Alumni CAM

Issue 106

Issue 106

Cambridge Alumni Magazine
Issue 106 – Michaelmas 2025

FlashBand: turn up, plug in and find your musical soulmate.

Why plaster casts are the invisible string between the old and the new.

Indigenous genius: inventive ways to ensure your voice is heard.

 

 

 

Flashband 106 CAM Cover
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Features

Alumni Awards 2026

Features /

Alumni Awards 2026

Cambridge alumni are, quite simply, extraordinary. Whether your focus is local or global, independent or part of a larger group, your positive impact on the world is remarkable.
The Shuar are an Indigenous people that have lived in the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon for over 2,500 years. The current popul

Features /

Dream State

Imagine your family are completely autonomous. How you live, where you go, who you live with and what you value are entirely your call. But over time, food becomes scarce and movement difficult. You’re no longer able to live the way your people have lived for centuries.
The Silence of Time Loukas Morley 2019 Loukas Morley is a Cambridgeborn and Cambridge-based creative. His show at MoCA combin

Features /

Cast Offs

They are not marble or bronze. They are mostly not terribly old. Many are not valuable. Meet the Museum of Classical Archaeology (MoCA)’s extensive collection of plaster casts – busts, sculptures.
Flash Band

Features /

Flashband

Drummer needed, Dancers req for music video, Sax wanted! Read on to find more about... Flashband.
Professor of American History, Mia Bay

Features /

Behind the curtain: why it’s time for a closer look at American history

Mia Bay is halfway through her initial year as the new Paul Mellon Professor of American History.

Regulars

Why haircare can be an act of resistance

Student life /

Only human- Why haircare can be an act of resistance

There’s much more to hair than pure aesthetics, says Karen Dominguez Mendoza, PhD researcher at the Centre of Latin American Studies.
105 winning grid

Crossword /

Down with the Cryptic Kids by Nimrod

CAM 106's crossword solvers must find ways to connect four groups of three (including three nonstandard phrases) from realms – one group each – of history, geography, science/nature and entertainment. Wordplay in each of the normally numbered clues leads to the answer with an extra letter not entered in the grid.
Lord Smith of Finsbury (Pembroke 1969)

Soundtrack /

Everyone was holding hands and swaying to the music – there was a tear in my eye

Lord Smith of Finsbury (Pembroke 1969) arrived at College as a young man with a passion for English – and politics.
This idea must die: “Female bodies are too complicated for science”

This idea must die /

This idea must die: 'Female bodies are too complicated for science'

The outdated notion that female bodies are ‘too complicated’ for science, due to their hormonal variability, has long influenced biomedical research.
Don’t let its dreadful smell put you off – the Botanic Garden’s star attraction is part of an international effort to conserve r

Museo /

Creating a stink

Don’t let its dreadful smell put you off – the Botanic Garden’s star attraction is part of an international effort to conserve rare and important plants.
James Partridge (Downing 2009) and current Downing resident Aryan Parekh.

My room, your room /

My room, your room

A ground-floor room at Downing? It’s a blessing and a curse, agree music phenomenon James Partridge (Downing 2009) and current resident Aryan Parekh.
Honorary doctorates

News /

Michaelmas edition- Campendium

CAM's summary of what's been happening across the University.
Campendium 106

Inbox /

Editor's letter and inbox- Michaelmas

Welcome to the Michaelmas edition of CAM.
Above, left to right: Matthew Chanwai, Downing, Second year Music; Charlotte Wilson, Jesus, Second year Nat-Sci; and Benjamin Li

Student life /

Society

The anarchic Antipodean footie team held together by a strong community.