Cambridge’s first McWhirter conference takes place at Newnham College

Jenifer Glynn with conference students

Sixth-form students from around the country experienced life at a Cambridge college at the inaugural Rosalind Franklin Conference.

The McWhirter Foundation presented the two-day event at Newnham College, which was named after the Newnham scientist who famously helped discover the structure of DNA.

Franklin’s painstaking work resulted in ‘Photo 51’ which clearly depicted the double-helix structure of DNA that lay at the heart of Francis Crick and James Watson’s discovery.

Historian Jenifer Glynn, Franklin’s younger sister and also a Newnham alumna, made a special return visit to the College to meet some of the students who were taking part in the conference.

Glynn, who wrote My Sister Rosalind Franklin, an insider’s glimpse into Franklin’s life, said that Franklin would have been ‘honoured’ to have a conference named after her.

She said: “She would have been very surprised and shocked that her work was finally getting all this attention. She would have been honoured that the Rosalind Franklin Conference was taking place in her name.”

Franklin died of ovarian cancer aged 37.

The conference was titled Cyber-Security: Nothing to Hide, Nothing to Fear? and it explored issues which affect society. Participants heard from eminent speakers and had regular opportunities to debate and discuss their views on the balance between individual liberty and the rule of law.

Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, was instrumental in bringing the conference format to Cambridge after she spoke at the Dicey Conference, run by the McWhirter Foundation, in Oxford in 2014.

She said: “The conference was designed to be provocative to encourage young people to think about their own role in society. It also gave them an insight into what College life is like and we hope it will inspire them to consider applying to the University of Cambridge.”

Caption: Jenifer Glynn, centre, pictured with students at the conference and Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College.