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News stories from 2008

• New Year Honours 2008

  Eight Oxford University academics have been recognised in the New Year Honours List announced on 29 December.

• Exhibition of children’s gargoyles at the Bodleian library

  From the smiling Cheshire cat to scowling Gollum, scores of children’s designs for gargoyles are to be displayed in one of the country’s best known libraries. More than 50 gargoyle drawings are to be exhibited in the Proscholium at the entrance of the Bodleian Library from 2 January to 15 January.

• Bumper Christmas for galaxy hunters

  Armchair astronomers using the galaxyzoo.org website have identified over 500 overlapping galaxies in the local Universe when astronomers had previously only known of 20 such systems.

• Saturn’s ‘hot hexagon’ surprise

  Saturn’s chilly north pole boasts a hot spot in the middle of its mysterious polar hexagon, according to new data from the Cassini spacecraft. The discovery could shed light on the atmospheric formations found on other planets such as Jupiter, Neptune and Mars.

• Altitude ‘worth half a goal a kilometre’

  Football teams from high altitude countries are likely to score more goals and concede fewer goals whether they are playing at high or low altitude, according to new research from Oxford University.

• News in Brief: Prizes and Awards

• Oxford researchers show that new vaccine protects against infant meningitis

  A study carried out by the Oxford Vaccine Group along with Dalhousie University and British Columbia Children’s Hospital in Canada have shown that a new meningitis vaccine has the potential to protect infants against four of the main types of meningococcus bacteria.

• Policies promoting equality of opportunity would create as many losers as winners

  The government’s goal of promoting equality of opportunity omits to mention that increasing social mobility is likely to create as many losers as winners, according to Oxford University researchers. Their study, published in the British Journal of Sociology, concludes that total social mobility has stayed at the same level over recent decades, but that downward movement has increased.

• Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal

  Joseph Silk, Savilian Professor of Astronomy has been awarded the Royal Astronomical Society’s 2008 Gold Medal, the Society’s highest award, in recognition of his achievements in cosmology over the last 40 years and in particular his work on developing our understanding of cosmic microwave background – the fossil remnant of the heat of the Universe that originated with the Big Bang.

• Professor Reinhard Strohm recognised

  Reinhard Strohm, Professor of Music, has been recognised for his achievements with the award of the first ever Glarean Prize for Music Research by the Swiss Music Society, a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship and through the publication of a “festschrift” – a collection of essays written in his honour.

• Life in the Wild on show at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History

  Life in the Wild, a new exhibition of woodcuts and drawings of animals is now on display at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

• Oxford Internet Institute improves e-government across European states

  An EU-funded research project on barriers to e-government’, led by the University’s Oxford Internet Institute (OII) has analysed how to improve e-Government across Europe. The project has identified the obstacles to the creation of e-government and how these can be overcome.

• Cleaning up Indonesia

  Indonesia’s Finance Minister, Dr Sri Mulyani Indrawati, was in Oxford to talk about her country’s recovery from the Asian financial crisis of 1997. She said great efforts were being made to rid all levels of government of corruption, so the country could regain the confidence of investors.

• Leukaemia-causing cells found

  Scientists have discovered the cancer ‘stem cells’ that cause acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, the most common form of childhood cancer. A report of the research, which was led by Oxford University scientists, has been published in the journal Science.

• Anthony Lilley gives first 2008 News International Broadcast Lecture

  On 15 January Anthony Lilley, News International Visiting Professor of Broadcast Media gave the first lecture from his Twenty questions for the future of the media series. The lecture, entitled, Who Controls the Stories? examined the impact of technology and the rise of interactive media.

• New Head of Oxford University’s Social Sciences announced

• Oxford set to learn from India

• New Map Tapestry goes on display at the Bodleian

  In June 2007, the Bodleian Library acquired at auction the Sheldon Tapestry Map of Gloucestershire, a fine example of cartography and decorative art from the 16th century. For the first time since its acquisition, the map will be on public display.

• 1000 Genomes Project announced

• Can apprenticeship schemes be successfully revived in today’s labour market?

  The Nuffield Review argues that although the government has ‘high expectations’ of apprenticeships, such programmes currently present ‘limited prospects for growth’. The Review, led by Professor Richard Pring from Oxford University Education Department, has produced two papers – focusing on apprenticeship – as part of its series of Issues Papers on 14-19 education and training.

• Oxford spends more than a third of its fee income on bursaries

• Colin Bundy named as first Principal of Green Templeton College

  Dr Colin Bundy, currently Warden of Green College, has been named as the first Principal of the new Green Templeton College. The decision was made on 17 January by a combined meeting of the Governing Bodies of both Green and Templeton Colleges. Dr Bundy will take up his responsibilities when the new college formally commences existence on 1 October 2008.

• The Pill gives long-lasting protection against ovarian cancer

  The contraceptive Pill gives women substantial and long-lasting protection against ovarian cancer, according to a new report led by Oxford scientists published in The Lancet.

• News in Brief

  Sir John Rowlinson to receive the 2008 Edelstein award. Oxford Advanced Surfaces listed on Alternative Investment Market.

• Prison study to investigate link between diet and behaviour

  Trials will soon be underway in three UK prisons to investigate the link between nutrition and behaviour. Funded by the Wellcome Trust and run by Oxford University researchers, the study will look at which nutrients are most important and at what dosage.

• New Masters course on modern India launched

  A new MSc in Contemporary India has been launched by the School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies in response to the growing interest in India and will be welcoming its first students in October 2008.

• Oxford announces honorary degrees for 2008

  Leading scientists, an administrator, a philosopher and a soprano are among an international group of six men and women who will receive honorary degrees from Oxford University this year, subject to the approval of Congregation. The honorands will be awarded their degrees at Encaenia on Wednesday 18 June 2008.

• Oxford University to return Maori and Moriori remains to New Zealand

  The University of Oxford has agreed to a request by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa for the return to New Zealand of four sets of human remains held in the University Museum of Natural History.

• Malaria vaccine trials begin using 'chimpanzee virus'

  Trials are underway for a new vaccine to combat the most deadly form of malaria. For the first time ever, researchers will use a virus found in chimpanzees to boost the efficacy of the vaccine. The trials will take place at the University of Oxford's Jenner Institute, led by its Director, Professor Adrian Hill, and are funded by the Wellcome Trust.

• The Gough Map: the earliest road map of Britain?

  One of the most important and earliest maps ever made in Britain is the subject of a new book just published by the Bodleian Library.

• Picturing the new Ashmolean

  The winners of the Picturing the New Ashmolean Children’s Art Competition were announced at a special awards ceremony and launch of the new graphics to feature on the back of two Oxford Bus Company buses on Sunday 27 January.

• Tipping elements in the Earth's climate system

  A team of climate experts has compiled a shortlist of nine areas in the world that are in danger of passing critical thresholds or ‘tipping points’ due to climate change. They use the term ‘tipping point’ to mean that the climate system could kick-start abrupt and potentially irreversible changes for sub-systems of the Earth system.

• Boost for mathematical finance

  Mathematics at Oxford University has been boosted by the appointment of Xunyu Zhou as Nomura Professor of Mathematical Finance. Professor Zhou is an expert in behavioural finance: examining why, for instance, city traders don’t always make rational decisions.

• Oxford University celebrates the Year of the Rat

  Up to 700 students, academics and local people celebrated Chinese New Year at a special gala in Oxford University’s Sheldonian Theatre. The Oxford Chinese Students and Scholars Association host the Chinese New Year Gala every year.

• Chinese New Year Videos

• Winning smiles from sixth-form biologists at Oxfordshire schools

  Twenty-six winners from schools throughout Oxfordshire received prizes at the Sixth Form Biologist of 2007-08 ceremony held at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History on 7 February.

• Arab street poets sing the praises of George Galloway

• The Ashmolean Museum acquires two Pre-Raphaelite masterpieces

• An Ode to George Galloway

• Hey Condoleezza Rice!

• David Miliband gives Aung San Suu Kyi lecture

• 14-19 education and training is not a business

• Fake drugs traced by Oxford scientists

• Forget the boat race – ultimate frisbee will draw the crowds

• Scientific study into religious belief launched

• Grant to publish 18th-century world history

• Record research funding

• New Oxford degree to study modern China

• Key to TB’s ‘staying power’ unlocked

• Supermarkets hold power in milk supply chain

• Seabird research tracks ocean health

• Global malaria risk mapped out

• New Proctors and Assessor take up office

• Parental instinct found in the brain

• The modern Commonwealth is stronger than ever

• Smart meter spin-out wins praise

• Teachers brush up on uni

• It's official: Oxford medics are the best

• The modern Commonwealth is stronger than ever

• Public asked for contributions to WWI archive

• Oxford students help out at local schools

• Oxford zoologists receive awards

• Ooh la la: Oxford students help out at local schools

• Oxford team triumphs in ‘University Challenge’

• Social scientist wins global affairs writing prize

• Science Week: Coming up

• Bodleian celebrates World Book Day

• Vice-Chancellor takes questions from the local community

• £5m donation will open the Bodleian Library’s collections

• Outstanding Professor Dame Kay Davies

• Mediterranean ‘due a tsunami’ research suggests

• Ashmolean Museum topped out

• ‘Digital piracy’ may benefit companies

• Hermione Lee to head Wolfson College

• Global leaders debate corporate governance in Mumbai

• International Oxford student wins British Council award

• Oxford project to develop free software for green computing

• Blood disorder protects against severe malarial anaemia

• Salt-tolerant wheat targeted by Oxford scientists

• Mars, Earth and Moon from ‘unique planetary nursery’

• Discrimination undermines sense of belonging in Britain

• International radiocarbon dating experts revisit the Turin Shroud

• Good investment returns for Oxford colleges

• Britain’s biggest meteorite impact found

• Shakespeare Quartos to be reunited online

• Expert surveys, not numbers, show quality of research

• Oxford rowers demolish Cambridge

• Global moot to debate media law worldwide

• International experts discuss food security in the face of climate change

• Creative writing is ‘passport to social mobility’

• £8.4m for heart disease research

• Tourist hotspots need climate solutions

• Latest video and audio

• Baa baa Bodleian - sheep wool insulates roof

• Personal perspectives of life with Motor Neurone Disease

• Murder mystery raises blood pressure and aspirations

• Rise in autism related to changes in diagnosis

• World’s shortest single photon pulse created

• Free range ‘no increased infection risk’ for chickens

• Learn how to use the Victorian Census

• Early elephant 'was amphibious'

• Oxford’s women of substance

• New clues to treating type 2 diabetes discovered

• Male and female brains are not so different, fruit flies’ sex acts tell us

• Fruit flies’ sex acts

• Supercomputing boost for Oxford

• All change for poetry award winners

• New home for biomedical engineering

• New programme to attract the UK's brightest ethnic minority students

• New Police Community Support Officers take up role

• Oxford researchers take the heat out of music

• Boy or girl? See what your mother-to-be eats

• Oxford top of Independent league table

• Debating power for the future

• UK tabloids contribute to climate complacency

• Pissarro exhibition touring Japan

• Rat survey may help identify human disease genes

• Secrets of birds’ compass revealed

• ‘OCCAM’s razor’ to transform real-world mathematics

• Big Prize for Small

• New Fellows elected to Academy of Medical Sciences

• Oxford tops the Guardian league table

• Teachers should create the National Curriculum

• Bodleian's printed ephemera collection online

• Second genetic link to weight and obesity found

• ‘Early birds’ adapt to climate change

• Chemists measure chilli sauce hotness with nanotubes

• Graduate entrepreneurs sell business for millions

• Platypus genes uncover mammal history

• Connecting blindness, drawing and neuroscience

• Discover history through postcards

• £3.75 million for University and NHS orthopaedic partnership

• Physics undergraduates win energy challenge

• What fruit flies tell us about ageing

• Doubt over government help for old age

• Refurbished section of Ashmolean opens

• New Oxford China Centre launched

• Ruskin students exhibit in Italy

• New vaccine for meningitis B shows promise

• Seven new Royal Society Fellows

• Unknown Philip Larkin poem discovered

• Participation in clinical diabetes trials wanted

• Late night event at Oxford museums

• Art inspired by 2000 year-old child mummy

• Clinical diabetes trials

• Visions of engineering celebrated

• Architect for Humanities Building appointed

• New method reveals ancestry surprises

• New DNA evidence overturns population migration theory in Island Southeast Asia

• £1.25 billion campaign launched with major donations

• Treasures from Oxford College libraries on display

• Mysterious Red Ladies spell Greek drama

• New centre to research technology in the developing world

• Dalai Lama launches online Tibet Album

• Grandma and grandpa are good for children

• Provost of Yale nominated as next Vice-Chancellor

• Archbishop of Canterbury awards Lambeth degrees

• Jordan's King Abdullah II receives honorary degree

• Learn from others living with epilepsy

• Effects of meningitis C jab may wear off

• New Warden for New College

• Oxford launches new linguistics faculty

• Oxford-Weidenfeld translation prize awarded

• £2m to improve diagnosis in GP surgeries

• Oxford’s support for children in care recognised

• Oxford malaria researcher wins international prize

• Online booking open for Alumni Weekend 2008

• Ultraviolet gives view inside real ‘death star’

• Kevin Spacey named Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor

• Art fans Pack out the Ruskin

• Queen's Birthday Honours 2008

• Professor Andrew Hamilton confirmed as next Vice-Chancellor

• Pandemonium at the Harcourt Arboretum

• Globalisation and inclusion at the Oxford-India conference

• Statement on the recent UCU motion on Israel

• $50m gift to Christ Church

• ‘Ancestral anchovy fillet’ key to vertebrate evolution

• Encaenia honorary degree ceremony 2008

• Oxford tops Times league table for seventh year

• Historic Oxford theatre’s ceiling conservation completed

• Applied Science turns students onto science

• New Oxford centre for research in educational assessment

• Pitt Rivers Museum to close for £1.5m refurbishment

• Oxford University to launch UK’s first neuroethics centre

• Volcano ‘pollution’ solves mercury mystery

• Power to the people: new online tool to help cut home energy bills

• A voice for minorities with mental health problems

• Complexity of Crohn's disease revealed

• University opens up to prospective students

• Poet Geoffrey Hill visits Oxford University

• Oxford team wins NHS health and social care award

• Researchers run rings round cell division

• Celebration of engineering science

• National ‘Women In Science’ award for Oxford researcher

• From toys and toasters to music and art

• New Abrahamic Religions chair at Oxford University

• Promoting parents' role in children's learning

• Royal Society honours Oxford researchers

• £2.3m boost for Humanities postdoctoral research

• Royal Academy of Engineering elects Oxford researchers

• HRT patches better than pills for gallbladder disease risk

• Oxford holds global history of science conference

• Teenagers sample university life at Oxford

• New director for Rothermere American Institute

• Kids’ Lit Quiz winners visit Christ Church

• Victory for Oxford in varsity swim

• Oxford University Admissions on tour

• Researchers tackle the end of the world

• Celebrating Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday with new book

• New Centre for Corporate Reputation

• Taking Romeo and Juliet to Japan

• Nine Oxford academics become Fellows of The British Academy

• Weidenfeld Scholarships support tomorrow’s leaders

• Humanities awarded grants of almost £3 million

• Metal tree takes root at Magdalen

• Oxford researcher receives Library of Congress Scholarship

• Gene clue to statins side effect

• Hopes for TB vaccine boosted

• Does stretching reduce the risk of sports injuries?

• Shakespeare's Globe comes to the Bodleian

• Dr Jon Dellandrea

• New TV series explores wild Guyana

• Opera premiere for music academics

• First panel returned to Sheldonian ceiling

• Oxford colleges release degree results for 2008

• Oxford’s first international sustainability interns

• Teacher discovers ‘cosmic ghost’

• Students take ‘mathematical cycle route’

• Blue plaque for Oxford alumnus

• Double boost for chemistry

• Social scientists to examine taxes & time

• Oxford takes classics to Edinburgh Festival

• Female migrants most likely to be illegally underpaid

• Oxford alumna wins Olympic bronze

• Next steps after A-level results

• Statement: Mr Ali Kordan

• Cells in eye could help control sleep

• Gold for Oxford alumni

• Views from space celebrated

• Bodleian Library builds arch to the future

• Professor honoured for lifetime of service to education

• Hackney sixth formers sample Oxford life

• Sleight of hand and sense of self

• Oxford maestro in first UK amateur podium exchange

• Permission granted for new Earth Sciences building

• Caribbean resorts need to adapt to climate change

• Millions face risk of heart disease without knowing

• Mental disorders in young offender institutions

• Oxford musicians celebrate composer's 100th birthday

• The Magic Hour at the Botanic Garden

• Human trials of universal flu vaccine begin

• Student life caught on camera

• Vitamin B12 may protect brain in old age

• Sir David King’s vision of the future

• Oxford turbines to harvest energy from tides

• 30-year study shows benefits of glucose control

• Oxford gets high satisfaction rating from students

• Oxford’s campaign for low-energy homes

• Duke of York visits Vietnam unit

• Former BBC head of policy appointed Reuters Institute Director

• New data informs antibiotic use in premature labour

• Second Alumni Weekend a big success

• Science blogs can advance academic process

• New choral professor wins Gramophone award

• Protein hope for arthritis sufferers

• Wild dogs reveal nature’s ‘poverty trap’

• Embryo implantation offers insight into infertility

• New piece in reading ability 'jigsaw'

• OxSciBlog videos

• Chancellor's speech to HMC

• Thomson Reuters Foundation Fellows celebrate 25th anniversary

• Ashmolean launches new photographic campaign

• Frankenstein at the Bodleian

• Student doodles reveal 1950s college life

• TV series tells maths tales

• New cancer imaging centre

• Oxford University on iTunes U

• Vice-Chancellor talks of "the magnitude of our philanthropic challenge"

• New risk factor for prostate cancer

• Advances in Enlightenment at Oxford

• Unique fossils capture ‘Cambrian migration’

• The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment officially launched

• Paul Gambaccini named Visiting Professor of Broadcast Media

• Martian weather satellite’s first report

• Sharing experiences of Parkinson’s and autism

• New centre for theology, ethics and public life

• Tutors do their homework

• Oxford welcomes HEFCE’s support for HE sector over Iceland banking crisis

• Celebrating biochemistry research on the immune system

• Denham celebrates excellence in teaching

• Oxford and Microsoft launch IT collaboration

• Actress tries new role as Oxford undergraduate

• Blues feeling happy about varsity sponsorship

• Celebrating Black History Month

• Oxford awarded two Mellon Sawyer Seminars

• New simulation centre for emergency training

• Alan Bennett donates archive to Bodleian

• New Simonyi Chair appointed

• HRT increases likelihood of hip and knee replacement

• Ashmolean showcases development of new online centre

• Oxford’s Great War Archive highly commended

• Tools give earlier date for ‘modern-thinking’ humans

• Chief Executive of Oxford University Press announces retirement

• Fall in malaria deaths along Kenyan coast

• Debating the future of capitalism

• Married prisoners at increased risk of suicide

• Christ Church poetry competition launched

• New Contemporary Islamic Studies chair

• Genetic study provides insight into language development

• Sheldonian Theatre ceiling completed

• Marconi Archive catalogue available online

• Rabies ‘barrier’ to save rare wolf

• First World War archive opens online

• Biomedical research at Oxford University enters new era

• Buses back Ashmolean

• More advances in Oxford Enlightenment

• Topping out ceremony for new International Development building

• Oxford academics win Leverhulme Prizes

• Virtual ears and the cocktail party effect

• Flu deaths could be reduced thanks to cancer research

• 90m African children still exposed to malaria despite more bed nets

• Neuroscience prize for Oxford academic

• President of Israel gives lecture at Oxford

• Mobile monitoring improves patient health

• Latest refurbishments for Oxford museums

• Computer system could help manage high-risk births

• Global survey on international financial reporting

• Bodleian appeal to save first English-language opera

• Lifetime achievement award for Oxford Professor Vernon Bogdanor

• Winter light at the Ashmolean

• Tracking the origins of popular music

• Experiences of bereavement due to suicide shared online

• Oxford research featured at royal visit to the John Radcliffe hospital

• Student volunteers in national awards final

• New Las Casas Institute launched at Blackfriars Hall

• Closer ties with Université Libre de Bruxelles

• Bodleian celebrates thousand years of British choral traditio

• Varsity Rugby match approaching

• Lemur virus reveals HIV’s evolution

• New treatment approach may offer end to suffering from allergies

• Muhammad Yunus gives Romanes Lecture

• Oxford Professor appointed to new US Climate Committee

• EPSRC boost doctoral training at Oxford

• Oxford marks 90th anniversary of the women’s vote

• Hands on experience in stone carving for competition winners

• Gene associated with diabetes risk suggests link with body clock

• Large earthquakes trigger a surge in volcanic eruptions

• Two malaria treatments show promise

• Christmas lectures help pupils explore science

• Minister launches centre to promote growth in developing countries

• Try hat-trick ensures Oxford beats Cambridge

• New Biochemistry building opens

• New psychotherapy treats majority of eating disorder cases

• Oxford University to return remains of Ngarrindjeri people to Australia

• Spin-outs focus on energy & organs

• RAE results

• Chocolate, wine and tea improve brain performance

• Big ‘beesiness’ idea a winner

• Review of the year for Oxford

• New Year Honours 2009

• The democratic imperative

  Text of speech given by David Miliband on 13 February 2008

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