The Queen's College, Oxford University

🎉 Congratulations to students receiving their A-Level results today

We’re excited to welcome our new members to Queen's this October! If you’ll be joining us, we’d love to connect…please tag us, comment below, or just follow along for all things Queen's!

p.s. some poetic license is being used today - our grass is not currently that green! 💚

📸 Fisher Studios

🌒 As people look skywards for today’s solar eclipse, we’re looking back to another eclipse and to a former Queen’s student who wanted to make sure no one panicked when the sky went dark.

Astronomer Edmond Halley predicted with extraordinary accuracy the path of a total solar eclipse across southern England in 1715. At a time when eclipses could still be regarded as ominous portents, Halley published a chart explaining exactly what would happen, hoping that science would prevent “surprise to the People”.

Halley studied at Queen’s for two years from 1673, and his rare 'A Description of the Passage of the Shadow of the Moon' (1715) has recently joined the College Library’s collections thanks to the generosity of an Old Member.

🔗 Read the story: https://ow.ly/AqvW50ZyyVI

Can politics take the long view?

📺 In an age of 24-hour news cycles and constant political pressure, is there still room for long-term thinking?

In the latest episode of ‘Provox’, Paul is joined by former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt for a wide-ranging conversation on economics, healthcare, leadership, and the changing nature of public debate.
Sir Jeremy draws on his experience at the highest levels of government, reflecting on balancing principle with pragmatism and making decisions that can affect millions of lives.

🎧 Listen now: https://ow.ly/qZ9c50Zyt35

🎼 Vivaldi Gloria | Academy of Ancient Music & Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford

Listen to Vivaldi’s Gloria, recorded earlier this year in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford. The Choir of The Queen’s College, Oxford and the Academy of Ancient Music directed by Owen Rees, are joined by soloists Zoë Brookshaw and Esther Lay.

Watch here: https://ow.ly/IZGK50ZyrLL

Further performances from the same concert will be released later this summer, with more recorded concerts planned for the coming academic year.

If this inspires you to become part of Oxford’s musical life, why not apply for a choral or organ scholarship at Queen's? Links to application forms can be found here: https://ow.ly/jqVt50ZyrLM

💡How do you lead when everything is changing?

From the civil service and the Treasury, to Ofcom and John Lewis, Baroness Sharon White has led some of Britain's most important institutions through periods of profound change.

🎙️In the latest episode of ‘Provox’, Paul Johnson speaks to Baroness White about her remarkable career, from her Windrush family background in East London, to the highest levels of public service and business.

Together they explore ambition, public purpose, leading through crisis, the role of regulators, and what it takes to steer major organisations when the stakes are high.

🎧 Listen now: https://ow.ly/2QG650Zw4XR

🎉 Congratulations to Modern Languages student Emily Dicker who has received a 2026 LIDL Year Abroad Project Prize for artwork created for a new translation of Ingeborg Bachmann’s ‘Todesarten’ texts.

Developed during her year abroad in Germany, the project brings together translation and illustration, exploring how visual art can offer a new way into understanding complex literary works.

🔗 Read Emily’s reflections on the project and why she sees art as a form of translation: https://ow.ly/N7Yw50ZuE3E

✍️🖱️From cheques to clicks: Accounts Assistant Gillian Hunt reflects on nearly three decades at Queen’s

As Gillian retires after 29 years as Accounts Assistant, she reflects on a College career shaped by lifelong friendships and memorable traditions. One thing hasn’t changed: the pleasure of walking up the front steps of Queen's and seeing Front Quad each morning.

🔗 Read Gillian’s memories of Queen’s, including all-night queues for Christmas dinner tickets, as the College sends its very best wishes for her retirement: https://ow.ly/PHn150ZuCIb

When Alan Turing’s story took to the stage in Royal & Derngate Theatre’s production of 'Breaking the Code', Senior Research Fellow Dr Christopher Hollings was behind the scenes helping the cast bring his mathematics to life.

As historical adviser, Christopher worked with the company to make sure Turing’s ideas were represented accurately. But the collaboration worked both ways: exploring Turing’s work brought both surprises and moments of confirmation, while seeing mathematics interpreted through performance offered new insight into how complex ideas can be communicated.

Read the story: https://ow.ly/GN4350ZtJ90

After more than 40 years at Queen’s, Fellow in Medicine and Professor of Physiology Peter Robbins is retiring.

In this interview, he looks back on a career spanning research, teaching, clinical medicine and College life, from exploring how the human body responds to low oxygen to serving as the College’s Estates Bursar.

He reflects on how both Physiology and Queen’s have changed since he joined the Fellowship in 1985, and the pleasure he has found in teaching generations of students.

Asked what makes Queen’s thrive, his answer is simple: “It’s people.”

🔗 Read the full interview: https://ow.ly/fAk250ZuyXb

🌏 Are we measuring the wrong things in the fight against climate change?

Climate change. Biodiversity loss. Net zero. We hear these terms every day but are we asking the right questions?

In the latest episode of ‘Provox’, the Provost speaks to Professor of Economic Policy at Oxford Sir Dieter Helm, one of Britain's leading environmental economists, about why progress on climate has proved so elusive.

Together they explore whether current policies are tackling the right problems and what it will take to balance prosperity with genuine environmental stewardship.

🎧 Listen now: https://ow.ly/60AF50Zu94q