Longstanding Darwin Fellow Professor John Nilsson-Wright has been elected as Co-Vice-Master, taking up the position this week. John will serve in partnership with Professor Angela Wood, taking over the role from Professor Fiona Karet, who has served for the past seven years. We are enormously grateful to Fiona for her significant contribution to College life, and delighted to welcome John in his new capacity.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have been a member of Darwin since 2001 when I first joined the College as a Fellow, so when the Vice-Mastership vacancy was announced it seemed like a long overdue opportunity to contribute more actively to an institution that has been a central part of my life in Cambridge for more than two decades,” John explains.
“From 2012 to 2020, while still very much part of the University, I was often overseas – first in Seoul and then in Paris. After coming back in the summer of 2020 and rooting myself more deliberately in Cambridge, I was struck by how much the College was a place, not only of intellectual and professional activity, but also of personal engagement and fellowship. Every College has its own distinctive character, but the community spirit of Darwin and the friendship that it provides, I have found uniquely rewarding. It’s a pleasure and a rare privilege to have been given the chance by the Fellowship to serve as Vice-Master.”
With a background in International Relations, John is Fuji Bank Professor of Japanese Politics and the International Relations of East Asia at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies; and Head of the Japan and Koreas Programme at the Centre for Geopolitics. He led the recent search committee in the appointment of the new Master, sings in the Darwin choir, and has previously convened the Darwin College Lecture Series.
“Communities seem to work best when everyone who has a stake in them feels engaged and empowered and has a sense of collective ownership,” he says.
“I have been impressed by how unifying the recent Mastership election was and it would be wonderful if the same spirit that animated that process can be sustained and expanded as we transition into a new leadership chapter under Nigel’s guidance. Most of all, I’m looking forward to learning from those around me and continuing to enjoy the privilege of being part of the extended Darwin College family.”
