How academic sabbaticals used and how they contribute to research – a small-scale study of the University of Cambridge using interviews and analysis of administrative data

Background: Academic sabbaticals are seen as an important aspect of academic life and require considerable resources, however, little research has been done into how they are used and whether their effects can be measured. We explored these issues at the University of Cambridge. Methods: A mixed method approach including 24 interviews with academics, eight interviews with administrators; alongside analysis of administrative and publication data between 2010 and 2019. Results: Academics underline the importance of sabbaticals in providing uninterrupted time for research that is used to think, explore new ideas, master new techniques, develop new collaborations, draw together previous work, set work in a wider context, and provide personal discretion in research direction. They also highlight sabbaticals’ contributions in allowing the beneficial effects of combining teaching and research, while mitigating some of the disadvantages. However, it is difficult to detect the effect of sabbaticals on publications using a time series approach. Conclusions: Sabbaticals provide manifold contributions to academic research at the University of Cambridge; however, detecting and quantifying this contribution, and extending these findings requires wider and more detailed investigation.

José Martínez Delgado - Amir Ashur (2021) La vida cotidiana de los judíos de Alandalús (Siglos X-XII). Antología de manuscritos de la Guenizá de El Cairo (University of Cambridge). Córdoba: UCOPress.

José Martínez Delgado - Amir Ashur (2021) La vida cotidiana de los judíos de Alandalús (Siglos X-XII). Antología de manuscritos de la Guenizá de El Cairo (University of Cambridge). Córdoba: UCOPress. Editorial Universidad de Córdoba. 288 pp. ISBN: 978-84-9927-630-4

My biochemical journey from a Cambridge undergraduate to the discovery of phosphotyrosine

The most notable moment in my career as a biochemist was the discovery of phosphotyrosine, a somewhat serendipitous finding that turned out to have some very important consequences, notably, in human cancer. My career as a biochemist which has spanned nearly 60 years, began when I was 16. At the time, I was in the sixth form at Felsted School, a boarding school in Essex England, and my biology master, David Sturdy, elected to teach me some extracurricular biochemistry, giving me one-on-one tutorials on glycolysis and the TCA cycle. These early biochemistry lessons turned out to be invaluable because I was able to regurgitate them to answer a question in the University of Cambridge scholarship exam in the autumn of 1960. As a result, I was lucky enough to be awarded an Exhibition at Gonville and Caius College, the college where my father had studied for a medical degree during World War II. When I arrived in Cambridge in October 1962 to read natural sciences (see Figure 1), it was a natural choice to take biochemistry as one of my three required first-year courses. The Part I biochemistry course was taught by a series of excellent lecturers, including Philip Randle (a prominent diabetes researcher who described the Randle Cycle), Brian Chappell (who discovered mitochondrial transporters) and Asher Korner (a pioneer of cell free systems to study protein synthesis). It quickly became clear that biochemistry was an exciting subject, and Brian Chappell, my biochemistry supervisor at Caius, made supervisions a lot of fun. I also took Part I courses in invertebrate zoology and, importantly, organic chemistry, which gave me insights into how the metabolites we were learning about in biochemistry worked as chemicals.

Robert McNeill Alexander. 7 July 1934—21 March 2016

Neill Alexander graduated in natural sciences at the University of Cambridge in 1955. After a PhD at Cambridge and a lecturership at the University College of North Wales in Bangor, he was appointed to the chair of the Department of Pure and Applied Zoology at the University of Leeds in 1969. At that stage, he switched his research interests abruptly from fishes to the mechanics of legged locomotion. He conducted experiments with a variety of mammals, calculating forces, stresses and strains in muscle fibres, bones and tendons. His speciality became the application of mathematical models to animal locomotion, including repurposing the Froude number, devised by the Victorian engineer William Froude (FRS 1870) for use with ships, to estimate the speed of dinosaurs based on the spacing of their fossil footprints. Subsequent work included modelling the optimization of mammal performance and the minimization of energy costs. In 1992, following an announcement that London Zoo would have to close as a result of shortage of funds, Neill was appointed secretary of the Zoological Society of London. During the period of his secretaryship, the Society's finances recovered, with both its zoos (London and Whipsnade) breaking even in 1993 and the Society returning a surplus in each subsequent year. Neill was awarded the CBE in 2000. The National Portrait Gallery holds his portrait by John Arnison.

Research Dialogue 1: Endangered and underrepresented languages

Research dialogue between Prof. Geoffrey Khan, Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge and Fridah Katushemererwe, Makerere University, Uganda, chaired by Ioanna Sitaridou, Professor of Spanish and Historical Linguistics, University of Cambridge.

Target Oxbridge Year 10 programme

Target Oxbridge is Rare Recruitment's programme to help students with black African and Caribbean heritage to increase their chances of getting into Cambridge or Oxford Universities. Target Oxbridge and Trinity College, University of Cambridge, launched a unique programme called the Target Oxbridge Year 10 programme to demystify the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford in order to help more 14 and 15 year olds of black heritage prepare to apply to and gain places at these leading universities. This new programme for students in Year 10 featured webinars with Trinity College academics and students, and Target Oxbridge alumni provided advice to Year 10 black British students who are considering attending university. The webinars aimed to demystify Oxford and Cambridge Universities, offer insights into what college life is really like, provide information on the application process, and offer guidance on preparing applications. Students also learned about how degree subject choice can affect their career options. This article provides an evaluation report on the Programme's effectiveness.

Amyand David Buckingham. 28 January 1930—4 February 2021

David Buckingham was a chemical physicist and theoretical chemist who made fundamental contributions to the understanding of optical, electric and magnetic properties of molecules. Born in Australia, he was an undergraduate at the University of Sydney and the first PhD research student of John Pople (FRS 1961) at Cambridge, and there he made significant advances in the theory of intermolecular forces and nonlinear optics. He then moved to Oxford, where he and his group performed the first direct measurement of a molecular electric quadrupole moment. He was elected to the first chair of theoretical chemistry at the University of Bristol, where he wrote a particularly influential article on molecular moments, higher-order polarizabilities and intermolecular forces. His next appointment was at the University of Cambridge as the first holder of the 1968 Chair of Chemistry, and he was head of a distinguished department of theoretical chemistry for 28 years. With colleagues he pioneered experiment and theory on vibrational optical activity and developed a powerful model to predict the structures of weakly-bound molecules. A man of broad interests and achievements, he played first class cricket in the 1950s.

Research Dialogue 2: Atypical language development in children

Research dialogue between Maria Teresa Guasti, Università di Milano-Bicocca and Duncan Astle, University of Cambridge on the topic of atypical language development in children. Maria Teresa Guasti presents her research on 'Dyslexia as a Window into Language', followed by Duncan Astle's presentation 'Beyond the label: A transdiagnostic approach to understanding cognitive difficulties in childhood'. The session is chaired by Prof. Henriëtte Hendriks, Theoretical & Applied Linguistics section, University of Cambridge.

Digital exclusion predicts worse mental health among adolescents during COVID-19

BackgroundSocial isolation is strongly associated with poor mental health. The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing social restrictions disrupted young people’s social interactions and resulted in several periods during which school closures necessitated online learning. We hypothesise that digitally excluded young people would demonstrate greater deterioration in their mental health than their digitally connected peers during this time.MethodsWe analysed representative mental health data from a sample of UK 10–15-year-olds (N = 1387); Understanding Society collected the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in 2017-19 and thrice during the pandemic (July 2020, November 2020 and March 2021). We employed cross-sectional methods and longitudinal latent growth curve modelling to describe trajectories of adolescent mental health for participants with and without access to a computer or a good internet connection for schoolwork.OutcomesAdolescent mental health had a quadratic trajectory during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the highest mean Total Difficulties score around December 2020. The worsening and recovery of mental health during the pandemic was greatly pronounced among those without access to a computer, although we did not find evidence for a similar effect among those without a good internet connection.InterpretationDigital exclusion, as indicated by lack of access to a computer, is a tractable risk factor that likely compounds other adversities facing children and young people during periods of social isolation.FundingBritish Psychological Society; School of the Biological Sciences, University of Cambridge; NIHR Applied Research Centre; Medical Research Council; Economic and Social Research Council; and Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge.