MCR
The MCR exists for the benefit of the community of graduates at Mansfield, providing as many opportunities as possible for social interaction and mutual support. While the Department is there to look after your academic development, the College is here to give you a ‘home away from home’, a close-knit community where you can belong while you are here in Oxford.
The MCR organises a wide variety of events for graduates, including formal dinners, cocktail parties, pizza and film evenings, international food nights, Nintendo and board games evenings, exchange dinners with other colleges, academic presentations, ice-cream café trips, and much more.
We aim to make our common room as accessible, inviting, and functional as possible, as well as encouraging graduate engagement in College life. In addition, we serve on behalf of graduates as representatives within the College, our executive members attending various College committees and pursuing issues that are raised by MCR members, while also serving members practically with support in areas of welfare and women’s matters. Essentially, the MCR is all of us together, and with your involvement it will be better for everyone.
Meet the current committee below.
Amirmohammad Farzaneh, President
Hello all! Welcome to Mansfield. My name is Amirmohammad and I am currently a DPhil student in Engineering Science. It is a great honour to have been elected as the president of the MCR for the 2022-2023 academic year. Our goal in the MCR bench is to ensure the welfare of all postgraduate students studying at Mansfield college. Your well-being is of the utmost importance to us. Feel free to contact me if you have any issues and I will do my best to ensure that your concern is given our fullest attention. I hope you have an amazing time at Mansfield during your studies.
mcrpresident@mansfield.ox.ac.uk
Nayantara Srinivasan, Vice-President & Women's Representative
Hi! I am Nayantara Srinivasan, a 2nd Year DPhil student in Materials. My research involves developing novel nanomaterial-based polymer films for dielectric applications. Though born in India, I have completed my schooling from Kuwait. In addition, I pursued my B.Eng in Materials Science and Engineering from India and Master’s in the same subject from the National University of Singapore. Having such a diverse atmosphere helped in shaping me as a person who appreciates and learns from all cultures throughout the world. My hobbies involve singing, painting, playing chess and stargazing.
As part of the MCR my responsibilities include organizing events for the MCR, as well as ensuring the welfare of all fellow students at Mansfield. Please feel free to e-mail me at nayantara.srinivasan@materials.ox.ac.uk for any queries and any help/concerns. I am always happy to help!
Also, I am extremely passionate to have my own start-up soon and if anyone does have any idea or an intent to collaborate; you're welcome to contact me anytime!!
Alec Xu, Secretary
Hi y’all! I’m Alec, a master’s student from Victoria, BC, Canada. Outside of Mansfield, I’m part of the Soft Matter Photonics and Applied Optics research groups.
Within Mansfield, I’m a proud member of the Mansfield community and I’m proud to be part of a bench that embraces the same inviting and diverse spirit that makes up our student body as a whole. As secretary, it is my job to help organize meetings, both internally within the bench and to the larger student body as a whole and to ensure the transparency of the bench by publicizing the minutes after those meetings. I hope that by doing this, I can make the MCR bench as approachable an organization as possible, and one that is able to flexibly respond to the needs and wants of its members.
Outside of work, I enjoy playing the piano and embroidery.
Email contact: alec.xu@mansfield.ox.ac.uk
Biwei Zhang, Treasurer
Hi! I am Biwei Zhang, a DPhil student at Mansfield studying in Engineering. It's such an honour for me taking the treasurer as well as social secretary of the MCR this year. My responsibilities mainly include taking care of the financial records of the MCR and organising social events for MCR members. Please free free to get in touch if you have any queries or suggestions. I sincerely hope that my efforts would bring you enjoyable experiences here and contribute to a better MCR.
biwei.zhang@mansfield.ox.ac.uk
Bwalya Mulenga, BAME Representative
Hey everyone,
I'm Bwalya and I am studying an MSc in Medical Anthropology for the year. It is such a privilege to be elected as your Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Rep on the MCR bench. I look forward to getting to know you all better and helping to facilitate events that will allow us to strengthen our MCR community.
I hope to find out more about the wealth of culture and experience we have in our college, and I will be creating opportunities where we can share and celebrate our diversity (all ideas are more than welcome).
I am also here to listen, offer support and be a point of contact for students from diverse ethnic backgrounds. I will do all that I can to ensure you have the best experience during your time at Mansfield. I would love to hear from you, and I am happy to arrange times to talk/ grab food/ visit the college cats, so please feel free to reach out to me (my inbox is always open). Do also get in touch if you have any ideas, worries or concerns: bwalya.mulenga@mansfield.ox.ac.uk
I'll see you around- make sure to say hi if you spot me around college :) !
James Morrison, LGBTQ+ and Entertainment Representative
Hi all! I am James Morrison, currently a Master of Public Policy student at the Blavatnik School of Government. I am excited to be serving on the MCR bench for the 2022-2023 academic year. As entertainment rep, I'm excited to organize social events for the MCR to help make the Mansfield graduate community feel like a family. As LGBTQ+ rep, I support and represent the graduate queer community at Mansfield. If you need support, or would simply like to chat, feel free to send me an email at james.morrison@bsg.ox.ac.uk
Lorenzo Versini, Welfare Officer
Hi! My name is Lorenzo Versini, I am a new DPhil student in physics and your MCR Welfare Officer for this year.
University can be a challenging but rewarding experience, however life doesn’t always go as expected, and if you have a problem that is affecting you, you can find support within the Welfare team! As the MCR welfare officer, I can be one of your points of contact for this. Moreover, if there were any general issues, I can raise them at the regular meetings with the College Welfare Committee.
I will also try to run a range of social events that target at different interests, so if there were something that you would like to see, do let me know! It is important that we all find a social space we resonate with that we can use to wind down and spend time with our friends.
Email contact: lorenzo.versini@physics.ox.ac.uk
Megan Andrews, Social Secretary and Sports & Societies Representative
Hi! I’m Megan, an MSc in Statistical Science student. I’m Australian but I’ve also lived in Scotland. I hope to organise fun and exciting events so that you can all enjoy your time at Mansfield. I’d love to hear from you if you have any ideas or requests, so send me an email or message. I’m also always up to talk, so you can stop me to say hi or have a chat. I can’t wait to meet more of you at our events!
Elysia Zdolyny, Environment, Ethics & Charity Representative
Hi everyone, I’m Elysia! I am currently in my 4th year of my undergraduate degree studying Material Science here at Mansfield.
I am very excited to be joining the bench this year as your Environment, Ethics and Charity Rep. My responsibilities include working to improving environmental sustainability and recycling at college, organizing charity events, running campaigns in college, and also liaising with the JCR equivalent rep.
I am always eager to hear your ideas so please feel free to contact me via email at elysia.zdolyny@mansfield.ox.ac.uk; or of course catch me any time you see me around college!
Karim Alaa El-Din, Wine & Dine Representative
I'm Karim, a first year DPhil student in Atomic and Laser Physics, and
the MCR Wine & Dine Representative. To me, creating an environment in
which we can all come together, exchange ideas and have fun is the most
important job of the MCR. As nothing brings people together more than
good food and drink, I hope to facilitate these interactions by running
those kind of events. Apart from uni, I love to do sports, and anything
outdoors really, from hiking, to rock climbing, swimming, or scuba
diving. Since coming here, I have also picked up rowing to complete my
assortment of outdoor activities. If you have any questions, suggestions
or ideas you would like to share, you can always reach out to me. No
matter if we have met before or not, I look forward to seeing you all
soon, and getting to know as many of you as I can.
Contact Karim on: karim.alaael-din@physics.ox.ac.uk
Last updated November 2022