Special Interest Groups (SIGs) 2025-2026
Clare Hall members are invited to join Special Interest Groups (SIGs) of their choice this academic year. SIGs are subject-focused groups of students and Fellows (and other members of the College including Visiting Fellows) that aim to encourage regular small group social and intellectual interactions among people with shared interests in particular academic areas.
Professor Hasok Chang, our SIGs coordinator, comments:
The SIGs are one of the ways in which we aim to make Clare Hall a true academic community, not just a place to live, eat, and have an affiliation with.
Each SIG is led by one or more college members (usually fellows of the college, but sometimes others including students), and the range and frequency of activities (lunches, discussion groups, museum visits, picnics, etc., etc.) will be determined freely by each group. The SIGs seek to promote learning and discussion in a subject area or on an interdisciplinary theme, and also provide opportunities for mentoring (including peer-mentoring) and professional networking. There is a small amount of funding available from the college to facilitate activities, thanks to the generosity of the Tutorial Office.
The following groups are either currently running, or will run as long as there is sufficient interest:
- AI and Computer Science: Pietro Lio <pl219@cam.ac.uk>, Petar Veličković <petarv@google.com>
- Asian Studies: Jenny Zhao < jz292@cam.ac.uk>Biomedical & Life Sciences: Chris Cooper <cdoc3@cam.ac.uk>, Rachel Sippy <rjs271@medschl.cam.ac.uk>, Mike Trower <miket.clarehall@gmail.com>
- Classics: Laura Castelli <lc918@cam.ac.uk>, Emanuele Pedroli <ep699@cam.ac.uk>
- Climate Sciences: Rishul Karia <rk784@cam.ac.uk>, Birgit Rogalla <bcr31@cam.ac.uk>
- Creativity: Esdras Paravizo <ep650@cam.ac.uk>
- Education: Yi Feng <wyf21@cam.ac.uk>
- Genealogy: Kevin Edwards <kevin.edwards@abdn.ac.uk>
- History and Philosophy of Science: Hasok Chang <hc372@cam.ac.uk>
- Industry and Entrepreneurship: Jehangir Cama <jc632@cam.ac.uk>; Rachel Sippy <rjs271@cam.ac.uk>
- Jane Austen: Eric Nye <ewn10@cam.ac.uk>
- Mathematics (Clare Hall Mathematical Association): Yi Feng <wyf21@cam.ac.uk>
- Communicating Research to Policy Makers: Chandrika Nath <chandrika@scar.org>
The following groups are currently taking a pause, but can be revived if there are people who can help organise them. If you are interested in helping out, please contact the group leaders:
- Architecture and Art: Lucia Tantardini <lt303@cam.ac.uk>
- History and Politics: Andreas Mørkved Hellenes <am2337@cam.ac.uk>
- Physics: Holly Hedgeland <hh242@cam.ac.uk>
Your choice of group is not restricted to your degree subject, and you can join more than one group. The groups, group leaders and their e-mail addresses are indicated in the list below. Please contact directly the leader(s) of the groups you want to join, to express your interest. And to be safe, please write to express your interest even if you were already a member of a group last year, since it can be difficult for group leaders to know who is still around and actively interested from last year’s list.
Anyone wishing to initiate a new group should discuss the proposal with Hasok Chang <hc372@cam.ac.uk>.