St Hild & St Bede College

The College of St Hild and St Bede has a history of scholarship innovation in teaching and learning the stretches through its long history. Founded in 1839 as Bede Teacher Training College for men, it admitted its first students in 1842. Its twin college of St Hild’s College for women was founded in 1855. The first three Durham University female graduates attended the College some forty five years before women were able to formally study at Oxford and Cambridge. The College more or less invented Physical Education in the United Kingdom and former Vice Principal, Lilian Groves received an MBE for her services to Physical Education. The College Principal in the 1960s, Gerald Collier pioneered quantitative methods in Teacher Training, whilst former lecturer David Williams did much to promote the teaching of Film and Television studies in England.

The Principal of the College, Prof Chris Hutchison holds the Chair in Animal Cell Biology in the Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences. His principle interests are in mechanisms that cause ageing and premature ageing. His research is underpinned by a multidisciplinary approach that involves Chemists, Mathematicians and Physicists as well as Biologists. As such he is a member of the Biophysical Sciences Institute and The North East England Stem Cell Initiative(which was founded following meetings in Hild & Bede).

Innovation and scholarship are still valued in College today. Our post-graduate community has over 300 members of which nearly 100 are research post-graduate students. As a testament to the value we place on these scholars, all PhD students are entitled to join our senior common room once they have completed their probationary year. The range of studies undertaken by these members of our community spans all of the Sciences, the Arts and Humanities and the Social Sciences, particularly in Education. The cross disciplinary nature of our post-graduate community is fostered through bi-monthly Sunday evening Colloquia where students discuss their research plans with each other and during our Senior Common Room sponsored annual Post-graduate Symposium when eight of our senior students present the results of their research to the entire College Community as well as other members of the University.

Finally, the College is developing an Undergraduate led research seminar and workshop programme. The idea is that every year a group of undergraduates will define a research theme that will run through the year in each of Epiphany and Michaelmas terms they will invite national leaders to come to Durham and talk about their interests, whilst in the post examination period of the Easter term a weekend workshop will be organised with multiple speakers from across the country attending. As a community, we firmly believe that allowing our students to take the lead in scholarly as well as other community activities will maximise the impact of those activities.

The College also maintains strong links with academic units within the University. It actively supports the Institute of Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies through an annual prize for the best post-graduate dissertation, a scholarship for the best applicant for the Institute’s taught Master’s course and by hosting the Institute’s annual Mediaeval Banquet. The College continues to have strong links with the School of Education and currently sponsors two PhD students in the School and offers an annual prize for the best PGCE student. Unsurprisingly, given the background of the College Principal, the College also sponsors one speaker during each term in the School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences seminar programme.

The College has a number of well-endowed Trust funds that enable it to support research and scholarship amongst its undergraduate and post-graduate communities. The John Simpson Greenwood Memorial Prize named in honour of a former student makes grants available to students wishing to travel abroad or in the UK to carry out a defined piece of work that will contribute to a dissertation or to a compulsory module. Over the past ten years, over one hundred thousand pounds in travel grants has been awarded with students travelling to over fifty different countries. The Caedmon Trust also makes awards to post-graduate students in order to help them complete their studies. Grants are generally but not exclusively in the form of personal awards to cover expenses whilst carrying out a self-funded Masters degree.