Reports
The Master
The Master
International Studies and the British Library gath-
ered together to discuss the implications of these
developments. Topics covered geopolitics and
regional cooperation, trade and tourism, and the
history, languages and cultures of the regions along
the Silk Road Economic Belt.
The Grey College Trust became involved through
its Stubbs Fund. This fund was given to the College
by the family of Clifford Stubbs, a Quaker missionary
in West China Union University in Chengdu, China,
from 1914 until his death in 1930, along with a col-
lection of Chinese art works and a collection of the
family correspondence relating to Stubbs. Part of
the fund was previously used to support the publi-
cation of A Life of Clifford Stubbs: Nearly a Chinese,
by the historian Charles Tyzack, and it is now be-
ing used to support scholarly exchanges between
Durham and China. The Stubbs family had no prior
link with Durham or Grey College, but Henry Dyson,
a Grey alumnus, College Fellow and Keeper of Fine
Art in the University, was instrumental in building
the links between Durham and the family of Clifford
Stubbs.
Many of our alumni will remember Rabbi Lionel
Blue from his days on Radio 4’s ‘Thought for the
Day’ and his work in the media. Lionel stayed at
the College on a number of occasions over the last
fifteen years, where he got to know many of our
students and ran inter-faith seminars. Every visit was
a great enrichment to College life. Lionel passed
away in December 2016, and he is greatly missed
by all of us. The College held a memorial service for
Lionel on May 8th. Canon David Kennedy led the
service, where he spoke of the different ways that
Lionel affected everyone in the College and Uni-
versity. Peter Swift and I had just returned from a
memorial service for Lionel held at the West London
Synagogue on May 6th, and I gave a short report
about the service for the benefit of Grey members
who could not make it to it.
Lionel clearly thought a great deal of the Grey
community, as he left a very generous legacy to the
Grey College Trust in his will. This legacy will be used
towards the Fountains Hall project, and to help us
provide students with more opportunities for their
personal development. Currently, between the Grey
College Trust, the SCR, and the Association, we have
been able to provide about £5000 annually to sup-
port different projects for the students. This mon-
ey goes to provide individual awards, support for
students facing financial hardship, and to provide
funds for travel and equipment for clubs and societ-
ies. With Lionel’s legacy, we are planning to increase
this significantly.
Tom Allen speaks of a year of
academic growth and the loss of a
dear friend
In the 2016-17 academic year, we welcomed over
320 freshers and 100 new postgraduate students to
Grey. Special thanks go to all the College staff for
making the welcome to Grey as wonderful as it is.
Thanks are also due to Frazer Levett, who led the
2016 team of Freshers Reps. Our postgrads Matthew
Kirk and Marcus Lancashire also deserve mention,
as they organised the welcome for our new post-
grads. David Jones did an excellent job as our JCR
President this year, as did Alex Davies as the FAC-
SO (Finance and Commercial Services Officer). On
August 1st, David handed over to David Slade and
Alex to Ben Firth. Special congratulations are also
due to Izaak Beck, Bar Manager for 2016/17, who
won the leadership award in the University’s Student
Employee of the Year competition.
We welcomed two visiting fellows to Grey in
Michaelmas. Dr James Cruise, Assistant Professor
in Mathematics and Computer Science at Heriot
Watt University, joined us for a term. James was
linked with Durham’s Maths Department, where he
did work on modelling communication networks.
Laurens de Rooij completed his stay as a visiting
fellow and moved to a post-doctoral research post
in University of Cape Town, where he is continuing
his work on the portrayal of Muslims in the me-
dia. Martin Ochaya stayed at Grey as the inaugural
Sudan Archive Visiting Library Fellowship for Easter
2017. The fellowship, supported by the College, en-
ables visiting scholars to enjoy extended periods of
research in Durham’s Sudan Archive. Martin, a South
Sudanese Roman Catholic priest, did his research on
the peace process in South Sudan.
The Grey College Trust, through the Stubbs Fund,
brought two visiting fellows to the College as part of
the ‘One Belt One Road’ (OBOR) International Con-
ference that was held in Durham on 21-22 March.
The OBOR programme (now officially referred to as
the Belt & Road Initiative) is China’s massive un-
dertaking to improve infrastructure between China
and trading partners in Europe, Asia and Africa. It is
often thought of as a new Silk Road, as it reflects the
importance of trade routes across Asia in history.
The level of investment is expected to be extraor-
dinary, with estimate into the trillions of dollars.
Experts from Durham University, Peking University,
China National Academy of Arts, Danish Institute of
4