Saturday 4th October 2025
Blog Page 319

The four-day working week: A new way forward?

Zara Arif
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The four-day working week: A new way forward?

Imagine working reduced hours over a four-day week and having a three day weekend, every week.  

It seems like a radical idea, one that is far removed from the current obsession with grind and hustle culture which praises having little to no work-life balance as the ultimate manifestation of a ‘successful’ young professional. But, in the aftermath of the pandemic, could the four-day working week be the perfect solution to maximise productivity and worker satisfaction? 

In essence, the four-day working week would mean that employees would work reduced hours without a cut in pay. As we emerge from the pandemic which saw millions of people forced to work from home for nearly two years, this may be a welcome change. Working from home over such a long period of time made a lot of employers realise that their companies can function without employees being on site and many have continued working from home despite restrictions being lifted. This means working practice has changed monumentally since the beginning of 2020. The four-day working week may be the next natural progression as the pandemic and multiple lockdowns gave people time to reflect on their lifestyles, with many realising that they need to prioritise their mental health and well-being by achieving a more rounded work-life balance. The four-day working week would provide employees with more free time outside of work, with no loss in pay. It seems like the next best step for governments and businesses to take if they would like to sustain a happy and motivated working population following such difficult and precarious times.  

But is there any proof that the four-day working week actually achieves anything? Well, between 2015 and 2019, the national government in Iceland conducted a study which saw 1% of its working population, across a variety of sectors, be given a reduction of weekly hours. The experiment was a huge success as it saw an increase in productivity, well-being and workplace morale. It also led to long-term changes as a large majority of the current working population now works permanently reduced hours. 

Elsewhere, the company Unilever also carried out an experiment in which it made its employees in New Zealand work for four days without pay reductions. Again, this test had a positive outcome as employees got 20% more work done and they reported their stress levels to be dramatically lower. Off the back of these experiments, other countries such as Spain, Ireland and Scotland are also trialling four-day workweeks, encouraged by the positive outcomes both economically and in terms of worker welfare. 

So it seems that many countries are enchanted by the prospect of a four-day working week. This does not mean, however, that it is the perfect solution across all economies and sectors, such as healthcare or hospitality. With the implementation of a four-day working week, many businesses and companies would still expect their employees to carry out the same amount of work as a 40 hour week. This would mean drastically changing working practices to maximise efficiency and prevent office workers, for example, having to go home and continue working in order to keep up with the workload. Such a change would need time to implement into different business models and is not something to be taken lightly.  

Despite this, as we leave the pandemic behind, there is no doubt that we have learnt a lot about working practice. Economists use ‘productivity’ or the ability to produce a certain amount of goods and services per hour as a tool to forecast economic growth. So in order for employers to be persuaded by reduced hours it may be important to reconsider the ways in which we work. At Microsoft Japan, meetings were capped at 30 minutes to ensure that they were as efficient and effective as possible. This idea of efficiency is something that has gained momentum during and after the pandemic as many people have realised that many things can be communicated and achieved simply over an e-mail or short message.

Another consequence of the pandemic is also an increased importance on well-being and mental health. If the working week is more productive but less strenuous in terms of hours and physical hours spent in the office, employee well-being is more likely to improve. A three-day weekend also gives employees more free time to spend with family or pursue hobbies. The four-day week would work particularly well in corporate sectors, sectors in which graduates report quickly experiencing burnout just a few years after getting their first job.

The feeling of control over our schedules and lives outside work is definitely something that everyone wants regardless of what stage of their career that they’re at and as the various experiments across the globe show, the four-day working week can provide just that. Many changes are on the horizon after the pandemic and perhaps the biggest one should be the way in which we work. It’s never been more appropriate to look after ourselves holistically and a big part of this will come from striking a good balance between our professional and social lives.

Image: Martin Vorel

Matt Hancock, Gavin Williamson, and Sir Roger Penrose among speakers at Oxford societies this term

Caitlin Russell
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Matt Hancock, Gavin Williamson, and Sir Roger Penrose among speakers at Oxford societies this term

A number of interesting speakers have been announced to speak at various Oxford societies. Speakers include politicians, acclaimed writers, and Nobel Prize-winning scientists. Most events are open to anyone interested for free.

The Oxford University Conservative Association announced that Matt Hancock and Gavin Williamson will both be speaking this Michaelmas term.

Gavin Williamson was Education Secretary from 2019 to this year, most notably during the A level results scandal in 2020. He will be speaking on the 4th November.

Matt Hancock will speak on the 18th November. Hancock served as Health Secretary for the first year of the coronavirus pandemic before resigning after being caught breaking social distancing rules with his aide.

On the 2nd November Sir Roger Penrose, winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics, will give an online talk to the Oxford University Physics society.

In the 6th week of Michaelmas Term, the Oxford Diplomatic Society have invited a panel of ambassadors from countries hit worst by climate change to discuss the outcomes of the COP26 summit.

Oxford Women in Business have invited André Borschberg, CoFounder of the Solar Impulse project. This project involved completing the first round-the-world flight on a solar-powered aeroplane.

The Oxford University Labour Club have invited Wes Streeting, Shadow Secretary of State for Child Poverty to speak in the 5th week of term. Tan Dhesi MP will speak in the 7th week of this term.

Hosts of the Hurly Burly Shakespeare Show, Jess Hamlet and Aubrey Whitlock will speak online to the Oxford University Media Society about the making of their hit podcast. The podcast was founded in 2017, and discusses a play of Shakespeare or one of his contemporaries every week.

Judy Smith, Kirsten Walkcolm, and Jack Kelly will also be speaking to the Oxford University Media Society. Smith and Walkcolm are President and Executive vice-President of the strategic advisory firm Smith and Company. Jack Kelly is founder of TLDR news UK.

On the 3rd November Cornelia Funke, bestselling children’s author of Inkheart and Dragonrider, will speak online for the Oxford University German Society about her life between Germany and the US, as well as on her new Artists in Residence centre.

Alexander Weber, chief growth officer at one of Germany’s most successful start-ups N26 will speak to the Oxford University German Society.

Robert Watson, chair of the IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem services for the UN) will give a talk on making peace with nature on the 25th October for the Oxford Biological society.

British mathematician Kevin Buzzard will speak to the Oxford University Mathematics Society on the 2nd November.

Dr Karen Miga, leading genomics expert at the Telomere-toTelomere Consortium will talk about their grassroots effort to complete the mapping of a human genome for the Oxford Biology Society.

Dr Baland Jalal, a researcher at Harvard University, will talk about dreams and sleep paralysis to the Oxford Psychology society, the time is yet to be confirmed. The event is free for members and £2 for the public.

Image: Number 10 / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via Flickr

Interviews to be online for second year running

Maurício Alencar
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Interviews to be online for second year running

Admission interviews for 2022-23 entry will be held online at the end of this year for the second year running. This comes as there are still various uncertainties concerning COVID-19 going into the winter. 

Online interviews will take place on Microsoft Teams. Some applicants may require touch screen devices or a basic universal stylus for their interviews.

The University stresses that “no candidate or their school will be expected to purchase a touchscreen device in order to participate”.  In cases where candidates or schools are not able to meet the University’s technology requirements, “colleges will discuss alternative arrangements” to find a solution. 

Interviews are expected to take place throughout December. This would be in accordance with interview timings of other years.

All candidates are instructed to have some plain paper and a pen, access to pre-reading for the interview, and a copy of their personal statement.  Some candidates may be asked to use interactive tools during their interviews. Some tools include adding text to shared platforms between the interviewer and the candidate, using ‘draw’ tools to highlight work or annotate work, and sketching diagrams or writing formulae.

The extent of technology an applicant is required to have will depend on which course they are applying to. Technology requirements have been divided into three separate tiers. 

In tier 1, candidates will only need a computer, with speakers, a microphone, and a webcam. Some of the courses in this tier include Biology, English Language and Literature, and Medicine. 

In tier 2, candidates will need access to an Interactive Virtual Whiteboard, in addition to a computer. The Virtual Whiteboard will be accessed through the website or app Miro. The University advises that student access Miro on the same device as that which they are accessing Microsoft Teams. Some of the courses in this category include Music, Economics and Management, and Biochemistry. 

In tier 3, candidates are required to access an Interactive Virtual Whiteboard via Miro and Natural Handwriting Capture using a basic universal stylus. For applicants to be able to use the basic universal stylus, they will need to have a large touchscreen device. Candidates may be asked to sketch diagrams and write out mathematical notations using a stylus. Courses requiring the use of a stylus and a touchscreen device include Chemistry, Engineering, and Mathematics. 

It is still unclear as to whether interviews for 2023-24 entry will be online again, or whether they will return to being in-person. Announcements will likely be made in the new year.

Image: Ninara/ CC BY 2.0 via flickr

Oxford Brookes plan for new student accommodation rejected again

Thomas Britton
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Oxford Brookes plan for new student accommodation rejected again

Oxford City Council have voted to reject a planning application submitted by Oxford Brookes University for the redevelopment of their student accommodation.

This is now the second time such an application has been rejected, despite the recommendation of the Council’s planning officers that the Council approve the application. In 2019 a similar plan was rejected unanimously by the council, with concerns raised especially over the height of the new buildings.

This time the Council was split, with four councillors voting in favour of approving the plan, and seven voting against. This delays the implementation of what the council set out in its ‘Oxford Local Plan 2036’, which intends to make the number of Oxford Brookes students living in private accommodation less than 4000.

The proposed plan would increase the number of students able to live on-campus in the Clive Booth Student Village, from the current 640 to around 1200, as estimated by the Local Democracy Reporting Service. The current buildings would be demolished, and twelve new ones built, each with six stories.

The Council had concerns that some of the accommodation, now approaching 30 years old, is outdated, and by moving more Brookes students, space at private accommodation would be freed up for Oxford residents.

However, the residents of the area raised concerns over the proposed height of the buildings and the over-shadowing of residential property that it would cause. Objections were also raised on the grounds that more students in the
area, and therefore greater footfall, would impact negatively on the nearby Headington Hill Conservation Area.

Tessa Hennessy, secretary of the New Marston Residents Association, commented to the Oxford Mail that “[Oxford Brookes University] did not take on local concerns from the webinars they held, and they came back with a set of plans… virtually the same as the last plans and it’s right that they’ve been thrown out again.”

The plans were slightly modified to reduce the height of some of the buildings and avoid overshadowing of allotments, and between the applications the university has submitted separate plans to improve the pedestrian link between the student village and the Headington Hill campus.

The university has said it “has reflected carefully on the questions and issues raised by the local community” and made “significant changes and improvements”. They say the benefits of the redevelopment for the local community include “helping to reduce pressure on local housing supply”, “helping to educe pressure on local transport systems” and “helping to provide improved facilities for Oxford Brookes University Nursery.”

There is certainly tension between the Council and its planning department, with Adrian Arnold, head of planning, telling the BBC that this rejection could result in a successful appeal, and there is a “high risk of costs being awarded against us.”

For now, however, Oxford Brookes is biding its time. They are “disappointed” at the decision, but “will now consider next steps in relation to this proposed redevelopment”.

Image credits: CC BY-SA 2.0

Oxford University launches new Oxford Pakistan Programme

Laura Abbott
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Oxford University launches new Oxford Pakistan Programme

Oxford University recently launched a major new initiative in education and public diplomacy. The Oxford-Pakistan Programme aims to increase and promote Pakistan-related activities at the University. Largely the invention of Oxford professor Adeel Malik, Dr Talha J. Pirzada, lecturer in material sciences, and Haroon Zaman, Oxford University graduate and former president of the Oxford Pakistan Society, the OPP will include various scholarships for graduate students, special lectures on Pakistan, visiting fellowships specifically for Pakistani faculty members, and the addition of a second Rhodes Scholarship for Pakistan.

Several new scholarships were announced at the OPP launch, which took place on 31st September at the Pakistan High Commission in London. Nobel laureate and Oxford graduate Malala Yousafzai announced the creation of a new scholarship allowing one Pakistani girl from an underprivileged background to study at Oxford each year. Mr Ahmed Owais Pirzada also announced the Jamal Scholarship in memory of Dr Ahmed Bilal Shah, a leading Pakistani doctor in Zimbabwe. Dr Tariq Zaman, orthopaedic surgeon and honorary senior lecturer at Imperial College, announced an annual graduate scholarship for Pakistani and British Pakistani students.

The program has already received strong support from prominent figures and organizations across the globe. Both the British High Commission in Islamabad and the High Commission for Pakistan in London pledged their support to the programme, as have many prominent members of the Oxford community. Thus far, the OPP has garnered over £500,000 in pledges for its first phase for the next five years. These funds have come primarily from Pakistani businessmen and important figures in the Pakistani diaspora in the UK.

Several key leaders in British and Pakistani politics praised the OPP for its strengthening the academic link between the UK and Pakistan. The OPP comes on the heels of a similar initiative implemented by Jesus College earlier this year to support year 12 British Bangladeshi and Pakistani students in their application process. The programme at Jesus College and the OPP reveal a growing concern for Pakistani representation at the University and an increased effort to unite the nations through education.

The university is currently in the process of finalizing all components of the Oxford-Pakistan Programme, but it is expected to go live in the coming months with the scholarships becoming active in October 2022.

Image Credit: Oxford University / CC-BY-SA-4.0

BREAKING: Allegations of financial and interpersonal misconduct lodged against OUCA President

Charlie Hancock and Sasha Mills
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BREAKING: Allegations of financial and interpersonal misconduct lodged against OUCA President

Cherwell can reveal that complaints have been made to the Disciplinary Committee against the President of the Oxford University Conservative Association, accusing them of financial misconduct and abusive behaviour towards other officers. They are also accused of violating a number of terms in the rules of the Association, including those that govern threatening to bring disrepute to the society, failure to fulfil duties of office, and abusive behaviour towards other officeholders attempting to fulfil their duties. 

The complaint alleges that the President made eight unauthorised transactions on the Conservative Association’s debit card between July 23rd and April 17th, totalling £76.50.

The rules which govern the expenditures by the association state that the President “shall be permitted to hold a debit card linked to the Association’s bank account for the purposes of paying for Association expenditure”. The complainant claims that by making these transactions, the President breached several clauses related to the Association’s finances, which is grounds for disciplinary conduct.

The complaint claims that the President “attempted to downplay the severity of his actions” by saying that he reimbursed the account “as soon as he was made aware of the payments he had made”. According to an audio recording submitted as evidence, after being asked when the money was paid back, the President said it was only repaid after the Treasurer saw the account’s bank statements. The complainant says that because the bank statements were not received until after the Association’s 0th week Council, “the President was not telling the truth”.

The documents claim that the President tried to “justify his mistake” by saying that they taps their wallet to complete contactless payments. He is alleged to have said this during the 2nd week Council meeting. The complainant said that although this “may not have been done with malicious intent”, that did not excuse the matter since the President could have removed the Association’s debit card to prevent accidental contactless transactions.

The complainant says that by using the Association debit card for personal expenses, the President has “substantially failed to fulfil his duties” and “committed actions which may serve to bring the Association into disrepute. 

Following the claims of financial misconduct, the complainant goes on to describe behaviour by the President that they describe as “abusive”. Part of the document is dedicated to the election of the non-executive officer roles at the start of Michalemas term. Members were invited to elect officers to the role, and when a candidate that the complainant claims the President favoured was not elected, they began “raising his voice and shouting across council in a very intimidating manner that he was incredibly ashamed of the committee for how they had voted, that the way they voted was unacceptable and that there is no choice for him but to keep bringing the motion back every single week this term until he gets his way.” 

The complainant goes on to suggest that “Following this council meeting, I received multiple screenshots from people receiving messages from [the President] demanding to know who they voted for”. Cherwell has seen messages that appear to corroborate this claim, as well as messages that appear to threaten the complainant prior to the election. The complainant suggested that this particular set of events demonstrated misconduct under parts of the society’s section 5(1)(a), a set of terms governing disciplinary misconduct that includes behaviour that might bring the society into disrepute, failure to fulfil duties of office, breach of the University’s Integrated Equality and Diversity Policy, and abusive behaviour towards other officeholders.

Furthermore, the complaint alleges that the President showed “appalling disorganisation”, which led to events including the Fresher’s Drinks and a Wine, Cheese and Poker social being postponed. It says that the President’s “negligent behaviour” was “incredibly embarrassing for the Association”. One incident cited took place in first week, when the location of a speaker event with Colonel Richard Kemp CBE “kept changing right until the last meeting”, leading to confusion of whether it would take place on the main-site of Exeter College or in Cohen Quad, and a low turnout of attendees.

The full findings of the disciplinary procedures will be released next week.

The President was approached for comment, but declined due to OUCA rules preventing committee members from speaking to the press.

Image Credit: Oxford University Conservative Association / CC BY-SA 4.0

Oxford Union announces response to Equality and Access Report

Charlie Hancock
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Oxford Union announces response to Equality and Access Report

The Oxford Union has released a public response to an Equality and Access report, which recommends that the society adopt a series of reforms to improve their procedures and governance.

The report was commissioned after Ebenezer Azamati, a graduate student from Ghana who is also blind, was forcibly removed from the chamber in 2019, and had proceedings brought against him for “violence and dishonesty”. The proceedings were dropped, and Mr Azamati settled with the Union out-of-court. Brendan McGrath, the then President of the Union, resigned following the scandal.

Doughty Street Chambers carried out an analysis of the Union’s rules and practices, and produced a report listing 81 recommendations for the society to implement. The Union accepts 77 recommendations “in their entirety”, and “all 81 in some form”. Some of the reforms will need to face a vote from members of the society.

An executive summary of the report, cosigned by the Union President Chengkai Xie, and President-Elect Molly Mantle, was announced in the chamber before a debate on the motion “this house would give up liberty for safety” was held.

“The recommendations have provided us with much useful insight and the valuable opportunity to examine our practices and procedures. There is a real appetite for reform amongst committee members and we look forward to implementing these changes. We understand that alongside implementing immediate changes, we must commit to long term action and will be patient whilst we achieve it,” the summary said.

Section four advised the Union on how to use the Equality Act 2010 “as a basis for procedure”. The Union said they would do so, and introduce “impact assessments as a basis for future decision making.

The Union said they accepted “all recommendations” in the report to create a “welcoming and inclusive culture”. This is set to begin by adopting a “new statement of expected standards of behaviour”, which would be implemented in conjunction with reforms to their disciplinary procedures.

The report also advised the Union on how to make the leadership of the society “more accessible”, and provided a series of recommendations for committee members. The Union said that committee members already undergo “mandatory training”, but accepted recommendations made in the report such as moving training to an earlier point in term and expanding its content.

Section 10 of the report focussed on the experiences of members and guests. This included a review of how accessible the Union is to disabled people, and recommended that the membership fee structure should be removed. The Union said they are “taking steps to restructure [their] membership”, including highlighting the option to pay the membership fee of £286.34 in instalments.

Section 10 also recommended that the Union produces a new “consideration of how events with ‘controversial’ speakers may effect the experience of members”. The union said they have “begun discussing the best way to restructure our invitations process, in order to better assess the impact speakers may have”.

The report also recommended that the Union implement a variety of policy changes to “improve the working environment for the Society’s paid staff”. The Union said they would work with stakeholders to create these policies, and ensure they were in line with wider equality and access aims.

President of the Oxford Union, Chengkai Xie, told Cherwell: “Many members will recall the events of Michaelmas Term 2019 surrounding the mistreatment of Mr Ebenezer Azamati, which led to significant public criticism of the Union and the resignation of the then-President. That did not showcase the Union at its best. We have reflected on our practices. 

“Following the incident and the subsequent proceedings, the Union commissioned an in-depth review of our rules and practices by experienced barristers.  Recognising the significance of the review, we are making the Executive Summary of the report, containing all the recommendations, fully available on our website.  I am tonight also pleased to be able to announce the publication of our official statement responding to the review.  We wholeheartedly welcome the review and have already begun addressing many of the problems it identifies.  

“Some of the changes we hope to implement will require the support of this House.  I would now like to ask you for that support, as we look to the future.  I hope that you will be compelled by our commitment to reform when these improvements are brought to a vote.  

“I thank my committee for their vigour and contribution. I especially owe my debt of gratitude to my successor Molly Mantle, my Development Officer Amy Gregg, the Most Senior Deputy Returning Officer Eden Smith, and the Ex-Returning Officer, Daniel Dalland for their continuous support. 
I am excited to be President at this time of change. I will dedicate my term of office to making the Union a more inclusive and welcoming place.”

Image Credit: NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Oxford4Nature to hold Alice in Wonderland themed Protest

Eva Bailey
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Oxford4Nature to hold Alice in Wonderland themed Protest

Climate action group Oxford4Nature will demonstrate in Oxford city centre this Saturday, dressed as Alice in Wonderland characters. The protestors will meet from 12 noon in Broad Street, before making their way through the City Centre.

The Alice in Wonderland theme has been chosen to represent the ‘madness’ of not taking action. Each character draws attention to a different issue. Alice herself will symbolise the children whose futures are endangered by the climate crisis.

Other characters present at the protest will include The Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter.

This protest aims to draw attention to the lack of climate policy from Oxford City Council. Speaking with Cherwell, Lucy Grabe-Watson, founder of Oxford4Nature, said, “We will be demanding that the council put the climate and biodiversity emergency at the heart of all decisions and policies.”

More specifically, campaigners will demand that all new public transport is net zero emissions, and that green spaces are only developed when brownfield site alternatives have been exhausted.

Oxford4Nature was established in August, with previous protests held in August and September. Its members come from XR, Friends of the Earth, Only One Oxford, and other smaller campaigns.

The campaign’s first two protests were in opposition to the plans of Oxford City Council to develop in several green places in the city, including a field off Meadow Lane in Iffley Village, and land off Mill Lane in Marston.

This is in line with one of the campaign’s key aims: to put the climate and ecological emergencies at the centre of decision making.

Nuala Young, from Oxford, protested earlier this year to save Redbridge Meadow from development. She said the council wasn’t doing enough to tackle climate change.

Ms Young particularly criticised the lack of green spaces in the city. She said, “Oxford City Council has declared an Ecological Emergency, while at the same time shrinking its biodiverse base of the Green Belt and even, at Redbridge, blocking the important biodiversity corridor that until now runs through the city.”

Oxford City Council has given a 2040 deadline for Net Zero Carbon emissions. However, research suggests that serious action is needed before 2030.

Oxford4Nature’s key aims within the social justice sphere include ensuring affordable net zero carbon housing close to the city centre, as well as affordable net zero transport options.

This social justice aim also includes making locally grown affordable food more readily available, and retaining local accessible green spaces.”

Other broader aims of the campaign include using ‘doughnut’ economics to reframe how the city is run.

As part of this, Oxford4Nature aim to review the Oxfordshire 2050 Plan, which forms part of the Future Oxfordshire Partnership Housing & Growth Deal.

The campaign also hopes to work collaboratively with local experts and communities and reuse, recycle and regenerate.

The climate protest on Saturday will form part of Oxford4Nature’s mission to give back control to local communities by lobbying decision makers in the city to act against the climate crisis.

Image: Special Collections Toronto Public Library/CC BY-SA 2.0 via flickr.com

Little Amal Syrian refugee puppet to visit Oxford

Joshua Low and Yan Chen
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Little Amal Syrian refugee puppet to visit Oxford

A 3.5-metre Syrian refugee girl in puppet form. An 8,000-kilometre ‘transcontinental odyssey’ from the Syria-Turkey border to Manchester, UK. A unique marriage of public performance art and social justice for the displaced. 

On Tuesday 26th October, Oxford will be the latest stop in the big journey of ‘Little Amal’, the giant puppet nearing the end of her 14-week trek. Little Amal (‘hope’ in Arabic), an unaccompanied 9-year-old refugee in search of her mother, is at the heart of ‘The Walk’, a ‘travelling festival of art and hope in support of refugees’, especially displaced children. 

The Walk is presented by Good Chance Theatre, which builds ‘theatre domes’ for civic and cultural activity in places with high refugee populations. The company is best known for The Jungle, an immersive play (where the character of Amal originated) set in the Calais Jungle refugee and migrant camp, the site of Good Chance’s first dome in 2015. Amal herself was created by the storied South African Handspring Puppet Company, which engineered the puppetry in War Horse at the National Theatre. 

Starting from Gaziantep, a Turkish city near the Syria-Turkey border, Amal has traversed through Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and France, arriving on the shores of the UK on 19th October. 

A map of Amal’s Walk through Oxford. Credit: The Walk. 

Locally-driven events have sprung up with Amal’s arrival at each stop, and her interactions with local people become part of the performance. She has also generated collaborations among local organisations, with the Story Museum, Lead Producer of her visit to Oxford, working with ‘over 24 creative, cultural, and community partners.’

For Amal’s Oxford visit, Syrian author and illustrator Nadine Kadaan, commissioned by the Story Museum, has imagined a meeting between Amal and Alice from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, developing the story together with a group of local Arab women and children. Alice’s Day is celebrated annually in Oxford, where the classic children’s book originated from Carroll’s 1862 boating trip.

A large puppet of a young girl reaches down to shake the hand of Pope Francis.
Little Amal meets Pope Francis in the Vatican. Credit: The Walk

Amal has been welcomed by refugee children with handmade lanterns in Turkey and met the Pope at the Vatican, ​​but points along her journey have also mirrored the hostility and fear frequently thrust upon refugees. Labelled a ‘Muslim doll from Syria’, she was banned from villages near Orthodox monasteries in Meteora, Greece. Local protesters in Larissa, Greece had shouted and thrown rocks as she passed through.

Amal’s voyage represents the daily ebbs and flows of the life-threatening journeys of millions of forcefully displaced children. At the end of 2020, UNHCR estimated that of the 82.4 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, 42%, or 35 million, were children. The message Amal embodies, ‘Don’t Forget About Us’, is a sobering reminder that forced migration’s impact on children can be neglected or overlooked. 

Amal arrives in the UK as the Government is trying to pass the Nationality and Borders Bill, a controversial legislation that aims to deter ‘illegal entry’ to the UK and purportedly deter smuggling networks. Asylum and children rights charities have however argued that the Bill exposes unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) to exploitation and harm.

Under the new Bill, only asylum-seekers who arrive in the UK through ‘safe and legal’ routes are eligible for asylum. These restrictions could withhold necessary asylum protection from a large majority of asylum-seeking children who, according to national charity Refugee Education UK (REUK), are often forced to travel via dangerous or unpermitted routes through the sea or through a third country. 

REUK’s report says that the bill falsely assumes that people escaping persecution can choose where and how to flee. It also overlooks how asylum-seeking children often lack the ability, knowledge, and resources to access formal routes to resettlement. Under the prospective route-based rather than need-based Bill, Little Amal’s asylum route would exclude her from asylum protection.

On 26th October, Little Amal and Alice will meet at Oxford Botanic Garden at 1pm, before journeying through High Street, Weston Library, Broad Street, Cornmarket Street and ending at Merton Fields in Christ Church Meadow at 2:30pm. Anyone is welcome to join the walk along the way. 

The Story Museum told Cherwell: “The Story Museum is delighted to be working with over 24 partners across the city to welcome Little Amal and The Walk to Oxford on Tuesday 26 October. We’re inviting communities from all over city to help us create a memorable and special event for Amal with storytelling, dance, music and a procession. If you’d like to take part in the event there’s still to time to learn the Song of Welcome for Amal or you can also create a special Damascus Rose flower crown or badge from home  to bring to the event.”

Organisers of The Walk encourage donations to The Amal Fund, administered by international refugee charity Choose Love, which helps young, displaced children access education opportunities, via the Walk with Amal website. 

Oxford Nanopore IPO debut: In review

Hung-Jen Wu
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Oxford Nanopore IPO debut: In review

Despite the hard-hitting effects of the pandemic, the London Stock Exchange has hosted 70 initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2021 so far, a 40% increase from the year prior and 94% increase from a record low of 36 in 2019 due to possible uncertainties caused by Brexit and the UK general election. 

However, much of the hype generated amongst investor and biotechnology circles this past week was focused on Oxford Nanopore Technologies (LSE: ONT) and the rapid ascent of its stock price following its London IPO the previous week. Initially set to trade at 425p a share, its value increased 45% in its first hour of trading; it closed at 612p on 30 September 2021. 

This propelled its valuation to approximately £5 billion and raised £350 million for the company. Most major British pharmaceutical and life sciences publicly list their shares on New York’s NASDAQ exchange. London’s last major biotechnology listing was that of the allergy treatment specialist Circassia in 2014. The share price has, on average, remained above 570p in the week following the IPO. According to Refinitiv, this accounts for the eighth biggest listing in London this year and the third largest biotechnology float in the world this year.

Along with Oxford alums Gordon Sanghera and Spike Willcocks, Professor Hagan Bayley, FRS, co-founded Oxford Nanopore in 2005 as a spinout that licensed the stochastic sensing nanopore technology developed by his research group at the Department of Chemistry. “Nanopore”, as the name suggests, are pore-forming proteins or pores fabricated from synthetic materials with an aperture of nanometer scale diameter. Stochastic sensing measures the changes in ionic current to generate sequence readouts as strands of nucleic acids are passed through multiple nanopores embedded on a thin film membrane. The company believed that this method could enable DNA sequencing to become cheaper and more rapid by eliminating the need for multiple reagents and expensive equipment based in a centralized lab, making it also relevant for deployment in low-income countries. As a first step in that direction Nanopore released MinION, the world’s first portable DNA sequencing device, in 2014. The company has since expanded its product line to also include desktop nanopore sequencers and upcoming devices capable of analyzing proteins and small molecules, to varying extents.

In a 2012 interview with the journal, Nanomedicine Bayley mentioned that he spends at most 20% of his time in an advisory capacity at Nanopore. He is not listed on the company’s management board as of 2021, but he still leads an active 25-member research group at the university that considers engineered nanopores amongst its current research themes. In 2014, Bayley founded OxSyBio, another startup which aims to make a synthetic 3D tissue printer for use by surgeons in operating rooms.

Seed funding to develop Nanopore’s technology to a commercially viable state came from the IP Group, which owned a 14.5% stake in the business. Other notable investors include Oxford Sciences Enterprise, American-based Wellington Management, and the Singapore-based Temasek Holdings. Before being ousted from his funds, Neil Woodford also happened to be one of Nanopore’s early investors. Nanopore had raised £613 million in total funding from multiple institutional investors since 2005, prior to its listing.

During the pandemic Nanopore became a provider of rapid COVID-19 tests for the NHS. In October 2020, the Evening Standard reported that Nanopore secured a £112.6 million contract from the Department of Health and Social Care for 450,000 units of its portable LamPORE test, which produces results in 90 minutes. Analysts at Berenberg reported that this contract produced the equivalent of “circa 10 million tests”. In August 2021, the UK government ended this contract early as 90% of UK adults have received their first vaccine shot and the demand for rapid tests is expected to fall in the coming months.

The sustainability of Nanopore’s future growth may depend on how well it expands its revenue streams. Its primary customer base consists of universities and laboratories, but it has yet to generate a profit. Whilst receiving the UK government contract for COVID-19 tests doubled the revenue from the previous year, it is yet to be seen whether there may be similar contracts of comparable value.

Published peer-reviewed papers have shown that this method could be used to accurately study cancer, crop science, and perform environmental analysis, which underscores its credibility in the research community. However, it has not moved into serving all these markets yet. 

In a future phase of its development Nanopore is probably interested in forging inroads into clinical markets, especially given the recent announcement of its partnership with the U.S. database software giant, Oracle. Specifically, Nanopore will add its DNA/RNA sequencing tools and genomic data into Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s suite of life science applications to enable pharmaceutical firms to simply integrate Nanopore sequencing into their workflows.

Image Credit: DataBase Center for Life Science (DBCLS)/CC By 4.0

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