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It is often said that the role of the Chancellorship is purely ceremonial. In recent years, this has certainly been the case. The pattern was set by the long tenure of the Duke of Edinburgh as Chancellor from December 1976 to June 2011. However, the Statutes and Ordinances support a Read more…
I am writing to ask for your support in the election of the next Chancellor of our University of Cambridge. Our University needs a Chancellor who will defend its founding purpose: to serve the public good through education, learning and research of the highest quality, not by bending to the Read more…
The Times interviewed Wyn Evans, who spoke of the difficulties faced by young scholars in the article. Sometimes young scholars can find access to research grants hindered. There are a number of ongoing Employment Tribunals in which young scholars are arguing that the blocking or rewriting of research grants by Read more…
The 21 Group contacted the other Chancellorship candidates asking them to respond to Prof Wyn Evans‘ suggestion of the creation of an independent Ombudsman to investigate serious malpractices, bullying or academic misconduct at Cambridge University. The Ombudsman would also be responsible for investigating Whistleblowing allegations (instead of the Registrary and Read more…
The pressure group Alumni For Freedom of Speech (AFFS) circulated a set of questions to the candidates for the Cambridge Chancellorship. Broadly we are supportive of the aims of AFFS. Based on their replies and any other relevant publicly available information, AFFS scored candidates according to the following, admittedly fairly Read more…
As reported first in the Times Higher Education , a letter is circulating in Cambridge University suggesting that academics use their single transferable vote judiciously to prevent the election of Lord Browne of Madingley as the new Chancellor. There is now also press coverage of this campaign in The Times Read more…
On 30 June 2025, the Times Higher Education published an opinion piece from Professor Wyn Evans entitled “Ending bullying and precarity should be the Cambridge chancellor’s focus“. “In over 800 years, only once has a non-university candidate ever won the chancellorship of Cambridge. In 1847, the German-born Prince Consort, Albert Read more…
Scottish politicians brutally exposed what has been happening at Dundee University. You can see the carnage here, as former Vice Chancellor Iain Gillespie appeared before the Select Committee at Holyrood. It’s like watching a tubby, slow-moving sloth trapped in a cage with a pack of wolverines. Under Gillespie’s leadership, Dundee Read more…
This is a wonderful book from Prof Robert Foley, Emeritus Professor of Human Evolution at the University of Cambridge. The author punctures the managerialism that has overwhelmed UK universities with gentle wit. It’s cut from the same mine as many of the 21 Group blog postings, but it’s been polished Read more…
The candidates for the Chancellorship of Cambridge University were sent a series of questions on academic freedom and freedom of speech by Alumni for Freedom of Speech. A summary of some of my answers is below. Are there problems with Freedom Speech in UK Universities? In the UK today, it Read more…