Dr Alex Morris was a woman of huge generosity of spirit, and a personal commitment to the ethics of economics. Her death has left a deeply-felt gap in Newnham College.
Alex was Director of Studies and Special Supervisor in Economics in Newnham: officially, her ‘home college’ was Downing, where she was a Bye-Fellow. Inside the Pfeiffer Arch, however, Alex was very much a member of our college, deeply committed to the intellectual life of Newnham and to the well-being of our collegiate community
Alex was a dedicated teacher and a supportive colleague, with an incredibly warm personality. She was very clear that economics has a social and ethical dimension, and put this into practical action.
Alex took a BA in Economics in 1975 at Warwick University, followed by a PhD in Economics at the LSE in 1980. From 1980 to 1990 she was a research officer in the University of London Institute of Education and in the Higher Education Research Unit at the LSE, also undertaking teaching. She was a Senior Research Associate at the Department of Community Medicine, University of Cambridge from 1990 -1995, and subsequently worked at the Cambridge Institute of Public Health.
Alex used her background in statistics to explore issues of economics and ethics in relation in particular to issues of public health and social care provision.
Her research focused on inequality – its causes and reasons for its persistence between countries, regions and also between individual demographic factors. Among her other many research interests were housing strategy, and climate change. Alex used her research to shape local and central government policy, with a focus on ‘value for money’ analysis. She was involved with programmes for community well-being, environment and housing, local government group and the NHS.
Alex was Director of Studies at St Edmunds in Land Economy, and a Senior Member of Robinson College for many years. She supervised vets and medics at Selwyn College, and across a number of colleges on stats and epidemiology, the social context of health and illness and demography.
Alex’s Cambridge teaching was widely appreciated. One medical student shared on an online message board that any other struggling medics should ask for a supervision ‘with a lady called Alex Morris. She is really good.’ However, the students who were reassured and inspired by her teaching may not have realised that Alex had also taken very practical steps to tackle inequality and wellbeing.
In 1984, she was among the founders of the outstanding Cambridge charity, Rowan. Rowan, as Cambridgeshire residents will know, provides arts-based activities for people with learning disabilities. This was a radical approach at the time of its foundation, as vulnerable people moved out of institutions. She remained trustee and chair until 2008. Alongside Rowan, she was founder and for many years and manager director of Kee Service, a care firm that provided personal and social care in the community.
Alex Morris was a woman with a deep conviction for the value of people, and the determination and passion to fight for what she thought best. We will miss this remarkable woman here in Newnham, but her legacy extends far beyond Cambridge.