Latest news from Balliol

In August 2023 Balliol hosted a week that was described as ‘revelatory’, ‘insane’ and ‘so beyond rewarding’ as a group of 38 educators from the UK and the USA came together at Balliol to explore how to teach about transatlantic slavery — part of a three-year teachers’ programme organised by Balliol Library in collaboration with the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.

Balliol’s University Challenge team made their first appearance in Series 30 on Monday 11 September at 8.30pm.

On 31 August 2023 Max Afnan (Balliol 2013) brought a group of students to visit Balliol as part of a field trip during a seminar organised by the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity (ISGP), which functions in close association with the Baha’i International Community.

On 14 September 2023 Devaki Raj (Balliol 2007) testified about AI procurement to the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Senate Committee for a full committee hearing on Governing AI Through Acquisition and Procurement.

Halik Kochanski (Balliol 1985) has been shortlisted for the prestigious Wolfson History Prize 2023 with her book Resistance: The Underground War in Europe, 1939–1945 (Allen Lane, 2022).

Professor Neta Crawford (Montague Burton Professor of International Relations and Professorial Fellow) has been awarded the ‘Anti-Censorship Award’ in the 44th American Book Awards for her book The Pentagon, Climate Change, and War: Charting the Rise and Fall of U.S. Military Emissions (MIT Press, 2022).

The Royal Society has awarded Professor Hagan Bayley FRS (Balliol 1970 and Honorary Fellow) its Buchanan Medal for helping pioneer the founding Oxford Nanopore Technology, the highly successful biotech company.

The World the Plague Made: The Black Death and the Rise of Europe (Princeton University Press, 2022) by James Belich (Beit Professor of Global and Imperial History, and Professorial Fellow of Balliol) has been shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize, the UK’s most prestigious history prize.

In a documentary film, four Balliol alumni – Peter Andrews (1976), Stephen Moss (1975), John Foley (1974) and Phillip Bergson (1973) – return to Balliol half a century since they went up to Oxford as undergraduates, and talk about what the experience meant to them and some of the emotions they recall.

On Saturday 5 August Balliol held its largest Degree Day in recent years — possibly ever — at which 109 Balliol graduands had their degrees conferred in one ceremony. Afterwards they returned to College for a drinks reception with their families and friends: a celebration for over 400 people.