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Bodleian Libraries x British Journal of Photography

Catalysts Commission

Leia Morrison

Teresa Lambe, OBE ©Leia Morrison — Teresa Lambe - Reuben College

Dame Molly Stevens ©Leia Morrison — Dame Molly Stevens - The Kavli Institute

Oxford is one of the most visited cities in the UK, bustling with tourists, all year round. Finding a quiet moment in one of its gardens, libraries, or museums for this portrait was a challenge- a testament to the reach and impact of the GLAM team.

The Garden, Library, and Museum (GLAM) team develops inclusive programmes for adults with learning disabilities across the University’s cultural spaces. They work to ensure that Oxford’s history and heritage can be experienced by everyone, not just those who can easily access it.

I waited in Christ Church Memorial Gardens, unsure who I would be photographing, until the group began to gather. Their warmth and energy made them immediately recognisable. Photographing them felt significant- here were people whose work quietly transforms the city, opening doors for communities often overlooked. In the calm of the gardens, they were able to be seen, not as part of the background of Oxford, but as the ones shaping how the city is experienced and how it evolves.

From left Susan Griffiths, Jumana Hokan, Hayleigh Jutson, Helen Pooley, Miranda Millward, Beth McDougall and Tegan Bennett. — GLAM Team - Christ Church Memorial Gardens

Professor Rajesh Thakker ©Leia Morrison — Rajesh Thakker - Somerville College Library

REACH Team ©Leia Morrison — REACH - Sheldonian Theatre

Sir Adrian Hill is the Director of the Jenner Institute and a leading figure in global vaccine research, best known for his work on malaria and covid-19. Before meeting him, I watched the BBC documentary on the race to develop a malaria vaccine and Hill was at the centre of it all.

He achieved what many thought impossible: creating a malaria vaccine that actually works.
Finding a time and a place to photograph him was a challenge. His work takes him around the world, collaborating with other scientists and presenting research internationally. I considered travelling to Kenya, where much of his field research is done, but Oxford felt just as important to capture. We decided to take his portrait among the tropical plants at the city’s Botanical Gardens, acknowledging both the global reach of his work and the city where many of his breakthroughs began.

During our conversations, he reflected on the inequities of global health research. He could have chosen more lucrative projects in vaccinology, but the human cost of malaria, thousands dying every year, was not a statistic he could ignore. — Adrian Hill - Oxford Botanical Gardens

Alys Tomlinson

Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture, photographed at the Oxford Centre for Islamic studies (2025) — Alain George FBA

Professor of Archaeological Science, photographed at New College, Oxford (2025) — Shadreck Chirikure FBA

Professor of Psychiatry, photographed in the Wolfson College Gardens, Oxford (2025) — Rachel Upthegrove MBE

Professor of Mathematical Biology, photographed in the gardens at St John’s College, Oxford (2025) — Philip K Maini FRS

Professor of Reproductive & Genomic Epidemiology, photographed at St Edmund Hall, Oxford (2025) — Krina Zondervan

Professor of Law and Public Policy, photographed outside the Bodleian Old Library, Oxford (2025) — Anne Davies FBA

Francis Augusto

They remember sitting at a computer, refreshing obsessively as applications flooded in: 12, then 200, then 3,000, eventually reaching over 10,000 from 177 countries.
That moment captured what Alexis McGivern and Clarissa Salmon understand about being catalysts – a small spark initiating something far larger than the initial effort. Through Oxford Net Zero’s Global Youth Climate Training, they have trained 4,500 young activists, democratising access to technical expertise needed for UN climate negotiations. The message from those 10,000 applications was clear: young people in climate-vulnerable regions need more than symbolic seats at tables. They need to understand how to speak in those spaces.
Photographing them in the Clarendon Building’s Delegates’ Room felt significant – this space where historic decisions have been made for centuries. I positioned them as the Bodleian’s historical portraits position their subjects: Napoleon, Dervorguilla de Balliol, figures whose choices rippled across generations. The youngest of all my sitters, they nonetheless carry themselves with remarkable clarity about power and purpose. They describe themselves as “radical insiders”, working within Oxford’s systems while remaining conscious of colonial legacies, using institutional soft power not to gatekeep but to demolish barriers.
What struck me was their maturity, their grounded commitment to empowering those with less social and economic capital. They understand their work creates ripples in places around the world we may never see. — Alexis McGivern & Clarissa Salmon - Global Youth Climate Training, Oxford Net Zero

“History is not the past, it is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history.” The James Baldwin quote that named this project captures what five people achieved together over two years at the Bodleian Libraries. Antony Brewerton, Helen Worrell, Manisha Butterfield, Abigail Hopkin and Peter Brathwaite each brought different expertise to examining the institution through the lens of race and empire’s legacies, making recommendations across collections, audiences and staffing.
What made We Are Our History catalytic was not just its scope but its refusal of compartmentalisation. Eight workstreams meant everyone could see how the work connected to what they did daily – not something happening ‘over there’ but embedded throughout the organisation. They commissioned challenging artwork (a portable toilet with burnt Union Flag), supported security staff through difficult conversations, built audiences who had never visited the Bodleian before, curated displays revealing untold stories in the archives. Abigail Hopkin describes catalysts as “the tipping point where you move from intent to action” – years of discussion becoming concrete commitment.
Photographing all five together outside presented technical challenges but it felt essential. This was not individual achievement but genuine collaboration – community, care, taking turns speaking about their contributions. Antony Brewerton remembered Peter Braithwaite’s event ending in song. That moment captures what they built: a Bodleian transformed not through policy alone but through people brave enough to do the work holistically, together. — Peter Braithwaite - We Are Our History

“History is not the past, it is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history.” The James Baldwin quote that named this project captures what five people achieved together over two years at the Bodleian Libraries. Antony Brewerton, Helen Worrell, Manisha Butterfield, Abigail Hopkin and Peter Brathwaite each brought different expertise to examining the institution through the lens of race and empire’s legacies, making recommendations across collections, audiences and staffing.
What made We Are Our History catalytic was not just its scope but its refusal of compartmentalisation. Eight workstreams meant everyone could see how the work connected to what they did daily – not something happening ‘over there’ but embedded throughout the organisation. They commissioned challenging artwork (a portable toilet with burnt Union Flag), supported security staff through difficult conversations, built audiences who had never visited the Bodleian before, curated displays revealing untold stories in the archives. Abigail Hopkin describes catalysts as “the tipping point where you move from intent to action” – years of discussion becoming concrete commitment.
Photographing all five together outside presented technical challenges but it felt essential. This was not individual achievement but genuine collaboration – community, care, taking turns speaking about their contributions. Antony Brewerton remembered Peter Braithwaite’s event ending in song. That moment captures what they built: a Bodleian transformed not through policy alone but through people brave enough to do the work holistically, together. — Lanisha Butterfield - We Are Our History

“History is not the past, it is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history.” The James Baldwin quote that named this project captures what five people achieved together over two years at the Bodleian Libraries. Antony Brewerton, Helen Worrell, Manisha Butterfield, Abigail Hopkin and Peter Brathwaite each brought different expertise to examining the institution through the lens of race and empire’s legacies, making recommendations across collections, audiences and staffing.
What made We Are Our History catalytic was not just its scope but its refusal of compartmentalisation. Eight workstreams meant everyone could see how the work connected to what they did daily – not something happening ‘over there’ but embedded throughout the organisation. They commissioned challenging artwork (a portable toilet with burnt Union Flag), supported security staff through difficult conversations, built audiences who had never visited the Bodleian before, curated displays revealing untold stories in the archives. Abigail Hopkin describes catalysts as “the tipping point where you move from intent to action” – years of discussion becoming concrete commitment.
Photographing all five together outside presented technical challenges but it felt essential. This was not individual achievement but genuine collaboration – community, care, taking turns speaking about their contributions. Antony Brewerton remembered Peter Braithwaite’s event ending in song. That moment captures what they built: a Bodleian transformed not through policy alone but through people brave enough to do the work holistically, together. — Helen Worrel - We Are Our History

“History is not the past, it is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history.” The James Baldwin quote that named this project captures what five people achieved together over two years at the Bodleian Libraries. Antony Brewerton, Helen Worrell, Manisha Butterfield, Abigail Hopkin and Peter Brathwaite each brought different expertise to examining the institution through the lens of race and empire’s legacies, making recommendations across collections, audiences and staffing.
What made We Are Our History catalytic was not just its scope but its refusal of compartmentalisation. Eight workstreams meant everyone could see how the work connected to what they did daily – not something happening ‘over there’ but embedded throughout the organisation. They commissioned challenging artwork (a portable toilet with burnt Union Flag), supported security staff through difficult conversations, built audiences who had never visited the Bodleian before, curated displays revealing untold stories in the archives. Abigail Hopkin describes catalysts as “the tipping point where you move from intent to action” – years of discussion becoming concrete commitment.
Photographing all five together outside presented technical challenges but it felt essential. This was not individual achievement but genuine collaboration – community, care, taking turns speaking about their contributions. Antony Brewerton remembered Peter Braithwaite’s event ending in song. That moment captures what they built: a Bodleian transformed not through policy alone but through people brave enough to do the work holistically, together. — Anthony Brewerton - We Are Our History

“History is not the past, it is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history.” The James Baldwin quote that named this project captures what five people achieved together over two years at the Bodleian Libraries. Antony Brewerton, Helen Worrell, Manisha Butterfield, Abigail Hopkin and Peter Brathwaite each brought different expertise to examining the institution through the lens of race and empire’s legacies, making recommendations across collections, audiences and staffing.
What made We Are Our History catalytic was not just its scope but its refusal of compartmentalisation. Eight workstreams meant everyone could see how the work connected to what they did daily – not something happening ‘over there’ but embedded throughout the organisation. They commissioned challenging artwork (a portable toilet with burnt Union Flag), supported security staff through difficult conversations, built audiences who had never visited the Bodleian before, curated displays revealing untold stories in the archives. Abigail Hopkin describes catalysts as “the tipping point where you move from intent to action” – years of discussion becoming concrete commitment.
Photographing all five together outside presented technical challenges but it felt essential. This was not individual achievement but genuine collaboration – community, care, taking turns speaking about their contributions. Antony Brewerton remembered Peter Braithwaite’s event ending in song. That moment captures what they built: a Bodleian transformed not through policy alone but through people brave enough to do the work holistically, together. — Abigail Hopkin - We Are Our History

Professor Steve Strand has spent four decades asking uncomfortable questions about who succeeds in British education, and why. His office at Oxford, where decades of research accumulates, has been the site of work influencing House of Commons inquiries and challenging governmental assumptions about educational inequality. “If research hasn’t got direct implications for practice or policy, then what’s the point?” It is not an abstract question for someone who nearly failed his A-levels before discovering academic purpose at Plymouth Polytechnic.
Starting with a project identifying five-year-olds at risk of reading failure, he has built a career examining how ethnicity, class and language intersect with educational outcomes. His work demonstrates truths policymakers resist: educational failures are not school problems but social ones. No amount of academy restructuring compensates for unemployment, inadequate housing and fragmented community support. His research provides evidence making these realities harder to dismiss, using Oxford’s institutional weight to ensure marginalised students’ educational journeys are properly contextualised.
Photographed in his workspace, a doctoral gown hanging behind him like scholars in centuries of Bodleian portraits, he represents patient accumulation – decades of findings that shift policy conversations incrementally but meaningfully. Meeting him, I felt both grateful such research exists and saddened by how few others pursue it. He is the kind of catalyst whose work creates foundations others might not even recognise they are building upon. — Professor Steve Strand - Professor of Education

Nine days. That is how long it took from a 15-minute conversation to enrolling the first patient in what became the RECOVERY trial – the largest randomised clinical trial in history. On 10 March 2020, Professor Sir Peter Horby sat in Chris Whitty’s office and outlined his plan: fast, simple, big. Three principles born from two decades preparing for a pandemic he hoped would never come. Whitty listened for 10 minutes then said, “OK, do it.”
What followed redefined what is possible in clinical research. At its peak, RECOVERY enrolled over 500 patients daily across 190 NHS hospitals, testing 16 treatments with thousands of clinicians randomising patients at point of care. Dexamethasone worked; hydroxychloroquine did not. Clear answers in months, not years. The FDA later reviewed 2,000 Covid trials and concluded 95 per cent were “designed to fail” – too small, poorly randomised, unable to provide regulatory data. RECOVERY set a new benchmark.
Speaking about being a catalyst, Peter’s humility surfaces immediately: "Twenty years being a pandemic diseases researcher, and if I’d screwed up during the only pandemic of my life, it would have been a bit embarrassing.” But he has changed something fundamental. Now, meeting colleagues in Bangladesh or Democratic Republic of Congo about Ebola outbreaks, “the mindset is different: OK, we need to do it, and we can do it.” Research is not a luxury during health crises – it is how you provide good care.
What he finds “inspiring and depressing in equal parts” is knowing we could do this for dementia, for everything. But memory fades quickly. Systems revert to risk-averse habits. Meeting Peter, I felt the weight he carries – not just what he achieved but his awareness of what remains possible if we remember. — Professor Sir Peter Horby - Director, Pandemic Sciences Institute

Professor Nandini Das moves between worlds with fluidity – from 16th-century Portuguese-held Goa to contemporary Oxford, from technical discussions about Renaissance literature to intimate reflections on code-switching and belonging. Born in West Bengal, where English literature became a colonial tool, she now excavates stories of trans-culturality: “It’s not simply two cultures meeting each other,” she explains. “It’s about people navigating two or three different things at the same time” – creating something neither one heritage nor the other but entirely new. Her scholarship on travel, migration and cross-cultural encounters feels urgent precisely because, as she observes, history keeps repeating itself – even Tudor complaints about foreigners raising rents in London echo today.
Photographing in her office and tutor room at Exeter College, I was thinking about the historical portraits already in the collection – those contemplative poses, hand to face, figures lost in thought across centuries. That gesture connects her to the intellectual tradition she both inhabits and interrogates. Her British Academy Book Prize-winning Courting India traces how England’s relationship with Mughal India shaped the empire’s origins, revealing patterns we are still navigating. Her forthcoming book examines how 16th-century England was shaped by constant mobility – sailors, merchants and displaced people criss-crossing continents.
What is most striking is how she embodies her research: moving between languages and contexts, understanding that knowledge itself travels, transforms, and refuses to stay still. A catalyst does not just spark change – sometimes it reveals what has always been in motion. — Professor Nandini Das - Professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture

“I’m actually an organic chemist, so I have a definition for being a catalyst,” Dr Samina Khan says, before offering something far more personal than molecular interactions. She understands catalysts as spaces bringing different ways of thinking together, helping everyone reach where they want to go faster. It is an apt description for her work directing Oxford’s Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach.
Her own journey informs everything. Three years old, arriving from Pakistan to Leicester’s Highfields area, living with extended family in close quarters, her father insisting education remains your foundation no matter what. Teaching in North London and Birmingham state schools, she gravitated toward students needing institutional support their homes could not always provide. At Oxford since 2012, she has transformed how the university engages communities – not waiting for them to come to Oxford’s doorstep but going to Bradford, Oldham, Birmingham and Cornwall. Her team develops evidence-based tools helping admissions tutors understand different educational routes: free school meals, comprehensive schools, accents some wrongly assume will not be understood.
Her dream is technical – Oxford, reflecting UK students achieving three As proportionally. But what makes her heart sing is that medical student approaching her in Bradford and declaring: “I saw that South Asian woman and thought, so can I.” One Saturday morning, one profound ripple. She has only one request to those reaching Oxford: do not close the door behind you. — Dr Samina Khan - Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach

“How I got into this position is fluke,” Anne Makena laughs, recalling a 2015 conference where she met Kevin Marsh. But nothing about the Africa Oxford Initiative they built together feels accidental. Anne, finishing her DPhil and knowing Oxford’s barriers firsthand, and Kevin, returning after 25 years leading research in Kenya, approached the same problem from opposite directions and arrived at identical conclusions. Oxford’s famously devolved structure meant African collaborations were happening everywhere, but no one could see what others were doing.
What they created was not a programme marching from Oxford declaring what Africa needs. They offered what Anne calls “a floor and a roof” – infrastructure where existing work could become visible, where scattered energies could synergise. Even the naming was deliberate: ‘AfOx’ not ‘OxAfrica’, acknowledging that Africa is, as Kevin notes with characteristic understatement, somewhat bigger than Oxford. Their fellowship programme grew from three places to 16 to 24 as colleges witnessed the impact. Now India Oxford, Caribbean Oxford and Pakistan Oxford initiatives emerge from the same ethos.
Photographing Anne and Kevin together in the Clarendon Building’s warm light, I watched how they finished each other’s sentences, that easy partnership built over eight years of transformation. What struck me was not just their professional achievement but their obvious care for one another, their shared commitment to rebalancing power in global knowledge ecosystems. Catalysts make change replicable. — Dr Anne Makena & Professor Kevin Marsh - Africa Oxford Initiative

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