Sharon Peacock: Running a Cambridge college

Sharon Peacock on her current role at Churchill College, Cambridge...

Sharon - It wasn't like that at all. I see this as coming full circle, actually. I left school at 16. I wish I'd had the opportunity to go to university at 18. I'm passionate about outreach for Cambridge colleges. They are places that are for the academically able— and that's the only barrier. If you're academically able, come to Cambridge. So going to a college is like coming full circle: really supporting young people to apply, to support them to do well in their exams, but also in their welfare. And I love the energy that young people have, actually. To see them thriving at Cambridge, in Churchill College, it's the best job in the world.

So much of what I do is relatively mundane; I chair lots of committees, I help the college make good decisions. But I really relish seeing our students do well and go out into the world and bring that energy, enthusiasm, and knowledge to make it a better place. I also work very hard to ensure that the college will still be standing in 50 or 100 years. We're doing a lot of planning— improving our infrastructure, improving our buildings, improving our endowment, our money— so we can continue to make that offer to young people in perpetuity.

Chris - Is there still time for science, though? Because this is a pretty big job.

Sharon - There's still time for lots of things, actually. I'm a very energetic person, I guess. And I do many other things. I still have a contract with the Clinical School. I still do research. And I do other things. I'm a trustee on various charities, and so on, as well as balancing that with fitness, running, and so on. I like to fill my day and make it really interesting. And that's going to be a lifelong habit, I think. I can't break that habit.