Turning the impossible into the possible – can we win the race against time to beat climate change?

The climate emergency is the defining issue of our time. In response, St John’s College launched a series of ‘big and demanding’ climate crisis commitments to help the College reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

In the latest episode of Souvient Heather Hancock, Master of St John’s, talks to a trio of St John’s experts who all work at the forefront of their fields of research focusing on cutting edge technological advances around energy.

Featuring Professor Sir Richard Friend, Cavendish Professor of Physics, Professor Erwin Reisner, Professor of Energy and Sustainability, and Professor Andy Woods, Director of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows and Chair of the College’s Energy Transition Working Group.

The lively and informative discussion covers everything from how scientific theory is being turned into reality, to what needs to be done to halt the damage being done by the climate crisis.

Souvient is taken from Souvent me Souvient, the medieval French motto of St John’s College founder, Lady Margaret Beaufort, the matriarch of the Tudor dynasty. Souvent me Souvient, usually translated as ‘I often remember’, or ‘remember me often’, is illustrated with little forget-me-not blue flowers.

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The risk taker who jumped from Big Pharma - and never looked back

"We live and die by our results"

A willingness to take risks, resilience and a “can-do attitude” are the keys to success for the Johnian woman who became UK president of pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca – then walked away to rescue a struggling biotech start-up.

In the latest episode of the new St John’s podcast Souvient, Lisa Anson explains the thrill of working for Redx Pharma, a small cancer drugs developer she joined after it went into administration and has rapidly turned around. “I love the decision making speed and the freedom and agility in a small company: we live and die by our results,” she tells College Master Heather Hancock. “And it's really exciting. In order to do that, I am relying on skills and judgments I've honed in multiple different situations.”

Her time at St John’s, where she studied Natural Sciences, helped prepare her for the challenges of her new role, Lisa says, arguing that today’s students need to take the time to try out a wide range of experiences, academic and otherwise, making mistakes as they go, to help them discover the interests that will build their career and future lives. She chose the College partly for its strong reputation in science, but also because it had only recently begun taking female undergraduates. “I like to take a risk. I'm not fazed by carving my own path. I never felt that being a woman has held me back in any way or form, and therefore it quite appealed to me to be one of the first women… This was going to be an exciting time for women in the College.”

Souvient is taken from Souvent me Souvient, the medieval French motto of St John’s College founder, Lady Margaret Beaufort, the matriarch of the Tudor dynasty. Souvent me Souvient, usually translated as ‘I often remember’, or ‘remember me often’ and is illustrated with little forget-me-not blue flowers.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Don't try and pre-judge your future: try to connect with your passions and your values, that's going to be what brings you happiness. Enjoy - find what you love.”

Writer and journalist Natasha Walter is a feminist and human rights activist. After studying English at St John’s, where she gained a double first, and at Harvard on a Frank Knox Fellowship, she began a career in journalism at Vogue magazine. She moved on to write on the arts, feminism and other issues for a range of publications, including the Guardian and Independent, as well as appearing regularly on television and radio. In 1999 she was a judge for the Booker Prize and in 2013 a judge for the Women's Prize for Fiction, and in March 2015, she was the Humanitas Visiting Professor of Women's Rights at The University of Cambridge.

In 2006, Natasha founded the charity Women for Refugee Women, which supports women seeking asylum and campaigned against the immigration detention of children in the UK (a practice the government announced it would end in 2010). Her play – Motherland – based on the experiences of immigrant women and children, was performed at the Young Vic in 2008, directed by Juliet Stevenson.

Natasha, 56, wrote two non-fiction books on feminism: The New Feminism (1998, Virago) and Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism (2010, Virago). In this podcast, the second episode of Souvient, the Cambridge Podcast from St John’s, she tells College Master Heather Hancock that her first book was published at a time of “a lot of optimism about how liberal values could triumph”, with reforms taking place around childcare and domestic and sexual violence. By the time of her second book, just 12 years later, much had changed. It was “a much more chastened look about how hard it is to make change, and about how difficult things were in 2010 and still are, I would say, for young women trying to reach for full equality.”

Souvient is taken from Souvent me Souvient, the medieval French motto of St John’s College founder, Lady Margaret Beaufort, the matriarch of the Tudor dynasty. Souvent me Souvient, usually translated as ‘I often remember’, or ‘remember me often’ and is illustrated with little forget-me-not blue flowers.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I remember sitting on the start line thinking, here I am. I can't believe I'm in the final of a World Championship. The worst I can do is come sixth in the world.”

World champion rower Annamarie Phelps CBE is Vice Chair of the British Olympic Association, Chair of the Safeguarding Adults in Sport Strategic Partnership and an advocate for safe and inclusive sport for all. Former Chairman of British Rowing and Vice Chair of the British Paralympic Association, she helped steer both organisations through considerable change.

Phelps was Lead Safeguarding Officer for British Rowing for 11 years, and oversaw the anti-doping and equality policies within the National Governing Body. She was the first female board member of The Boat Race Company Ltd, and worked with universities, sponsors and men’s clubs to bring the Women’s University Boat Race to the Tideway in 2015. She is now Co-chair of International Working Group (IWG) on Women & Sport - IWG is the largest global network of government and non-governmental organisations committed to improving gender equality in sport and is being hosted in the UK for the next four years. 

Phelps studied Geography at the University of Cambridge and learnt to row in the Lady Margaret Boat Club at St John’s, she became World Rowing Champion in 1993 and she competed in the 1996 Olympic Games. In 2017 she was named as one of the top 20 most influential women in British Sport. She is an alumna and Honorary Fellow of St John’s College, University of Cambridge.

She is also the first guest to be featured on Souvient, the Cambridge Podcast from St John’s College. Heather Hancock, Master of St John’s, is the host of the podcast that will bring listeners stories to intrigue, inform and inspire.

Souvient is taken from Souvent me Souvient, the medieval French motto of St John’s College founder, Lady Margaret Beaufort, the matriarch of the Tudor dynasty. Souvent me Souvient, usually translated as ‘I often remember’, or ‘remember me often’ and is illustrated with little forget-me-not blue flowers.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.