Alumni

Errollyn Wallen (KC 1999) has been appointed President of The Royal Society of Musicians to succeed Dame Judith Weir (KC 1973).

One of the most widely acclaimed contemporary composers, Errollyn was the first woman to win an Ivor Novello Award for a body of classical work, and the first black woman to have a composition played at the BBC Proms. Her music, often inspired by the River Thames, has been performed at the opening ceremony for the 2012 Paralympic Games, as part of the 2022 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols service, and even played in outer space.

She has established herself as a composer of international stature, a pianist and vocalist, a broadcaster and communicator and as a teacher and enabler of other musicians. The Royal Society of Musicians looks forward to the next stage in its long history under her Presidency, which marks the third successive Master of the Queen's/King's Music to hold the position, following Dame Judith and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies CH CBE.

Upon taking up the role of President, Errollyn said:

I am delighted to be succeeding Dame Judith Weir as President of The Royal Society of Musicians which provides such valuable support to musicians who are unable to work through accident or illness. I look forward to fulfilling my role and supporting this amazing charity in its vital and significant work for the musicians of the UK.

Speaking upon the completion of her Presidency, Dame Judith said:

It has been one of the great honours of my life to represent RSM as its President during the last decade. The Society is exceptionally well administered, and completely focused on its main charitable purpose. It is highly professional and yet instantly responsive to any musician who needs its help. I have found it enriching to better understand the changing landscape of musicians’ lives via RSM’s all-round view of our profession. I am therefore delighted that Errollyn Wallen CBE will now assume the role - we are all indeed fortunate that this inspirational and generous composer has agreed to take over RSM’s Presidency in the coming years.

The Royal Society of Musicians is the UK’s oldest music charity, set up in 1738 to support musicians in need. Today, it provides financial assistance, advice and guidance to music professionals across the UK who are unable to work due to physical or mental ill health. Open to all music professionals, it supports performers, teachers, technicians, administrators and everything in between, whatever genre they work in. RSM provides grants for physical and emotional therapies, access to specialist practitioners and short-term living expenses. 

Our congratulations to King's alumnus Richard Farnes (KC 1983), who has been awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for services to music in the New Year Honours list for 2026.

Richard’s distinguished career spans both symphonic music and opera. He was a Chorister in the King's College Choir before entering Eton College as a music scholar in 1977. He returned to King's as Organ Scholar in 1983, and later studied at the Royal Academy of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the National Opera Studio. He has conducted a wide range of orchestras in the UK and across the world. With the BBC Symphony Orchestra he has appeared at the BBC Proms in London and at the Dubai Proms. From 2004 to 2016 he was Music Director of Opera North in Leeds.

Cambridge researchers have found a new way to produce human blood cells in the lab that mimics the process in natural embryos – a discovery that holds potential to simulate blood disorders like leukaemia, and to produce long-lasting blood stem cells for transplants. 

University of Cambridge scientists have used human stem cells to create three-dimensional embryo-like structures that replicate certain aspects of very early human development - including the production of blood stem cells.

These structures, which the scientists have named ‘hematoids’, are self-organising and start producing blood after around two weeks of development in the lab - mimicking the development process in human embryos. They differ from real human embryos in many ways, and cannot develop into them because they lack several embryonic tissues, as well as the supporting yolk sac and placenta needed for further development.

Hematoids hold exciting potential for a better understanding of blood formation during early human development, simulating blood disorders like leukaemia, and for producing long-lasting blood stem cells for transplants.

The human stem cells used to derive hematoids can be created from any cell in the body. This means the approach also holds great potential for personalised medicine in the future, by allowing the production of blood that is fully compatible with a patient’s own body. The new method mimics the natural developmental process, based on a self-organising human embryo-like model, where the cells’ intrinsic support environment drives the formation of blood cells and beating heart cells within the same system.

The findings are published today in the journal Cell Reports.

Professor Azim Surani, Emeritus Fellow of King’s, Director of Research at Cambridge’s Gurdon Institute and senior author of the paper, said: 

This model offers a powerful new way to study blood development in the early human embryo. Although it is still in the early stages, the ability to produce human blood cells in the lab marks a significant step towards future regenerative therapies - which use a patient’s own cells to repair and regenerate damaged tissues.

Professor Surani is the winner of the 2025 Kyoto Prize in the Life Sciences and Medicine. Read more about his work and this prestigious award here.

Image above shows day 2 hematoids: human stem cells start to self-organize into three-dimensional clumps establishing primary germ layers, including endoderm (red), ectoderm (green) and mesoderm (blue) derivatives. Primary germ layers give rise to all the tissues and organs of the body.

The exhibition ‘Andean Contours – University Buildings’ by José Cruz Ovalle will run until 28 September, exploring Chilean architecture and reflecting on the connections between architectural design and higher education.

José Cruz Ovalle is a renowned Chilean architect who has worked internationally, with projects in Spain, Argentina, Colombia, and, of course, his home country of Chile. This exhibition highlights two university campuses he designed and built in Santiago and Valparaíso.

For this installation, the easels that previously supported the ’50 Portraits’ exhibition have been transformed into a new structure. This time, they carry a bespoke design made of pliable wood, forming a meandering surface. The images are carved—not printed—onto specially coated wooden panels, and every element has been carefully designed and 3D-printed to honour the unique architecture of the Chapel.

Exhibition Opening

Monday 1 September 2025

King’s College Audit Room (from 5pm)

King’s College Chapel (from 6pm)

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On Tuesday 2 September José Cruz Ovalle, Peter Clegg (designer of Stephen Taylor Court), and Michelle McNamara (Pritzker Prize Laureate) will present their work, focusing on university buildings.

These events are organised by Dr Felipe Hernández and supported by King’s College Cambridge and the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez.

Created by the King's E-Lab, in partnership with Founders at the University of Cambridge, SPARK will act as an entrepreneurial launchpad. This programme will offer hands-on support, world-class mentorship and practical training to enable world-changing ventures covering challenges such as disease prevention and treatment, fertility support, and climate resilience. The combined networks of successful entrepreneurs and investor alumni and venture-building expertise brought by King’s E-Lab and Founders will address a critical gap to drive innovation. 

More than 180 applications were received for SPARK 1.0, reflecting strong demand for early incubation support. Of the 24 selected companies, focused on AI, machine learning, biotechnology and impact, 42% are at idea stage, 40% have and early-stage product and 17% have early users. Around half of the selected companies are led by women. Four of the startups are founded by King’s students.  

The intensive incubator will run for four weeks from the end of August. Each participant will receive specialised support from Founders at the University of Cambridge and King’s E-Lab mentors and entrepreneurs-in-residence to turn their concepts into companies that can attract both investment and ultimately grow into startups capable of driving economic growth. 

The programme is free for students graduating in summer 2025, postgraduates, post-docs, researchers, and alumni who have graduated within the last two years. This is made possible through University funding as well as a generous personal donation from Malcolm McKenzie (KC 1977), Chair of the E-Lab’s Senior Advisory Board.  

Kamiar Mohaddes, Co-Founder and Director of King's E-Lab, says: 

Cambridge has been responsible for many world-changing discoveries, but entrepreneurship isn't the first thought of most people studying here. Driving economic growth requires inspiring the next generation to think boldly about how their ideas can shape industries and society. We want SPARK to be a catalyst, showing students the reality of founding a company. We look forward to seeing this cohort turn their ambitions into ventures that contribute meaningfully to the economy.

King’s is taking part once more in Open Cambridge, the initiative that offers special access to the extraordinary spaces and places in Cambridge that are normally closed to the general public or charge admission. 

On Wednesday 17 September the College Library and Archives will host an exhibition to mark two hundred and fifty years since the birth of Jane Austen. The free exhibition will showcase first and early editions of the author’s well-known novels, the autograph manuscript of her unfinished novel Sanditon, and various documents that highlight the Austen family’s connection with King’s.

Wednesday 17 September, 10.30am-4pm 

King’s College Library

PLEASE NOTE: Access for this event is via the gate on King’s Lane (between Queen’s Lane and King’s Parade)

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Earlier this year, the autograph manuscript of Jane Austen’s final novel, Sanditon, went on loan to Harewood House in Yorkshire as part of their exhibition Austen and Turner: A Country House Encounter.

The Sanditon manuscript was given to King’s College in 1930 by Jane’s great-great niece Mary Isabella Lefroy, in memory of her sister Florence and Florence’s husband, the late Provost Augustus Austen Leigh (1840-1905), who was one of Jane's great-nephews.

Now in its second year and established by renowned concert pianist and writer Susan Tomes (KC 1972), the Susan Tomes Prize for Music aims to recognise the positive impact that all forms of music have on the King’s community. Nominations are invited from Fellows, staff and students who had been moved by a moment of music making by a student of the College. 

The winners of the 2025 Susan Tomes Prize are MPhil student Cristóbal Palisson (who has since graduated) and fifth year medic James Wang. They received a cash prize and a copy of Susan’s book The Piano: A History in 100 Pieces. 

Cristóbal (MPhil in Classics) was nominated for being “invaluable in resurrecting the Provost’s Lodge series”. Those nominating him mentioned that Cristóbal "has programmed a long series of engaging and enjoyable concerts. His passion and enthusiasm for the concert series is outstanding and when on occasion he has played piano in one, it has always been beautiful.”

James received the award with the following citation: “James Wang has excelled in countless classical, choral, and jazz settings at King’s as a talented pianist, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, but what is truly unique about James is his capacity to create an encouraging, inclusive, and meaningful environment for music making. James is undeniably a highly-skilled musician, and each time I have heard him play I have been astounded by his technique and emotional expression. More poignantly, though, when playing in 'Jazz Reflections' organised by James last term, I witnessed firsthand his open-mindedness, kindness, and nonjudgemental nature.”

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Susan Tomes was the first woman to read music at King’s, arriving in 1972 as part of the first cohort of female undergraduates. She is one of the UK’s most renowned concert pianists and the author of seven books. Her most recent, Women and the Piano – a History in Fifty Lives, goes hand-in-hand with her performances of music by female pianist-composers who have historically been neglected.

Chris Micklem has been awarded a £500,000 research grant from the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA), the largest award size possible for the grant.

A huge congratulations to Chris Micklem who has been awarded a £500,000 research grant from the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA), the largest award size possible for the grant.

It comes as a part of ARIA’s Programmable Plants opportunity space, led by Programme Director Angie Burnett, and it aims to support explorations into how we can programme plants to remove more CO₂, fight drought, and deliver medicines to those in need.

Chris, a King’s E-Lab Research Associate and a postdoctoral researcher at the Sainsbury Laboratory, is seeking to pioneer a new direction in synthetic biology through the design of gene circuits that use noise, instead of suppressing it. By embracing stochasticity, not fighting it, the aim of Chris’s project is to program plants more robustly and more effectively.

In this era of increasing climate instability, such unexplored approaches may hold the key to enabling a more sustainable coexistence of humanity with the planet and, for Chris, it is hoped that his project will help accelerate progress towards such a future.

Chris’s work has also been showcased for his use of AI as a part of a deep neural network-based approach to facilitate more effective use of photosynthetic bacteria for climate positive purposes.

Alongside James Beattie and Charles Emogor, Chris joined Coco Newton, Nadia Mohd-Radzman and Ismail Sami as E-Lab Research Associate this year. Read more about their work here.

On receiving the award, Chris said:

It is a huge privilege to be selected for ARIA’s Programmable Plants Opportunity Seed. What is so exciting about ARIA’s approach is the direct mandate to turn ambitious science into real-world solutions to humanity’s greatest challenges. This focus, coupled with the King’s E-Lab’s invaluable support, provides the perfect environment to pursue both groundbreaking research and its commercial potential, to drive transformative change.

About ARIA:

ARIA is an R&D funding agency created to unlock technological breakthroughs that benefit everyone. Created by an Act of Parliament and sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, we fund teams of scientists and engineers to pursue research at the edge of what is scientifically and technologically possible.

The Reverend Canon Dr Hueston Finlay will succeed the Reverend Dr Stephen Cherry in 2026

King’s College is delighted to announce that Hueston Finlay, Vice-Dean of St George’s Chapel, Windsor, and Warden of St George’s House, has been appointed as the next Dean of Chapel. He will take up the post following Stephen Cherry’s retirement in January 2026.

Dr Finlay has been a canon at St George’s Chapel since 2004 and been the Warden of St George’s House since 2008, which convenes discussions on major social and ethical issues. He had previously been Dean of Chapel at Magdalene College, Cambridge and Chaplain of Girton College. He holds degrees from Trinity College Dublin in engineering and theology, a doctorate in philosophy from King’s College London and has studied pure mathematics at the Open University. He is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen.

“King’s College Cambridge is one of the world’s leading academic establishments. Since 1441, education, religion, learning and research have been at the heart of its ethos. I look forward very much to joining the College, to working once again with students, and to immersing myself in the endeavours of this very special place. It will be a great privilege and a personal pleasure to be part of such a renowned institution.” -  Hueston Finlay.

Provost Gillian Tett commented “We very much look forward to welcoming Hueston Finlay to King’s as Dean of Chapel in the new year. I’d also like to thank Stephen Cherry for his many years of service to King’s, first as Chaplain between 1989 and 1994 and as Dean since 2014.”

Axo Neurotech, Cambridge Mobilytics and CAST Energy have been awarded prizes by the judging panel.

We are delighted to announce the 11th year of awards under the College’s annual entrepreneurship competition, intended to encourage King’s members (past and present) to develop their entrepreneurial ideas and convert their creativity and knowhow for sustainable commercial and social benefit.

This year’s top prize, with a value of £20,000, has been awarded to Axo Neurotech, a £10,000 second prize goes to Cambridge Mobilytics, and CAST Energy receives the third prize of £5,000.

Founded by Dr Amy Rochford (KC 2018, Engineering) and Nathan Jackrazi (KC 2018, Engineering), AxoNeurotech is on a mission to build a seamless natural interface. Axo's next-generation neural interface uses cutting-edge material science and a biology-first approach to solve the problem of integrating electronics with the body, with the clear aim of improving patients' lives. 

Listen to Amy here sharing her journey from academia to industry, focusing on neurotechnology's potential to transform treatments for brain and nervous system injuries.

Eliott Fournet (MBA student) founded Cambridge Mobilytics to aggregate underutilised charging data from electric vehicle infrastructure operators across Europe to create valuable predictive models and market intelligence. The company acts as a trusted intermediary, purchasing and standardizing charging data to offer (among other things) clean datasets for car manufacturers and financial institutions.  

CAST Energy is the early-stage startup led by Chris Tagnon (MPhil student in Industrial Systems, Manufacture, and Management) and Joseph de Solages. It offers a solar power generation system, designed for easy implementation in remote areas thanks to its containerized format. This innovative system is fully modular and transportable in a standard 20- or 40-foot container that can generate up to 240 kW and offer an impressive storage capacity of 960 kWh, surpassing most of the solutions on the market. The system is perfectly suited to transform access to clean energy in places previously difficult to equip.

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The Entrepreneurship Prize competition was established in 2014 with a gift from Stuart Lyons CBE (KC 1962) and culminates each year in the ‘Lyons Den’, where finalists present their full business plans to an expert panel.

If you would like to find out more about the King's Entrepreneurship Prize and how to enter the competition, please email enterprise@kings.cam.ac.uk

Professor Surani is to be honoured with a Kyoto Prize by the Inamori Foundation for his significant contribution to the scientific betterment of humankind. The prize presentation will take place in Kyoto on 10 November.

Professor Azim Surani, Emeritus Fellow of King’s and Director of Research at the Gurdon Institute, is the winner of the 2025 Kyoto Prize in the Life Sciences and Medicine for his discovery of genomic imprinting in mammals and elucidation of its molecular mechanisms.

His research demonstrated that both paternal and maternal genomes are indispensable for normal mammalian development and subsequently discovered genomic imprinting that confers specific modifications and complementary functions to each genome. Furthermore, he has played a pioneering role in elucidating its underlying mechanisms, thereby making contributions to foundational scientific insights across a broad spectrum of life science fields.

On being awarded the Kyoto Prize, Professor Surani said:

I am deeply honoured to have been awarded the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences for my discovery of genomic imprinting in mammals nearly four decades ago – a discovery that was unexpected, opening up exciting new avenues of research, including epigenetics and human development that we have since pursued.

It has been a tremendous privilege to work with many exceptional young scientists in my laboratory, and I am immensely grateful to them for their invaluable contributions.

You can read more about Professor Surani’s research and the 40th anniversary of his discovery here, and hear him talk about his Journey of Discovery.

The activities of the Inamori Foundation reflect the lifelong beliefs of its founder that “people have no higher calling than to strive for the greater good of humankind and society” and that “the future of humanity can be assured only through a balance between scientific progress and spiritual depth.” The Foundation seeks to promote international mutual understanding and actively contributes to peace and prosperity among all people on earth. It does this through activities of public recognition, research grants, and social contributions towards creative activities to foster science, culture, and the enrichment of the human spirit.

Dominic Richards (KC 1987) is recognised for his longstanding charitable work and leadership in heritage-led regeneration and sustainable urbanism, Michael Downes (KC 1987) for services to music and education, and Ruth Marshall (KC 1991) for services to evidence-based policy-making and innovation.

Our congratulations to the King's alumni who have been recognised in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours:

Dominic Richards (KC 1987) has been appointed a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) for his longstanding charitable work and leadership in heritage-led regeneration and sustainable urbanism. He is the Co-Founder and Chair of Our Place, a development company dedicated to creating walkable, mixed-use neighbourhoods that prioritise local character, sustainability, and social cohesion.

Having served as Vice Chair of The Prince’s Foundation, Dominic is currently Chair of The King’s Foundation Australia and a Trustee of The King’s Trust Australia. Under his stewardship, projects such as The Prince’s Terrace in Adelaide—Australia’s first 6 Star Green Star residential development—and the regeneration of Hillview, a historic rural estate in New South Wales, are bringing to life His Majesty’s principles of heritage led regeneration and place-making, championing traditional skills, environmental responsibility, and community wellbeing.

In receiving this honour, Dominic paid tribute to King’s and to the Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture, where his commitment to sustainable places and public service first took root:

King’s instilled in me the belief that beauty, community, and legacy matter — that we shape our places, and in turn, they shape us. That belief was given form at The Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture, founded by His Majesty 35 years ago, where I was taught the principles of sustainable place-making — ideas that were then visionary and are now, thankfully, gaining wider acceptance.

Dr Michael Downes (KC 1987), Director of Music at the University of St Andrews, has been awarded an OBE for services to Music and Education.

Ruth Marshall (KC 1991) has been awarded an MBE for services to Evidence-based Policy Making and Innovation. Ruth is Head of Futures Capability at the Government Office for Science, and her role focuses on building cross-Whitehall skills in futures and foresight, a strategic reform priority for the civil service identified in the Integrated Review (2021).

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Former Headmaster of the King's College School Nick Robinson has also been recognised with an OBE for services to Disadvantaged Young People, to Charitable Fundraising and to Music. Nick is the co-founder and chair of Future Talent, a charity supporting young musicians across the UK. 

A rare and significant archive of Alan Turing's unpublished Second World War papers has found a permanent home at King's.

Following his ground-breaking work on the Enigma machines at Bletchley Park, in 1943 Turing (KC 1931) turned to building a portable voice encoder for short-distance transmission to be used in military operations. The project was code-named 'Delilah'. With the help of electrical engineer Donald Bayley they built a single prototype to encipher a speech for transmission via a telephone line or VHF radio link with accurate and complete reproduction at the other end.

During the development work at Hanslope Park, now the home of HMGCC (His Majesty’s Government Communications Centre), Turing and Bayley kept a logbook of their experimental results. Bayley also kept handwritten notes of lectures Turing gave to interested Hanslope Park engineers about the mathematics behind the project, along with loose pages of diagrams, calculations, explanations, and other electronic and mathematical theorems and problems.

Unpublished evidence of Alan Turing's work has rarely survived, and the papers were at risk of leaving the country unless a UK institution or individual tried to purchase the items and retain them in the UK for the public to enjoy. The notebooks were saved thanks to a major donation from trading firm XTX Markets, Friends of the Nations' Libraries, and further support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and King's College.

"It’s brilliant news that the Friends of the Nations’ Libraries charity has successfully campaigned to save Alan Turing’s vital notebooks. Turing was not only a pioneering figure in science and mathematics, but also a national hero” said Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport Lisa Nandy.

“This is a powerful example of what can be achieved when private and charitable sectors come together. After a government export ban was placed on the notebooks, this collaboration has ensured that these treasures will be preserved for years to come.”

The papers consist of more than 40 pages of unpublished ‘Delilah’ project notes written by Alan Turing and Donald Bayley and are the most important archive of Turing material to come to auction. They will join the largest collection of Turing-related documents at King’s College, Cambridge. Once digitised they will become part of the Turing Papers online archive, freely available to scholars and students around the world.

Alex Gerko, Founder and co-CEO, XTX Markets said, “The 'Delilah’ papers are a unique collection of notes from one of the nation’s greatest mathematicians. It’s important that this archive remains in the UK and is made publicly accessible, so we are thrilled to be part of that effort.”

Alan Turing arrived at King’s as an undergraduate in 1931 and was made a Fellow in 1935, maintaining a lifelong connection with the College. The Turing Archive was founded in 1960 following a donation of his papers by his mother, Sara Turing.

“Alan Turing’s work laid the foundations of computer science, artificial intelligence and much of our modern world. We are honoured to house the ‘Delilah’ papers at King’s and are deeply grateful to our partners in this endeavour, particularly XTX Markets, Alex Gerko, and the Friends of the Nations’ Libraries,” commented King’s College Provost Gillian Tett.

Geordie Greig, Chair of Friends of the Nations' Libraries said: “This extraordinary private donation means that crucial papers written by one of Britain’s geniuses have been saved and can be studied at Cambridge. It is a wonderful act of generosity by XTX Markets and Alex Gerko and we are delighted to have played a part in bringing together this brilliant collaboration between XTX Markets and King’s College, a centre of academic excellence to save our heritage."

Ash Simkins’ review of over 67,000 animal species has found that while the natural world continues to face a biodiversity crisis, targeted conservation efforts can be successful.

The study draws on data from the IUCN Red List, the world’s largest database of species conservation status. The researchers say their results, reported in the journal PLOS Biology, highlight both the successes and the need for urgent action.

The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge with the IUCN, BirdLife International, and Oxford and Durham Universities, used Red List data to assess whether conservation measures had been put in place, and whether those actions had a positive impact on a given species’ conservation status.

“We found that almost all the species that have moved from a more threatened category to a less threatened category have benefitted from some sort of conservation measures,” said lead author Ash Simkins, a PhD candidate in Cambridge’s Department of Zoology. “It’s a strong signal that conservation works.”

While there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution, the researchers observed some connections between conservation success stories. Many of these species live in isolated areas, such as islands, where intensive conservation efforts – such as habitat protection, captive breeding and reintroductions – can be fully implemented.

“While biodiversity loss is a genuine crisis, it’s vital that we celebrate the success stories wherever and whenever we can,” says Ash. “It’s so hard for a species to improve its conservation status, but with the right effort, we can turn things around.”

The Iberian lynx, once the world’s most endangered cat, has rebounded from just a few hundred individuals to a few thousand. And the European bison, which was hunted to extinction in the wild in the early 20th century, now roams parts of Eastern Europe thanks to sustained conservation efforts over decades.

Ash states that like human healthcare, preventative measures in conservation are preferable and more cost-effective to emergency interventions:

“Humans have gotten pretty good at what could be considered ‘A&E’ conservation – focusing on species at very high risk of extinction. What we’re less good at is preventing species from becoming threatened in the first place. We need to move beyond treating the symptoms of biodiversity loss and start addressing the root causes.”
Ash also emphasises the need for collaborative, locally driven conservation. “It’s vital that we as conservationists are working with stakeholders, rather than dictating to them, whether that’s an Indigenous community in Papua New Guinea or a farmer in Somerset. Conservation doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game – there are compromises that can benefit both the natural world and human society.”

Young people facing disadvantage from Middlesbrough and the surrounding areas will have a significantly enhanced opportunity to attend higher education, thanks to a new children’s education centre in the heart of the town.

The new education facility, which officially opened on 25 March 2025, is jointly funded by education charity IntoUniversity, and King’s College Cambridge, celebrated an opening event at its centre in the Wrkspace on Linthorpe Road. King’s has been committed to student outreach in the North East of England for more than 20 years and works with a number of secondary schools in the region to encourage talented students to pursue further study.

The centre employs four full-time members of staff and will be used to offer after-school academic support, mentoring with local university students and professionals, in-school aspiration-raising workshops and enrichment and work experience opportunities.

Middlesbrough is an IMD (index of multiple deprivation) decile 1 area, meaning it’s among the 10% most deprived places nationally. The local progression rate into higher education is just 20%, compared to 44% of students nationally, making the area a prime location for an IntoUniversity centre.

Attending the event were around 20 students aged 7-18 who are set to benefit from the centre for the next academic year and beyond, with some of them delivering speeches.

Primary school students took part in a variety of activities during the event replicating the type of activities they will be engaging with in the year ahead. Secondary school students posed questions about future study and careers to attending guests.

IntoUniversity has a proven track record of improving attainment into higher education for students facing disadvantage, and currently supports over 56,000 young people each year at their 44 centres nationwide.

58% of students who attend IntoUniversity centres go on to progress to university, compared with 29% of students from similar backgrounds nationally. The Middlesbrough centre builds on work the organisation already does in the North East through its centres in Newcastle and Hull, among others.

“We’re delighted to be collaborating with IntoUniversity to support the foundation of their new Middlesbrough centre,” said King’s College Provost, Dr Gillian Tett. “King’s has long-standing connections to the North East through our schools’ outreach work in the region and see this as a valuable opportunity to further support talented young people and their aspirations.”

Dr Rachel Carr, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of IntoUniversity, said:

“Middlesbrough is a place very close to my heart, as my parents were from the town and I still have many family and friends here. It therefore gives me great pleasure to be able to open a centre here, and to be partnering with King’s College Cambridge to deliver a programme which will have a lasting impact for young people in Middlesbrough.

“We look forward to working closely with local schools, parents and carers and of course the amazing young people who are the heart and soul of these centres. Young people in Middlesbrough have so much talent, but circumstances can mean their opportunities to reach their full potential are limited.

“We believe that with the right support these young people can thrive in their educational journeys and ultimately reach positive post-school destinations. Thanks to our partner, King’s College Cambridge, and to everyone else who has made this centre possible.”

The final of ‘Take it to the Bridge’, the annual popular music competition, took place on 7 March at the Cambridge Junction.

Second year Music student Kenzie Robertson performed alongside her band members and lead singer Iona Luke delivering a show-stopping set that won over the audience and the panel of judges, chaired by BBC Radio 1 Music Editor Matt Fincham and including Anton Browne (The BRIT School), Rebecca May (Cambridge 105), and Damien Yare (Warner Music Group).

As well as Iona Luke, student bands Garbhán McEnoy, Hot Content, and Postbox had also been selected to participate in the final of 'Take it to the Bridge' after a hot-contested first round in Michaelmas Term. A total of 20 Cambridge students from 16 colleges battling it out in the annual University’s band competition, with hundreds of students and local residents packing the Junction.

The winning act walks away with an artist support package which includes professional studio time, a photoshoot, industry mentorship, and the opportunity to record and release two songs of release quality. Last year’s winner, Quasar (with King’s medic James Wang on keyboard), had the opportunity to perform for an audience of thousands on the main stage of the Cambridge Club Festival.

“We are all absolutely thrilled to have won the ‘Take it to the Bridge’ competition. It was an incredible night, core memories for all of us, sharing huge amounts of joy and pride. The atmosphere was amazing, and all the bands went to the pub together afterwards - it was a special night where music brought all of us and our friends and families together" says Kenzie "We are so excited for the recording sessions coming up, and I personally can’t wait to see where Iona’s song writing takes her - I really believe she is something special.”

Image: Kenzie with her band and Iona Luke photographed by Chris Loades

UK-based students studying at sixth form (or equivalent) level, regardless of subjects studied, are welcome to enter.

 The King’s Entrepreneurship Lab (E-Lab) is delighted to introduce the third edition of the Entrepreneurial Essay Competition. The purpose of the competition is to encourage UK-based students to pursue entrepreneurial aspirations and understand better how to launch an enterprise. The E-Lab is particularly keen to foster this entrepreneurial spirit among students who might not traditionally consider entering the world of business and hope this competition encourages more young people to apply to Oxbridge and Higher Education.

 E-Lab associate Rhys Williams says “after the success of last year’s competition, where we received hundreds of fantastic essays exploring the entrepreneurial spirit, we are very excited to be launching the competition again! We look forward to reading the amazing essays and to welcoming the prize winners to the College in autumn”.

 Students should choose between one of the three possible essay questions exploring the importance of entrepreneurialism and the challenges that business people face. UK-based students currently in years 11, 12 and 13 in England and Wales; S4, S5 and S6 in Scotland; or years 12, 13 or 14 in Northern Ireland - regardless of subjects studied - are welcome to enter the competition. A winner, and two runners-up, will be invited to King’s College for a prize-giving ceremony in autumn, and the winner will receive a cash prize of £1,500, with each runner-up receiving £750.

The deadline for entries is 25 July 2025. The choice of questions and full details on eligibility and the rules can be found on the E-Lab website here. You can find the essays written by last year’s fantastic winners here.

 Read more about the E-Lab and sign up to their newsletter here.

Nazdar Ayzit and Aaron Huq joined King’s in October, to study for one-year MPhils in Economics and Modern South Asian Studies respectively. Both want to use their time at King’s and their own experiences to help create change and develop a greater understanding of the economic and social realities that drive global inequalities.

Nazdar is a Kurd, and grew up in Turkey. With her MPhil she is studying issues of low social trust among discriminated and marginalised minorities. 

‘When I first heard back about the Quantedge Foundation’s decision to grant me the scholarship, I had to check the email a few – or a few dozen – times to make sure I was not delusional! How could I be so lucky, in a world that has so little compassion for, or even knowledge of, the Kurdish existence. With this opportunity I want to look at what factors determine the observed social distrust of discriminated minorities – and how development policies can drive sustainable growth by winning back that trust.’

Aaron is from Bangladesh originally. Their research focuses on indigenous lives and voices in South Asian history, whose history is often forgotten or forcefully removed from the mainstream narrative. Aaron’s hope is to continue with a PhD, and ultimately an academic career.

The Quantedge-Cambridge Refugee Scholarship at King’s is now in its fifth year. It was first awarded in 2020, and is available annually, in support of students who have come from regions of instability or conflict. Applications for the academic year 2025/2026 are now open.

On 8 October 2024, Geoffrey Hinton (KC 1967) was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, alongside John Hopfield, for their foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.

Machine learning based on artificial neural networks is currently revolutionising science, engineering and daily life. It has long been important for research, including the sorting and analysis of vast amounts of data. John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton used tools from physics to construct methods that helped lay the foundation for today’s powerful machine learning.

When we talk about artificial intelligence, we often mean machine learning using artificial neural networks. This technology was originally inspired by the structure of the brain. In an artificial neural network, the brain’s neurons are represented by nodes that have different values. These nodes influence each other through con­nections that can be likened to synapses and which can be made stronger or weaker. The network is trained, for example by developing stronger connections between nodes with simultaneously high values. This year’s laureates have conducted important work with artificial neural networks from the 1980s onward.

Geoffrey Hinton used a network invented by John Hopfield as the foundation for a new network: the Boltzmann machine. This can learn to recognise characteristic elements in a given type of data. Hinton used tools from statistical physics, the science of systems built from many similar components. The machine is trained by feeding it examples that are very likely to arise when the machine is run. The Boltzmann machine can be used to classify images or create new examples of the type of pattern on which it was trained. Hinton has built upon this work, helping initiate the current explosive development of machine learning.

Following a long career in academia and a decade at Google, in which he became known as "the Godfather of AI" and won the Turing Prize, he resigned from Google in 2023 and has been speaking publicly on the risks he sees AI posing. He visited King's in May 2023, seeing material newly acquired by the Turing Archive and his old room on X Staircase in Bodley's Coujrt before giving a talk to a packed audience with the University's Centre for Existential Risk.

smart_displayGeoffrey Hinton - Two Paths to Intelligence

Our congratulations to King's alumna Errollyn Wallen CBE (KC 1999), who has been appointed Master of the King’s Music by King Charles.

One of the most widely acclaimed contemporary composers, Errollyn was the first woman to win an Ivor Novello Award for a body of classical work, and the first black woman to have a composition played at the BBC Proms. Her music, often inspired by the River Thames, has been performed at the opening ceremony for the 2012 Paralympic Games, as part of the 2022 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols service, and even played in outer space.

Following the appointment, Errollyn said "It will be a privilege and a great honour to serve His Majesty The King, the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. I look forward to championing music and music-making for all." 

Errollyn will succeed Dame Judith Weir (KC 1973) who was chosen by Queen Elizabeth II in 2014 and was the first woman to hold the role.

You can read more about this recent appointment here, and listen to Errollyn talking about her influences and experiences on BBC Sounds. 

We are delighted to announce the tenth year of awards under the College’s annual entrepreneurship competition, intended to encourage King’s members (past and present) to develop their entrepreneurial ideas and convert their creativity and knowhow for sustainable commercial and social benefit.

This year’s top prize, with a value of £20,000, has been awarded to Flare, a £10,000 second prize goes to EduVantage, and CellaNexa receives the third prize of £5,000.

Founded by recent graduates Gabriel Brown (KC 2020, Theology), Morgan Saville (KC 2020, Computer Science) and Geno Racklin Asher (KC 2020, Mathematics), Flare builds custom safety apps that help universities, colleges and schools safeguard students and promote a positive brand image. By selecting from their menu of pre-built feature modules, clients can order a safety app that is tailored to their unique needs. While all the maintenance and technical details are handled by Flare, institutions can enjoy full ownership and control over their app. The service is scalable and cost-effective.

Flare’s initial market is the secondary and higher education sector in the UK, but there are also significant growth opportunities in construction and the public sector, as well as in many businesses that employ lone workers.

Presented by Sonia Ramanah (KC 1995, Social and Political Sciences), EduVantage is a School Information Management System (SIMS) suite designed to streamline, unify and simplify administrative and educational processes, with features and functionalities that meet the diverse needs of students, teachers, administrators and parents. As an off-the-shelf, accessible, cost-effective, agile and user-friendly SIMS, EduVantage is uniquely positioned for UK small schools who require flexibility in timetabling and student admissions and progressions as well as Less Developed Countries with limited digital resources, connectivity and skills. The software was originally developed by a London school as an innovative solution to meet its requirements to track, assess, manage and monitor the diverse needs of the vulnerable students on its roll, after a scan of the existing SIMS marketplace identified a gap in the market. 

CellaNexa is a business idea led by Wennan Sun (KC 2022, Economics) which hopes to revolutionize drug delivery. Its AI-powered protein engineering platform is designed to harness the unique properties of self-assembling proteins from long terminal repeats (LTR) retrotransposons. The platform expertly identifies these proteins and refines them through advanced machine learning-driven design techniques. It develops protein nanoparticles that excel in targeting ability, payload capacity, immune evasion, and manufacturability, specifically focusing on targeted delivery to brain and cancer tissues.

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The Entrepreneurship Prize competition was established in 2014 with a gift from Stuart Lyons CBE (KC 1962) and culminates each year in the ‘Lyons Den’, where finalists present their full business plans to an expert panel.

If you would like to find out more about the King's Entrepreneurship Prize and how to enter the competition, please email: enterprise@kings.cam.ac.uk

Read about past winners of the Entrepreneurship Prize here.