2023年牛津大学校长年度致辞——当黑暗集结时，愿牛津成为光明的家园

新的起点：秋天是我最喜欢的季节。秋天给人的感觉是阴沉的，对于我这样格外积极乐观的人来说，这或许有些出人意料。夏天的炎热已经散去，空气中透出清爽的气息，傍晚低垂的光线将我们众多美丽的书院和大学建筑的石头点缀得熠熠生辉。然而，当大自然开始休憩时，空气中弥漫着明显的兴奋，因为自然中的另一部分已做好准备，让智慧上随着新思想的播种而成长。这就是我喜欢秋天的原因。秋天是学业新篇章所带来的循环往复的希望和崭新起点的兴奋——不仅是对我们的学生而言，也是对我们所有人。新的开始让人恢复生息，也让人充满活力——它让我们保持年轻。因此，在新学年开始之际，让我们对过去一年的美好时光心存感激，让我们缅怀我们失去的至亲，让我们为那些因战争或自然灾害陷入痛苦的世界人民哀悼。让我们感谢这所伟大大学中所有在过去一学年中卸任的同事，他们以优异的领导能力、无私奉献和爱心为我们的社群服务，同时让我们欢迎新成员加入我们的大家庭。随着接力棒稳稳地交接，我已经出发开始奔跑，让我们拥抱新的开始，迎接通过努力学习、教学和探索所带来的一切。

请允许我以个人名义感谢牛津大学这个卓越社群的所有成员、罗素集团和英国大学中更广泛的学术界、以及牛津市和郡的官员们对我的热烈欢迎。我要特别感谢那些迄今为止接待我访问的院系和书院的负责人。亲眼见证牛津集体使命的深度和广度令人惊叹，我期待着在新的学年里拜访更多的同事。

这些访问给我留下深刻印象的是一种强烈的集体使命感和共同价值观，以及我们同属于这个比自己更伟大事业的事实。我们来自16世纪末的校训“主是我的启明”（DOMINUS ILLUMINATIO MEA）属于那个时代。不过，只要去掉几个字母（这要感谢我的拉丁语导师特里斯坦），我们就能得到一个更与时俱进的校训：“家园给我们启明”（Domus illuminat nos）。别担心，我肯定不会乱改我们的校徽。但我确实在反思我们的身份：在世人眼中，我们是一群笨拙的天才，是的，在坐有很多这样的人。但我更看到的是一个家园，一个社群，一个共同的目标：启明。我们的信仰深植于我们的基因——否则，这样一个分权的机构怎能共同前进。我们都坚定相信，教育和研究在解决我们这个时代最重大的奥秘和挑战时具有变革性和启发性的力量。我们通过人才来实现领导力、伙伴关系和卓越表现。这不仅是我们共同的使命，也是这所伟大的书院制大学的立足之本。这是牛津的秘诀，而今年我深切感受到了这一点。

值得反思的是，去年这个时候，我们中大多数人还不知道ChatGPT。人工智能已经来到舞台中央，它预示着一个新时代的来临。是的，它存在着现实且迫切的危险；是的，我们需要对善行和恶行进行监管；是的，我们需要制定长期的伦理和哲学框架，以指导我们与这种快速变化、颠覆传统的工具共存——但记住，它只是一种工具，而不是大脑......

牛津大学显然是其中的佼佼者，我们有能力做到真正世界领先。英国皇家研究院图灵人工智能世界领军学者奖金的七位获得者中，有四位来自牛津大学，其中两位是今年获得的，意味着800万英镑的资助。同时我们也迎来了第一批埃里克和温迪·施密特人工智能科学博士后学者。在人文科学领域，施密特未来基金会正在资助探索人工智能时代是否需要新的人权定义。因此，当我们适应人工智能的崛起、数据挖掘和更多信息堆积时，我们必须像TS·艾略特在《岩石》中那样不断追问：在所有这些信息中，知识在哪里？回到我们的座右铭：启明在哪里？我相信我们这些凡人在其中仍有一席之地……不过，为了确保我们能继续蓬勃发展，我们正在大力投资数字基础设施服务和技能，以适应这个新世界。

New Beginnings: Autumn is my favourite season. With its perceived sombre tone, this is perhaps surprising for someone so incorrigibly positive. The heat of summer is over, there is a crisper feel to the air, the low-angled evening light sets the stone of our beautiful colleges and University buildings ablaze. Yet, as nature begins to rest, there is tangible excitement in the air as a different part of nature sets itself ready to grow, intellectually, with the planting of new ideas. This is why I love autumn. It’s the cyclical hope that a new chapter of learning brings and the thrill of new beginnings – not just for our students but to us all. Renewal is restorative, energising – and it keeps us young. So, as we start the academic year, let us be grateful for a year well spent, let us remember those dear to us who we have lost, let us remember the peoples of the world in anguish through war or natural disasters. And let us thank all those colleagues from our great collegiate University who have stepped down from their various roles this past academic year and who have served our community with skilled leadership, dedication and compassion – and let us welcome new members to our family. With the rugby ball safely caught and me now off and running, let us embrace new beginnings and what’s to come through our endeavours of learning, teaching and discovery. 

May I add a personal thank you for the warm welcome I have received from all members of this magnificent community and to the wider academic sector in the Russell Group and Universities UK, Oxford city and county officials. I want to particularly thank those Heads of Departments and colleges who have hosted me for visits so far. It is astonishing to see for myself the depth and breadth of our collective mission, and I look forward to visiting more of you in the coming academic year. 

What strikes me from these visits is a strong sense of common purpose, shared values, the fact that we belong to something bigger than ourselves. Our motto since the late 16th century, DOMINUS ILLUMINATIO MEA (THE LORD IS MY LIGHT), was of its times. But drop just a couple of letters (with thanks to my Latin guru, Tristan) and we come up with something more up-to-date: Domus illuminat nos – our home enlightens us. Don’t worry, I’m certainly not going to mess around with the University crest. But I do reflect on who we are: the world sees an assembly of individual awkward geniuses, and yes, there are plenty of you out there. But I see a home, a community, with a shared purpose: enlightenment. What we stand for is in our DNA – how else can such a devolved institution move forward together. We share a firm belief in the transformative, illuminating power of education and research in tackling the greatest mysteries and challenges of our time. Leadership, partnership and excellence through our people. That is our shared purpose and what this great collegiate University is built on. It’s our secret sauce and I have felt that this year. 

It’s worth reflecting that this time last year ChatGPT was unknown to most of us. Artificial intelligence has arrived, centre stage, and it heralds a new era. Yes, there are real and present dangers; yes, we need regulation for both good and bad actors; and yes, we need to develop long-term ethical and philosophical frameworks to guide us as we live alongside this rapidly changing, paradigm-shifting tool – and it is a tool, remember, not a brain… 

Oxford is emphatically at the party, and we have the capability to be truly world leading. Four of the seven holders of the prestigious UKRI Turing AI World Leading Fellowships are based in MPLS, with two awarded this year, representing £8 million of investment. We welcomed our first cohort of Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellows. In Humanities, Schmidt Futures is funding work to explore whether the age of AI has created the need for new human rights. So, as we adapt to the rise of AI, data scraping and the amassing of more information, we must always ask, as TS Eliot did in ‘The Rock’: where is knowledge in all this information? To come back to our motto: where is the illumination? I think there’s still a place for us mere mortals…However, to ensure we continue to thrive, we’re investing significantly in a digital infrastructure services and skills fit for this new world.

在我上任时，名誉校长在发言中曾预言会有逆境——现在，逆境已经来临。我们正面临教职员工和学生的生活成本危机，食物、房租和房贷成本上升，而生活费贷款和工资的实际价值却在降低。而且，我们为英国大学提供资金的商业模式也无法实现其目标。无论是大学还是学生，没有人是赢家。如果我们想继续成为英国最有价值、最受信任、最受尊重的品牌和全球输出高校之一，帮助英国成为以科学为基础的超级大国，并继续利用牛津这样的地方所做出的经济贡献（我们的100万英镑研究收入在英国各地产生了超过1千万英镑的经济影响），那么现在确实是时候对我们如何资助英国高等教育系统的商业模式进行跨党派的全面审查了。我们已做好准备，迎接这场对话和审查。牛津大学将迎难而上。但是，如果我们要更好地理解自己的商业模式，现在也是时候计算出我们教育学生的全部成本了。我要感谢各学部主管和行政团队对新财务白皮书的参与，以及西蒙·博迪及其团队的细致管理，为我们的财务带来了更大的透明度。但是，我们必须警惕其实施对我们核心使命的影响。我们都不希望“论功行赏”的模式滋生出各自为政的权利。我们毕竟属于一所大学——在大学里，我们因为有着共同的目标而通力合作。对此最好证明是，去年尽管面临逆境，我们的研究收入仍位居英国高等教育之首——今年的趋势同样令人充满希望。此外，我们重新加入欧盟科研资助框架“欧洲地平线”计划，这真是太棒了。请开始撰那些科研申请提案吧！

我经常开玩笑说，我在惠灵顿广场办公室到处翻找，试图寻找所有钱都藏在哪里。目前我还没有找到……不过，我是一位非常幸运的校长，因为我们有一张真正的王牌：慈善捐款。多亏校友和非校友捐赠者的慷慨解囊，我们得以生存和发展。我非常感谢他们的远见和支持。我很高兴地宣布，我们整个大学度过了迄今为止筹款最好的一年——新增捐款资金达3.85 亿英镑（还在不断增加）。在此我向书院和大学众多发展团队表示祝贺，向捐赠者表示衷心感谢。在负责发展与对外事务副校长大卫·甘恩卸任之前，我们还有时间向他表示感谢，但请允许我在此感谢他为支持牛津大学所做的一切。我们正计划开展迄今为止最雄心勃勃的数十亿英镑的慈善筹款活动——来年将有更多消息。

许多捐赠者，特别是书院一级的捐赠者，都是我们深受爱戴的校友。他们真正地在创造更好的世界，其中还包括16位在任的国家元首和一位副总统。我们将对牛津的校友社群尽心尽力——别忘了我也是你们中的一员。我们在全球拥有超过35万名校友和准校友，这就是驱动力、领导力和影响力：软实力和硬实力。两周前的周末，我们举办了“思想碰撞”校友周末活动，1700多名校友参加了这场活动丰富、激发智慧的盛宴。祝贺并感谢我们的校友办公室和众多教职员工策划了这次精彩的校友聚会。还要感谢克莉丝汀·费尔柴尔德多年的校友服务：祝她退休愉快。

The Chancellor forewarned of headwinds during my tenure – well, they’ve arrived. We have a cost-of-living crisis for staff and students with food, rent and mortgage costs going up and yet maintenance loans and salaries lower in real terms. And we have a business model to fund our great British universities which is not fit for purpose. No-one is winning: universities or students. If we want to remain one of Britain’s most valued, trusted and respected brands and exporters worldwide, help Britain be the science-based superpower, and keep leveraging the economic contributions that places like Oxford make, with £1 million of our research income generating over £10 million in economic impact across the UK, it really is time for a cross-party root-and-branch review of the business model for how we fund the higher education system in Britain. We stand ready for that conversation and review. Oxford will weather the headwinds. But it’s time we too calculate the full range of costs to teach our students if we are to better understand our business model. I want to thank divisional heads and administrative teams for engaging with the new financial white paper, and I want to thank Simon Boddie and his team for their careful stewardship and bringing much greater transparency to our finances. But we must be vigilant on how its implementation impacts our core mission. None of us want the ‘eat what you kill’ model to inculcate an entitlement to operate in isolation. We belong to a university after all – and in a university we work together because we share a common purpose. It is a testament to you all that, despite headwinds, we continue to have the highest research income in the UK higher education sector as of last year – and indications look similarly hopeful for this year. And how fantastic it is that we are re-joining Horizon Europe. Please start writing those grants!

I often joke that I’ve gone rummaging around Wellington Square trying to find where all the money is hidden. I’ve yet to find it… However, I am a very fortunate Vice-Chancellor because we have a true ace up our sleeve: philanthropy. Through the generosity of alumni and non-alumni, we survive and thrive. I am so grateful for their vision and support. I’m delighted to announce that we’ve had our best year yet for fundraising across the collegiate University – £385 million (and counting) in new funds. Congratulations to college and University development teams, and a heartfelt thank you to our donors. We have time yet to thank David Gann, PVC for Development and External Affairs, before he moves on, but let me here thank him for all he has done to support Oxford. And we are planning to embark on our most ambitious multi-billion-pound philanthropic campaign to date – more on that in the coming year. 

Many of those who donate, particularly at a college level, are our much-loved alumni. They are out there shaping the world for the better, literally, with currently 16 heads of state and one deputy. We are deeply committed to our alumni community – I am one of you, remember. With a global community of over 350,000 alumni and associates, this is power, leadership and influence: soft and hard. Two weekends ago, we hosted our Meeting Minds weekend – over 1,700 alumni visiting for a feast of events and intellectual stimulation. Congratulations and thank you to our alumni office and the academic and staff members for curating a fantastic gathering. And to Christine Fairchild for many years of alumni service: happy retirement.

庆祝成就：现在，请允许我祝贺你们在过去一学年中所取得的成就。在2024年QS世界大学排名中，只有牛津大学和剑桥大学两所公立大学进入前五名。这格外令人印象深刻。在新的2024年QS欧洲排名中，我们位居榜首，而在我们最喜爱的《泰晤士高等教育2024年世界排名》中，我们连续第八年名列世界第一，创下了历史记录。再加上我们在最近的英国“卓越教学框架”中的各科金牌排名，这些成绩都令人赞叹。祝贺你们，并感谢你们为推动学校的卓越发展，耗油开夜车（虽然如今多是新能源车）所付出的辛勤劳动。

我们还有其他值得庆祝的卓越成就。我们当前在任或荣誉退休教授中，至少有十二位入选新年或英国君主寿辰荣誉表彰。我们的青年学者们也取得了骄人的成绩。我校有四位研究学者获得了菲利普·莱弗休姆奖，是英国所有大学中获奖人数最多的。在2023年布拉瓦尼克英国青年科学家奖获奖名单中，也有一位我们的获奖者；在议会大厦颁发的“2023年英国科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）奖”中，牛津大学有七位青年研究学者入围并获奖。今年有八位牛津的生物医学和健康科学家入选医学科学院的院士；八位牛津学者入选英国皇家学会院士，其中包括我本人；六位牛津学者获得英国皇家化学学会年度研究与创新奖；十二位当选为英国科学院院士；如果这还不够的话，我们的研究学者还获得了来自世界各国政府最高规格的总统奖、国家级的奖项、奖励、学术奖金和荣誉。最后，万灵书院的荣誉退休教授约翰·卡迪教授刚刚因其在量子场论的研究获得了基础物理学突破奖。真是收获颇丰。

同样，我们也尽最大努力表彰和庆祝那些支持我们教学和研究使命的人。西蒙和大卫·鲁本被授予谢尔顿奖章，以表彰他们的捐款支持。八位来自艺术与文学、科学、政治和新闻界受人尊敬的杰出人士获得了荣誉博士学位，并在2023年6月的年度盛典中加入牛津社群。我们举办了多场具有里程碑意义的庆祝活动。包括比尔·克林顿总统在内的700多名罗德学者校友从世界各地来到牛津，参加罗德基金会成立120周年纪念活动。最近，路透社研究所和记者奖学金计划庆祝了其成立40周年。来自全球各大新闻媒体的记者们齐聚一堂，共同探讨他们在一个充斥着虚假信息、假新闻和人工智能的世界中所面临的挑战。与学术界一样，我相信新闻业的最高境界是报道真相和启迪世界。我更熟悉的活动，是我深爱的神经成像中心（FMRIB，现为 WIN）迎来了它的25周年庆典——我自豪地见证了这个世界领先的成像中心对我们了解人类大脑的巨大影响，也见证了其对许多人才的影响——包括科学家、技术人员、行政人员和学生——他们在这里获得科学道路上的成长。

我在这些庆典和由我们众多美妙书院举办的年度聚会上看到的喜悦，正是一所大学所能讲述的最好的故事：无论时间或地理上的距离有多远，这里有长久的归属感，是一个家外之家，在这里，共同的使命让大家一起创造了特别的、有影响力并且改变人生的东西。

Celebrating Success: Now please indulge me as I congratulate you on your achievements this past academic year. In the 2024 QS World University Rankings only two public universities, Oxford and Cambridge, were listed in the top five. That is beyond impressive. In a new 2024 QS ranking for Europe, we took top spot – and in our favourite Times Higher Education 2024 World Rankings, we were just listed as number 1 for the 8th year running – a record in their history. Combined with our outstanding Gold ranking across the board in the recent Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), these results are breathtaking. Congratulations and thank you for the midnight oil, actually now mostly renewable electricity, you burn to drive that excellence. 

And we have other measures of excellence to celebrate. No less than twelve of our current community or emeriti professors were recognised in the New Year or Birthday Honours Lists. And our early-career academics are knocking it out of the park. Four researchers from across the University were awarded Philip Leverhulme Prizes, the largest number awarded to any single UK university. We had an Award Laureate in the 2023 Blavatnik Awards for Young UK Scientists; seven Oxford early-career researchers were among the shortlisted and winners of the STEM for BRITAIN 2023 awards at the Houses of Parliament. The Academy of Medical Sciences elected eight of our biomedical and health scientists to its fellowship; eight Oxford academics were elected as Fellows of the Royal Society, including yours truly; six were honoured in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s annual Research and Innovation Prizes; twelve were elected Fellows of the British Academy; and, if that was not enough, our researchers have been recognised by the very highest presidential and national awards, prizes, fellowships and honours from governments around the world. And to round it off, Professor John Cardy, emeritus at All Souls, has just won the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for work on quantum field theories. What a haul. 

In turn, we have done our best to honour and celebrate those who support our teaching and research mission. Simon and David Reuben were presented with the Sheldon Medal in recognition of their support. Eight esteemed individuals drawn from arts & literature, sciences, politics and journalism received honorary degrees and joined our community at Encaenia in June 2023. We celebrated landmark events, with over 700 Rhodes Scholars alumni descending on Oxford from all corners of the globe, including President Bill Clinton, for the 120th anniversary of the Rhodes Trust. More recently, the Reuters Institute and Journalist Fellowship Program celebrated its 40th anniversary. Journalists from all the global major news outlets gathered to discuss the challenges they face in a world of disinformation, fake news and AI. Like academia, I believe that journalism at its best is about the curation of truth and enlightening the world. Closer to home, my beloved Neuroimaging Centre (FMRIB, now WIN) celebrated its 25th anniversary – I was proud to witness the enormous influence this world-leading imaging centre has had on our understanding of the human brain as well as on the many people – scientists, technicians, administrative staff and students – who scientifically grew up there. 

The joy I witnessed at these reunions and at Gaudies hosted by our wonderful colleges is the story of what a university offers at its best: a lasting sense of belonging, no matter the distance in time or geography, a home from home where a shared purpose creates something special, impactful and life-changing, together.

我在今年1月的就职演说中确定了四个优先领域，现在请允许我介绍一下这四个领域的最新进展，包括我迄今为止的印象以及我希望如何塑造未来。

让我从人才谈起：这所大学及其所有的成功都源于在这里工作的杰出而敬业的人才。没有最优秀的人才，我们就无法保持世界领先地位，而在竞争激烈的市场中，这将变得越来越困难。我们必须适应环境、大胆改变，并虚心地承认我们还有工作要做。全国性的教师罢课和抵制评卷活动反映了一些问题，但也让我们的学生深感痛苦，他们中大多数人在疫情期间已经饱受苦痛。我尊重罢课的权利——我能理解大家；但我也非常感激那些加班加点的同事们，确保牛津大学的学生们受到最小的影响。

那么，我们在做什么呢？我们的员工体验调查显示，很多人都感到自己受到重视，心声被聆听；但对薪酬、福利和发展机会感到满意的人较少。各学部正在集中精力制定针对性的行动计划，我们还成立了一个人事战略小组，以应对留住、发展、吸引和奖励世界一流人才的挑战。我们知道，要在平衡教学和研究的同时，还要兼顾监管治理、公民和托管等其他职责，更不用说拥有个人生活，这几乎是不可能的。我非常感谢负责人事和数字事务的副校长安妮·特雷费森及其同事在制定学术职业和奖励框架方面所做的工作。他们的建议将在本学年晚些时候正式征求意见，变革也必须紧随其后。我深知我们的博士后群体也面临着真正的挑战，也感谢研究学者中心所开展的工作，来改善固定合同研究员的经历、支持他们的学术导师并加强我们的研究文化。当然，学校还有我开展的《薪酬与条件报告》。指导委员会在这个夏天付出了艰辛的努力。他们将在12月底之前向我报告初步调查结果，届时我们将着手制定短期、中期和长期行动计划。

牛津大学的员工现在可以参加由英国Health Assured公司提供的“员工援助计划”，该计划全年365天、每周7天、每天24小时提供咨询和其他支持服务。我们针对员工康乐的“牛津繁荣发展”系列活动已进入第二年，参与人数众多。我们的哈考特树木园启动了一项与大脑健康和幸福相关的新计划，其中包括绿色社交处方。对于那些持反对意见的人，不妨收听我与杨·范·德·内夫教授在“连点成网星火燎原”播客中的访谈，他谈到了工作场所康乐所带来的可衡量的生产力、幸福感和经济效益。我们听取了关于职场霸凌和骚扰的反馈意见。在我们大学对这此决不容忍。我们将于2024年1月试运行“报告+支持”的机制，并将不断努力直至解决这个问题。

Let me now provide an update on the four areas I identified as a priority in my inaugural address last January, peppered with my impressions to date and how I want to shape things going forward. 

Let me start with people: this university and all its successes are derived from the outstanding and dedicated people who work here. We cannot stay world leading without the very best of the best, and in a competitive market this is going to be increasingly difficult. We must adapt, be bold, and have the humility to accept we’ve got work to do. The national strikes and marking boycotts highlight some issues, but have been deeply painful for our students, most of whom suffered plenty enough through the pandemic. I respect the right to strike – I get it; but I am also deeply grateful to colleagues for working extra hours to ensure we had minimal impact at Oxford for our students. 

So, what are we doing? Well, our staff experience survey shows that many people feel valued and heard; but fewer are satisfied with pay, benefits and development opportunities. Divisions are focusing on action plans to respond, and we have established a People Strategy group to rise to the challenge of retaining, developing, attracting and rewarding world-class talent. We know that juggling teaching and research alongside other duties of governance, good citizenship and trusteeship, let alone having some personal life, is near impossible. I am grateful to Anne Trefethen, PVC for People and Digital, and colleagues for their work developing the Academic Career and Reward Framework. Their recommendations will be formally consulted on later this academic year and change must follow. I am acutely aware that our postdoctoral community are facing real challenges too, and I am grateful to the Researcher Hub for their work to improve the experiences of fixed-term researchers, to support their academic supervisors, and to strengthen our research culture. And, of course, we have my Pay and Conditions Report. The Steering Committee has worked hard over the summer. Their initial findings will be reported to me by the end of December, and we will then work to put in place a short-, medium- and long-term action-plan. 

University employees now have access to an Employee Assistance Programme delivered by Health Assured, providing access to counselling and other support services 24/7, 365 days a year. ‘Thriving at Oxford’ is now in its second year and with excellent participation. Our Harcourt Arboretum has established a new programme linked to brain health and wellbeing, including Green Social Prescribing. For the nay-sayers out there, listen to my Fire & Wire podcast interview with Professor Jan van de Neve on the measurable productivity, happiness and economic benefits of wellbeing in the workplace. And we’ve listened to the feedback on bullying or harassment. There is no place for it in our institution. Report + Support will be piloted in January 2024, and we will keep working until we’ve got this right.

从更广泛的角度来考虑人才，很高兴我们有了一位全职的首席多元化官：蒂姆·索夫马赛。自蒂姆1月份上任以来，他和整个书院制大学的同事们在各院系、学部、中央和书院已经开展的促进“平等多元包容”优秀活动的基础上，共同创造和加速我们认为需要的文化变革。大学获得了首个机构级别的雅典娜天鹅银奖（表彰性别平等的奖项），初级护理保健科学系获得了首个金奖。我们正在取得显著的进展，但如果我们要获得顶尖的人才库，就绝不能止步不前，因为优秀的人才绝不限于特定类型。目前我们有9%的教授来自黑人、亚裔和少数族裔背景，有17%的资深研究员来自这一背景，我希望随着人才渠道更加多元化，这一比例还会提高。但我不禁要问自己，为什么到了2023年，我们的教授中只有29%是女性？性别差距远未消除。展望未来，我感到自豪的是，牛津大学一直有悠久传统，为难民以及因暴力战争流离失所的人们提供支持。今年5月，大学共同主办了牛津市首届“避难所博览会”，并成为“避难所大学”——第一所获此殊荣的书院制大学。祝贺所有参与其中的同事。 

我们如何更好地合作？牛津大学的分权结构是主要优势之一——我喜欢我们的书院结构和地方自治。这是我们的秘密武器。然而，这也给我们的专业服务部门带来了巨大的挑战，尽管他们兢兢业业、辛勤工作，但随着学生人数和研究活动的增加，以及更加复杂的监管和资金环境，他们的工作量也在不断增加。教务长吉尔·艾特肯没有回避这一挑战。去年启动的“专业服务联盟”旨在帮助牛津大学专业服务团队的同事们作为一个更加团结的社群开展工作，同时也投资为我们专业人员增加技能和机会。该计划的目标集中在“人”、“协作”和“质量”上，给我留下了深刻的印象。我们整个机构的专业服务部门都焕发了新的活力。但是，我们还需要更战略性的角度来看待问题。因此，我们在三一学期（即第三学期）启动了专业服务战略审查，以评估当前模式的优缺点；就了解哪些地方需要（或不需要）变革建立集体认识；并帮助就战略方向达成共识。我相信，吉尔在与大学中央行政部门、各院系和各学部的同事协商后，将提出一套全面的计划，推动我们所需的文化变革，将信任作为核心，将服务质量和成本效益作为关键目标。我希望我们的众多书院也能从中受益——在信任和归属的文化氛围中学习和分享，从而实现牛津大学的“携手引领”。

Thinking about people more broadly, it’s great we have a full-time Chief Diversity Officer in: Tim Soutphommasane. Since Tim’s arrival in January, he and colleagues across the collegiate University have been building on the excellent departmental, divisional, central and college-based EDI activities, to co-create and accelerate the cultural change we recognise is needed. We secured our first institutional Silver Athena Swan award and our first gold award for the Department of Primary Care Health Sciences. Excellent progress is happening, but we must not rest if we are to embrace the top talent pool that does not reside solely in particular types of individuals. 9% of our professors are from BME backgrounds and, with the proportion of senior researchers from BME backgrounds now at 17%, I am hopeful that percentage will increase with a more diverse pipeline of talent. But I do ask myself why, in 2023, are only 29% of our professors women? The gender gap is far from closed. And looking beyond, I am proud that Oxford has a long tradition of supporting refugees and people displaced by violence and war. In May, we co-hosted the city’s first Sanctuary Fair and became a University of Sanctuary – the first collegiate University to be awarded this status. Congratulations to all those involved. 

How might we work better together? Oxford’s devolved nature is one of its key strengths – I love our collegiate structure and local autonomy. It’s our secret sauce. However, it presents significant challenges to our professional services who, despite their dedication and hard work, are struggling with a growing workload driven by increases in student numbers and research activity, and a more complex regulatory and funding environment. The Registrar, Gill Aitken, has not shied from tackling this challenge. Professional Services Together, launched last year, aims to help Oxford’s professional services colleagues work as one even more joined-up community, while also investing in skills and opportunities for our professional staff. Its ambitions are focused on People, Collaboration and Quality and I have been really impressed with the programme. There is a new vibe within our professional services across this institution. However, we need to take a more strategic view. So, a strategic review of Professional Services was launched in Trinity term to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the current model; to build a collective understanding of where there is (and is not) a case for change; and to help build a consensus on strategic direction. I am confident that Gill, in consultation with colleagues from central administration, departments and divisions, will bring forward a comprehensive set of plans to drive the culture change we need, embedding trust at its heart, and with quality of service and value for money as a key goal. My hope is that there might be benefits too for our colleges – Oxford Leading Together by learning and sharing in a culture of trust and belonging.

现在，请允许我谈谈我们使命的两个核心领域：教导学生和学术研究。

我是一名充满激情的教育工作者。我很自豪在最近的英国高校“卓越教学框架”评选中，我们获得了总成绩“金奖”，一个非常客观的结果。再次祝贺各学部、院系和书院的各位老师，祝贺各书院的资深导师，也祝贺我们分管教育的副校长马丁·威廉姆斯和他的整个团队，他们为“卓越教学框架”的提交做了大量准备工作。我很高兴能在六月份开启了教学中心的研讨会，150位同事出席了这次会议。中心可以给教学提供很多帮助。例如，他们极大帮助了牛津大学麻醉学模拟、教学和研究团队赢得了今年英国高等教育卓越教学合作奖。

我们的学生非常出色。我一直受他们的启迪鼓舞，相信你们也有同感，而他们对牛津的热爱溢于言表。这就是为什么我很高兴我们通过众多的公众参与、开放日和外展项目，越来越多地将牛津的真实面貌——你我所熟知的牛津——传递出去。本学期启动的“创星预科计划”是一个里程碑。我很高兴在年初通过Zoom欢迎了第一批学生，并在上周亲自出席了欢迎仪式。我非常感谢参与的书院、院系以及继续教育系接纳这些学生，也非常感谢慷慨的赞助人。还有170多名本科生在“机遇牛津“项目的支持下来到牛津，该项目是学术预备课程，旨在帮助（牛津代表性不足）的学生为攻读要求苛刻的学位课程做好准备，有大约400名符合标准收到录取通知的学生参加了线上课程。我们正在扩大项目规模以满足更多学生的需求。UNIQ是我们旗舰的外展住宿项目。今年夏天，它让一千多名学生真正领略了牛津的魅力。当我拜访实验室，看到曾经参加UNIQ的学生在项目中授课，让我深受鼓舞。在北上回家的火车上，我甚至意外地坐在了一名学生的旁边——他们正在阅读古典文学并做笔记。这真是太棒了！别担心，我不是一个无聊的同桌……我希望他们能申请牛津。我们每年投入超过700万英镑，这些仅仅是我们为帮助提高学校成绩和鼓励申请择优大学所做努力的一部分。人才无处不在，但机会……还不是。我们正在努力改变这一点。

研究生阶段的公平入学是另一个重点领域，牛津大学在这一方面遥遥领先。“UNIQ+研究实习计划”针对代表性不足和弱势背景的学生，在今年夏天有127名实习生参加了为期七周的实习。实习生与四个学部的学术人员和博士后一起开展研究项目，同时居住在参与项目的11所书院之一。“缩小差距”项目得到了英国学生事务办公室和英格兰研究署的资助，我们与剑桥大学平等开展合作，旨在为代表性不足的群体提供更多攻读博士学位的机会。在此感谢所有参与这些项目的院系、书院以及支持这些实习的同事们。你们正在改变许多人生。

“学术未来”是牛津大学的旗舰研究生奖学金计划，为有黑人血统或寄养经历的英国学生，以及来自全球各地的难民或流离失所的学生提供了更多的奖学金。提供这些奖学金确实带来改变，因为我们看到来自这些代表性不足群体的申请和录取人数都在增加。来自Optiver基金会捐赠的200万英镑将用于资助中低收入国家的女性攻读STEM硕士课程，首批来自5个不同国家的6名奖学金学者将于今年入学。我们的乌克兰研究生奖学金计划在过去一年支持了27名学者在牛津大学的学习，得益于量化交易公司XTX Markets的慷慨捐赠，今年我们又设立了新的奖学金计划。

这些都是了不起的进步。然而，要在高校中具有竞争力，不因资金限制而流失人才，我们必须向所有研究生都能获得全额资助的目标迈进。我们的“研究生奖学金配捐计划”取得了巨大成功——在默顿书院为研究生筹集资金的经验告诉我，该项计划是多么重要。配捐计划资金池中仍有资金，请放心，研究生奖学金将是我们雄心勃勃的募捐活动筹款目标的重要部分。

我曾经说过，我坚信终身学习的重要性。我们的继续教育系是学校中一股非凡的力量源泉——15000名注册学生，年龄从18岁到90岁以上，来自各行各业包括好莱坞……我喜欢他们的学位日。通过在线课程指导小组，继续教育系和其他同事一直在开发安全数字身份认证机制，使大学可以借助这一机制优化在线课程的提供。我希望我们成为“云端和梦幻的尖塔”的雄心正在实现，但如果我们要在教育领域保持世界领先地位，我们就必须勇于创新，乐于尝试。

Let me now move to the two core areas of our mission: teaching our students and research. 

I am a passionate educator. I am so proud that we were awarded GOLD overall in the recent Teaching Excellence Framework – a just result. Again, congratulations to all of you in divisions, departments and colleges, to college senior tutors and to our PVC for Education, Martin Williams, and his entire team for the huge amount of work they did to prepare for the TEF submission. I was pleased to open the Centre for Teaching and Learning symposium in June, attended by 150 colleagues. They have a lot to offer. For example, they were instrumental in helping to support the Oxford Simulation, Teaching and Research team in anaesthetics win a national Advance HE Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence this year. 

Our students are amazing. I am continually inspired by them, as I’m sure you are too, and their love of Oxford is palpable. That is why I’m so pleased we are increasingly getting our message out about what Oxford is really like – the one you and I know – through our many engagement, open days and outreach programmes. The launch of the Astrophoria Foundation Year this term is a landmark. I enjoyed welcoming the first cohort by Zoom earlier in the year and then in person last week. I am grateful to the participating colleges and departments, as well as the Department for Continuing Education, for hosting these students as a cohort, and to the generous benefactor. Over 170 undergraduates are here under the auspices of Opportunity Oxford – our academic bridging program to prepare students for our demanding degree courses – and about 400 standard offer-holders took part in the online component. We are stepping up to meet student needs. UNIQ is our flagship outreach residential programme. This summer it gave over a thousand students a real taste of what Oxford can offer. It was inspiring to see former UNIQ students teaching on the programme when I visited the laboratories. Serendipitously, I even sat next to one student on a train north heading home – they were reading and making notes about something in Classics. Just fantastic. Don’t worry, I wasn’t a bore… and I hope they apply. Spending more than £7 million each year, these are just a few of our efforts to help raise attainment in schools and encourage applications to selective universities. Talent is everywhere but opportunity is not… yet. We are helping to fix that. 

Graduate access is another area of focus and Oxford is well ahead of the sector. The UNIQ+ research internship programme for students from under-represented and disadvantaged backgrounds welcomed 127 interns for seven weeks in the summer. Interns worked on a research project with academic and post-doctoral staff in departments across the four divisions and were accommodated in one of the 11 participating colleges. The Close the Gap project funded by the OfS and Research England, which we are running in equal partnership with Cambridge, aims to improve access to doctoral study for under-represented groups. Thank you to all the participating departments, colleges and to colleagues supporting these internships. You are changing lives. 

Academic Futures, our flagship graduate access scholarship scheme, provided increased numbers of scholarships for UK Black and Mixed-black students, care-experienced UK students and refugee/displaced students from around the globe. Offering these scholarships really does make a difference because we are seeing increased numbers of applications and offer-holders from these under-represented groups. A £2 million gift from Optiver Foundation will support scholarships for women from low- and middle-income countries on STEM masters’ courses, with the first six scholars from five different countries starting this year. Our Ukraine Graduate Scholarship scheme saw 27 scholars at Oxford in this past year, with a new scheme established for this year thanks to a generous gift from XTX Markets. 

This is terrific progress. However, to be competitive with our counterparts, and not lose talent due to funding constraints, we must move to a position where all our graduates are fully funded. The Graduate Endowed Matching Scheme (GEMS) has been wildly successful – I know from experience how important it was when raising funds for graduates at Merton. There is still money in the GEMS pot, and rest assured that graduate scholarships will be a major part of the fundraising goals for our ambitious Development Campaign. 

I’ve said before that I am a firm believer in the importance of lifelong learning. Our Department for Continuing Education is an extraordinary powerhouse within our university – 15,000 enrolments from age 18 to over 90 and from all walks of life, including Hollywood... I love the degree days. Through the Online Course Steering Group they and others have been developing the mechanism for secure digital authentication through which the collegiate University can optimise its online course provision. My ambition for us to be ‘Streaming and Dreaming Spires’ is happening, but we need to be innovative and willing to experiment if we are to remain world leading in education. 

现在，请允许我谈谈整个书院制大学的学生体验：我们采取了一系列措施来减轻生活成本上涨带来的影响，包括提高本科生助学金和研究生奖学金、简化申请流程和设立新基金。我们听取了学生们的意见，推出了一个经过改进和更名的困难援助基金，称为牛津财务支持。对学生福利与支持服务各方面的需求持续增长。四分之一的学生被认定为残疾或神经多元化，因此我们需要不断探索改善学生体验的方法——我希望残疾咨询服务部门新推出的简化版的学生支持计划将有所帮助。42%的学生能在五个工作日内约到我们的心理辅导服务，我们新任的心理辅导主管已经制定了更短时间的目标——但我们必须对学生心理保持敏感，我非常感谢各个书院的福利团队为支持学生所做的一切。焦虑仍然是牛津学生面临的最大问题。我们与牛津布鲁克斯大学以及NHS建立了新的合作关系，以改善学生获得心理健康治疗服务的途径；我们还推出了“书院制大学学生心理健康通用规范”和“GLAM Origin”项目（项目通过文化体验提升年轻人心理健康），这些都是我们正在尝试做得更好并推动改变的项目。通过与各书院的密切合作，我们将在来年扩大我们防范性骚扰和暴力的支持服务。我们的目标是确保牛津成为一个对任何形式的性骚扰或暴力都零容忍的地方。

在学生早餐会和遛狗漫步的过程中，我一直在倾听，虽然我们的学生体验质量高于平均水平，但各院系和书院之间确实存在参差不齐的情况。我们学者们的体验也是如此。我并非不了解要一碗水端平的挑战（暂时没想到更好的表述），我欢迎各院系和书院的负责人就这个问题进一步探讨。

现在来谈谈为我们学生提供的新的学习机会：我在就职演讲中谈到，由于A-Level考试在人文学科与STEM学科选择上设置的“巨大鸿沟”，英国学生面临着技能水平下降的问题。我很高兴地宣布，我们将在希拉里学期（第二学期）推出“校长座谈会”，这是一项帮助学生跨越鸿沟相互学习的实验。目前，我们正在与继续教育学院以及各学部和书院的同事合作开发这一试点选修课程，它将让来自STEM、人文和社会科学背景的本科生聚在一起，提升他们的批判性思维、沟通水平、以及计算和数据分析能力。鉴于我们学生领导的牛津气候变化学院的成功和受欢迎程度，我们决定将气候作为试点研讨会的统一主题。

但我们的计划并非到此为止。言论自由是今年的中心议题。我已经明确了我们在大学中保护言论自由的职责：这是我们如何教授学科和让学生接触不同观点的核心；这也与我们对平等、多样性和包容性的承诺相辅相成。我曾公开承认，这意味着一些合法的自由言论会让一部分人难以接受。然而也让我不安的是，我看到社交媒体平台上打着言论自由的幌子，放大了无礼、狭隘和仇恨的言论。得知我们的跨性别群体今年遭受了辱骂和威胁的言行时，我深感痛心。我们本应为他们提供更多支持；请放心，我们已经吸取了教训。在这所大学里我有更高的期望，我们将继续努力，对当前核心议题，创造宽容和尊重分歧的文化。这是我们共同学习和进步的方式。

根据伦敦国王学院政策研究所去年对学生和公众进行的一项调查，虽然大家都非常赞同在大学里保护言论自由，但只有20%的受访者同意，大学应允许表达所有的想法和观点，即使意味着有人感到受到威胁。这凸显了我们的任务之一：确保言论自由在文明、学术严谨和法律的范围内进行。因此，我非常感谢戴维·艾萨克领导几所书院的同事们，在征求学生意见的基础上制作了一个工具包，为如何把握言论自由提供了最佳建议。我们还将针对具有挑战性的话题开展一系列讨论，以展示如何用礼貌的方式与不同观点和信仰进行探讨。下学期会有更多相关内容。

许多人将出版印刷视为言论自由的基础——能在过去十个月里了解牛津大学出版社，是一件多么令人愉快的事情。我的目标是让牛津大学出版社更加引人注目，并与牛津大学社群相互融合。牛津大学出版社的全球辐射度、品牌知名度、教育影响力以及对牛津大学的财务重要性无论怎样强调都不为过。既要坚守核心使命，又要保持商业成功，这是一条艰难的道路，我对此充满钦佩。例如，牛津大学出版社在南非推出了移动订阅服务，让超过14万人可以通过手机访问其内容；在牛津当地，“培养小读者”的活动鼓励儿童成为终身学习者。牛津大学出版社和国家扫盲信托基金正为牛津郡最贫困地区的10所学校的儿童捐赠图书并建立阅读空间。有34万人参与了牛津年度词汇的投票，其中“摆烂模式”获得了90%的公众投票，成为全球头条新闻。如果您没有注意到这个词，它的意思是“一种毫不愧疚地自我放纵、懒惰、邋遢或贪婪的行为”……啊，也许有一天……另一件很棒的事，是我们的出版社受坎特伯雷大主教委托，制作国王查尔斯三世加冕仪式上使用的《加冕圣经》。这本书用皮革手工装订并以金箔装饰，其复杂的设计灵感来自于牛津大学出版社过去历史上制作的加冕圣经，和英国国王对自然世界的热爱。它确实非常壮观。

Now let me turn to the student experience across our collegiate University: We have put in place a number of measures to mitigate the impact of the increasing cost of living, from undergraduate bursary and graduate scholarship uplifts, streamlining application processes and creating new funds. We’ve listened to students and have launched an enhanced and renamed hardship fund, now called Oxford Financial Assistance. Demands on all areas of Student Welfare and Support Services continue to grow. A quarter of the student population identifies as disabled or neurodiverse, and so there is a constant need to explore ways to improve the student experience – I am hopeful that the Disability Advisory Service’s new, streamlined approach to Student Support Plans will help. 42% of students approaching our Counselling Service are seen in fewer than five working days, and our new Head of Counselling has set further goals – but we must remain vigilant and I’m grateful to the college welfare teams for all they do to support students. Anxiety remains the largest presenting issue for Oxford students. New partnerships with Oxford Brookes and the NHS to improve student pathways to mental health treatment services, the launch of a collegiateUniversity Common Approach to Student Mental Health and the GLAM Origin project are just a few of the new ways we’re trying to do things better and make a difference. Working closely with thecolleges, we are expanding our Sexual Harassment and Violence Support Service in the coming year. Our goal is to ensure that Oxford is known as a place where there is zero tolerance for any form of sexual harassment or violence. 

In my student breakfast meetings and dog walks I’ve been listening and, although the quality of our student experience is above average for the sector, we do have some unevenness between departments and colleges. The same might be said for the experience of our academics. I’m not ignorant of the challenges in levelling up, for want of a better expression, and I welcome engagement with departmental and college heads on this issue going forwards. 

Now let me turn to new learning opportunities for our students: I spoke during my admission speech about the de-skilling that British students experience due to the ‘great divide’ that A-level choices brings when it comes to humanities versus STEM. I am pleased to announce that we will be launching, in Hilary term, the Vice-Chancellor’s Colloquium, an experiment in helping students learn from each other across the divide. This pilot, non-compulsory course, being currently developed in collaboration with Continuing Education and colleagues from across divisions and colleges will allow undergraduates from STEM, humanities and social sciences backgrounds to come together to enhance their critical thinking, communication, numeracy and data analysis skills. Building on the success and popularity of our student-led Oxford School of Climate Change, we’ve decided to make climate the unifying theme of the pilot colloquium. 

But it doesn’t end there. Free speech has been centre stage this year. I have been clear about our role in the university sector to protect free speech: it is core to how we teach subjects and expose students to different views; and it also goes hand in hand with our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. I have publicly acknowledged that this means some legal free speech will be hard for some individuals to hear. However, I am also disturbed by what I witness as an amplification of discourteous, intolerant and hateful rhetoric on social media platforms under the guise of free speech. I was deeply saddened to learn of the abusive and threatening language and behaviours that our trans community suffered this year. We should have done more to support them; rest assured lessons were learned. In this University, I expect more and we will continue to strive to create a culture of tolerance and respectful disagreement on key issues of the day. That is how we learn together and evolve. 

According to a survey of students and the public last year, conducted by King’s College London Policy Institute, while there is strong agreement that free speech is protected in universities, only 20% of those surveyed agree that universities should allow for all ideas and opinions to be expressed when it means that people feel threatened. This highlights one of the tasks we have: making sure that free speech happens within the bounds of civility, intellectual rigour and the law. So I’m grateful that colleagues from a few colleges, led by David Isaac, have created a toolkit in consultation with students with top tips for how to navigate free speech. We’re also creating a series of discussions on challenging topics to showcase what engaging with different views and beliefs, in a courteous manner, can look like. More on that in the coming term. 

Many see the printing press as the foundation of free speech – and what a joy it has been to learn about Oxford University Press over the past ten months. I aim to make it more visible and interdigitated with the University community. Its global reach, brand recognition, educational impact and financial importance to the University cannot be overstated. Staying true to our core mission, while maintaining their need to be commercially responsible, is a difficult path to walk, and I am full of admiration. For example, OUP has launched a mobile subscription service in South Africa, allowing more than 140,000 people to access their content through their phones; more locally, ‘Raise a Reader’ encourages children to become lifelong learners. OUP and the National Literacy Trust are donating books and setting up established reading spaces for children in 10 schools in the most disadvantaged parts of Oxfordshire. Word of the Year saw 340,000 people cast their vote, with ‘goblin mode’ receiving 90% of the public vote and making headlines worldwide. In case this passed you by, it means ‘a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy.’… ah, one day… And how wonderful that our Press was commissioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury to produce the Coronation Bible used by His Majesty King Charles III during the coronation ceremony. Hand-bound in leather and decorated in gold leaf, the intricate design drew inspiration from both historic Coronation Bibles that OUP created and His Majesty's love of the natural world. It truly is spectacular.

现在来谈谈研究、影响和创新：我们的排名、成功获得的研究基金、奖项、奖励、学术学金以及在政府中的重要作用，都彰显了我们的研究和研究人才的质量、影响力以及与社会的相关性。在此，请允许我感谢分管研究的副校长帕特里克·格兰特，感谢他为支持我们研究所做的周到而投入的工作。无私领导、广泛合作和追求卓越是我们研究的基因。

我很自豪我们正在捍卫人文学科——尤其反对媒体和决策圈过于聚焦STEM学科。我们需要人文学科在英国和全世界蓬勃发展。正如欧文·米勒所说的那样，人文学科让我们成为真正意义上的人类。请看人文科学部6月发布的报告，该报告对9000多名年龄在21至54岁之间的牛津大学人文科学毕业生的职业生涯进行跟踪调查，证明了学习人文科学对人们职业生涯和更广泛的社会价值。因此，让我们向学校、媒体和政策制定者积极宣传学习和研究人文学科的价值。我们对人文学科的守护也体现在苏世民中心的建立上，中心将于2025年如期竣工。相应的文化计划将使中心场馆焕发生机，为牛津人民、全国乃至全世界带来真正精彩绝伦的体验。中心的首任总监约翰·富尔詹姆斯已经全力投入工作，最近他推出了一项关注环境名为“万物相连”的精彩公共项目。请多多买票参与。

今年，我们迎来了数学物理生物科学学部的新负责人吉姆·奈史密斯教授，他是罗莎琳德·富兰克林研究所的前所长，也是一位杰出的科学家和学术带头人。在此，请允许我感谢萨姆·豪森教授在过去五年中对该学部的出色领导——他代表了我们最优秀的学者领袖。我很高兴参加了牛津大学生物和实验心理学系的新生命与心灵大楼的建设中途封顶仪式，最近又在贝格布鲁克科学园新大楼的封顶仪式上种树。我要感谢分管规划与资源的副校长戴维·普劳特和物业部门为建造这些令人惊叹的新大楼所付出的努力和技能。然而我也惊讶地发现，我们的一些楼房已经变得如此破旧，尤其是在数学物理生物科学学部；这对于我们这样一所大学以及在这里工作的教师和研究人员来说，是远远不够的。我将与吉姆一起不懈努力，在未来几年解决这一问题。

我们社会科学学部最新的研究、影响和参与战略显然正在取得成果，展示了合作、共创和领导力如何能够在出色教学工作的同时，带来卓越的影响力和参与度。其中一个例子就是通过筹款在牛津大学建立了一个全新、永久的东盟研究所，将我们与几所东南亚大学联系起来。该研究所将设在牛津大学全球与地区研究院，并与多个院系共享职位和教学，包括六个新的副教授职位。社会科学学部正在大力推动“云端尖塔”的雄心壮志。8月，赛德商学院推出了新的内部教育科技板块——牛津赛德在线，开设了ESG和可持续金融战略新课程，并计划启动更多课程，包括在线文凭课程。我们很高兴看到公众对社会科学的热情——每年通过英国经济与社会研究理事会（ESRC）的社会科学节激励下一代，今年已经是第21年了。但是，社会科学同样面临着基础设施的挑战，加上支持其计划增长的雄心勃勃的资本计划，这些都需要我们共同加以支持。

领袖作用和伙伴合作是医学科学学部再创辉煌的标志。医学科学学部的核心稳健有力，最近刚从英国心脏基金会的“强心跳挑战“中，通过名为“CUREHEART”的项目赢得了3000万英镑的奖金，并将与哈佛大学合作开发第一批治疗遗传性心肌疾病的药物。“牛津全球健康倡议”是一个跨学部的研究项目，涵盖55个院系、450名全球健康研究人员、60个国家和8个以上的研究生课程。阿兰·伯恩斯坦教授是加拿大健康研究和高级研究所的前所长，他成功受聘领导这一涉及牛津大学所有学部、雄心勃勃的倡议。我热烈祝贺所有参与筹备并成功争取到牛津大学两个国家健康与护理研究所（NIHR）生物医学研究中心的同事们，他们将在未来五年内获得1.22亿英镑的巨额研究资金，用于改善英国国家医疗服务系统（NHS）患者的诊断、治疗和护理。就在昨天下午，牛津詹纳研究所30年疟疾疫苗研究的成功，促使世界卫生组织在分析了临床试验数据后，推荐使用我们与印度血清研究所合作开发的，采用了Novavax佐剂技术的R21/Matrix-MTM疟疾疫苗。祝贺所有相关同事取得这一里程碑式的成就。

Moving to Research, impact and innovation: Our rankings, research grant successes, awards, prizes, fellowships, and key government roles all speak to the quality, impact and relevance of our research and research talent to society. Let me here thank Patrick Grant, PVC for Research, for his thoughtful and engaged work to support our research endeavours. Generous leadership, partnership and excellence is in our research DNA.

I am proud that we are standing up for the humanities – particularly against a strong rhetoric focusing on STEM in media and policymaking circles. We need humanities to flourish in Britain and the world. It’s not just, as Irwin Miller put it, that humanities make us truly human in the best sense of the word. Look at the report the Humanities Division released in June which evidenced the value of studying humanities to people's careers and wider society, having followed the careers of over 9,000 Oxford humanities graduates aged between 21 and 54. So, let’s get the positive message out to schools, media and policymakers about the value of studying and researching subjects within the humanities. Our stewardship of the humanities is evidenced by the establishment of the Schwarzman Centre – on schedule for completion in 2025. The Cultural Programme will bring the centre's venues to life as a truly magnificent offering for local people, the nation and world. Its first director, John Fulljames, is already in full flight and recently launched a wonderful public programme, focused on the environment, called ‘Everything is Connected’. Please buy tickets.

We welcome a new Head of MPLS, Professor Jim Naismith, former director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute and an outstanding scientist and academic leader. Let me here thank Professor Sam Howison for his terrific leadership of the division for the past five years – he represents the very best of us. I was pleased to attend a topping out ceremony to mark the midway point in construction of Oxford’s new Life and Mind Building for the Departments of Biology and Experimental Psychology, and more recently to plant a tree at the topping out ceremony of new buildings at Begbroke Science Park. I want to thank David Prout, PVC for Planning & Resources, and Estates for their efforts and skill in delivering these incredible new buildings. However, I have been surprised to discover how dilapidated some of our estate has become, notably in MPLS; this is simply not good enough for an institution of our calibre and for the teachers and researchers working here. I will work tirelessly with Jim to fix this in the coming years.

The new research, impact and engagement strategy for the Social Sciences Division is clearly paying dividends, showing how partnerships, co-creation and leadership can lead to outstanding impact and engagement, alongside their fantastic teaching. One example is the establishment through fundraising of a new, permanent ASEAN Institute at the University, connecting us with several southeast Asian universities. The institute will be based at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies with shared posts and teaching across several departments, including six new associate professorships. And social sciences are really pushing the streaming spires ambition. In August, the Saïd Business School launched its new in-house EdTech unit – Oxford Saïd Online – with a new course on ESG and Sustainable Financial Strategy with further courses planned, including an online postgraduate diploma. And it’s great to witness the enthusiasm for social sciences by the public – annually inspiring the next generation through the ESRC Festival of Social Science, now in its 21st year. But social sciences also face infrastructure challenges that, coupled to ambitious capital plans to support their planned growth, require our collective support.

Leadership              and partnership are the hallmarks for building yet further success              within our Medical Sciences Division. Its beating heart stays strong              with a recent £30 million award from British Heart Foundation’s Big Beat              Challenge, called CUREHEART, and in collaboration with Harvard to              develop the first cures for inherited heart muscle diseases. Oxford              Global Health is a pan-divisional endeavour spanning 55 departments, 450              global health researchers, 60 countries, and more than eight              postgraduate programmes. Professor Alan Bernstein, former head of the              Canadian Institutes for Health Research and Advanced Research, has been              successfully recruited to lead our ambitions in this space across all              academic divisions of the University. And I warmly congratulate all              those involved in preparing and succeeding in securing Oxford’s two              National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical              Research Centres who will receive a staggering £122 million over the              next five years to improve diagnosis, treatment and care for NHS              patients. And just yesterday afternoon, the culmination of 30 years’              work on malaria vaccines by the Oxford Jenner Institute has led to the              WHO, after analysing clinical trial data, recommending for use our              R21/Matrix-MTM malaria vaccine developed with the Serum Institute of              India and leveraging Novavax’s adjuvant technology. Congratulations to              all involved on reaching this landmark.

最近有人提醒我，“没有政策的科学只是科学，没有科学的政策只是赌博”……因此，通过与国内外其他伟大的机构合作，我相信是时候展示大规模的领袖作用和伙伴合作，以应对我们这个时代最重大的挑战：气候变化。坦率地说，我认识到，如果我们学术界不挺身而出推动牵头，我不知道还有谁会。我们深受信赖，也不受选举周期或地缘政治的限制。我在深入院系访问和与书院会议的交谈中一直在宣传这一观点，我感觉到大家都有兴趣。我们也拥有产生影响的专业知识——我们已经在学校内部开始行动了，我们日趋成熟的可持续发展计划已取得成效；我们有了零碳研究所和净零倡议；我们有新成立的能源材料研究中心；我们有和英国原子能管理局合作的衍生企业First Light Fusion；以及我们在行为改变这一重要课题上世界领先的社会科学和医学研究等等，不一而足。随着我们给这所书院制大学制定下一个战略计划，我将在明年更多探讨这一宏伟使命。

我们非常擅长创新。得益于牛津大学科技创新公司（OUI）和牛津大学科创投资基金（OSE）的全力支持，牛津大学今年创立了第300家公司，并任命了一位充满活力的新首席执行官。这些公司筹集了超过60亿英镑的投资，创造了9000多个工作岗位。牛津大学仍然是英国大学专利申请和衍生公司数量最多的大学。由分管创新的副校长查斯·邦特拉来专业领导知识产权与商业转化的审查，这意味着OUI初创企业孵化器的规模翻了三倍。孵化器“增加创业多样性”的计划正在取得成效，迄今已创建了18家社会企业，其中一半以上企业由女性创立。我们的同事们还赢得了“影响力加速资金”的125万英镑奖金，用于在未来五年内将大学的社会科学研究成果转化为社会、经济和行为影响。新成立的创业枢纽“EnSpire Oxford”，将我们的学生、教职员工和校友与牛津大学内外的创业人员、场所和项目联系起来。我非常感谢就业服务处对这一倡议的支持。

我感觉到在牛津的创业氛围越来越浓厚。伴随生命科学领域的腾飞和对实验空间的无限需求，我对我们能为城市、地区、国家和世界创造什么感到乐观。甲骨文软件公司CEO拉里·埃里森即将为牛津大学提供巨额资助，来助力牛津的学术环境，应对气候变化、健康和食品安全等现代社会的重大挑战。这将有助于把牛津大学推向前所未有的高度。

我相信我们即将开创一种模式，允许公共和私营部门之间有更多空间让双方都获得智慧和经济效益。我希望牛津大学能够引领和塑造这一发展方向。我们有几项雄心勃勃的计划，包括贝格布鲁克科学园和牛津科学园、奥森米德创新角、北牛津建设、埃里森研究所以及对库勒姆和哈威尔园区的参与。然而，我相信我们要有雄心赢得更大的胜利，那就是确保牛津成为地球上最具吸引力的学习、教学、研究或工作场所，并对当地和全国产生积极影响。通过与牛津市郡以更具战略性的方式，共同开发规划我们正在做和还能做的事情，我们将创建世界一流的——甚至是全球最好的——跨学科创新和知识交流生态系统。这将确保我们在全球的竞争力，影响当地人民并创造工作机会，同时让我们更多的学生能在毕业后留在本地生活。我与安德鲁·威廉姆森共同为政府主持的关于英国大学通过创新推动英国经济增长的报告即将完成。这份报告让我洞察到什么是可能的。通过与其他优秀的英国大学合作，我对未来的可能性和我们的能力深感乐观兴奋、斗志满满，相信我们通过无私领导、伙伴合作和追求卓越，将继续在塑造英国的进程中发挥关键作用。

I was reminded recently, ‘science without policy is just science, policy without science is gambling’… so working in partnership with our other great institutions here and abroad, I think it’s time for us to show what leadership and partnership looks like on a grand scale to tackle the greatest challenge of our time: climate change. Frankly, I have come to the view that, if we as a sector don’t step up, then I don’t know who will. We are trusted, we are not limited by electoral cycles or geopolitics. I have been socialising this idea in my deep-dive departmental visits and in conversation with Conference of Colleges, and I sense there is appetite. We have the expertise to make impact – we’re already doing it in house with our maturing sustainability plan that is already delivering; our ZERO Institute and Net Zero Initiative; the new Centre for Energy Materials Research; our spin-out with the UK Atomic Energy Authority, First Light Fusion; and our world-leading research in social and medical sciences in the vital area of behaviour change, to name but a few. I will be talking much more about this grand mission in the coming year as we develop our next strategic plan for the collegiate University.

And              we’re great at innovation. The University has created its 300th company              with the dedicated support of Oxford University Innovation and Oxford              Science Enterprises, who have appointed a new and dynamic CEO. The              companies have raised over £6 billion in investment and created over              9,000 jobs. We remain the highest university patent filer and spin-out              company generator in the UK. The IP & Commercialisation Review              expertly led by Chas Bountra, PVC for Innovation, has meant that OUI’s              start-up incubator has tripled in size. Their Increasing Diversity in              Enterprising Activities programme is delivering with 18 social ventures              created so far, more than half by female founders. Colleagues won £1.25              million in Impact Acceleration Account funding to translate the              University’s social sciences research into social, economic and              behavioural impact over the next five years. The creation of a new hub              for entrepreneurship, EnSpire Oxford, connects our students, staff and              alumni to the entrepreneurial people, places and programmes available              within the University of Oxford and beyond. I am grateful to the Careers              Service for their support of this initiative.

I              sense a growing taste for entrepreneurship at Oxford. With the Life              Sciences sector taking off and an unquenched thirst for laboratory              space, I am optimistic about what we can build for the city, region,              nation and world. Opportunities afforded by Larry Ellison’s upcoming              very significant financial contribution to enhance the scholastic              environment around Oxford in taking on some of the major challenges in              modern society, including climate change, health and food security, will              help us take Oxford to a level we’ve not witnessed before.

I              believe we’re on the cusp of creating models that allow for more              porosity between the public and private sector that can be beneficial,              intellectually and financially, for both sides. I want collegiate Oxford              to lead and shape this direction of travel. We have several ambitious              plans with Begbroke and Oxford Science Parks, Osney Mead, Oxford North,              the Ellison Institute and our involvement at Culham and Harwell.              However, I believe there is a greater prize to be won that ties our              ambition to secure Oxford as the most attractive place on earth to come              and study, teach, research or work, while being impactful locally for              the region and nation. By developing and curating in a more strategic              manner with the city and county what we’re doing and yet can still do,              we will create one of the world’s – if not THE world’s – greatest              interdisciplinary innovation and knowledge-exchange ecosystems. This              will secure our competitiveness worldwide, while creating conditions for              work that impact local people as well as enabling more of our students              to live in the region once graduated. The report that I have been              co-chairing with Andrew Williamson for the government on the role of UK              universities to drive economic growth for Britain through innovation is              near completion. It’s given me insight into what’s possible. Working              together with our other great British universities, I am optimistic,              excited and energised about what is possible and our ability through our              generous leadership, partnership and excellence, to play a leading role              helping shape Britain.

现在让我谈谈我新的最爱……不好意思……我们的花园、图书馆和博物馆群（GLAM）：在类似公共场馆面临资金压力的时代，我很自豪我们能成为这些瑰宝的展示者和守护者，为许多人的生活带来了光芒。今年我非常高兴能更多地了解我们的花园、图书馆和博物馆，并在其华丽的环境中为捐赠者和校友们举办晚宴。我们的四座博物馆、牛津植物园和树木园、老图书馆和威斯顿图书馆不仅为我们的教学研究提供了出色的支持，也是公众走进牛津并为之惊叹的窗口。在过去的一年里，我们的公共空间接待了300多万名游客——回到了疫情前的水平，还接待了67000多名学校和教育机构的访客。在2023年全国学生调查中，伯德利图书馆在“图书馆问题”中以96.9%的满意度名列全国榜首。经过四年的关闭改造，期待已久的拉德克利夫科学图书馆即将开放——感谢您的耐心等待。自然历史博物馆的展览也蓬勃发展，这是我从小就喜欢的地方，在世界生物多样性奔溃的今天，它仍然是希望的灯塔。事实上，由英国国家彩票遗产基金出资160万英镑开展的“未来希望”项目现已完成其主要目标，对110万只英国昆虫进行了保护、记录和重新安置。此外，为了实现数字化转型的目标，让更多人能学习参观，我们推出了皮特河博物馆藏品在线平台，向全球观众提供博物馆藏品中的50多万条记录。牛津植物园制定了雄心勃勃的筹款计划，来建造新的温室以减少92%的碳足迹，并保护世界各地的珍稀植物——我们仍在寻找支持这一愿景的捐赠者。温室的设计从棕榈叶的脱水能力中汲取灵感，建立在植物园对仿生学的前沿研究和受自然启发设计的基础上，并与牛津大学的数学家和物理学家通力合作。

我们花园、图书馆和博物馆群显然对当地和全球都产生了影响，我们的书院和院系也是如此。在此，请允许我对简·罗亚尔表示感谢，这不仅是因为她作为书院大会主席所做的工作，还因为她对改变牛津地区的热情，我们也将在此基础上再接再厉。我们的各书院与小学开展了结对项目；进行社会投资，为无家可归者提供住房；实施货运自行车运送计划，以减少市中心的拥堵现象；在市中心建设了令人惊叹的新建筑，不仅为牛津购物街道带来了生机，还有细致的本地化采购。由学部和院系牵头的倡议包括“科学同行”，将当地社区面临的挑战与我们世界一流的研究人员联系在一起。但我希望我们能做得更多。因此，我很高兴亚历克斯·贝茨教授于2023年5月兼任了全新高级职位——地方和全球参与官。他上任就快马加鞭，连我都望尘莫及！我们与牛津市、牛津郡、英国政府或联合国通力合作，旨在推动、连接和协调正在进行的非凡参与工作，以及试点新举措，例如：一个新的地方政策实验室，在可持续发展、健康和教育等领域，将我们的研究人员与郡市和地区当局的政策制定者更好地联系起来；与历史上贫困地区的学校和社区组织建立更紧密的联系，包括与当地中学合作开展新的体育和教育项目，以及和宝马的迷你工厂的合作；与政府和企业开展战略合作，来塑造我们的区域经济，包括通过我们的计划发展一个创新生态系统，以及通过提升我们的工作培训机会的包容性和便利性来服务社区。最近举行的为期三天的“牛津由内而外”活动鼓舞人心，揭示了当地对更多协同创造的热情。

我的致辞从古老建筑上的秋光说起，也许是神照亮了牛津海丁顿采石场和侏罗纪晚期的石头。但是，如果我们不再依靠神来照亮我们，我们就需要自己升华。这就是大学的力量，是共同思考的力量，在经历了疫情造成的强制隔离后，这种力量更显得弥足珍贵。通过将大量求知若渴的头脑汇聚在一起，我们相互启明，借助思想的巨大连锁反应——是的，我也看了奥本海默的电影——我们才能给世界带来光明。在这个黑暗集结的时代，愿我们一起让牛津成为光明的家园。

Now let me turn to my new favourite… sorry… Gardens, Libraries & Museums: At a time when funding for such public places is pressured, I am proud that we are Curators and Custodians extraordinaire, bringing light to so many lives. It’s been such a joy to learn more about GLAM this year and to host dinners for donors and alumni in their magnificent surroundings. In addition to their sterling work to support our teaching and research, our four museums, the Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum, the Old Library and the Weston Library are the conduit for the public to come inside our world and be wowed by what we have to offer. We welcomed over 3 million visitors to our public spaces – back to pre-pandemic levels, and more than 67,000 school and educational visitors this past year. The Bodleian came top nationally in the ‘library question’ in the 2023 national student survey with 96.9% satisfaction. After a four-year closure, the long-awaited Radcliffe Science Library is close to opening – thank you for your patience.Curation thrives too in the Museum of Natural History – a place I’ve loved since childhood –  it remains a beacon of hope in a world of collapsing biodiversity. Indeed, the £1.6m HOPE for the Future project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, has now completed its main aims, with 1.1 million British insects conserved, documented and rehoused. And, in keeping with our digital transformation goals to reach yet wider audiences, we launched the Pitt Rivers Museum Collections Online platform with over 500,000 records from the museum’s collections available to global audiences. Oxford Botanic Garden has ambitious fundraising plans for new glasshouses to reduce their carbon footprint by 92% and enable the conservation of rare plants from around the world – we’re still looking for an inspired donor. The designs draw inspiration from the water-shedding capabilities of a palm leaf, building on the Botanic Garden’s cutting-edge research on biomimetics – nature-inspired design – working together and in partnership with Oxford mathematicians and physicists.

GLAM evidently impacts locally and globally, as do our colleges and departments. Let me here acknowledge Jan Royall, not just for her work as Chair of Conference of Colleges, but for her enthusiasm to make a difference in our region and upon which we will build. Colleges have a twinning project with primary schools; social investments to offer housing for the homeless; a cargo bike delivery scheme to reduce city centre congestion; and amazing new buildings bringing life to Cornmarket and being thoughtful about local procurement. Division- and department-led initiatives include Science Together, which connects local community challenges to our world-class researchers. But I want us to do more. So I am delighted that Professor Alex Betts took up the new part-time senior position of Local and Global Engagement Officer in May 2023. He has hit the ground running – not even I can keep up! Working with the city, county, Whitehall or the United Nations, we aim to champion, connect and coordinate the extraordinary engagement work ongoing, as well as pilot new initiatives, such as: a new Local Policy Lab to better connect our researchers to county and district authority policy-makers, in areas like sustainability, health and education; building stronger connections with schools and community organisations in historically deprived parts of the city, including a new Sport and Education project with secondary schools and a collaboration with BMW’s Mini Plant; and working strategically with government and business to shape our regional economy, including through our plans to develop an innovation ecosystem, and by making our job and training opportunities more inclusive and accessible to the community. The recent three-day Oxford Inside Out event was inspiring and revealed local enthusiasm for more co-creation.

I              started with the autumn light on our ancient buildings, Dominus              literally Illuminatio on stones from Headington Quarry and the late              Jurassic. But if we no longer rely on God to illuminate us, we need to              step up ourselves. This is the power of a university, the power of              thinking together, made all the more precious to us through the enforced              separations of COVID. By bringing a critical mass of enquiring minds              together, we enlighten each other, and through that great chain reaction              of ideas – yes, I watched Oppenheimer too – we bring light to the              world. At a time of gathering darkness, long may we together keep Oxford              a home of light.