Selwyn alum nominated for Nobel Prize

David Dabydeen, a novelist and poet who studied English at Selwyn from 1974 to 1978, has been nominated for the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born and raised in Guyana, Dabydeen is known for his use of Guyanese Creole in poetry to explore “history, memory, and the legacies of slavery and colonialism”. His inaugural collection of poetry, Slave Song, won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1978. Reflecting on his time at Selwyn, Dabydeen said: “I owe a massive debt to Selwyn College, which, 50 years ago, gave me space to write.” Beyond his literary work, Dabydeen served as Guyana’s Ambassador to UNESCO from 1997 to 2010 and has held senior academic posts at the University of Warwick. He is currently working on a new book of essays on Guyanese and Caribbean postcolonial literature.

Postgrad accom achieves Passivhaus certification

Hinsley Lane, a new housing development for postgraduate students at Lucy Cavendish, St John’s, and Clare Hall, has achieved Passivhaus (Passive House) certification. The project consists of 245 en-suite rooms across 39 red-brick terraced townhouses, situated two kilometres west of Cambridge’s city centre. The development was designed with “comfort, sustainability and community” in mind. Passivhaus is a globally recognised standard for energy-efficient buildings, which aims to reduce energy demand while maintaining high levels of comfort through practices such as high-performance insulation. Hinsley Lane was commissioned by St John’s and designed by the architectural practice Allies and Morrison. Construction was completed in June 2025 after several delays.

MPs underestimate support for green policies, shows Cambridge study

A Cambridge study has found that MPs underestimate public support for climate action. Although public views on climate policy have been widely studied, less attention has been paid to how lawmakers understand these views. Cambridge researcher Lisa-Maria Tanase, who led the study, asked 100 UK MPs and 600 Belgian politicians to estimate the levels of support for different climate policies. The study discovered that politicians underestimated support for taxes on frequent flyers, red meat and dairy products, and other items based on how environmentally friendly they are. Speaking about the findings, Tanase said: “I think some of these issues with the information environment have to do with a right-wing bias where the voices of conservative-leaning members of the public tend to be overrepresented.” She signposted several potential reasons for this, including that “they tend to be more privileged, educated and politically engaged”.

Cambridge Science Park businesses on verge of new breakthroughs

Jane Hutchins, the director of Cambridge Science Park, expects 2026 to be “a really good year”. This is despite broader concerns about investments in the city, after AstraZeneca paused a £200 million expansion of its Cambridge site in October. Cambridge Consultants, which has been based at the park since its early days in 1979, is working on “physical artificial intelligence”. This involves training robots to acquire a form of “common sense”, including object permanence, that would allow them to perform more versatile tasks. Meanwhile, Xampla, a more recent arrival at the Science Park, is developing plastic alternatives out of pea protein. The company is working with Just Eat to line takeaway boxes with its new Morro Coating. Lastly, the flexible electronics firm FlexEnable is expected to join the smart glasses market in 2026, using a flexible plastic lens to make smart glasses thinner, “like ordinary glasses”.