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Visiting Fellowships are offered to people of distinction for their outstanding achievements beyond normal academic circles. They include eminent figures in law, politics, culture, the arts and media, business and public service.

Visiting Fellows participate in College life by giving talks and lectures, and by interacting with and inspiring our students. They may also conduct their own research in the University of Cambridge during the tenure of their Fellowship.

Visiting Fellows are nominated by a Fellow or Emeritus Fellow of the College.

• Chris Boardman
• Tim Clissold
• Thomas Harding
• Baroness Ruth Hunt
• Bishop Rosemarie Mallet
• Orphy Robinson
• Philippe Sands
• Céline Sciamma
• Professor Krishnaswamy (Vijay) VijayRaghavan
• Osman Yousefzada

Chris Boardman, former British racing cyclist, Commissioner of Active Travel England

Chris Boardman is one of Britain’s most successful British racing cyclists. Between 1992 and 2000 he attended and medalled at major Games winning Britain’s first gold for 72 years at Barcelona in 1992. He also wore the leaders’ yellow jersey at the Tour de France on three separate occasions, took three world titles and broke several world records. He was awarded an MBE for services to sport.

Since retirement from professional cycling, Chris has served in various roles with British Cycling helping set up and lead the Research and Development branch for the British Olympic Cycling team that went on to scoop 14 medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and become the most successful of all time. The research and development group were nicknamed the "Secret Squirrel Club" and they played a significant part in creating that unprecedented sporting prosperity.

Chris has also worked as a cycling commentator and launched his own range of cycles and accessories, Boardman Bikes.

More recently he has worked in walking and cycling advocacy roles, becoming Greater Manchester's walking and cycling commissioner in 2017, Greater Manchester's Transport Commissioner in 2021 and is now Commissioner of Active Travel England which aims to ensure 50 per cent of journeys in towns and cities are walked or cycled by 2030.

Tim Clissold, writer

Tim Clissold is a Jesuan and graduated in 1982, taking Physics and Theoretical Physics in Part II. Tim lived in China for more than 20 years. He is fluent in spoken and written Mandarin Chinese and was involved in the early stages of key reform programs of the Chinese economy and then in the energy transition. He is currently engaged in dispute resolution in cases where the relationship between Chinese and foreign parties have broken down. He has published three books on China and will publish his fourth this year. The first, Mr China, has been translated into 12 languages and was described by Time magazine as ‘an instant classic.’ He currently heads a not-for-profit organisation aimed at introducing a new A-level qualification on the Chinese Civilisation to be taught in English in Britain’s sixth-form colleges. Tim has travelled extensively in China, including in the periphery regions and along the major routes of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. 

Thomas Harding, author 

Thomas Harding is a bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than 19 languages. He has written for the Sunday Times, the Washington Post and the Guardian, among other publications. He is the author of Hanns and Rudolf, which won the JQ-Wingate Prize for Non-Fiction; The House by the Lake, which was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award; Blood on the Page, which won the Crime Writers’ Association Golden Dagger Award for Non-Fiction; Future History, which was nominated for the German Youth Literature Award Best Youth Book; White Debt: The Demerara Uprising and Britain's Legacy of Slavery which was longlisted for the Moore Prize for Human Rights Writing; and The Maverick which was chosen as a New York Times Critics’ Pick for 2023.

Thomas is the author of three pictures books illustrated by the award-winning artist Britta Teckentrup: The House by the Lake about his family’s house outside of Berlin which was nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal (2020); The House on the Canal about the 400-year old history of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam (2023), and The House on the Farm about the history of the Harriet Tubman Home in New York (2024).

Baroness Ruth Hunt, Baroness Hunt of Bethnal Green, Co-Director of Deeds and Words 

Ruth is a cross-bench peer in the House of Lords where she carries out the normal duties of a peer and advocates for LGBT+ inclusion. Ruth is also Co-Director of Deeds and Words, which she runs with her partner Caroline. Deeds and Words exists to play a small part in helping organisations and communities build cultures that work better, to tackle the challenges faced in society.

Before joining the Lords and Deeds and Words, Ruth was the CEO of Stonewall, the UK’s largest LGBT+ organisation. Ruth worked at Stonewall for 14 years, holding a range of positions and working to change attitudes to LGBT+ people.

Ruth attended Oxford University, where she was President of the Student Union and she holds honorary doctorates from Exeter and Keele University and an honorary fellowship from Cardiff University. Ruth is also a Marshall Memorial Fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Bishop Rosemarie Mallett, Bishop of Croydon

The Right Rev'd Dr Rosemarie Mallett was born in Barbados but has lived much of her life in the UK. She has worked in West and East Africa as well as back in the Caribbean as an academic and researcher. She returned to the UK to study for her PhD. After working as an academic sociologist for twelve years, she trained for ordained ministry. Since 2005, she has served in various roles in the Diocese of Southwark, based in South London and East Surrey, as Parish Priest, Diocesan Director, and Archdeacon, and she now serves as the Bishop of Croydon.  

Rosemarie is a Trustee of several Diocesan and national para-church organisations, including the Southwark Diocesan Board of Education and Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI). From 2010 to 2021, Rosemarie served on the General Synod of the Church of England, as one of the Synod Chairs for five years, and on several Archbishop's Council committees, including the Women in the Episcopate Steering Committee and the Pastoral Advisory Group. 

Rosemarie is a Fellow of the Westminster Abbey Institute. 

Vijay Raghavan is the Homi Bhabha Chair Professor and former director of the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. From April 2018- April 2022, he served as the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India. Before that, from 2013- 2018, he was Secretary to the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. 

Orphy Robinson, musician

Orphy Robinson is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and educator. One of a select few UK musicians to have recorded for the historic USA jazz label Blue Note Records. With a career spanning over four decades, he has received numerous prestigious industry awards since the 1980s, including in recent years the 2022 Paul Hamlyn Composer Award, the 2020 Jazz FM Gold Award, and the 2017 Jazz FM Live Experience of the Year Award. In 2018 he was awarded an MBE for services to music.

Robinson has contributed to over 100 recordings, toured, produced and collaborated with many acclaimed artists across genres, such as classical Violinist Nigel Kennedy, Courtney Pine, The Jazz Warriors, Hugh Masekela and Robert Wyatt to name a few.

Robinson currently serves in multiple executive roles, including Deputy Chair, at The Ivors Academy, the leading advocate for composers' rights and the trading name for BASCA (the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors). He also chairs both the Jazz + Genre Committee and the worldfamous Ivor Novello Awards. Additionally, Robinson is a Trustee of ECSA (European Composers Songwriters Alliance) and Chair of the ECSA ECF Art & Contemporary Music Committee. He is also a Trustee of BLIM (Black Lives in Music), Vice Chair of the Jazz Promotion Network (JPN), Trustee at the National Jazz Archive, and Chair of the Watford Jazz Junction Festival. Furthermore, he serves as a Patron of the Jazz Centre UK and an Ambassador of the music charity Awards for All. A Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians and a member of the Royal Society of Musicians.

Robinson is a freelance writer for various industry magazines, including Wire Magazine, Jazzwise, London Jazz, and the online digital platform JAZZED. He is also a respected broadcaster with shows on Digital platforms One Jazz Radio and Delite Radio.

Philippe Sands KC, Professor of Law at University College London and Samuel and Judith Pisar Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School

Philippe Sands KC is Professor of Law at University College London and Samuel and Judith Pisar Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He is a practising barrister and appears as counsel before the International Court of Justice and other international courts and tribunals. He sits as an arbitrator in international investment disputes and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

He is author of Lawless World (2005) and Torture Team (2008) and numerous academic books on international law, and has contributed to the New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, the Financial Times, the Guardian, and The New York Times.

His most recent books are East West Street: On the Origins of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide (2016) (awarded the 2016 Baillie Gifford Prize, the 2017 British Book Awards Non-Fiction Book of the Year, and the 2018 Prix Montaigne) and The Ratline: Love, Lies and Justice on the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive (2020), also available as BBC and France Culture podcasts. His latest book is The Last Colony: A Tale of Exile, Justice and Britain’s Colonial Legacy (2022).

Philippe is President of English PEN and a member of the Board of the Hay Festival of Arts and Literature. 

Céline Sciamma, screenwriter and film director 

After receiving a degree in French literature, Sciamma studied screenwriting at the national film school in Paris. There she wrote Naissance des pieuvres that would turn into her feature directorial debut, Water Lilies, in 2007, selected for the Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard). Sciamma’s 2011 film Tomboy won numerous accolades, including the Teddy Jury Award at the Berlinale. In 2014, her film Bande de filles (Girlhood) premiered at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight. Two years later, she scripted Quand on a 17 ans (Being 17) by André Téchiné and Ma vie de Courgette (My Life as a Courgette), an animated film by Claude Barras that attracted considerable audience and critical acclaim, won numerous awards and received an Oscar nomination. Sciamma returned to directing in 2019 with Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (Portrait of a Lady on Fire), earning her Best Screenplay at Cannes. In 2021, she directed Petite maman, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. In 2023 she directed her first documentary short film - “This is how a child becomes a poet” - about poet Patrizia Cavalli’s house.

Professor Krishnaswamy (Vijay) VijayRaghavan, geneticist and developmental biologist  

Professor Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan’s research interests are in developmental biology and genetics and focus on the principles and mechanisms that control the development of the nervous system and muscles.

In addition, he is currently studying how sustainable development can be enabled in the context of climate change and the energy crisis. His focus here is on how the university system in India can be empowered for this effort and how industry collaboration in research can be enhanced.

Professor VijayRaghavan is a Fellow of the Indian Science Academies. In 2012, he was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society and was conferred the Padma Shri in 2013 by the Government of India. He is a foreign member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the European Molecular Biology Organisation, and a member of the American Philosophical Society.

Osman Yousefzada, interdisciplinary artist and writer

Osman Yousefzada is a British-Pakistani interdisciplinary artist and writer, engaging with the representation, rupture and reimagining of the migration experience. He works across moving image, installation, sculpture, textile, and performance, referring to the socio-political issues of today. Osman’s practice is led by modes of storytelling, merging autobiography with fiction and ritual.

Osman is a research practitioner at the Royal College of Art, London. His work has been shown at notable international institutions including: Whitechapel Gallery, London; Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Wapping Project, London; Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio; Ringling Museum, Florida; Lahore Museum, Pakistan; Design Museum, London; Lahore Biennale, Pakistan; and Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh. 

Osman’s practice has been described as "defiant", where the participating bodies throughout his work are presented as part objects that refuse to identify or conform. Most recently, his series of solo interventions titled ‘What Is Seen & What Is Not’ was shown at the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington, London. Across three site-specific works, this presentation responded to the 75th anniversary of Pakistan and explored themes of displacement, movement, migration, and climate change.

In his memoir, The Go-Between (2022), set in Birmingham in the 1980s and 1990s, alternative masculinities compete with strict gender roles while female erasure and honour-based violence are committed, even as empowering female friendships prevail. This first book was long listed for the Polari Prize and reviewed by Stephen Fry as "one of the greatest childhood memoirs of our time".