Applications open in Michaelmas Term 2021 for the new Michael Sheen Bursary, which will provide financial support for Welsh undergraduate students. The bursary scheme has been developed in collaboration with, and supported by, Welsh actor and activist Michael Sheen (left) who comments: "I hope that these bursaries not only make it possible for Welsh students to take advantage of the educational possibilities at Jesus, but also help to encourage a sense of what is possible for young Welsh people generally.”

Paulina Kewes (right), Helen Morag Fellow and Tutor and Professor of English Literature, has been awarded a grant by the John Fell Fund for a new project entitled Recovering Europe's Parliamentary Culture, 1500-1700: A New Approach to Representative Institutions. Read more here.

A temporary exhibition, curated by Hugh Price Fellow Paul Collins (left) with partners from Oxford's Middle East diaspora, opens at the Ashmolean Museum on 17 May. Owning the Past: From Mesopotamia to Iraq explores how the borders of the state of Iraq were established following the First World War, and questions what is meant by heritage. Paul Collins' book, The Sumerians: Lost Civilizations is published by Reaktion Books on 17 May.

George Breeze (right), part-time History postgraduate at Jesus, and Stewart Tolley, History lecturer at the University's Department of Continuing Education, have launched Non-Fiction Works, a new literary agency which aims to support academic writers in the publication of non-fiction works for wider audiences.

A collection of limited edition prints (left) by designer and photographer Bev Shadbolt, wife of the Principal, is available for alumni and Fellows to purchase, with all proceeds going to the 450th Anniversary Fund. The prints, which capture images taken at Jesus College during the March 2020 lockdown, can be bought singly or in sets, and include an evocative image of the College's wisteria. To view all of the images, visit the sale page here.

The fourth item in the 12 Objects digital exhibition series is the Sir Watkin Williams Wynn punch bowl (below). The ten-gallon silver-gilt bowl was presented to College by Welsh alumnus, magnate and politician, Sir Watkin Williams Wynn (1692-1749) in 1732. It weighs over 5.7 kg and is the most substantial piece of College plate. It has served at table at the St David's Day feast,  and also served Chapel as an emergency font. The Red Book of Hergest, the single largest medieval manuscript collection of Welsh literature and history, was revealed as the third item in the 12 Objects series last month. You can view all of the objects revealed to date here.

Two further virtual events take place this month as part of College’s 450th anniversary celebrations. On Tuesday 25 May at 6pm BST, the Jesus Entrepreneur Network hosts an event with Principal Sir Nigel Shadbolt (left), entitled ‘Can AI be Ethical?’.  On Friday 28 May at 12.30pm, Celebrating the Elizabethan College series curator and Helen Morag Fellow Paulina Kewes is joined by Sue Doran to give behind the scenes insights into the British Library’s forthcoming exhibition about Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. Both events take place via Zoom and places can be reserved via the alumni website. Recordings of previous virtual events can be viewed on the alumni YouTube channel.

A reminder that the new illustrated history of Jesus College - Jesus College Oxford: The First 450 Years - is available to buy through Blackwell's website. 

The College's new clothing range, launched to mark the 450th anniversary, is still available via the Blueblood website. College makes a donation for every item sold to local charity Oxford Mutual Aid.

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