Lady Margaret Hall is pleased to announce the endowment of one of our Physics Tutorial Fellowships, made possible thanks to a generous gift from Sarah Gould (1975, Physics) and Andrew Watson (Balliol, Physics, 1972). Their support secures the long-term future of Physics tutorial teaching at the College.
Sarah and Andrew first renewed their connection with Physics teaching at LMH through their support of a Graduate Scholarship in Theoretical Physics in 2020. Seeing first-hand the strength of the Physics community here, and the impact of excellent teaching and research on our students, led them to explore how they could offer further support. Endowing a Fellowship aligned closely with their wish to support the subject: “We had seen first-hand the quality and vibrancy of Physics at LMH,” they said. “Endowing a Fellowship felt like an effective way to contribute.”
The newly endowed Gould Watson Fellowship in Physics is held by Professor Todd Huffman, whose research with the ATLAS detector at CERN explores the nature of matter, including the possibility of producing multiple Higgs bosons. Professor Huffman, who is also the College’s Vice-Principal, is closely involved with student life at LMH, both academically and socially, and our students benefit greatly from learning from a leader in the field.
Endowing Tutorial Fellowships is central to LMH’s long-term academic plans. The Oxford tutorial system offers exceptional teaching but is costly to provide, and current tuition fees do not cover its full cost. This means that the College needs to secure additional, reliable funding to maintain it for future generations of students.
While Physics now benefits from a fully endowed Fellowship, many LMH subjects remain without secure long-term support. A key goal of the College’s forthcoming 150th Anniversary fundraising campaign will be to endow as many of our Tutorial Fellowships as possible to fund them in perpetuity, strengthening LMH’s financial resilience and the future of its teaching.
We are deeply grateful to Sarah and Andrew for their generous gift, and to all who support teaching and research at LMH.
