{"id":2407,"date":"2025-07-15T18:54:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T17:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=2407"},"modified":"2025-07-16T09:23:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T08:23:01","slug":"chancellorship-candidates-are-a-dismal-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=2407","title":{"rendered":"Chancellorship Candidates are Dismal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Chancellorship candidates are a mediocre bunch, according to The Critic<\/a>. In the Times Literary Supplement<\/em>, Mary Beard<\/a> was uninspired. In Reaction<\/em>, Adam Boulton<\/a> was unimpressed (except by his friend, Lord Browne of Madingley). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consensus is that this is a dismal group of people to choose between!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I agree with them, and I’m one of the candidates! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous scientists who became Chancellors include Lord Rayleigh<\/a> (Nobel Prize for Physics 1904), Lord Adrian<\/a> (Nobel Prize for Physiology 1932). Whilst I am proud of my scientific contributions, I obviously recognise they’re not in the same class as those distinguished scientists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am standing because the University has internal problems that need addressing. No-one else has been prepared to come forward, though many distinguished people in the university agree with me in private.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online voting ends on Friday 18th July, while in-person voting is still possible on Wednesday 16th July. So, there are many members of the University who are now thinking: which of this dreary group is the least dreary?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me give those individuals a reason to vote for Wyn Evans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am the only candidate who will serve just 5 years. If I am elected, there will be another Chancellorship election in 2030 with perhaps a more scintillating group of people — Nobel laureates, brilliant administrators, wise elder statesmen. This group may even cause Mary Beard and Adam Boulton to salivate!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 years is a good length of time to fix things. I will not be a candidate in 2030 because I hope the University will be in a much better place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I repeat below my open letter to the University on my candidature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

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 demands of branding, managerialism and market logic.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am the only candidate who is a currently a University Teaching Officer. As a teacher, researcher and mentor who has worked with generations of scholars, I appreciate both the extraordinary talent we nurture and the structural problems we must confront: the tension between management priorities and academic needs; the decline in secure academic posts; and the erosion of collegiate governance. Alone among the candidates, I know what it means to teach, research, supervise and support students & staff within our University and I know it can work better.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will advocate for the creation of academic jobs and proper support for postdocs, researchers and college supervisors. I will support a strategic vision for Cambridge that embraces innovation while remaining true to our academic values and global responsibilities. The hallmark of excellence is secured by the well-being of both students and staff. I will stand up for early-career researchers & fixed-term staff and for everyone who works to make our University work. I will press for the establishment of an independent Ombudsman, advocating for transparency and an end to wasteful consultancy spending.  As this is a radical re-imagining of the role of the Chancellor, it is only right that I serve only 5 years in the first instance.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This election matters. I believe that the University of Cambridge is ours and that it is shaped by those who teach, learn, work and research within it. If you agree, then I would be honoured to receive your vote and to serve with dedication and integrity as Chancellor.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(Prof) Wyn Evans (Chancellorship candidate)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chancellorship candidates are a mediocre bunch, according to The Critic. In the Times Literary Supplement, Mary Beard was uninspired. In Reaction, Adam Boulton was unimpressed (except by his friend, Lord Browne of Madingley). The consensus is that this is a dismal group of people to choose between! I agree […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2407"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2417,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407\/revisions\/2417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}