Events & Dining

Stories from Emma Entrepreneurs: David Ruiz-Alonso (2001), Co-founder, Owlstone Medical

6:00pm – Online, via Zoom

David is co-founder of Owlstone Medical, which is at the forefront of breath biomarker research and development, leading to non-invasive diagnostic tests that can improve early disease detection and precision medicine across different fields including cancer, respiratory, gastrointestinal, the microbiome and liver disease. He also offers Breath Biopsy Research Products and Services to academic, clinical and pharma research partners who want to develop breath based diagnostics for their own applications. He works with leading academic institutions and industry leaders such as Cleveland Clinic, Astra Zeneca, J&J and GSK with over 100 published papers and posters using Owlstone’s technology. The company has secured over $150M of investment to date.

David grew up in Murcia, Spain, and earned his Bachelors and Masters degree in engineering at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, where he took a double major in electronics and communications. He then spent a year as a graduate student at University of California, Berkeley, where he completed his Msc thesis before starting a PhD in Cambridge University. He ultimately put his PhD in superconductor modelling on hold to co-found Owlstone. David was a winner of the 2018 MacRobert Award, the premier award for UK engineering innovation.

About the series

Stories from Emma Entrepreneurs brings together members of the college with experience in founding, or working closely with, start-ups and entrepreneurial ventures. Each of these hour-long online sessions sees a member share the highs and lows of their entrepreneurial journeys, and the work of their current venture, followed by a lively Q&A.

Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just interested to learn more about the work of fellow Emma members, you'll enjoy this series.

Register to attend (free). Registration closes on Monday 19 May.

Curator’s Tour of Curious Cures: Medicine in the Medieval World at Cambridge University Library

9:30am – Cambridge University Library, West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DR

Members are invited to an exclusive tour of the Curious Cures: Medicine in the Medieval World exhibition at Cambridge University Library. Curious Cures brings together texts, diagrams and case notes on a complex and intriguing world of ritual healing, herbal recipes, stargazing and surgery, from special collections cared for by Cambridge University Library and twelve Cambridge colleges, including Emmanuel.

This special tour will be led by Dr James Freeman, curator of the exhibition and Medieval Manuscripts Specialist. Over an illuminating hour, Dr Freeman will guide you through highlights, sharing insights into both the exhibition’s content and the conservation process. Following the tour’s conclusion, you will be free to explore the rest of the exhibition at your leisure.

Booking is essential. A limited number of places are available for this special tour. Members are welcome to book with one guest. Places are offered free of charge.

This event is fully booked. Join the waiting list.

Meet in the Entrance Hall of Cambridge University Library for a prompt 9.30am start. Bags are not permitted in the Library and can be stored in the free-to-use lockers; please arrive in good time to store bags.

Login to book online

Emma Connects: Monthly Puzzle

Get your thinking hats on with Bobby Seagull's mind-bending monthly puzzle (No. 98), which will feature in our next full edition of Emma Connects on 29th May.

Bobby's latest challenge (No. 97) takes inspiration from the World Snooker Championship, and there's still time to have a go! Can you answer his questions in order to work out where to head for on your summer retreat? The answer will be revealed on 29th May.

If you like Maths and want more puzzles, you can visit Bobby's YouTube channel, where he and Susan Okereke post every Tuesday and Thursday. More challenges can also be found at the end of each chapter of Bobby's book, The Life-Changing Magic of Numbers.

Solutions to all of Bobby's previous puzzles may be found in the PDF link below.

Login to download documents and booking forms

Old Emma v College Cricket Match

11:00am – Wilberforce Road Sports Ground, CB3 0EQ

The annual Old Emma v College cricket match will take place at Wilberforce Road Sports Ground. Now in its seventh decade, this long-standing fixture in the college calendar is always guaranteed to produce great drama. Come and support your chosen side!

Players for the Old Emma team will be contacted by the organisers in due course.

From Tudor Essex to the South Pacific: 400 Years of Family History through Emmanuel and the Changing Church

6:00pm – Online, via Zoom

John Harding, historian, matriculated at Emmanuel in 1963. His nine-times great-grandfather, John Malden, matriculated at Emmanuel in 1623. In a special online talk for the Emmanuel Society that touches on family history, Pacific expeditions and religious change, John Harding reveals the extraordinary story of the intervening generations.

Drawing in part from his well-researched family tree, John will apply his skills as a historian to take you on an exploration of his family from its origins in Tudor Essex. He’ll show how successful marriages raised his ancestors’ social status from artisans to members of the Victorian clergy. He’ll tell the story of an island in the Pacific named after a family member. As his family moved from puritanism to the nineteenth-century Broad Church, so did Cambridge, so he will set his story within the religious changes in the University and, more specifically, in Emmanuel.

Join us for what promises to be a fascinating online talk, hosted by Rosanna Moseley Gore (1979), author of Songs from the Suitcase: Inhabiting an Inheritance and member of the Emmanuel Society Committee.

Register to attend (free). Registration closes on Wednesday 25 June.

Login to book online

Supporters' Garden Party

Emmanuel College

As a way of thanking donors to the college, members are invited to save the date for a special family garden party, taking place in college on Saturday 12 July.

Invitations will be sent to all eligible members in due course.

Gathering of Members (1967, 1968 & 1969): Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 September 2025

Emmanuel College (from 3:30pm on the Saturday)

This Gathering of Members sees us welcome back those who matriculated in 1967, 1968 and 1969.

Invitations will be sent to all eligible members in July 2025.

Gathering of Members (1970, 1971 & 1972): Saturday 27 & Sunday 28 September 2025

Emmanuel College (from 3:30pm on the Saturday)

This Gathering of Members sees us welcome back those who matriculated in 1970, 1971 and 1972.

Invitations will be sent to all eligible members in July 2025.