News from HughesNewsletter for Hughes Hall members

May 2009 Issue 10

May 2009 Issue 10

Hughes Hall is a vibrant, active and varied academic community, as the work of our Research Fellows demonstrates.

Amit Bhave, Department of Chemical Engineering, joined the College as Research Fellow after completing his PhD at Hughes. His research interests lie in development of ultra-low emissions technologies for transportation and applications. He is a technical manager for several government-supported collaborative research projects. As CEO, Amit manages business development and technological innovation for two Cambridge spin-out companies. 1

Francesco Bonaccorso, Department of Engineering, Electrical Division, recently joined the College. His field is nanotechnology and in particular, sorting of carbon nanotubes. These have enormous potential for applications in nanoelectronics and nanophotonics, such as ultra-high performance field effect transistors, conductive films, infrared emitters, sensors, and ultra-fast lasers for optical and telecommunication applications. 2

Elma Brenner, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow. She completed her PhD in medieval history, and is now working on leprosy in the medieval city of Rouen, France. She is interested in the social and religious response to leprosy, and how this compares to modern-day responses to disease. 3

Sohini Chakrabortee, Institute of Biotechnology, completed her PhD as a Cambridge Commonwealth Scholar, and is now a post-doctoral Fellow, investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying dessication tolerance, and identifying the genes whose products act as protectants against protein aggregation and DNA damage. Such products may be used to engineer stress-resistant cells or organisms leading to new methods of preservation, for example of food and biological materials. 4

John Durrell, Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy. John’s research interest is in the electrical properties of superconducting materials. This is important for the development of commercially practical coated conductor materials which can be used to transport power long distances efficiently without loss. Potential applications include moving power from, often remote, renewable sources to the national grid, and providing cheap magnets for medical scanning. 5

Sovan Sarkar, Department of Medical Genetics, came to Hughes as a Gates Scholar for his PhD. He has been working on signalling pathways which regulate autophagy (a protein degradation system), and identifying small molecule autophagy enhancers for accelerating the degradation of mutant proteins associated with the causes of neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s and Parkinson’s. 6

Viktor Korolchuk, Department of Medical Genetics, is studying intracellular protein transport and degradation pathways, with the aim of elucidating molecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of these cellular processes. He is hoping to identify the proteins which may potentially be used as targets in the treatment of such devastating illnesses as Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. 7

Hughes Hall Centre for Biomedical Science in Society Stephen John’s research interests are in the relationship between public health policy, political philosophy and the philosophy of science. In particular, he is interested in how claims about health risks should be established and understood, and in the ethical issues involved in imposing and reducing such risks. 8

Amit Pundik joined the College following two years at Balliol College, Oxford, writing a DPhil. He is interested in evidence, procedural law, medical law, legal theory and philosophy. His area of research is causation and the law of evidence, and he is particularly interested in the use of statistical evidence in court. 9

Adam Bostanci’s research explores the social dimensions of contemporary bioscience, in particular human genomics. Projects include the regulation of non-invasive pre-natal genetic tests and how patenting biomolecules other than DNA reflects the rapidly changing understanding of molecular biology. 0

From Superconductors to Medieval LeprosyA thriving academic community

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Progress on the LibraryCompletion date 22 May, 2009

Rafael Dinner, Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, came to Hughes via the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University.

In superconductors – materials that have no resistance to electricity – electrons pair up and flow effortlessly through the material. Unfortunately, heat can break up the pairs, so even the “high temperature superconductors” only work up to temperatures about half way between room temperature and absolute zero. We can’t even explain why they work up to these temperatures. But regardless of whether we fully understand them, we can use the materials to carry lots of electric current with no power losses, leading to various applications: power cables, electromagnets for MRI, energy storage, mobile phone towers. Most of these applications have not been realised yet because the materials, in practice, don’t seem to carry as much current as they should (before they stop superconducting and start dissipating energy). I’m trying to understand what limits the current they can carry and then come up with ways to improve this limit.

What brought you to Cambridge and Hughes Hall?I was keen to come to Europe and Mark Blamire’s group here was working in the area I was most interested in. I liked the egalitarian and inclusive aspect of Hughes. It’s good to meet people from other subjects; I’ve had many good conversations around the lunch table.

Farewell to Research Fellows Jennifer Bui and Natalie PlankJennifer and Natalie both made substantial contributions to the College during their time at Hughes and they will both be missed.

Jennifer is leaving us in order to work with the leading professor in her field at the University of Washington in Seattle. Jennifer graduated from the University of California and went on to complete her PhD in theoretical chemistry. She recently developed a successful new method of detecting amyloidogenic peptide segments in proteins and carried out cutting edge research with applications for drug delivery (two publications for the journal Nature are in preparation). She believes that computational chemistry and cellular bioinformatics will soon come together to address current and future challenging societal problems in biology and medicine.

Natalie is going to a post at the University of Wellington, New Zealand. She graduated in Astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh before completing an MSc and PhD in Microelectronics. In Cambridge she worked on the synthesis and characterisation of zinc oxide nanostructures, with the aim of developing low cost and environmentally friendly solar cells. Natalie recently organised a conference in Hong Kong for the Royal Society’s

Frontiers of Science programme, and was its overall Chair. She was also involved in gender awareness studies in science. Natalie is now hoping to work on nanowires and tubes as biomedical sensors for early disease detection.

Rafael with a materials growth chamber

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As a Fellow at Hughes, Ron contributes greatly to the College’s development and intellectual life. His career path has been idiosyncratic, interesting and distinguished, taking him from general medicine and neurology, through a law degree to public health, thence to Director of the PHG Foundation.

Ron’s current interests are in the relationship between clinical services and teaching and research, priority setting in health care, strategic planning, the law and ethics of medicine, and the translation of new technologies into clinical and public health practice, particularly genetic tests and molecular diagnostics. He has played a key role nationally and internationally, and holds an honorary Professorship at Hong Kong University. He is also the Chairman of GRAPH-Int, the public health genomics international network.

Ron started his studies in Cambridge as an undergraduate in Natural Sciences at Trinity College before going to the Middlesex Hospital in London to complete his medical training. In 1976 he returned to Cambridge to take up one of the original four University Lectureships established for the new Clinical School; his subject was neurology. Following accreditation in 1981, he left clinical

Ed White, Graduate Maths StudentWhat did you do before coming to Hughes?I graduated from Princeton in Economics then took a degree in Quantitative Analysis. I was an investment analyst for a total of 30 years, most recently as Managing Director at Lehman Brothers.

Why did you move to mathematics, and what were the challenges?Each area of maths has its own techniques and ‘flavour’, and I became very interested in pure mathematics. As a Wall Street analyst there were heavy demands on my time and it was hard to get to courses. I started distance learning and in 2003 I got onto the Masters course at the Georgia Institute of Technology and completed it through online video courses and conferences.

Why Cambridge? There is a much broader range of courses available than here than anywhere else. And, in my teens I had a year at a UK system college in Barbados (where my father worked for the Peace Corps), and found the experience more rigorous and intense than anything else. The best students there aspired to go to Cambridge and this put Cambridge on the radar screen for me. I visited a tech company here in the 80s and went to the Maths department to ask how to get in. So it was a long trek! I hope to go on to a PhD and then teaching and research.

Are you enjoying the experience? Very much. It’s challenging, as I expected, but exciting. Three things stand out: the teaching is superb, the students are inspiring to talk to, and you can pursue whatever you are interested in as the range of topics is so wide.

How do you find Hughes? I love the overall college experience. The social interaction is really important; there are extraordinary and interesting people here – students, Fellows and staff – who have come via different routes. And there are about 20 Part III Maths students, which is also a great boon.

Dr Ron Zimmern

Ian de Massini, Senior MemberThis past term saw Ian give three recitals on the fine Steinway piano in the Pavilion Room, featuring the music of Bach. Ian is performing the complete solo keyboard works of Bach from memory whilst also inviting professional instrumentalists with whom to perform Bach’s chamber works. Last term saw a capacity crowd listen to Bach’s first two Violin and Piano Sonatas, featuring Grant Newman (emeritus Hallé Orchestra): the remaining Sonatas will be performed over the next year. Other forthcoming concerts include Ian’s transcription of the orchestral works of the French impressionist composer Maurice Duruflé, alongside Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues.

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medicine, returning to Trinity to take the Law Tripos.

He then went on to train in public health medicine in 1983. He was appointed

Director of Public Health for Cambridge Health Authority in 1990. In 1997 he established the Public Health Genetics Unit with a small amount of funding from the local NHS, latterly through a Department of Health grant as part of the Genetics Knowledge Park programme. When this ran out in 2007 he metamorphosed the Unit into the Foundation for Genomics and Population Health.

Its multi-disciplinary team of experts – in

genetics, molecular biology, public health, epidemiology, biostatistics, law, philosophy, social science, education and public involvement – contribute to the analysis and synthesis of research evidence to develop and promote new services, influence policy makers and inform public debate. The Foundation is engaged in establishing international networks and links, working closely with colleagues in the USA, Canada, Europe and Hong Kong.

With their common fields of interest in science in society the staff at the PHG Foundation work closely with the Fellows in Hughes Hall’s own Centre for Biomedical Science in Society.

Dr Ron Zimmern, Executive Director, PHG Foundation (Foundation for Genomics and Population Health), Fellow, Hughes Hall

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Farewell to PhilipSince joining Hughes Hall in July 2007, Dr Philip Raymont has contributed immeasurably to the ethos of our community through his innovative and inspirational senior tutorship. All College members will miss his wisdom, compassion, and ready wit. In particular, his fellow Tutors lose the steadfast support and friendship they have been privileged to enjoy over the past two years. Following ordination into the Anglican Church at Selwyn College in April, Philip will take up his appointment as Senior Chaplain of Guildford Grammar School, Western Australia. Our best wishes go with him for his future vocation.

Jean Lambert, Fellow and Tutor

Centre for Biomedical Science in Society SeminarA packed and attentive audience took part in the seminar on Regulating the Forensic Use of Bio Information. Professor Hepple posed and discussed questions such as ‘Is the faith in new technologies like DNA justified? Should there be a compulsory or voluntary universal DNA database for use in the prevention and detection of crime?’

Born in South Africa, and active in the anti-apartheid struggle as an attorney at the Johannesburg Bar, Bob Hepple was indicted with Mandela and others on charges which carried the death penalty, but managed to flee the country. He was Chairman of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics (2003–2007) and chaired its working group which produced a report on the forensic use of bio information in 2007.

Hughes Hall City Lecture 2009Figures from business, government, finance, media and education gathered at Hughes Hall on Monday, 9 March for the 10th annual City Lecture, this year given by Dr Philip Augar. The lecture, entitled ‘Chasing Alpha: how reckless growth and unchecked ambition ruined the City’s golden decade’, was particularly pertinent in the current economic climate. Dr Augar offered some fascinating insights from his forthcoming book, which deals with the extraordinary history of the rise and fall of the City between 1997–2008. The speaker was well placed to comment on the current turbulent economic situation; he has a background in the City of London, where he worked for 20 years in the financial sector, and in Cambridge, where he was Bursar of St Catharine’s College. The 2009 lecture lived up to the high expectations set in previous years, and we expect that the City Lecture in our 125th anniversary year in 2010, will continue this strong tradition.

Hats Off SeminarProfessor Simon Croft, Head of the Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine, gave a seminar on the development of drugs to treat infectious and neglected diseases.

During the past year, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative and the World Health Organisation have again urged the G8 governments to support research and development for these diseases that impact millions of lives. New and better-adapted treatments are desperately needed.

In his discussion of why these diseases remain so neglected, Professor Croft took us through wide ranging areas of research: biological and medical sciences, economics, implementation research, behavioural sciences and ethical dilemmas. He brought an encouraging message of hope, describing a range of new initiatives intent on addressing these health inequalities, and impressed upon the audience a need for realism and pragmatism in this complex arena.

Professor Sir Bob Hepple QC

E-HugHEsTo receive News from Hughes by email and to sign up to the Hughes alumni e-bulletin (which lists all news and forthcoming events in a termly email), send your email address to the Development Office: development@hughes.cam.ac.uk

Development Office NewsOur Events and Communications Officer, Rachel Boston, is embracing a Hughesian tradition by taking up a place on a teacher training course. She starts at the Institute of Education in London in September. We are sure you will all want to join us in wishing Rachel well.

Franklin the HawkOur lithe and athletic (sic) undergraduate Admissions Tutor, Dr Mike Franklin, is in receipt of a signal honour in being made an Honorary Hawk. A Blue or half Blue is the usual prerequisite, but ‘an outstanding contribution to Cambridge sport’ can be cited for honorary status. ‘Doc’ himself is deeply appreciative, if somewhat stunned.

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Events Diary

THE MARGARET WILEMAN MuSIC SOCIETy – in the Pavilion RoomContact Kathy Hardy for the programme (kh343@cam.ac.uk)

HAT CLuB RESEARCH SEMINARSContact Kathy Hardy for details

MAy BuMPS Wednesday, 10 June to Saturday, 13 June, 2009

HuGHES HALL MAy BALLSaturday, 13 June, 2009

COLLEGE RECEPTIONSaturday, 20 June, 2009

JuDGE BuSINESS SCHOOL ALuMNI GRAND REuNIONThursday, 18 June, to Sunday, 21 June, 2009

JBS’s inaugural Alumni Reunion Weekend is a School-wide celebration as the Business School marks its 20th year. Drinks reception at Hughes – see below.

THE CAMBRIDGE PROMWednesday, 22 July, 2009

The BBC Proms will be celebrating Cambridge music and musicians. Composers such as Vaughan Williams and Stanford will be featured along with Sir Andrew Davis, Simon Keenlyside, Thomas Trotter, and College choirs. Hughes alumni are warmly welcome to attend the event – tickets can be purchased from the BBC, and the details are on their website: www.bbc.co.uk/proms Any alumni interested in meeting up before the concert please contact the Development Office.

ALuMNI WEEKEND EVENTS AT HuGHES12.15pm, Friday, 25 September, 2009

Lunch followed by a tour of the new Library, then a lecture given by Professor Ged Martin.

Do you have your ‘Passport to Pimlico’?The Hughes Hall May Ball will take place on Saturday, 13 June 2009, and promises to be a night to remember. The theme comes from the hilarious 1949 Ealing film comedy of the same name. There will be live music, plentiful supplies of food and drink, and a variety of entertainment throughout the evening to keep all those attending amused until dawn! If you would like to join Hughes Hall students, Fellows and friends at Passport to Pimlico, please send an email to mayballtickets@hughes.cam.ac.uk

For more information, see the Ball website: www.HughesMayBall.com

If you are interested in any of

these events please contact

the Development Office at

development@hughes.cam.ac.uk

Congratulations also to Ashwin Mathew (LLM 2006–2007) on the birth of his son Anand, on 2 February, 2009.

Congratulations to Philip Massey (PGCE, 1991–1992) on the birth his son Alfred William Orgill Massey on 5 April, 2009.

And congratulations of a different kind to Professor Alceste Santuari (PhD in Law 1990–1993), who has just been appointed Chief Executive Officer of FinDolomiti Energia srl.

Robert Harley (PGCE, 1975–1976) was installed as a Canon of St Ninian’s Cathedral in Perth, after a varied career including the Royal Navy and PhD studies in Classics and teaching.

Burhan Javaid (Economics, 2005–2008) has joined the United States Agency for International Development as an economist and economic advisor to the Government of Pakistan.

News from Hughesians

Calling all Hughes Hall JBS AlumniIn conjunction with Judge Business School Alumni Weekend, Hughes Hall would like to invite back to College all those Hughes Hall alumni who studied at Judge, for a drinks reception on Friday, 19 June. This event is also the launch of a new Hughes Hall Judge Business School Network, an alumni society and website which aims to foster links between current and former students. Fellows of Hughes Hall, Judge Business School representatives and current students will join alumni for early evening drinks in the Pavilion Room, between 4pm and 6pm (before the other events begin). If you would like to join us on the 19 June, please contact Rachel Boston on rb439@cam.ac.uk or +44(0)1223 334895.

Congratulations to Nidhi Singal and Amit Bhave, on the birth of Sahil Bhave-Singal on 24 March, 2009. Sahil is possibly the most ‘Hughes Hall’ baby ever, as his parents met here as students and both are now Fellows of the College.

Emily Macdonald updateEmily just missed out on reaching the penultimate round for astronaut training, but she has been encouraged to apply again. Meanwhile, congratulations on being this year’s UK participant on the Kennedy Space Centre’s medical elective programme.

We are very sad to announce that Dr Andrew Plater, Director of Studies in Mathematics at Hughes since 2003, died suddenly in April. Andrew cared for his students with a minimum of fuss and maximum care and efficiency, and his students held him in the highest regard. He will be much missed and our thoughts are with his family.

We were saddened to hear of the death of Clare Findlay (née Fanshawe), PGCE student 1965–66. Our thoughts are with her husband John and the rest of the family.

This year’s MBA cohort

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Roll of HonourThe following elections and awards have been made: ELIZABETH CHERRy RESEARCH STuDENTS’ MAJOR SCHOLARSHIP Mr Haider Butt PhD in Engineering

NEW FELLOWS Professor Peter Gronn Faculty of Education

City Fellow Mr Ian Peacock Chairman of Mothercare

Research Fellows Dr Francesco Bonaccorso Dr Elma Brenner Dr Viktor Korolchuk

NEW SENIOR MEMBERS Dr Philippa Brice Dr Hilary Burton Mr Paul Chinnock Ms Shelley Gregory-Jones Mrs Alison Hall Mr Richard Pryce-Jones Dr Caroline Wright

Senior Associate Mr Mark Beilby

Ibraheem Haneef, Department of Engineering – a rare distinctionIbraheem, a PhD student in the High Voltage Microelectronics Group, is the first student from the UK to win a best paper award at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Sensors conference – the most prestigious international forum for the presentation, discussion, and exchange of information in this field. His paper was one of the six finalist student papers selected by a panel of international experts. The authors each gave a special presentation and the best three were chosen based on originality, quality of research work and quality of written and oral presentation.

The novel flow sensors developed by Ibraheem have outstanding performance compared to conventional sensors. They have potential applications in the aerospace industry. Due to their extremely small size, they can also be used for prognosis and diagnosis of coronary artery disease. A number of companies have shown keen interest in using the sensors and they are being commercialised by Cambridge Enterprise.

Ibraheem is a lifelong Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust which has provided funding. He came to Cambridge with his family from

the National University of Sciences and Technology in Lahore, Pakistan. He plans to return there to a university post, but hopes to continue his link with the research group in Cambridge.

Hughes Hall Boat Club SuccessesWomen’s Head of the River Race – 7 March, 2009The Women’s VIIIs Head of the River Race is a huge and thrilling international event, where 300 boats race along the Thames in an attempt to be crowned Head of the River. 2009 was the first year that the Hughes Hall/Lucy Cavendish Combined Boat Club has entered – and the only Club to enter 2 eights. It’s an extremely daunting race, 4.25 miles over the notoriously choppy Tideway water – our women handled it superbly. The first VIII were placed 147 out of 291 boats, beating the likes of Sidney Sussex, Peterhouse and Girton. Our second VIII were placed 279, a fantastic result as they were all complete novices in September. The great performance was the product of many hours of hard work by the rowers, coxes and coaches – congratulations to all involved!

Lent Bumps 2009The men’s and women’s First VIIIs represented Hughes Hall in the demanding four day event (24–28 February), achieving the same result: two bumps and two row-overs each. Though everyone wanted blades, neither of our boats suffered any bumps. How many colleges can say that?

Hughes at the 155th Boat Race The College was well-represented again on Boat Race Day. Six Hughesians survived the arduous months of training with two, Tom Ransley and Deaglan McEachern, rowing in the Blue Boat itself. Both came to the College as affiliated undergraduates. Shane O’Mara, cruelly robbed of his Blue last year at the 11th hour by illness, sat at 5 in Goldie, which was stroked by Fred Gill. They were joined by two more of our affiliated students, Code Sternal and John Clay. Commiserations to all concerned that the results were not quite what we wanted.

The College Visitor meets Goldie boat

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Sovan Sarkar’s images from the light show at the start of the university’s year long celebrations of its 800th anniversary. For more information about the 800th anniversary events, and to register, visit www.800.cam.ac.uk

Katrina Ffrench, Social and Political SciencesWhat did you do before you came to Hughes?

I got several GCSEs and went to college to do A levels. But there were some family problems and I left home and then college. I got a full-time job, working as a cashier, and living in King’s Cross. It was hard and I decided that this wasn’t how I wanted to live. I applied for college again but had to wait a year so trained as a beauty therapist. Then I started an intensive one year course but discovered that it wasn’t appropriate for what I wanted. The college had assumed I wasn’t trying for As! So I wasted a year, but when fees came in it spurred me to apply to Cambridge, so it now seems a good thing.

What inspired you to go for higher education?My dad. He and my mum lived together until I was 10 and it was a good family environment. Despite his lack of education, Dad read the broadsheets, including the Financial Times. And my grandparents – they emigrated from Jamaica in 1959/60 and had a strong work ethic. They never used benefits, and always said ‘don’t give up – go for it’. Dad was always pushing education and reading dictionaries and encyclopaedias. And Mum had perseverance.

Why Cambridge?I wanted to do law at first – I like arguing! – but I changed when I became interested in social policy and politics, so the Social and Political Sciences course was best for that.

What did you think of the college system and Hughes?Before coming here I didn’t understand the nature of the colleges – I was just happy to be at Cambridge. But Hughes is the best place to be in Cambridge. It’s informal, friendly and very diverse – I love it.

What’s been most memorable?People and friendships. Being a student mentor for the University Admissions Office in the widening participation scheme. Working as a Teaching Assistant on the Japanese summer school course. It’s the best job I’ve had. It was demanding but made me a better, more rounded person. I’ve also been back to my old school to give a talk. And I’ve been in a film ‘We are the people of the future’, whose aim is to reach out to young people and show them that even if you have made mistakes you can move on and achieve.

800th anniversary lightshow

Memories of Hughes HallSince we launched our request for your memories of Hughes Hall in the last edition of News from Hughes, we have received a great number of reminiscences. The correspondence ranges through the decades: with memories of rationing from those who came to Cambridge Training College, as Hughes was still known immediately after World War II, to recollections of the construction of the Fenner’s building from those who graduated in the past few years.

However, although there are many marked differences between memories of those from different years, there are similarities too. It seems that the thread which binds all Hughesians together is the fond memories of the friends made at College; although many remember Formal Halls, music concerts, cricket and parties, all remark on the lasting friendships created during that time.

The memories will form a valuable part of the archive we are creating in preparation for the celebration of Hughes’ 125th Anniversary in 2010. Please continue to send them to us, either via email: alumni@hughes.cam.ac.uk or in the post: Alumni and Development Office, Hughes Hall, Cambridge, CB1 2EW.

Photos sent in by (top) Barbara Graebe (1948–1949) and (middle and bottom) Rebecca Jacobs (1993–1994).

May 2009 Issue 10

Tony was elected to the Royal Society in 2003. The Society cited his internationally recognised contributions to the study of learning and memory in both humans and animals. His work on human causal judgements established a previously unsuspected dependence on associative learning, and the innovative behavioural paradigms he established are now in widespread use by others. His findings have led to a new theory of incentive learning and to important clinical insight into the circumstances that lead to compulsive drug-seeking. His work with Nicola Clayton on mental time travel in animals opened a new perspective; they presented the first clear evidence that animals can form episodic-like memory representations. Tony has won several awards for his research and has made a lasting contribution to the teaching of psychology.

What interested you in psychology?I started out studying engineering, but then got talking to psychologists and decided to change direction. You can see the influence of my original discipline in that I take a reverse engineering approach to psychology – going from behaviour to the mechanisms of the mind and brain.

What is the basis of your work?I work at the biological end of psychology, studying the minds of both humans and animals. The intellectual challenge was,

and still is, immense: to understand how the ‘wiring’ and activity of the brain leads to psychological processes such as memory and reasoning.

As a comparative psychologist I use animal models to understand fundamental processes that can be related to human behavioural patterns. Over many thousands of years the psychological foundations of the ‘stone age’ Homo sapiens mind has been submerged by a complex, culturally endowed superstructure of cognition. It would be fascinating to study the early human hunter-gatherer mind, but as that is not possible we have to work with other animal ‘minds’, unelaborated by language and sophisticated cultural experience.

How can this work benefit society?Achieving clearer insight into the psychology and neurobiology of the mind has potential benefits for human mental health and welfare. In particular, work on episodic memory, which is vulnerable to brain damage and ageing, may help in establishing a neurobiological basis for memory and amnesia. The work with animals, which demonstrates their reasoning abilities and consciousness, also has implications for animal welfare.

Turn glitter balls into books ...When Dr Ray Godwin (Vice-President of Hughes Hall) needed to buy a glitter ball, he chose to buy it through Amazon and benefit Hughes Hall.

Whenever you buy anything through Amazon, from text books to toasters and from disco balls to dictionaries, please use the link on the Hughes Hall website home page. A percentage of the purchase price goes to the College library, at no extra cost to you. The additions to the library’s book stock will be appreciated by current and future students.

… and help Hughes receive extra funding

If you have never donated to Hughes before, then there has never been a better time to make that first gift. Under the new UK Government Matched Funding Scheme for universities, all gifts from new donors will unlock additional funding for the College from the Government. The extra funding

will be used for student support – an essential part of Hughes’ current work.

Contact the Development Office for further information about the Government Matched Funding Scheme

and the Amazon Associates Scheme.

May 2009 Issue 10

News from Hughes Editor Annemarie YoungDesign by Andy Wilson (andy@andywilson.biz)

Contact us with your news at Hughes Hall, Cambridge CB1 2EW; by email at development@hughes.cam.ac.ukPhotographs courtesy of Sovan Sarkar, Ray Godwin and contributors

Printed in England

Professor Tony Dickinson – Mind Mechanics and Time Travel

Mental Time Travel – Scrub JaysA ‘Holy Grail’ of comparative psychology is to discover whether there are basic cognitive capacities that are uniquely human. Ever since Aristotle, it has been argued that all other animals are locked in the present. Although they can readily learn many facts about their world, what they cannot do is travel back in their minds to recollect specific past experiences (episodic memory), nor travel forward in time to anticipate the distant future (future planning). Of course, many behaviours, such as nest building and migration, appear to require future planning when, in fact, they are just innate responses to environmental stimuli. However, in a series of ingenious experiments, Tony and his colleague Nicky Clayton demonstrated that a bird from California, the Western Scrub Jay, stores or caches food by anticipating its future needs and, moreover, uses recollection of the caching episode to locate its caches when recovering the food.

Professor of Comparative Psychology, Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow, Hughes Hall, with Scrub Jay