The evening of the 18 May saw the eighth Annual Meeting of the Vice-Chancellor's Circle. This year was the first Vice-Chancellor's Circle event for Oxford University's new Vice-Chancellor, Professor Louise Richardson.
Almost 200 donors and guests joined Professor Richardson for a drinks reception, academic debate and dinner, to celebrate the enormous contribution that members of the Circle are making to the University and the colleges.
The celebrations began in the majestic setting of the Bodleian Library's Divinity School, before guests made their way to the Sheldonian Theatre for the much-anticipated debate.
The Vice-Chancellor opened proceedings by thanking the audience for their generosity, recognising that throughout its long history, philanthropy has played a significant role in Oxford's success. She also paid tribute to her predecessor Professor Andrew Hamilton, and answered questions about her vision for the future of the University.
Professor Nick Rawlins, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Development and External Affairs, introduced this year's debate topic: Tackling infectious diseases in the modern world. Professors Peter Horby and Trudie Lang, from the Nuffield Department of Medicine, and Professor Oliver Pybus, from the Department of Zoology, spoke from their own perspectives on the challenges of combatting devastating diseases such as Zika, Ebola and Malaria, and talked about the ground-breaking interdisciplinary work that is being carried out at Oxford.
The evening concluded with a dinner at Balliol College, offering members of the Circle an opportunity to reconnect with each other as well as with scholars of the University.
View more photographs from the event here.
If you were an attendee at this event and would like larger versions of any of these photos, please email donorrelations@devoff.ox.ac.uk.
The photographer is John Cairns.