It has been a difficult year for us all, but news of great work undertaken by members of our community is uplifting. This includes those who are continuing to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, and those working in many other fields. Here’s what has been happening in the last few days.

Fellow and Goldsmiths’ Professor of Materials Science, Professor Manish Chhowalla and Fellow and Physicist, Professor Henning Sirringhaus, have both won advanced grants from the European Research Council (ERC), Europe’s premier research funding body.

PhD Student Tiago Pimentel Martins da Silva is the recipient of a 2021 Facebook Fellowship award. The Facebook Fellowship program provides awards to PhD candidates conducting research on important topics across computer science and engineering.

Fellow and University Lecturer in British Politics, Dr Peter Sloman, has received a Pilkington Prize which recognises excellence in teaching.

Fellow and Statistician Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter commented on future COVID death rates, and co-authored a piece that discussed if Covid-19 vaccination will reduce virus transmission.

Honorary Fellow, Professor Dame Janet Thornton, is the co-lead researcher on a paper looking at how age-related diseases can be linked by genetics.

PhD student Cherish Watton joined Michael Portillo on Great British Railway Journeys to talk about the work of the Women’s Land Army (starts 9m 45s).

Fellow and Head of the Head of the Circadian Signal Transduction research group in the Department of Plant Sciences, Professor Alex Webb, led a study which suggested that exploiting a plant’s ability to tell the time can make food production more sustainable (starts 10m 47s).

We will continue to keep you informed of all of the work being done by the Churchill College Community. If you have any news you would like to share, please get in touch by emailing comms.manager@chu.cam.ac.uk.