started researching and gathering information for the leaflet. After observing traditional art performances such as Shinto rituals and lion dances, we returned to the office situated inside the Michi no Eki (Road station) – a unique facility found in Japan that functions as a rest area, information centre and a grocery store. We also enjoyed eating a delicious local lunch and sweets between our work, in such a blessed environment.

At the end of the internship, we were taken to the infamous Omagari fireworks festival as a treat. Watching the dynamic and beautiful craftsmanship of some 18,000 fireworks, certainly made this one of the most memorable moments of my year.

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skills and so I set many writing activities, which really did help them. However, these children often misbehaved and I had to develop a stern teacher voice, which was really funny.

The day to day teaching for the intermediate classes was completely different. The children in Tango were all 13-14 years old, except one child, Elvis, who was 8. He was a genius! Their curriculum involved reading news articles centred around a topic. My favourite few lessons were based on an article titled ‘Increased numbers of Chinese students are now choosing to study abroad’. Firstly, we read the article and I taught them specific vocabulary such as lectures, professors, seminars and finances and I set some comprehension tasks. I then asked them to write about their dream university and why they would like to study there.

As Bravo and Juliette were of a lower skill level, I did not have as much freedom with their activities. Each week we read a different story, which I used to write a script for us to perform at the end of the week. The children also made props, and watching them perform made me so proud. Working with the lower level classes really helped me to develop teaching skills such as classroom control and behaviour management. It made me realise that despite some students testing my patience, I really want to be a teacher.

Outside of the classroom, we took the children to do different activities including peanut pulling, pottery making, laser tag and picking tea leaves in monsoon rains, but that didn’t stop us from having fun! We also took the students to the tourist shopping district in Yangshuo, to ask survey questions to any Westerners that we could find, which the children thoroughly enjoyed. It was weird interacting with them outside of the classroom, but they asked me a lot of questions about England and we both learnt so much about each other’s cultures.

The best thing about my trip to China was the number of friends I made – from the teaching assistants to the parents of the children, I have many invites to return to stay in various provinces. One parent even invited me out for Peking Duck when I was

The class was split completely, with half wanting to study overseas and the other half wanting to stay in China. Then I split the class into teams to have a debate; the teams had to write a well-supported argument to demonstrate their side. The activity went well, and the children said they really enjoyed being able to express themselves. Teaching Tango every day was a delight, the students were funny, polite and so keen to learn that teaching them was not difficult at all!

The students were funny, polite and so keen to learn

The children said they really enjoyed being able to express themselves

My trip was organised through a social enterprise called Gotoco, which links Russell Group university students with schools in China, with the purpose of enabling cultural exchange between the English teachers, the Chinese teachers and the Chinese students. By exposing both teachers and students to different cultures and languages, a greater understanding of each other was achieved and I have made so many friendships that span thousands of miles.

After a last-minute change, I was assigned to Zhuoyue English College, located in the beautiful Chaoyang village, near Yangshuo. The school provides full board for the children and two 2 1/2 hour lessons a day, along with outdoor activities and cultural activities such as a tea ceremony and visiting local attractions. I taught at Zhuoyue for five weeks and taught three different classes during my time there, ranging from beginner to intermediate. I taught one class sight words from packs of flashcards and basic storybooks like The Three Little Pigs and I made activities to accompany the reading. The students in this class were sweet and loved to learn, so it was really rewarding. Their reading and speaking levels were quite good, but I wanted to help develop their writing

TEACHING ENGLISH IN CHINABen Bassett

With the assistance of the

Greenwood Merit Scholarship,

Ben Bassett, a third-year historian,

travelled to China to teach English to

school children aged 8-14 years old.

Greenwood Merit Scholarship

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Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace. The best experience was the Great Wall! The trip has given me a greater appreciation and passion for Chinese history, which I really want to explore further. It has also been interesting to learn how history changes based on the perspective it is taught from, as the Chinese students are taught history in a completely different way.The overall experience has really given me the bug for teaching and travelling China and as a result of my trip I now have a TEFL qualification. I am already planning my next visit to China. The school has even offered me a job for after graduation if I want it! The trip has helped to build my confidence, as this was my first time travelling on my own and I have gained so many memories and invaluable skills including time management, organisation and presentation practice, which will help me in the future. The motivation to learn more Mandarin and travel back to China has given me something to work hard towards this year. Most of all, I am extremely pleased that this opportunity has led to so many great friendships and a greater understanding of the people and culture. Thank you so much!

I was really sad to leave the rural village, which very much felt like home! The head teacher asked the children to queue if they wanted a photo and a hug with me. Suddenly, there was a line of 100 kids. It was a crazy farewell! There were many cards and gifts, and many tears – not just from the kids!

After teaching, I explored Beijing, where I met some great people on exciting excursions to tourist attractions that I had learnt so much about in my Chinese history module last year. I woke up at 4:30am to watch the Chinese flag being raised at Tiananmen Square, I visited the

in Beijing! The children often said that I was the most fun teacher, and many of them still talk to me through their parent’s social media, which is touching as it shows I made an impact on them. We made good friends with our head teacher at the school too and got to experience her best friend’s wedding first-hand. I would never have expected that experience!

The trip has given me a greater appreciation and passion for Chinese history

RESEARCHING THE DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL

Tianlan Xie

Supported by the Trevelyan Trust

Travel Bursary, Tianlan Xie travelled

to Dongguan, China to conduct

his master’s research, exploring

how the local community value the

traditional Dragon Boat Festival.

Trevelyan Trust Bursary

Based on a case study of Dongguan, China, my master’s dissertation research project aimed to explore how the local community values and participates in the Dragon Boat Festival, which is inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Due to the top-down heritage management framework in China, the local community’s voices can easily become marginalised. Inspired by the idea of heritage from below, my research attempted to discover gaps between local authorities and other stakeholders in understanding the festival, and to provide suggestions for managing the festival in a sustainable way. In this case, voices from different stakeholders were vital.

For the method, I predominantly conducted semi-structured interviews with four different groups, varying in genders, ages and occupations; government officials, dragon boat makers, residents who have participated in the dragon boat races and general residents. The interview questions addressed the participant’s views and experiences of the Dragon Boat

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towards the inclusion of more laypeople; officials with their roots in and around Dongguan area are likely to have significant influence in defining and creating their version of heritage.

A crucial part of helping stakeholders to conduct comprehensive management strategies for interpreting and preserving heritage is listening to the varied reasons why and how individuals and communities value, appreciate and practice preserving their own heritage. Thus, consultations with the local community and the implementation of proper guidance for heritage practitioners is to be encouraged within the Chinese context. It is important to empower people to speak up for their heritage, but also to strengthen their awareness of heritage, as this will improve communication between the elites and non-elites, as well as general attitudes towards heritage making. Thanks for your support in making my research possible.

something that they engage with and negotiate, and sometimes contest with in a wide variety of very individual ways, according to their understanding of its meaning. It was quite interesting to hear voices from different participants, which helped me to feel and understand the festival from various angles.

Meanwhile, in the background of heritage management in China, the relationship between ‘Authorised Heritage Discourse’ and ‘Heritage From Below’ is regularly discussed in the media. The local government has attached great importance on the value of the Intangible Cultural Heritage title, which could be used to serve political and economic objectives. It becomes not just a simple tradition, but one officially authorised and is ascribed a specific value and social capital.

Hegemonic discourses have a definite impact upon the level of community participation, especially in China, with its historic tradition of strict and powerful authority. However, in Dongguan’s case, ‘heritage from below’ could permeate ‘authorised heritage discourse’ and work

It is important to empower people to speak up for their heritage

handed down through generations of dragon boat builders for future generations to enjoy. For residents who participate in it regularly, the festival is an occasion that brings people together, and relates to their sense of belonging to the place and its collective memory. They value it because it builds up relationships with families and neighbours.

Some of the interviewees think that the festival is evolving into a more competitive sporting event, whereas others view it as a decline of the traditions involved. The different opinions about the traditional boat racing raises a debate as to whether or not the modern version includes the concept of dragon boat culture as heritage. This demonstrates that the local people of Dongguan are not merely the passive recipients of an imposed value of heritage, but it is

After analysing the data from the interviews, I found that members of the local Dongguan community in China value the Dragon Boat Festival in a wide variety of ways that are closely related to their own personal experiences of it. These are inextricably linked to the level to which they choose to participate in it. Depending on the person, the festival is valued as something linked to sports events, as craftsmanship, or as a celebration. The value is related to the place, clan and livelihood, and embodied in daily life. However, it also relates to something more spiritual or psychological, such as sense of belonging and self-identity. For example, for oarsmen, the Dragon Boat Festival is an important chance to gain honour and prizes. They view the boat races themselves as the most important part of the festival. The craftsmen, however, focus more on the craftsmanship of the boats, as building them is their job and what they are devoted to. Their other main concern is that the ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ label helps them to save the endangered craft itself, and preserve the special skills

The ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ label helps them to save the endangered craft

The festival is an occasion that brings people together

Festival, their contributions to the festival and whether they believed the festival represented an intangible heritage Additionally, I collected documents related to the festival, such as proposals or plans to organise and preserve it, and I also experienced different activities related to the festival. For example, I was invited to see how the craftsman create the dragon head, which is an important part of the boat and I also observed the residents digging out the dragon boat before the festival; it is a tradition for resident to bury the boat under water every year.

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Trevelyan alumni have achieved some

great things since they graduated.

Here are just a few of their stories...

Alumni

LEARNING FROM EVERY ‘FAILURE’

Memories of the university bubble all feel like they blend into one, but I most strongly remember the atmosphere and feelings. From the moment I arrived I remember the strong sense of welcoming and excitement from the Trevelyan community. This continued throughout my 3 years and during each time I have revisited since graduating.Being JCR President was undoubtedly the most rewarding experience of my time at Trevs. Not without its challenges of course, as it was under our Executive team that we made the difficult decision to transition from an Independent Charitable Organisation to a Durham Student Organisation under the wing of the University. It took a long time and many hours of meetings to make the decision, and a whole lot more to enact it; but I still believe it was ultimately the right choice, and I feel proud to see how the savings it generated have been well used for the student experience of subsequent year.

The skills that I built on the JCR Exec and its Board of Trustees have been invaluable in my career so far, and it’s a learning curve that I would highly recommend. After all, as our former chancellor used to say, ‘don’t let your degree get in the way of your your education’! That phrase always resonated with me and is somewhat of a philosophy I tried to carry through to my working life. After leaving Trevs, I worked for several years in London in a range of roles across Financial Technology and

Banking. I recently moved back up north to York and have started a new company called Coverbaloo, selling home insurance online direct to consumers. Our main goal as a company is to show that having quality insurance matters but it doesn’t mean you have to pay the earth. I’d known from a young age that at some point I wanted to start a business (admittedly before I could really appreciate what it would involve!).

One key thing I took away from my time at Trevs was to seize the opportunities that are available to you and always give something a go. It might be scary and will mean taking risks to push you outside your comfort zone. But it was seeking out these areas that led me to feel I had made the most of my time at university, and it’s what has led me into my current business. It won’t always go so well, but every ‘failure’ is also a lesson learned. This sentiment, that there is always something to be learned even when things don’t go as you wanted or expected, has been the biggest driver in motivating me through highs and lows in multiple areas of my life.

This feels particularly pertinent right now while working to market a new company during a pandemic! Working from home full time with little team interaction has been an unexpected challenge in addition to the expected struggles, but has added more focus to what I value in my work.

Adam ThompsonTrevelyan College 2011-14

Send in your storiesWe’d love to hear more from you. Please get in touch to let us know what you have been up to since leaving Trevs to feature in next year’s Hippocampus. trevelyan.development@durham.ac.uk.

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Having never been to the US, a large part of the excitement for me was getting to see this giant country in such a unique way. In the 6 months I was there I didn’t visit a single town that I’d known the name of before researching the trail. I feel privileged to have seen the “real-America”, not the touristy international cities that most Brits flock to. The AT winds its way through 14 of the 50 states. It comes close enough to New York City that you can see its famous skyline but also has stretches where you can go days without seeing a single building.

The AT is notorious for being a very physically demanding trail. Every day you’re faced with steep climbs and descents, huge slick boulders to scramble over or tiny little rocks that dig into the soles of your feet. The statistics are hard to pin point but the generally accepted truth is that only a quarter of those who start make it to the finish line. From my experience this is a bit pessimistic, many of the friends that I made in the first weeks made it to the Katahdin, but there is still a very high dropout rate. This is often due to injury. The terrain takes its toll, especially on knees, ankles and hips so I made an effort to be very careful. I only had a 6

I had never heard of the Appalachian Trail until 2017 when I happened to google “Long hikes abroad”. I was expecting to find examples of tall hills to climb or week-long walks that I could go on. I was not expecting to discover that there is a continuous footpath longer than the length of the entire UK. Nor was I expecting to learn that every year several thousand attempt to walk its entire length. As soon as I discovered this I knew I had to do it.

The Appalachian Trail (AT) is a 2192 mile trail in the Eastern United States. Its Southern Terminus is on Springer Mountain in Georgia and its Northern Terminus is on Mount Katahdin in Maine. The act of within one year is called thru-hiking. The easiest way to explain what thru-hiking is, is to say that it’s like a Duke of Edinburgh expedition that goes on for 6 months. You walk, you camp, you walk, you camp, you carry everything in a big backpack and you eat a lot of dehydrated food.

It’s like a Duke of Edinburgh expedition that goes on for 6 months

month visa so the option to take time off for an injury was minimal. The easiest ways to reduce the risk of injuries were to hike less miles each day or to carry less weight on your back. I was good at the first one, opting for the “slow and steady” approach but was less good at the latter as my pack often weighed up to 20kg! - with modern equipment many hikers had packs weighing less than 9kg.

I’d read before setting out that the AT is known as the Green Tunnel because it is always in the shadow of the many forests it passes through. Websites warned me not to expect many views but I realised quickly that this did not mean no views. Several times a day there would be openings in the trees where you could see out and witness whatever scenery that particular state had to offer. In the south, it was the impressive grey peaks of the mountains yet to have been brought to life by spring. In the mid-Atlantic states it was lush green farming landscapes and in New England there were jaw dropping views of pine forest covered peaks as far as the eye could see. Nothing motivated me more than the prospect of a stunning view at the top of a gruelling climb. Well, nothing expect perhaps the prospect of digging out my snack bag once I got to the top!

WALKING THE WORLD’S LONGEST FOOTPATH

Alumni

The one thing that stuck with me about every place I visited was the kindness of the people. This was a common theme on the trail. Every hiker was there because they had chosen to be and this created a unique sense of trust that is hard to find in the outside world. It didn’t matter why they had chosen to be there, what mattered is that they were there. You’d all chosen to take on this ridiculous challenge so you at least had that in common. Something about this community has captured the hearts of the towns that the trail passes by. People would go out of their way to help hikers, offering free food, accommodation, lifts to town or anything else they could. It was an incredibly humbling experience to be shown such kindness from strangers and it is this sense of community that I miss most about the trail. It is a community that I will forever be a part of and one that I cannot wait to return to in person. Until then, I’ll be more careful about what I type into Google!

Lucy BirchallTrevelyan College 2014-18

It was an incredibly humbling experience to be shown such kindness from strangers

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Alumni

A MEMO: OFF TO THE USA

When I arrived at Trevs, Miss Joan Bernard was Principal, and Miss Ruth Etchells, who also taught in the English Department, was Vice Principal. I lived in College for a year and then moved out to an ancient and freezing dwelling - “The Old Vicarage Cottage” it was called - in Brandon, a bus ride away from Durham on the double-decker number 49. We had to keep the coal fire going at all times, otherwise we would have had no heat and no hot water. The upstairs bedrooms were not for the faint of heart: woolly hats were needed in the winter. I shared with two other Trevs girls. In our third year, we all moved back into town and lived in Mitchell Street, near the viaduct. Trains roared past our ears at night, but we had only a short walk to morning lectures.

Immediately after graduation, I moved to the United States to study for an MA in English at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1980, I enrolled in the English PhD program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since 1985, I have taught in the English Department at Elon University, also in North Carolina.I continue to live in Chapel Hill, in central North Carolina. It’s definitely a college town, not entirely unlike Durham. It’s just hotter in the summer and gets more hurricane activity in the early Autumn. Due to the pandemic, the town emptied out in March and filled up again in early August as the students returned to

campus. But at the end of August, the students left again, after too many people caught the virus. Once again there was plenty of parking spaces on Franklin Street, but I missed the hordes of eager Tar Heels, which is the name for all North Carolinians, but especially for all who attend the University.

Why did I end up in the USA? Chance played a part. I had no plans for life after graduation: completely clueless. But I saw a memo on the notice board in the English Department in Elvet Riverside: Apply to do a Master’s degree in English - at Clark University, in Worcester, Massachusetts - while paying no tuition or fees and while making a meagre but sustainable living as a Teaching Assistant. If I hadn’t seen that little sheet of paper, pinned to the board, who knows what I would have done instead? But, going to the USA seemed, as they say, like a good idea at the time. It looked like a career in itself. If anyone asked me what I was going to do after graduation, I just had to say, “Going to the USA,” and an impressed silence followed. Most people didn’t ask “What for?” “Why would you want to do that?” And, once you’ve crossed over, there’s often no going back, or at least there wasn’t for me. Academic employment was then a much bigger playing field in the USA than in the UK and unemployment in Britain in the late seventies and early eighties looked bleak from my viewpoint. So I stayed.

Currently, I am teaching my undergraduate students both in person and online. We’re wearing masks in class, and staying six feet apart, because the USA hasn’t gone metric after all, in spite of what we used to be told. All of us are hoping that we can keep our students on campus without inspiring significant Covid-19 outbreaks: but only time will tell.

Rosemary HaskellTrevelyan College 1975-78

Alumni

After my degree, I trained as a teacher and joined the English Department at Framwellgate School Durham. Working at the school was enjoyable and I learnt a great deal about how to teach – and learn. The department staff were so supportive and I remember the students as full of life and laughter. In our rented house in Crossgate Moor, we planted daffodils in our first garden, watched the Daubenton’s bats flying low over the River Browney and listened to the skylarks singing in the fields. In 2003, my husband completed his PhD and we moved to Hertfordshire so he could begin working for the Home Office. It was a real wrench to leave Durham, but I was fortunate enough to get a job at Hills

Prior to university, I’d been unsure whether to study biology or English. I chose English Literature and loved the course – especially visiting the Lake District with Professor Watson and fellow students in our second year to learn about the way the landscape influenced the Romantic poets. I was similarly inspired by the Durham countryside. I spent hours in the Botanical Garden exploring the flora and fauna, joined the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust after many wonderful trips to their reserve in Washington, and enjoyedwalking and birdwatching across County Durham and Northumberland. In 2002, in front of a roaring fire at Bamburgh Castle, my husband-to-be proposed to me after a sodden day’s birdwatching on Lindisfarne.

My decade in Durham was an absolute joy. From the moment I arrived, I knew I was going to enjoy living and studying in such a beautiful city. Trevelyan had been recommended to me as a supportive, friendly college and I felt at home almost immediately. The highlights of my college years included meeting my lovely husband, Colin Wilson (Physics 1996-2003), setting up and singing in the college choir and, later on, supporting college students in our joint role as pastoral tutors.

A NATURE LOVERS’ TALE

I learnt a great deal about how to teach – and learn

An opportunity to explore my passion for the natural world

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our formative years and throughout two degrees. That is why I wear the hexagon on my shoulder. One of the reasons I got the tattoo - to celebrate the feelings of community and friendship at Trevelyan - came back to me in an unexpected way during the pandemic.

I now live in London and work as a librarian at Kew Gardens. During lockdown I was confined to my home and furloughed, meaning I had a lot of time to work on myself. At one point, I joined a webinar hosted by Libraries Unlimited and the Arts Council England, which featured the world-renowned American sociologist and scholar of urban studies Eric Klinenberg. I was quite excited to hear him speak and was not disappointed when he did. In the webinar, he came out with an arresting phrase that has stuck with me ever since. He explained that the expression “social distancing” is not the best way to refer to the actions we should take to get through the coronavirus pandemic as individuals and as a society. He “hates” it, if I remember correctly.

He thinks it a cold phrase that runs counter to human instincts and I think anyone who has been pining to see their friends and relatives during lockdown, is bound to agree. To him, “social

I carry Trevs and my experience there everywhere I go. Quite literally. After my graduation ceremony I got a hexagon tattooed on the back of my left shoulder. It is a spot that is special to me, because ever since I can remember I get a slight twinge whenever I carry something heavy for a long time (usually books in a bag) or exert myself too much in a sporting activity. Without fail – and more times than I can count – I would drop my bag off my back after a long day, sigh, and then reach up to my left shoulder sucking in air with a slight wince. “You’ve done a bit too much again this week” – I would think.

At this point, you might imagine that that is a negative thought, but I have never seen it that way. No, the fact that I only notice the twinge after a long week where I am constantly switched on, doing things, achieving stuff etc. shows me that I have lived my life right that week - I filled it with purpose and did good things for myself and for good people.

It is proof that exertion and stretching yourself comes at a price, but is ultimately worth it if you are in an environment that nurtures and rewards it. A place where you can find good people to do good things for and with. Trevelyan College and Durham were for

I know that this years’ experiences have been new and different (like every first year in Trevs is) but I for one can gladly report that the ideal of social solidarity continues to be a part of the Trevelyan College community – even if we have to physically distance (for now).

Arved KirschbaumTrevelyan College 2015-19

THE MAN WITH THE HEXAGON TATTOO

Alumni

Social solidarity continues to be a part of the Trevelyan College community

distancing” is an unnecessarily harsh phrase. He recommends instead to look at and refer to this policy as “physical distancing and social solidarity”. He argued strongly that that was a better way to explain and secure compliance to this vital public health measure and that using this wording and following what it implies, would make lockdowns easier to bear.

This is not a time to let people struggle alone. We should be there for others, even if we can’t be in the same room. Yes, we might not be able to see the people we want but that doesn’t mean we can’t still build new relationships and strengthen old ones. In a way, that phrase makes me think of and want to act through the pandemic as if it were a Trevs Fresher’s Week.

A week, where we are once more all in the same boat, in a daunting new environment trying to chart a way forward. A week where we don’t forget about the quirky, definitely odd, and very foreign fresher who found himself in a new country speaking a different language in his room on the very top of the E staircase. The people I met in my days at Trevelyan never did and I am glad and happy that I still get to call them friends during Zoom quizzes, Netflix parties, and distanced meetups.

I’m about to embark on an Advanced Diploma in Creative Non-Fiction with the Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge, and I’m in the middle of writing my first book which explores the natural and social history of the local landscape – an ecology of walking, observing and belonging. I haven’t had the opportunity to visit Durham for many years and I feel a trip is long overdue. Perhaps I’ll walk along the river path and take my kids to the Botanic Gardens in the next year. I certainly hope so!

Nic Wilson (née Garner)Trevelyan College 1993-97

Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge where I worked for 6 years, whilst also completing an MA in English Literature focusing on the influence of scientific thought on modernist writer, Ford Madox Ford.

When our son was born in 2009, I stopped work and began to consider where to go next. Having spent most of my life in the classroom, this was an opportunity to explore my passion for the natural world. I retrained in horticulture and once my children started school I began to work as a garden and nature writer. I currently write for Gardeners’ World Magazine, the RHS The Garden and have just had my first Country Diary published in The Guardian. I also write a popular blog - Dogwooddays: Life, Nature and the Garden. The two strands of my life have finally come together and I feel privileged to be able to combine my love of language with my passion for the natural world in my work.

I’m in the middle of writing my first book which explores the natural and social history of the local landscape

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one of the houses on the college grounds and I spent my days as a doctoral student researching ‘wonder’ and ‘human flourishing’ at the then Centre for Medical Humanities (now institute) located in the staff houses facing what today is The Garden of Reflection. Former Professor Martyn Evans was my main supervisor and he together with the excellent MCR proved a fantastic guide to college life. My family and I had the pleasure of living at Trevs for six months before we moved out and I became a ‘liver out’. However I retained a close connection to the college and I am very happy I did because being a part of Trevs life is truly a unique experience.

was painfully clear that I was standing still and standing still is rarely a good strategy in life. Thus we packed our belongings, and jumped across the North Sea to Denmark. Luckily the blow of having to move away from Britain was cushioned by the fact that my wife who is a scientist found full time occupation in a biotech company in Copenhagen around the time of our departure.

As a lecturer at UCD I get to teach classes on moral philosophy, philosophy of science, and philosophy of education to undergraduate students, which I wholeheartedly enjoy. At the same time I’m also an international coordinator. Unfortunately philosophical research is not encouraged at UCD but because of my time as a student at Trevs helped me to become a better writer, I have done my best to research and publish as much as I possibly can, despite having a full time teaching position. I will not bother you will a detailed description of all my publications but merely concern myself with two of them.

My book Balanced Wonder: Experiential Sources of Imagination, Virtue and Human Flourishing was published in 2019. The book is my pièce de résistance—my magnum opus or chief dish so to speak and is essentially a philosophical study of the peculiar state of mind called ‘wonder’ and how it may help us live better lives. In a way the

book is an antidote to the confusion of modern life as it illuminates, guides, questions and maps out a path to the good life. I realise this may sound pompous but I assure you it is not the typical instructive self-help book. It is a philosophy book arguably of the more full-blooded kind— a book that makes you wonder.

The second of my publications is a series focussing on the early 20th century American weird fiction writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Now I’ve been a Lovecraft fan since my teenage years and writing about him and his work has been quite entertaining not forgetting illuminating. My latest essay focuses on his utter hatred of alcohol and how this shows in his philosophical essays as well as poetry, fiction and letter writing. Perhaps it would prove a fun read while enjoying a drink at the flourishing college bar? Come on…nudge, nudge, wink, wink… I dare you! It has a historical section named ‘Against a Drunken Background: England’ which amongst other things covers the Gin Craze. Now what can be more intriguing than that?

Alumni

“YOU HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING”

“What are you doing papa?” my daughter asked me the day I began formulating what you are about to read. Smilingly I replied “I am writing a piece for the Hippocampus about myself and what I’ve been doing since we left Durham”. “But papa” she replied as she gently put her hand on my shoulder. “Why bother? You haven’t done anything!” Stupefied by her remark all I could do as she triumphantly left the room was to mumble, “sick burn” while contemplating the truth-value of her statement. Oh the horror!

Vera fictis libentius – truth more readily than falsehood is the excellent Trevs motto and it is indeed so because one can use it to check oneself, one’s actions, how one feels about a certain matter and it can be utilised in connection with troublesome statements such as the one mentioned above. Now ‘you haven’t done anything’ is obviously an absurd utterance because anyone alive is doing something qua being alive. However the statement is not completely bonkers if seen as a value claim or a camouflaged research question. In my case the latter would amount to ‘what valuable things have you done since we left Durham papa?’ which is a question I’m delighted to answer in the following.

I joined Trevs as a mature student in the autumn of 2011. Being a Dane growing up with a huge interest in English literature and culture it was indeed exciting to move to the beautiful city of Durham. Trevelyan College kindly offered my wife, my then one-year-old daughter and myself to live in

Standing still is rarely a good strategy in life

In 2016 I received my doctoral degree and I spent the next year and a half looking for an academic job in the UK that would allow me to teach philosophy and continue my research. The scholarly life had gotten under my skin and I was ready for more. Alas I had no success so when I got offered a lectureship at University College Diakonissestiftelsen (UCD) in Copenhagen, Denmark I accepted. Admittedly moving away from Britain was tough because I really love the British countryside, the medieval towns and the gothic cathedrals. I enjoy the good-humoured nature of the Brits, British history and I dearly miss speaking English, which to me is a very rich language. Nevertheless at the time it

If one lives wisely sometimes less is more and infinitely more valuable.

Anyway Prima facie and without paying too much attention to certain sceptical members of my family I should think it all right to claim that I have done something of value since I left Durham and that my daughter’s harsh statement is somewhat unfounded. Naturally one can always do more but then again if one lives wisely sometimes less is more and infinitely more valuable.

Dr. Jan B. W. PedersenTrevelyan College 2011-16

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I helped organise and played at the first Trevs Unplugged and continued to be heavily involved in college music with my rock band Mint. We played at all the college events and even ran some new ones in conjunction with Van Mildert Jam Night. The gigs we played in Trevs Bar are particularly memorable! In 2001 we recorded an album, Leaving It Late. 3 members even went on to play together in another band in York, appearing at Leeds Festival, and supporting the Arctic Monkeys, amongst others!

As for my degree courses, Engineering and then Geography, they provided interesting challenges. With Trevelyan Engineers group, I helped to improve the efficiency of a water fed turbine. I then went on to produce a computer map of a Grand Canarian dry valley, following a Geography field course, and used pioneering remote sensing techniques that would pave the way for Google Maps software. My interest in renewable energy, stimulated at Durham, was later explored further as I finished my degree at Cardiff University, completing a dissertation on Tidal Power.

However, all this activity came at a price, and I was forced to leave Trevs early before graduating, with a severe case of depression and exhaustion. Despite trying to work my way out of illness with periods employed by TESCO, BUPA, Cardiff Council, the tall ship HM Bark

Leaving school to study in Durham made me feel apprehensive but confident, as I knew that this was my opportunity to mix with and learn from the best, and begin changing the world for the better. During my time there I got heavily involved in college life. Serving on the JCR committee, I helped to direct the cabling of rooms for the Internet, which was a very disruptive project but provided internet access to all the livers-in for the first time. I also played on both Trevs rugby and football teams.

As Services Officer on the JCR Exec, I revolutionised the serving rota, improved the laundry, pantry, storage and games facilities, and organised the first ever Grand Trunk Room Clear Out. I enjoyed the responsibility of being accountable to hundreds of students, and presenting my work regularly at JCR meetings. Through consultation with the College Officers and JCR, the plans for the new gym, MASH room and Dowrick were established. I also worked with the IT department to develop the first Blackboard software, which led to the virtual classrooms widely used today. From the college yearbook came the idea for Facebook - Mark Zuckerberg may claim it was his idea, but Trevs knows different!

Endeavour, and various factories, my mental health reached a critical point and I spent two stretches in hospital.

I returned to Cardiff University to finish my degree, eventually gaining a 2.2 Hons in Marine Geography. At this time, I played a lot of rugby both for my department’s team and hometown club. I also learnt to scuba dive, played squash and cycled a lot to get fitter, completing the Coast to Coast cycle route.

I moved back up to Durham to be with my girlfriend Rachel, who was forging a successful career as a teacher of Religious Education. We were married in 2007. Then we moved across to Cumbria, Rachel’s home county, taking time to enjoy the beautiful scenery and home comforts. Thankfully, we avoided the major floods of 2009 and 2015.

Although my wife’s career has gone from strength to strength, I have not been able to define a traditional career or specific job description. I have worked in many areas and now don’t have a job at all, but thankfully I managed to get my ideas for changing the world for the better into fruition. As a teacher’s husband there is always something to be helping out with, from exam marking to lesson planning to seating plans! Mostly I just look after the house as best I can.

I have spent the last 15 years suffering from schizophrenia. This has been very painful and detrimental to my enjoyment

CHALLENGES BEYOND UNIVERSITY

Alumni I count myself extremely lucky to have had the life I’ve had so far and survived it!

I helped organise and played at the first ever Trevs Unplugged

of life for a long time now, but I am slowly getting over it with help from my local mental health team, family and friends. I count myself extremely lucky to have had the life I’ve had so far and survived it!

Nowadays, I spend my time reading about architecture, urban design, physics, geography, economics, and the like and spend a lot of time catching up with old friends. I have attempted to return to study at University but found it too challenging given my disability. Occasionally, I make guitar videos; last year I released Leap Of Faith, a home-produced solo album, and Instrumental Illness, under the name Mint Biscuit. I also enjoyed performing and producing socially-distanced music videos with my mates from the band last summer.

I always enjoy seeing what the Trevs students are up to; I’m especially glad that “my baby” Trevs Unplugged is still going and that the efforts of our friends and colleagues to make Trevs a forward thinking, inclusive, innovative and fun society to live in, have not gone to waste. I look back on my time at Trevs as the best 3 years of my life.

I’d say that today’s students should work with the mindset that anything in life is possible, but not everything is beneficial. If you have a good idea, go for it, you can change the world. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. With support from your friends and peers, you can achieve whatever you set your mind to, and this will continue after you leave Trevs.

Richard ThomasTrevelyan College 1999-02

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Alumni

woeful pay disparity; and, the lack of basic equipment, such as kit, and decided to do something about it.

In 2017, I gathered together a group of women from across the globe to climb Kilimanjaro and do something no one had done before: play a full 90-minute, record-breaking football match in the crater.a safe career track in the civil service

in London, but I wanted to see more of the world and challenge myself in a different language and culture. With hindsight, we (my now husband Doug was part of the adventure) got the job far too easily and jumped headfirst into an intense situation. Part Fawlty-Towers, part Survivor, guests came from across the world to experience the beauty of the Mozambican coast.

I valued living incredibly close to nature, haggling over 30kg freshly caught tuna and giant lobsters at the kitchen door, checking in on the octopus in the lagoon, knowing the months by the full moon and new moon, avoiding the snakes called ‘just leave me’ in the local language, and seeing whales pass by the front door.

We became resourceful problem-solvers in a place with limited resources and high expectations from guests. We learnt to fix generators whilst guests were eating tuna carpaccio, we mended

We also saw the impact of diseases on the communities we worked with. HIV was prevalent, cholera and E.coli killed at random and diarrhoea, so easily treatable, caused devastation amongst young children. The fun marvels and beautiful environment gave way to dangerous practices and repeated underinvestment by the owners and I learnt a valuable lesson about quitting when you can no longer positively improve things and have an impact.My unique ‘career’ took a step up and sideways in 2015 when I became increasingly frustrated at the inequalities faced by women in sport. I was tired of the status quo: the lack of media representation for female athletes; the

I think there’s hope for any student who graduates without knowing exactly what they want to do as I believe you end up where you’re meant to be. I’ve taken a really roundabout way to get to where I am now, and since leaving Trevs with a Masters in Physics, I’ve managed to check out plenty of careers. I said ‘yes’ to opportunities that came my way and those opportunities created more adventures.

I’ve arranged clinical trials for genetically modified mosquitoes in Brazil, welcomed VIPs to the London Olympics, led whale-watching tours in Mozambique, wondered at the stars in astronomy lessons with schoolkids in Ghana, marvelled at our planet’s consumption setting up footwear supply chains in China, trained future sports industry professionals in Azerbaijan, advised sovereign wealth funds in the UAE and founded and sold a non-alcoholic spirit company in Australia.

One of the most interesting experiences that shaped me was managing a 5* lodge in remote, northern Mozambique. I was on

I learnt a valuable lesson about quitting when you can no longer positively improve things and have an impact

the boat engine using YouTube in order to have one working boat, we dug guests’ cars out of the sand dunes and de-escalated tensions between different groups on the peninsula.

The rewards for me personally were immense: a TEDx talk; an award-winning documentary; a sense of accomplishment at creating this incredible journey out of a dream. But the societal and community rewards were greater: we had created a social change movement, Equal Playing Field, that has become a force for change in the sporting world.

Breaking World Records became something of a habit and after Kilimanjaro, we were invited to Jordan to play the lowest altitude match, working closely with local communities and players there to increase investment in the game. At the Women’s World Cup in France, we played the world’s biggest game, bringing together players from 70 nationalities and from 4 years to 69 years. I am proud to be

We had created a social change movement

AN EQUAL PLAYING FIELD

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prepared me for some of the more unusual situations I’ve encountered, such as negotiating contracts with factories for particular recycled materials (again YouTube is surprisingly helpful), drafting legal documents and developing innovative research with female teams.

More than a particular knowledge set, my physics degree taught me to think, especially looking at problems from first principles. I started the shoe company by cutting up a shoe and building the first one in my kitchen. I spend a lot of time looking at what the problem I’m trying to solve is, and I often do radical, innovative things, such as asking women what they want and then listening (crazy, huh?).

I keep a connection to astronomy through taking photos of the stars and this photo from Kilimanjaro was one of my most memorable. We were finally above the clouds, my teammates were in the tents in front, the stars above and adventure awaited in the morning.

My time at Trevs was spent meeting interesting people doing awe-inspiring things, usually on top of their already challenging degrees. It set my expectations for the people I have met working, travelling and playing around the globe.

I now live in Amsterdam with Doug, and my 11-month old son, Calian. I still play amateur league football and futsal whenever I can, and now I get to wear my own boots when I play.

Laura YoungsonTrevelyan College 2003-07

leading an organisation still challenging the systemic barriers in sport and creating an ever-larger community of passionate women working locally to change their systems.

On the mountain I also had the idea for the company I set up and run now: Ida Sports. I had always been frustrated that I had to wear kids boots to play football (even during my time at Trevs). Talking to the professional athletes during the World Record, I couldn’t believe they wore men’s and kids boots too. I researched the differences between women’s and men’s feet, understood that female athletes were putting themselves at risk of injury by wearing the wrong boots. I then looked at the bigger brands who weren’t making women’s boots at all and decided that female football players simply deserved better. Two years later, we’ve launched our first product. We’re getting great reviews from athletes and we’re growing the company, expanding to the US and Europe.

As anyone running their own business will know, it’s tough and there are plenty of challenges. The variety of jobs I’ve done

Now I get to wear my own boots when I play

I decided that female football players simply deserved better

Alumni

I was an accidental postgraduate at Durham, having come to live in Trevs originally in September 1983 as a library trainee, when the Stockton Road library had just been enlarged. Trevs was of course a women’s college then, though the MCR I subsequently joined was mixed. The intention was that after a year I would go to library school, but Durham conspired in the best possible way against that happening. I had a degree in History of Art from UEA and on the strength of this the then Rare Books Librarian at Palace Green, Beth Rainey, asked me to catalogue a large archive of the writings and drawings of ‘Cuthbert Bede’ (Edward Bradley), author and illustrator of The Adventures of Mr Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman (1853) and its sequels. The Verdant Green books were really based on the author’s experiences at Durham, a very new university when he graduated in 1848. The plan was that this catalogue should be sent to the National Register of Archives so that researchers would get to know of Durham’s holdings; remember that this was long before the internet.

I never did write to the NRA. After two days of working on the archive I realised I’d struck researcher’s gold, and wrote to Professor Dick Watson in the English Department instead. An MA by research grew to become an MLitt, and it was one of the highlights of my life to graduate in the Great Hall at Castle, not least because the degree was conferred by

HOW TREVS MADE ME A WRITER

Dame Margot Fonteyn, my heroine since suburban ballet classes aged five. I wrote an article about the Verdant Green books for the Hippocampus back then. It was a rather more modest publication in those days, all in black and white.

I eventually reworked my thesis as a special supplement for the Durham University Journal, and though I no longer

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I also write novella-length fiction as Kate Zarrelli (some of it a tad post-watershed) and have published a number of short stories both as Katherine Mezzacappa and Katie Hutton, both literary and popular. In addition to my HR job (now part-time) I work as a manuscript assessor for a consultancy and a professional writers’ organisation, and as a critiquer of short stories for an online publisher.

work in that field, it still gives me great pleasure to find my small monograph cited in academic texts. I’ll never forget the party in Cosin’s Library for the book on a January night of heavy snow, yet so many old Durham friends turned up nevertheless.

After Durham I worked in the museum sector in London for a couple of years, before going to Edinburgh and starting a new career in Human Resources, working for a local authority, Johnson & Johnson and in consultancy. A transfer of my husband’s job as a lecturer in Italian took us to Canterbury, and it was there that I studied for a taught Masters in Creative Writing at Canterbury Christ Church University, whilst still working full-time. I didn’t however really write in a sustained and consistent way until about four years ago, as moving to Italy in 2006, raising a family and earning a living had taken precedence, but once I started again I couldn’t stop.

My début historical novel, The Gypsy Bride, writing as Katie Hutton, was published in June 2020 by Bonnier Zaffre, with a sequel to follow in 2021. Set in the aftermath of World War I, The Gypsy Bride describes what happens when a young woman in a close-knit evangelical Primitive Methodist community in rural Oxfordshire meets an itinerant farm-worker, a Gypsy; their relationship meets with opposition on all sides. Love and culture clash are themes that run through a lot of my fiction. I’m quite sure this has something to do with coming from County Antrim.

Though the connection might not look obvious, I couldn’t have written this book without Durham. I’ve remained in regular

Love and culture clash are themes that run through a lot of my fiction

Everything for a writer is useful

contact with my MLitt supervisor, Dick Watson, and with Beth Rainey from Palace Green Library, for all the years after leaving Durham, and have regularly returned – though only recently did Beth and I discover that we shared a Latin teacher in a Belfast grammar school (I was terrified of him). Professor Watson in retirement has become a noted hymnologist (as editor of the vast online Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology), and there is really nothing he does not know about the history of Methodism. The Primitive Methodists united with other Methodist churches in 1932, but as they were active also in mining communities and in Trade Unionism, traces of them are to be found right across the North-East; the Durham Miners’ leader Peter Lee was also a Primitive Methodist preacher – and was of Romani descent. There were three ‘Prim’ chapels in Durham City alone. I’m a strenuous researcher when writing historical fiction, and Professor Watson was able to point me in the direction of all manner of sources, not least the books that ‘Prims’ would themselves have read; in that way I was able to come much closer, I believe, to how my characters thought and felt, living in what is now to us a vanished world. LP Hartley was absolutely right when he began The Go-Between with the words ‘the past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.’

In writing about Romani people, I was faced with a rather different challenge; so much that has been written about the Gypsy community has not been written by Gypsies themselves. Those I met down a leafy lane in Kent, could not have been kinder or more helpful. ‘We don’t really read,’ they said, but referred me to a Professor Emeritus of Romani Studies (Thomas Acton) who kindly read my early drafts and gave me invaluable insights that helped to drive the plot.

I’m currently writing a novel based in Barrow-in-Furness after World War II, polishing the sequel to The Gypsy Bride (set in 1950s Nottingham) and revising a very different novel that I think of as a Renaissance #MeToo, based on a true story (helped by my first degree subject area; everything for a writer is useful). I don’t think I’d have been able to do any of this without the formation I had at Durham. The discipline and analysis involved in producing an original piece of research in the MLitt has shaped me as a fiction writer, and in my preference for writing historical fiction.

I should have been in Durham in September 2020 as one of the organisers of the Historical Novel Society’s annual conference. This has now been postponed to 2022. I am longing for that return visit, with luck bringing with me more published books.

Katherine MezzacappaTrevelyan College 1985-87

Alumna of 1984 (French), I’ve been living and working in France for 30 years. I live in central Paris near to the Parc Monceau with my daughter aged 7 who goes to a French school. Before lockdown I often went to the theatre; the Comédie Française puts on contemporary and classic French plays and the acting is usually excellent. I love walking around central Paris and discovering hidden courtyards and plaques telling you which illustrious person once lived there. Recently I discovered a building where Picasso had a workshop for 10 years and painted his ‘Guernica’.

Most of our friends are French/international and we are well integrated into French society. We are also members of an English speaking community called Message.org - a great way to meet other families and do activities together such as Trick or Treating for Hallowe’en. Interestingly, we met another graduate from Durham (Castle), Antoinette Hudson, through this group.

I have also been lucky to visit the Ardèche region of France, which has interesting limestone landscapes, many gorges and deep caverns including the Grotte Chauvet 2. It is a replica of the Chauvet cave discovered in 1994 and contains beautiful pre-historic animal drawings in the rock of lions, horses and bison. A friend of mine, Liz Robinson, (also a Trevs alumna from 1984) had special permission to see the original paintings with some journalists, I’m very envious!

Catherine LynchTrevelyan College 1981-84

Alumni

LIVING THE PARISIAN LIFE

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To include an announcement in the next Hippocampus please contacttrevelyan.development@durham.ac.uk

She took an early interest in international development and joined the small committee raising funds for the Korogocho School Project, a Durham student project supporting a school in a poverty stricken corner of Nairobi. With a few Durham students she travelled to Kenya to learn what the school required and helped provide new toilets and other facilities with money raised at University. Helen was living in London with her partner Ben Kerawala, who was also at Trevelyan from 2011-14. She had only been working with BRAC for a few months after a successful three years with the National Autistic Society. One of her colleagues sent a lovely memorial for her funeral saying “Helen approached everything with a can-do attitude, she was committed, passionate, vibrant, caring and fun. But, what most impressed me was her commitment and compassion for helping people who are so very vulnerable.”

Her family, partner and friends are raising funds to help run a charity project in her name. The link to the Just Giving page is:www.justgiving.com/fundraising/brac-fundraising-in-memory-of-helen.Thank you to anyone who knew her and helped make her time at Durham and Trevelyan so special.

Paul and Cynthia Turner

We are sad to report the death of Helen Turner who studied geography at Trevelyan from 2011 to 2014. Helen died in December 2019 whilst working for the international development charity BRAC in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Helen loved Trevs and thoroughly involved herself in everything that the college had to offer. She was a keen singer so took part in the musicals Annie Get Your Gun and Anything Goes, as well as regularly appearing at Trevs Unplugged events and playing with college friends at Trevstock. She also took part in the Live on the Hill concert singing with the College Orchestral Society.

Helen Turner18th March 1992 - 18th December 2019

Announcements

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Principal: Professor Adekunle Adeyeye Email: adekunle.o.adeyeye@durham.ac.uk

Acting Vice Principal: Dr. Rose Newman Email: rosalind.newman@durham.ac.uk

Assistant Principal: Deborah Monk Email: d.l.monk@durham.ac.uk

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