Dr Finbarr Livesey, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) and Magdalene College Fellow, died of cancer on 2nd September at the age of 47.

A memorial service and celebration of Dr Livesey’s life was held on 12th September in the Hall of Magdalene College, where he had been a Fellow since 2017.

A tribute to Dr Livesey, written by Dr Dennis Grube and Professor Michael Kenny, two of his colleagues in POLIS, was shared on the Department’s website. “As this tribute is posted,” it began, “we know that many different people will be feeling immense sadness at the untimely loss of our friend and colleague Dr Finbarr Livesey.”

“It is hard to come to terms with Finbarr passing away, in part because he was a larger-than-life figure. To start with, there was his voice. [...] Full of life, humour and intelligence – and occasional outrage at the state of the world. His students will no doubt remember that voice fondly – even when it was being used to explain a finer point about statistical methods.”

“Finbarr was above all things a devoted colleague and friend.”

Dr Livesey was integral in the development of the MPhil in Public Policy (MPP) in POLIS in 2013, and later went on to become the programme’s director. Prior to joining POLIS, where he was most recently a Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, Dr Livesey had been Acting Director of the MPhil in Technology Policy at the Judge Business School, and from 2004–2011 had been Director of the Centre for Industry and Government at the Institute for Manufacturing within the Department of Engineering.

Dr Livesey’s research interests included the changing dynamics of the global economy, the role of government in supporting growth based on the emergence of new industries, and the ways in which policy making is changing due to the creation of new technologies. In 2017, Dr Livesey completed his book From Global to Local: The Making of Things and the End of Globalisation.

Magdalene informed College members earlier this month that the academic had died “peacefully [...] at the Arthur Rank Hospice in Cambridge.”

“Our deep condolences go to Finbarr’s family, friends and colleagues,” read the College’s statement.