Martin Maiden admitted as Senior Proctor
13 March 2019
Professor Martin Maiden, one of our Tutorial Fellows in Biology, was today admitted as the University of Oxford’s Senior Proctor in an ancient ceremony at the Sheldonian Theatre.
The University’s Proctors and Assessor are annually elected from college academics and fulfil a key role by ensuring that the University operates in accordance with its statutes. The three elected academics oversee student discipline, have formal responsibility for University exams, and act as ombudspeople for the institution. They also perform ceremonial duties, such as leading degree ceremonies, in a role that has existed for over 800 years (you can see Martin’s hefty new set of keys in the image below).
Today’s celebration saw Professor Maiden accompanied to the Sheldonian Theatre by a large number of Hertford Fellows to witness his admission as Senior Proctor. After the procession and ceremony they returned to college, accompanied by the Vice-Chancellor, to celebrate with a special lunch. The college’s Fellows and lecturers attended, as did Martin’s family, members of his research group from the Department of Zoology, and college staff from the Academic Office, Bursary, Development Office and Housekeeping. Martin also extended a lunch invitation to Oxford’s other Professor Martin Maiden (a Languages tutor at Trinity College) as the two are often confused for each other and frequently have to put people in touch with the Martin they’re actually looking for.
Martin has been Professor of Molecular Epidemiology and Tutorial Fellow in Biology at Hertford for the last 15 years. His research group combines evolutionary and population techniques to investigate a range of bacterial pathogens. The group has a particular interest in vaccination and in using population approaches to improve meningococcal vaccines and vaccination schedules.
Martin wasn’t the only Hertfordian star of the day – our own Dr Jonathan White from the Development Office played the Sheldonian’s organ to accompany the ceremony (see the picture below!). Jonathan was following in illustrious footsteps; the theatre regularly hosts international concerts and Handel conducted the first performance of his Athalia oratorio there in 1733.
