St Edmund Hall Blog
The St Edmund Hall blog brings you the latest thought in academic research and interesting artefacts from our archive and library.
Please note that any opinions or views expressed by blog contributors are not shared or held by St Edmund Hall.
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Where there’s a will….
28 Oct 2022
How a bequest by Principal Rawlinson in his will of 1631 still pays out today

Making and receiving impact in Nepal
28 Oct 2022
When I considered projects in my application for the Matt Greenwood Travel Scholarship, I worried I might not fully embrace Matt’s gifts of adventure, courage, and concern for others.

“He was my bridge to Oxford and beyond”: Kevin Crossley-Holland and Bruce Mitchell
24 Oct 2022
Aularian Kevin Crossley Holland is a poet, translator and re-teller of medieval poetry, romance, and folklore for all ages. However, his relationship with Old English got off to a rocky start until a sympathetic tutor and an ag…
![Habiti_d'huomeni_et_donne_venetiane_[...]Franco_Giacomo_btv1b8447141m_10 Habiti d'huomeni et donne venetiane, con la processione della Serma Signoria et altri particolari, cioè trionfi, feste et cerimonie publiche della nobilissima città di Venetia.](/asset/Habiti_dhuomeni_et_donne_venetiane_...Franco_Giacomo_btv1b8447141m_10-768x1237.jpg)
Papering over protest in sixteenth-century Venice
15 Jun 2022
Historians work on sources, but what can the absence of sources tell us?



What has Earth’s Magnetic Field Ever Done for Us?
16 Feb 2022
Is a magnetic field an essential criterion on the planet habitability list?

Celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2022
9 Feb 2022
Using the Library to celebrate and showcase St Edmund Hall’s own Women in Science.





Teddy Hall’s self-proclaimed Bishop of Dorchester
13 Oct 2021
A recent arrival in the Hall Archives is a scrapbook on the life of Dr Frederick George Lee, Aularian and Victorian “character”. He was a clergyman, an antiquarian, a Jacobite and the founder of the Order for Corpor…

Uncovering invisible rivers in Kenya
21 Jul 2021
Some of the largest rivers on Earth are in the sky. Around the world, great streams of water vapour flow a few hundred metres above the ground while remaining invisible to people living below. These rivers play a fundamental ro…

Is it Unjust for Multinational Corporations to Pay Taxes to Corrupt Regimes?
22 Jun 2021
In this short blogpost, I consider the issue of tax and corruption in the international tax arena.

‘For books in the Library’ or the uncertain fate of £10: An account of donations by Francis Cherry and Henry Partridge
16 Jun 2021
‘For books in the Library’ or the uncertain fate of £10: An account of donations by Francis Cherry and Henry Partridge



No veil of uncertainty at COP26, please!
25 May 2021
The UK will be hosting the next UN Climate Change Conference this year, and we need to ensure the policymakers are fully onboard.

What starts Alzheimer’s disease?
19 May 2021
Alzheimer’s disease may start with a “…. toxic interaction between microglial genetic susceptibility, aging and a long-term unhealthy balance of blood fats in the body”.


Descartes goes to Hollywood
5 May 2021
What possible connection could there be between the philosopher René Descartes, androids, zombies, and Hollywood? More than you might have originally thought.

Reconstructing d’Holbach
28 Apr 2021
Begun in 2018, Digital d’Holbach will provide the scholarly community with the first critical edition of the complete works of one of the most important thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment.

Developing a Next Generation SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine
23 Mar 2021
Discussion on the need for and research leading to a next generation vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 capable of targeting multiple variants.

Understanding Endometriosis
15 Mar 2021
Endometriosis is one such condition, affecting an estimated 1.6 million women in the UK alone and 190 million worldwide.

Reading Gone Awry
9 Mar 2021
We’ve all done it—used a word incorrectly, believing it means one thing when it really means another: saying “disinterested” when we mean “lacking in interest,” or “prostrate” ins…

What Will Genomics Mean for You?
3 Mar 2021
The first human genome was sequenced nearly 20 years ago, but what impact will this have for you? Understanding the information in our genes is already helping to decipher the molecular basis of rare diseases. Now genomic…

Are European Universities Building Alliances as Rhizomes?
24 Feb 2021
Using the concept of rhizome to examine the newly-established European University alliances and their influence on the formation of European students and re-formation of the idea of University.

Modern Politics, Medieval Monuments in Turkey
15 Feb 2021
Over the course of its 1500-year history, the late Roman building known as the Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) has served as the setting for many ceremonies, religious, political, and more often than not, a combination of the two.…

God, Gold, and the Gospel of the Poor in the Early Middle Ages
10 Feb 2021
Throughout history, the Church’s relationship to the poor and the powerful has been full of contradictions.