Lieutenant-General Doug Chalmers will become the new Master of Emmanuel College, it was announced today (11/02).

Chalmers is currently a Deputy Chief of Defence Staff at the UK’s Ministry of Defence, and will succeed current Master Dame Fiona Reynolds on 1st October this year.

In a message to Emmanuel students seen by Varsity, Chalmers said he will “build on Dame Fiona’s work and collaboratively advance the college's values with Fellows and students”.

Introducing the Master-elect, Reynolds told students: “Doug impressed Fellows with [...] his desire to support and nurture our community.”

She continued: “Doug will be Master as the new academic year begins, and that will be a time for rebuilding and reconnecting everyone in our community. Doug will be at the heart of making this happen: re-discovering our ways of working and living, and adapting to whatever the ‘new normal’ looks like.”

Chalmers himself emphasised his military background in his message to students at the College.

He said: “What one learns in the military is not necessarily military. At 26, I was in Cambodia as part of the UN Transitional Authority. Our role was to supervise a range of government functions, hold an election, disarm armed factions, conduct de-mining and establish a medical system that reached into the rural areas.”

Chalmers has an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, which he said helped him learn “that the values of tolerance, respect, sociability and inclusivity, are less different than one might suppose from those of the Army community”.

Chalmers was commissioned into the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Rangers in 1985, and went on to assume command of the 2nd Battalion of the Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment in 2007, before appointments as Commander Task Force Helmand and Chief of Defence Staff Liaison Officer in Washington DC. He has held the position of Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff since June 2018.

The Emmanuel College Students’ Union (ECSU) has been contacted for comment.