Dear Clare Hall members and friends,

Please find below a list of events taking place this week and beyond, to which you are warmly invited.

➢ Members’ events

New Clare Hall Books |
Pre-order now!

Clare Hall is delighted to share news of two forthcoming that highlight the College’s engagement with art, collecting and material culture.

Collecting Dutch Golden Age Paintings: The Search for the Winterfeldt Wouwerman by Professor Alan Short, President of Clare Hall, offers a personal and scholarly reflection on the pursuit of Dutch Golden Age paintings, drawing on decades of research and collecting experience. Several works from this collection are displayed in the President’s Lodge.

Studio Potters: The Bell Collection at Clare Hall by Clare Hall Associates Professor Gordon Bell and Helen Ritchie celebrates the Bell Collection, one of the College’s most distinctive cultural assets.

Find more information and pre-order the books here. There is a 10% discount if you subscribe to the publisher’s newsletter.

Clare Hall Through Your Lens: Seasonal Photography Competition |
Monday 16 February – Monday 2 November 2026

Following the wonderful response to our community photo project, Clare Hall Through Your Lens continues throughout this special anniversary year as our official 60th Anniversary Photography Competition.

We invite students, fellows, staff, and families to capture Clare Hall’s grounds, gardens, and moments of college life across all four seasons. At the end of each season, a judging panel will select the top three photographs, which will go forward to be included in a commemorative Clare Hall 60th Anniversary Calendar.

This is a chance to celebrate Clare Hall at 60, highlight our natural environment, and contribute to a lasting visual record of the College during this milestone year.

Find out how to take part on the main event page.

Clare Hall May Event 2026 |
Friday 19 June 2026, from 6.30pm

Clare Hall’s Swinging Sixties-themed May Event will take place on 19 June 2026 from 18:30–02:00. We hope you will join us! Your ticket includes free food and drinks throughout the night, four live bands, and lots of entertainment, including a tarot card reader and a silent disco.

May Event ticket sales close on 10 June, so make sure to purchase yours soon!

Buy tickets here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/clarehallgsb/2079556

Annual Cricket Match 2026 |
Wednesday 24 June 2026, 12pm

Join us for this year’s annual cricket match – President’s XI vs Students – that masks 60 years of Clare Hall! There will be an enjoyable game of cricket, followed by afternoon tea. A particular highlight is to see past players travel up for the day to ignite former (friendly) rivalries and make new team mates!

The event is free and open to all, and if you would like to learn more or get involved, please email cricket@clarehall.cam.ac.uk.

➢ Lectures and talks

Clare Hall Colloquia – Easter 2026 |
Tuesday 28 April – Tuesday 16 June 2026, 7.15pm

The Clare Hall Colloquia provide members of the College – especially (but not exclusively) Visiting Fellows and Life Members – with an opportunity to present their research, whether in its early stages or already published, in a friendly setting. They are a great way to discuss your ideas, meet fellow members and to contribute to our vibrant community. Sessions take place on Tuesday evenings during term time, 7.15–9.15pm, in the Clare Hall Meeting Room. Refreshments are provided.

The next talk will take place on 2 June with speaker Professor Francesca Tinti (Visiting Fellow, University of the Basque Country, Spain).

Title: Before the Grand Tour: The English in Rome in the Early Middle Ages

In the early medieval period numerous inhabitants of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms went to Rome for different reasons, including pilgrimage, ecclesiastical business and diplomacy. From the late eighth century the sources refer to an English quarter near St Peter’s known as schola Saxonum. This talk reconstructs the presence of the English in early medieval Rome and their interactions with local inhabitants, drawing on written sources and archaeological finds, including those recently uncovered in excavations in the area of the schola Saxonum.

Please see the full Easter programme here.

The Betty Behrens Seminar on Classics of Historiography |
Thursday 21 May – Thursday 4 June 2026, 2.15pm

The Betty Behrens Seminar on Classics of Historiography offers a unique opportunity for students and scholars to reflect on some great historical works and engage in discussion with renowned experts. This Easter term, the seminar will take place between the 21 May and the 4 June and will be composed of three meetings. The charming and fresh atmosphere of the Richard Eden Suite in Clare Hall, West Court, will be the location for the discussions.

The next meeting is on Thursday 28 May from 2.15-4.00pm with speaker Frances Wood (Research Associate, SOAS University of London).

Find more information here. Register for the seminars via Eventbrite.

English Literature SIG: Tim Fulford and Julia Carlson |
Friday 29 May 2026, 5pm

All Clare Hall members are welcome to attend the meetings for the English Literature SIG. Meetings are held at 5pm in the Clare Hall Meeting Room, followed by a group dinner in the Dining Hall.

For further details please contact Professor Eric Nye, SIG convenor, at ewn10@cam.ac.uk.  Zoom link provided on request.

Building Healthy Societies SIG – Easter 2026 |
Tuesday 2 June 2026, 5pm

All Clare Hall members are warmly welcome to attend the meetings of the new Building Healthy Societies SIG this Easter term. The meetings are held on Tuesdays at 5pm, followed by supper together at 6pm.

The next meeting is on 2 June with speaker Emma Kuehnelt (Clare Hall student) – “Working together to feed the world” – the World Poultry Science Association (WPSA) and the politics of productive hens (1921-1939)

Abstract: The international collaboration in the fields of agriculture and nutrition in the interwar period (1918-1939) has recently received growing attention from historians of science and agriculture. Investigating different programmes connected to the League of Nations, scholars have argued that international development based on agricultural science – something more readily associated with the ‘Green Revolution’ of the postwar period and decolonisation in the Global South – has its roots in the interwar period. At the same time, another strand of scholarship has discerned the role of governmental agricultural science and extension works in ‘industrialising’ farming and livestock production in different national settings . Bringing these two lines of inquiry together, this dissertation looks at the unique case of the World Poultry Science Association (WPSA). The WPSA was founded in 1912 and began hosting international congresses in 1921, bringing together people with varying connections to poultry – from practical farmers over national ministers to eminent geneticists. The WPSA provides a unique case-study for three reasons. It was the first international scientific organisation devoted to the study of just one animal, this attracted a diverse set of actors and lastly, it was what today would be called a ‘bottom-up’ organisation. Based on these features, the dissertation charts how the WPSA’s discussions about chickens and eggs served as a model for defining livestock productivity in relation to human nutrition and development. Drawing on meeting records, discussion notes, travel reports, visual material, the WPSA’s journal and members’ correspondences, this dissertation charts how the international effort to increase egg productivity was not a straightforward technical process but was shaped by ‘the politics of productive hens.’ Due to the unique material qualities of eggs, the case study allows to trace how international concerns over malnutrition shaped standardisation of animal produce simultaneously to country-adapted livestock development. Chickens and eggs, unlike cows and milk, were not on the radar of colonial and international veterinarians and because chickens hold less individual monetary value than cows. Avian disease uncovers how questions of animal health and productivity were decoupled in the name of human health and productivity. Finally, chicken’s place in cultural imagination as a fancy bird yet also farm animal of the poor enables to trace the ideational promotion of animal productivity as linked to human productivity. 

Bio: Emma Kuehnelt is an MPhil student at the department for History and Philosophy of Science. She completed her undergraduate degree in 2025 in History and Politics at the University of Warwick. Her research interests concentrate on the role of animals in scientific practice,  twentieth century agricultural science and the intersection between environmental history and animal histories. 

For any questions, please contact the SIG leads Dr Nikolai Kazantsev (nk622@cam.ac.uk), Dr Elizabeth Garnsey (ewg11@cam.ac.uk), or Anjali Sergeant (aks203@cam.ac.uk).

➢ Music

Clare Hall Summer Concert |
Monday 22 June 2026, 7.30pm

Everyone is warmly invited to the Summer Concert, hosted by the Clare Hall Choir and featuring performances by students and fellows.

The concert will take place on Monday 22 June 2026 at 7.30pm in the Dining Hall, followed by cheese and wine at 8.30pm in the Common Room.

This event is open to all and free to attend. Please RSVP via this link.

The Portrait Players and Dame Emma Kirkby |
Saturday 27 June 2026, 7.30pm

Join us for the last concert of the season! The Portrait Players join Dame Emma Kirkby, Honorary Fellow of Clare Hall, for a programme exploring the rise of virtuoso women singers in late sixteenth-century Italy.

At the heart of the performance is the celebrated Concerto delle Donne of Ferrara, a pioneering ensemble of three sopranos who performed within the exclusive world of the court’s musica secreta. Renowned for their richly ornamented madrigals and expressive ensemble singing, these musicians inspired composers across Italy to create dazzling new works for upper voices and helped expand professional opportunities for women in music.

The programme features music by composers closely associated with this movement, including Luzzasco Luzzaschi and Claudio Monteverdi, alongside works by influential women composers whose careers flourished in its wake, such as Francesca Caccini and Barbara Strozzi.

Tickets are available via Eventbrite.

➢ Art

‘Infinite Variations’ – A 60th Anniversary Exhibition of Art in the Life of Clare Hall |
Friday 20 March – Friday 19 June 2026, 10am-4pm

Clare Hall is delighted to present its 60th Anniversary exhibition of artworks collected over the years. It is open to public from 20th March to 19th June 2026, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm.

Find more information on the main event page.

The Bell Collection of British Studio Pottery, 1920-1980 |
Ongoing

A rotating display of some 400 pieces of studio ceramics. Learn more at https://www.clarehall.cam.ac.uk/bellcollection/

➢ External events

SDG & AI+ Academic Conferences 2026 |
Submit papers by Sunday 31 May 2026

Two non-profit, peer-reviewed academic conferences focusing on SDG and AI+ will be held in Cambridge in summer 2026. Both events are organised by UniHive and hosted by Clare Hall and Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge.

Professor David Cope (Foundation Fellow at Clare Hall) and Professor Pietro Liò (Professorial Fellow at Clare Hall) will act as the Academic Chair of each conference.

Find more information here.

Research Participant Recruitment – Class & Romantic Relationships |
Join by Sunday 31 May 2026

Elle Shea, Clare Hall alumna and PhD researcher at the University of Manchester, is studying how people navigate differences in social class backgrounds, experiences, and identities within romantic relationships. She is looking to interview individuals or couples who are currently, or have previously been, in a romantic relationship with someone from a different social class background. Participants must be aged 18 or over and currently live in, or have previously lived in, England.

     If you are interested in taking part or would like to find out more about the research, please contact Elle at elle.shea@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk. You can also find out more about the researcher here.

MASAMB Annual Meeting 2026 |
Register by Monday 24 August 2026

The MRC Biostatistics Unit is delighted to be hosting the Mathematical and Statistical Aspects of Molecular Biology (MASAMB) annual meeting 2026, on Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 September 2026 at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

Find more details, submit your abstract, and register for the event here.

Life Member’s LEGO® Project |
Support idea by February 2027

Life Member Dr Chu-Cheng Lin (PhD 2016–2021; now a postdoctoral researcher in Zoology/PDN) has created a detailed biological laboratory built from LEGO, inspired by his work in cancer cell biology, neurobiology, molecular biology and entomology.

The project is currently on the LEGO Ideas platform and needs support to reach the 10,000 votes required for official review (now at ~2,000). If successful, it could become a real commercial LEGO set, helping bring the world of scientific research to a wider audience.

👉 Learn more and support the project:
https://beta.ideas.lego.com/product-ideas/ab52d2c2-0688-48e7-a7d1-77ae54a6aa4b

Every vote helps increase visibility and bring this unique scientific model closer to reality. Below is just a part of the whole project.

➢ Activities and Societies

Pilates Sessions: Easter 2026 |
Mondays and Fridays, 13 April – 15 June 2026

We are delighted to host pilates classes at Clare Hall throughout the Easter Term. The classes will be held on Mondays during lunchtime and fortnightly on Friday evenings. Pilates is a form of low-impact exercise that aims to strengthen muscles while improving postural alignment and flexibility.

A full list of dates and the sign up sheet can be found here.

STRONG by Zumba sessions: Easter 2026 |
Tuesdays, 14 April – 16 June 2026

Clare Hall is delighted to host a new fitness class called STRONG by Zumba in the Easter Term. The classes will be held on Tuesdays, 5-5.45pm, in the Richard Eden Suite.

STRONG by Zumba combines body weight, muscle conditioning, cardio and plyometric training moves synced to original music that has been specifically designed to match every single move. Every squat, every lunge, every burpee is driven by the music, helping you make it to that last rep, and maybe even five more.

Please bring your own mat and a water bottle, and plan to arrive 5–10 minutes early to assist with setting up the room.

A full list of dates and the sign up sheet can be found here.

Yoga Sessions: Easter 2026 |
Thursdays and Sundays, 19 April – 14 June 2026

We are delighted to host regular Thursday lunchtime and Sunday afternoon yoga sessions in the Easter term. Yoga is a holistic mind–body practice that combines physical postures, breathing techniques, and meditation to promote strength, flexibility, and inner balance.

A full list of dates and the sign up sheet can be found here.

Clare Hall Book Club |
Monday 1 June 2026, 8pm

Join the College’s Book Club as they discuss Cuddy by Benjamin Myers. All College members are welcome to attend in-person, meeting in Clare Hall’s Meeting Room, or via Zoom. If you are not on the mailing list and would like to be, please send an email to gloria.carnevali@icloud.com, confirming your Clare Hall connection and putting the following as the email title: I would like to join the Book Club mailing list.

Learn more about the Book Club on this page.

Choir Practice |
Various Dates

A reminder that Clare Hall Choir practice takes place in Robinson College Chapel every Monday (in term-time, but not always restricted to the official Cambridge term dates) from 7.30-9pm. New members are always welcome, and no previous singing or musical experience is necessary. The only requirement is that you want to sing and have fun doing it! If you are interested in joining, please email Ben de Souza, the Choir’s Director, who is a Clare Hall Associate, freelance choral conductor and accordionist: bd402@cam.ac.uk.

Recent recordings of the choir can also be found on our YouTube channel.

Clare Hall Families |
Various Dates

Clare Hall Families is an informal group that holds events throughout the year, centred around our popular Family Suppers, which take place each term.

Join the Clare Hall Families mailing list and WhatsApp group by filling out the form.

For any enquiries, please contact Chandy Nath at chandy.nath@gmail.com.

Find a full range of events at https://www.clarehall.cam.ac.uk/events