Vacancy – Newton-Abraham Visiting Professorship

Appointments to the Newton-Abraham Visiting Professorship are made by the electoral board (selection panel) who will consider the submitted application materials and supporting nomination letters from the relevant academic departments.

This is a prestigious post and the electors will be looking for academics of suitably high calibre who will be able to make a significant contribution to scientific research at Oxford during their tenure. Please note that an approach by a Department carries no guarantee of successful appointment to this post.

You should provide the following, by email to Sue Morris, secretary to the electoral board, on professorships@admin.ox.ac.uk:

• a full CV including publication list
• a proposed plan of work indicating how you would interact with colleagues in your host department and the wider research community at Oxford
• the names and contact details of 3 referees who would be willing to support your application (references will only be sought if you are offered the post)
• an indication of your availability to take up the professorship during the academic years 2025-26 or 2026-27. [The standard period of tenure runs from 1 October to 30 September each year. You should be available to come for not less than 6 months, and preferably for one year.]

You should ask your academic host to provide a supporting nomination letter outlining how your planned activities would benefit the department and the wider scientific community at Oxford. This should be countersigned by the relevant Head of Department to confirm that they would be able to host your visit and support the nomination.

To express your interest in the Newton-Abraham Visiting Professorship, please contact the relevant department here at Oxford in the first instance to discuss your proposed activities and identify an academic host for your visit who would be willing to nominate you.

Queries about the nomination process or other practical questions about the professorship may be addressed to Sue Morris, secretary to the electoral board, on professorships@admin.ox.ac.uk.

Research and research leadership

The Newton-Abraham Visiting Professor is expected to pursue a research programme (of a collaborative and ideally inter- or multi-disciplinary nature) during their period in Oxford, and to stimulate and promote research in a subject within the field of the medical, biological and chemical sciences. They will be expected to discuss their programme at Oxford with the Head of the host academic department in advance of arrival.

The Professor will normally organize a small conference, symposium, public lecture by another prominent scientific figure, or similar event during their tenure. Funds are available to support this. Research funding may also be provided, when not available from other sources, to support the Professor’s research and other associated activity.

Teaching

The Professor is not required to teach a dedicated graduate or undergraduate course during their tenure. However, it is expected that they will actively engage with the student body, and will offer some lectures or classes at graduate and/or undergraduate level as agreed with the Head of the host Department.

Other duties

The Professor is required to give a public lecture (the Newton-Abraham Lecture) on a topic of their own choosing. This lecture is followed by a reception and dinner with the Newton-Abraham Electors and the Professor’s invited guests.

The Professor is expected to reside in Oxford for the duration of the professorship, and to make appropriate arrangements with their home institution to enable this. It is usual for the professorship to be held for a period of 12 months, though a shorter tenure (of not less than 6 months) may be arranged.

The Newton-Abraham Visiting Professorship was established in 1980. It is named for Sir Edward Penley (‘E. P.’) Abraham and his colleague Guy Newton.

E. P. Abraham worked in the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford, where, with Ernest Chain and Howard Florey, he investigated the therapeutic potential of penicillin and played an important role in purifying it and decoding its chemical structure. He subsequently worked with Guy Newton in the discovery of the antibiotic cephalosporin. The patent income from the antibiotic enabled the establishment of several charitable trusts for the support of biomedical research, including the E. P. Abraham Research Fund, which supports the Newton-Abraham Visiting Professorship.

The first Newton-Abraham Visiting Professor was Arthur J. Birch, Foundation Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Australian National University in Canberra, best known for his development of the ‘Birch reduction’, which subsequently enabled the commercial synthesis of oral contraceptives.

We are proud that four Nobel Laureates have held the Newton-Abraham Professorship:

1981-1982            Konrad E. Bloch (Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology, 1964)

1992-1993           James Watson (Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology, 1962)

1999-2000          Jean-Marie Lehn (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1987)

2012-2013            Richard R. Schrock (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2005)

The current Newton-Abraham Visiting Professor for 2023-24 is Johannes van den Anker Professor of Pediatrics, Pharmacology & Physiology, Genomics and Precision Medicine at George Washington University. In addition to his academic post he is the Director of the Clinical Pharmacology Program at the Children’s National Medical Center, Washington DC. He is hosted by the Department of Paediatrics.

Other recent Newton-Abraham Visiting Professors include:

2022-2023           Massimo Loda – Surgical Sciences

2021-2022           Peter Seeberger – Chemistry

2019-2020           Alan Garfinkel – Computer Science

The Professorship has a strong association with Lincoln College, where E.P. Abraham held a Professorial Fellowship until his retirement in 1980. Located in the heart of Oxford, Lincoln is a compact and friendly college, with a strong commitment to both teaching and research, excellent cultural and sporting facilities and a famously good kitchen. The Professorial Fellowship at Lincoln is without additional stipend, but carries membership of the College’s governing body and full rights of a senior member of the College, including the right to dine communally (without charge), and membership of the Senior Common Room.

The salary of the Newton-Abraham Professor is paid according to the University’s standard professorial pay grade (A20). Any Newton-Abraham Professor visiting for less than 1 year would be paid on a pro-rata basis. Reasonable travel expenses will be paid by the University for one round trip for the Professor and their partner.

The Professor is provided with a three-bedroomed detached house (with a study that can be converted to a fourth temporary bedroom) in Norham Gardens, a quiet residential road in an excellent location adjacent to the University Parks and the science area, and within walking distance of the city centre, Lincoln College and local schools.

The house was specially built for the Newton Abraham Professor by the E. P. Abraham Trustees and is maintained by the Bursar of Lincoln College. The house is fully furnished, and has bed linen, table linen, cutlery, crockery and kitchen utensils.

The house and contents are provided free of rent, local taxes and water rates; however the Professor will need to meet the costs of heating, lighting, telephone and all other normal household expenses.

A small amount of additional funding may be made available to support the Professor’s research or other activity associated with the professorship (such as short research visits for graduate students or post-doctoral fellows in close connection with the Professor’s research project, or hosting a conference/research symposium). The Professor will need to obtain approval from the host department for any such activities and prepare a costed proposal to be approved by the chair of the Newton-Abraham electoral board.