On Tuesday 21 October 2025, we were delighted to welcome five new Fellows and Bye-Fellows to Girton’s world-class Fellowship in a formal Ceremony of Admission.
College News
Girton formally admits five new Fellows in Ceremony of Admission
Dr Jake Stattel is an early medieval historian who uses law and legal culture to understand this complicated period with its few surviving sources. As the Rosamund Chambers Research Fellow in ASNC, he is working on a postdoctoral project at Girton that combines legal history with our growing understanding of the ‘Vikings’ in Europe and beyond. His project uses new approaches and wider sources of evidence to open a window into early legal practice both in Scandinavia and across the Viking Diaspora. This builds on his doctoral research into the legal culture of the Vikings in England and the ‘Danelaw’.
Dr Nathanial Cooper is an Assistant Professor of Sustainability in the Department of Engineering. His research group uses integrated analysis to develop sustainable, low-carbon alternatives in the highly intersectional areas of water and energy. Dr Cooper's work is motivated by a desire to facilitate a transition to a sustainable future.
Dr Kate Horan is a Glacial Sedimentologist at the British Antarctic Survey.
Thulani Rachia is a South African artist and educator based in Edinburgh. Working with his interest in the architectures of power – and through works that include film, sculture, performance, costume, sound and musical composition – his work investigates how the built environment is an archive of history and shapes contemporary social relationships.
Dr Marla Fuchs studied mechanical engineering at Rensselaer, in New York and went on to complete an MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development at the University of Cambridge. She has worked in a variety of industries including nuclear fuels, inkjet technology, and carbon consultancy. She has been leading international programmes within higher education for the last 10 years with a focus on sustainability.
History of the Ceremony of Admission
During the first 55 years of its history, Girton College had Lecturers and Directors of Studies, but no Fellows except for the Eugenie Strong Research Fellowship, established in 1910. There was therefore no admission ceremony in the early years of the College.
Girton’s first Charter and Statutes, granted 100 years ago in 1924, placed control of the College in the hands of the Mistress, Fellows and three members of the University Senate; 1924 was therefore the first year that Girton had Fellows. A “Ceremony of Admissions” of Fellows and Scholars was established in 1928 in a form similar to the present version. The Fellows’ Register, the same register that is signed on the evening, was instituted in 1954 when the Revised Charter and Statutes of the College came into force.