North America Regional Alumni Gathering
New York, NY 25th - 28th September 2024
The Master, Vice-Master and Trinity Fellows will join alumni and friends for a programme of events spread over 4 days. Events include talks, tours, receptions, social events and even a musical.
Please see below for the full programme.
Registrations still accepted - contact alumni-events@trin.cam.ac.uk
The Programme: at a glance
Wednesday 25 September
6-8pm, The Harvard Club, 35 W 44th St
Sir Laurie Bristow (1983) - Russia’s war in Ukraine: what happens next?
Thursday 26 September
6-8pm, the Yale Club, 50 Vanderbilt Ave
Luke Syson - Life at the Fitzwilliam Museum
Friday 27
September
9-10:30am, The Cornell Club, 6 E 44th St
Dr Daniel Yergin (1968) - The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations
3pm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave, New York, NY
Private Tours of the Metropolitan Museum with Luke Syson - FULLY BOOKED
5:45-9:45pm Pershing Signature Centre, 480 W 42nd St
Professor Dame Sally Davies - Antimicrobial Resistance: the next pandemic & Lifeline (musical)
Saturday 28 September
10-11:30am, Alumnus' home
Dr Michael Banner - ‘Avarice and Ambition’ - Trinity, Slavers and Reparations
Detailed Programme of Events
Wednesday 25 September
Russia's war in Ukraine: what happens next
Sir Laurie Bristow (1983)
President of Hughes Hall College and Trinity alumnus, Sir Laurie Bristow is joined by Professor Louise Merrett (Vice-Master, Trinity College) to discuss the possible outcomes of Russia's war in Ukraine, drawing upon Sir Laurie's vast experience from a career in the British diplomatic services, including spells as HM Ambassador to Russia and the last HM Ambassador to Afghanistan.
This is a joint event with Hughes Hall, taking place at The Harvard Club and kicks off our programme of events for our North America Regional Gathering.
The talk will be followed by a Q&A and Reception. 6-8pm
Thursday 26 September
Reception and Talk: Life at the Fitzwilliam Museum
Luke Syson
Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum and Trinity Fellow, Luke Syson joins us for an evening reception and an opportunity for Trinity alumni to connect at the Yale Club.
Luke may touch on what it is like to take on the challenge of leading the Fitzwilliam Museum, developing the collections, responding to requests to repatriate items of the past, and how an exhibition is brought to life.
Drinks and canapes will be served and there will be a chance to put your questions to Luke.
6-8pm
Friday 27 September
The New Map: Energy, Climate and the Clash of Nations
Dr Daniel Yergin (1968)
Join us for breakfast and conversation at the Cornell Club, to hear from Pulitzer Prize-winning author, energy expert, and Trinity alumnus, Dr Daniel Yergin. Daniel will explore many of the themes that underpin energy and climate policy and how this plays out around the world. To read more about Dr Yergin's fascinating work, please click here.
With time for your questions, we hope that this session will produce lively and stimulating conversation to start off your Friday.
9-10:30am
Guided tour of the British collections at The Metropolitan Museum of Art ** FULLY BOOKED**
Luke Syson
Luke will take small groups (maximum 15 people per group) for guided tours of the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts galleries - which contain the British collections - at the world-renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art where Luke was previously Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Curator in Charge of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts.
Tour, lasting circa 60-90 minutes, will take place at 3pm
** FULLY BOOKED**
Antimicrobial Resistance and Lifeline (the musical)
The Master, Professor Dame Sally Davies
Professor Dame Sally Davies is a global expert on antimicrobial resistance, widely regarded as being 'the next pandemic'. As such, Dame Sally has been a supporter of a musical about the life of Alexander Fleming and the discovery of penicillin. To hear Dame Sally on the Lifeline Project podcast, click here.
This new version of the international, sell-out musical, Lifeline (formerly The Mould that Changed the World) will captivate you while delivering a compelling message. Staged at the Frank Gehry-designed Pershing Signature Center, Dame Sally will introduce the performance in the auditorium with a talk on what antimicrobial resistance is. Followed by a reception before retuning to enjoy the production. We hope to conclude the evening with drinks on stage with some of the cast (tbc).
A ticket for this event includes the pre-show talk, the reception (where substantial canapes will be served) and the show.
Talk: 5.45-6.30pm
Reception: 6.30-7.15pm
Performance: 7.30-9.30pm
Post-Performance Reception (on stage): 9.30-10.15pm
Saturday 28 September
‘Avarice and Ambition’ - Trinity, Slavers and Reparations
Dr Michael Banner
Trinity in New York Week concludes with Trinity Fellow, Dean, and Chair of Alumni Relations & Development, Dr Michael Banner. His most recent book was published in April entitled Britain's Slavery Debt: Reparations Now! Join us for a fascinating discussion on what can be done, here and now, by individuals and institutions, to advance the case for reparations between national governments.
10-11.30am
Speaker Biographies
Professor Dame Sally Davies
GCB DBE FRS FMedSci
Dame Sally Davies, 40th Master of Trinity College, was appointed as the UK Government’s Special Envoy on Anti-Microbial Research (AMR) in 2019.
Former Chief Medical Officer for England, and Senior Medical Advisor to the UK Government from 2011-2019, Dame Sally is a leading figure in global health. In November 2020, she was announced as a member of the new UN Global Leaders Group on AMR, serving alongside Heads of State, Ministers, and prominent figures from around the world to advocate for action on AMR.
Dame Sally’s annual Chief Medical Officer's report on infectious diseases in 2013 first highlighted the scale and complexity of AMR as a public health threat. This report underlined the impact of AMR on clinicians and spurred Dame Sally on to bridge the research and policy gap – speaking nationally and globally on the subject. She has since secured funding for the UK to pioneer data-driven surveillance in 24 countries across Africa and Southeast Asia, which is contributing to global understanding of and action on AMR.
In the 2020 New Year Honours, Dame Sally became the second woman (and the first outside the Royal family) to be appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) for services to public health and research, having received her DBE in 2009.
Sir Laurie Bristow KCMG (1983)
Sir Laurie Bristow (1983) is President of Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge. He joined Hughes Hall in October 2022 after three decades in the United Kingdom’s diplomatic service.
He joined the diplomatic service in 1990, as the Cold War ended and change swept across Europe. His first posting was to Romania in the spring of 1992. Laurie served as Ambassador to Afghanistan during the fall of the Republic to the Taliban in 2021. He was the UK’s ambassador to Russia from 2016 to 2020, and ambassador to Azerbaijan from 2004 to 2007, when the major offshore oil and gas infrastructure and pipelines were built. Senior roles in London included Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Director for National Security, and COP26 Regional Ambassador for China, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
Laurie’s interests include Russia and a broad range of national and international security issues.
Dr Daniel Yergin (1968)
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Prize," and "The Quest," Dr. Daniel Yergin (1968) is Vice Chairman of S&P Global and founded CERA (now part of S&P Global). He is an authority on energy, international politics and economics. His awards include Lifetime Achievement from the Prime Minister of India and the United States Energy Award for lifelong achievements in energy and the promotion of international understanding.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University, where he was a Marshall Scholar.
Luke Syson
Luke Syson is the fourteenth Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum. From 2012-19, he was Chairman of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where he led on the complete refurbishment of the British Galleries, a $22m project, which opened in March 2020.
Luke has held curatorial positions at the British Museum, V&A and the National Gallery – where he led the successful campaign to acquire Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks for the nation and curated the highly-acclaimed exhibition, Leonardo da Vinci – Painter at the Court of Milan in 2011.
Since arriving in Cambridge, he has overseen a series of acclaimed exhibitions, ranging from ‘Hockney’s Eye’ to ‘Gold of the Great Steppe’, from ‘Black Atlantic’ to ‘Real Families’, and the refurbishment of the Fitzwilliam’s primary paintings galleries.
Professor Louise Merrett
Professor Merrett was elected Vice-Master in 2022 having been a Fellow of Trinity College since 2003. Louise is currently leading Trinity2046 - the College's project to ensure that it continues to offer students the very best facilities and environment in which to excel.
Louise is a Professor of International Commercial Law and teaches a range of commercial subjects including contract law, commercial law, conflict of laws and post-graduate courses in Advanced Private Law and International Commercial Litigation. She publishes widely in the fields of commercial law and private international law and is regarded as one of the leading experts internationally.
Louise has practised as a barrister at Fountain Court since 1995, covering a wide range of commercial work, with an emphasis on large scale commercial litigation and arbitration.
Dr Michael Banner
Michael Banner has been Dean, Fellow, and Director of Studies in Theology and Religious Studies at Trinity College since 2006. He is also the Chair of Alumni Relations and Development, responsible for the College's engagement with alumni and for our development programme.
He was previously Professor of Ethics and Public Policy in Life Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, and from 1994 to 2004 F.D. Maurice Professor of Moral and Social Theology, King’s College, London.
His most recent book was published in April entitled Britain's Slavery Debt: Reparations Now! Where he makes a specific and practical proposal regarding reparations, picking up on the programme suggested by Caribbean countries (through CARICOM), and taking as a starting point the nearly £20 million paid as compensation by the British government at abolition, not to those who had suffered slavery, but to those who lost enslaved labourers.
Michael has served on a number of committees, including chairing a Committee of Enquiry for the Ministry of Agriculture (1993-95), and the Home Office’s Animal Procedures Committee from 1998 to 2006. He also served as a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution for six years, and on the Ministry of Defence’s Advisory Committee on Less Lethal Weapons from 2012 to 2021.
By way of light relief, Michael is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day. He has two children under ten, and a puppy, and is generally short of free time.
Tickets - register here
All events are individually ticketed. Please email to register.
All bookings are subject to Trinity College's Events Terms & Conditions.
Should you have any queries, please contact
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Can I bring a guest?
A. Of course, guests are most welcome at the events. You can bring up to 2 guests.
Q. Do you have any age restrictions? Can I bring my children?
A. There are restrictions on under-18s for Wednesday evening but most other events may be able to accept 16-17 year olds. Please check with/inform the Alumni Relations & Development team if you wish to bring a child/children to an event as we may need to check.
Q. What does each ticket include?
A. Each event is individually priced and ticketed. Tickets include catering where indicated (e.g. receptions and breakfasts).
Should an event reach capacity, we will operate a waiting list and inform you as soon as a space becomes available for you, so do keep the time free!
Q. I'm travelling from outside of New York - where should I stay?
A. Unfortunately, we do not have any special rate deals with any of the hotels for this event. Much of the programme is taking place around the Bryant Park (W42nd) area of New York and there are a variety of hotels nearby at different budgets.
Q. Will any of the talks be recorded?
A. We are unable to record the talks on this visit.
Q. Can I pay less if I want to just come to the Friday evening talk/reception but not the musical?
A. In general, the answer to this would be no - it is one ticket for the evening. However, please do contact us via the details below as we may be able to make space available for this nearer the time.
Q. I am unable to access or make payment via the booking form. What should I do?
A. Please contact us via the details below in the first instance. We may need to refer your issue on to our colleagues at Cambridge in America.
Contact
Please direct any questions to the Alumni Relations and Development Office at Trinity College, Cambridge
E: alumni-events@trin.cam.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1223 761527
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