We are the current Sidney Sussex MCR committee for 2020-21. We not only organise a lot of social and welfare events for you but also sit in on college committees and the SU and are your contact people for anything you’d like to raise with them.
Please get in touch with any of us if you have any questions or concerns. We also have some unoccupied committee roles so also get in touch if you are interested in joining us!
The Sidney Sussex MCR is governed by a constitution which can be read here: Sidney Sussex MCR Constitution.
You can find more information about what we do on the Sidney Sussex Website.
Vaithish Velazhahan - President (he/him)
sidneymcr-president@srcf.ucam.org
PhD student in Structural Biology at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. I am Vaithish, this year's President. I joined the MCR committee since I benefitted much from the events put forth by the previous committee and wanted to keep up the culture of helping and growing together. I very much look forward to meeting a lot of new students and creating many more memorable experiences together. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you need any help navigating through your PhD or have suggestions for events that would be beneficial to the MCR community. vv291@cam.ac.uk, sidneymcr-president@srcf.ucam.org
Amar Sharma - Member (he/him)
sidneymcr-committee@srcf.ucam.org
PhD Student in Clinical Neurosciences at the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute.
Nick Pasternack - Treasurer (he/him)
sidneymcr-treasurer@srcf.ucam.org
PhD student in the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience. As treasurer, I help create the MCR budget along with the other members of the MCR Committee. I also manage the MCR bank accounts: the general fund which is used for maintenance of the MCR; the social fund (funded by individual MCR members as well as the College) which is used for MCR social events; and the MCR College Account which charges individual MCR members for specific items via their College Bill. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me with questions/comments!
Ignacio Andreu Angulo - Social Officer (he/him)
sidneymcr-social@srcf.ucam.org
PhD Student, Engineering Department. I am from Spain but I studied my undergrad and Masters in the US. I am currently a second-year PhD student in the Engineering Department. This year in Sidney I will be organising social events, most notably the themed graduate formals. If you have any recommendations for a theme or other types of events please let me know! 😀 you can always email me at ia347@cam.ac.uk.
Sudipta Mukherjee - Social Officer (he/him)
sidneymcr-social@srcf.ucam.org
PhD student in Developmental Biology. I am a second-year graduate student in Life Sciences, in the (1+3 year) Developmental mechanisms programme, currently based in the Franze lab at the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience (PDN). I am from India, did my undergrad in Kolkata and masters in Mumbai. Along with Ignacio, I will be taking up the role of Social officer this year, which means organising social events for our enthusiastic MCR community. In case you have any questions to ask, have any suggestions for formals or just want to talk, you can always email me at sm2416@cam.ac.uk
Carla Plieth - Welfare Officer (she/her)
sidneymcr-welfare@srcf.ucam.org
PhD Candidate, Centre for Research in Children’s Literature, Faculty of Education. I'm Carla and one of the two welfare officers this year. I can often be found reading and am always up to chat about childhood favourite books, literature, or theatre. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with any questions or concerns you have about your well-being or that of others, we will try to support you as best as we can and/or help you get in touch with College-internal or external sources of support. Moreover, if you have ideas about forms of support we should offer or suggestions for events we could run to benefit the Sidney grad community, we are happy to hear them.
Mariana Martinez Del Rio - Welfare Officer (she/her)
sidneymcr-welfare@srcf.ucam.org
MPhil student, Conservation Leadership. I'm currently an Mphil in Conservation Leadership student, from Mexico, with a background in wildlife and biodiversity conservation in natural areas with local and indigenous communities. Really passionate in any related conservation topic! I truly believe welfare is essential in our lives, and even more in this crazy times! Therefore, I joined the MCR as a welfare officer, if you have any ideas please feel free to email them at mm2474@cam.ac.uk or if you just want to have a chat with someone or say hi!
Jinal Dadiya - External and BME Officer (she/her)
sidneymcr-external@srcf.ucam.org, sidneymcr-bme@srcf.ucam.org
PhD Student, Faculty of Law. As External officer, I am a go-between for the Cambridge University Students’ Union (CUSU) and the MCR community. I represent the interests of Sidney Graduates before the CUSU, and report important developments back to the MCR. I also represent the MCR at the college’s PREVENT committee, in my capacity as BME officer. I help towards making Sidney a safe, supportive, and inclusive home for all BME students. This includes (but is not limited to) students of African, Afro-Caribbean, Middle Eastern, South Asian and East Asian heritage. I am happy to hear any concerns, ideas, and questions relating to both these roles at either sidneymcr-external@srcf.ucam.org or sidneymcr-bme@srcf.ucam.org
Tom Coxon - IT Officer (he/him)
sidneymcr-computer@srcf.ucam.org
MRes Student, Engineering Department. Here to help maintain smooth operation of the MCR IT systems.
Tony Harris - Deputy IT Officer (he/him)
sidneymcr-computer@srcf.ucam.org
Mature PhD Student, Anglo Saxon Norse and Celtic Department (ASNaC). Tony has successfully defended his PhD on early medieval chronology and is waiting to graduate. He is a self confessed 'rowing nut' and National Rowing Umpire and in the first year of his PhD he coached Sidney Sussex Men's First Eight. Before coming to Cambridge, Tony was at Oxford where he read English (when not rowing) also as a mature student and following that an MA in Medieval Studies is from the University of Reading. Prior to moving to the 'dark side' of medievalism, Tony was a computer scientist for more years than he cares to remember. If you need authenticating to the website for events bookings and/or the MCR mailing list then contact us via the general sidneymcr-computer@srcf.ucam.org address and we will do our best to help.
Nicole Sithole - Women's Officer (she/her)
sidneymcr-women@srcf.ucam.org
PhD student, Faculty of History. I am from Zimbabwe and did my Bachelor’s in International Relations and Master’s in History from the University of Pretoria. I will be working alongside Priya as women’s officer and will be representing the needs of female members of the MCR in the college and on University-wide councils. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any suggestions or concerns with issues related to this role.
Priya Khan - Women's Officer (she/her)
sidneymcr-women@srcf.ucam.org
Alice Vodden - Sports Officer (she/her)
sidneymcr-gym@srcf.ucam.org
MPhil in Public Health Student, Department of Public Health and Primary Care. I’m Alice, a postgraduate student studying Public Health and the MCR Sports Officer for 2020/21. Looking forward to helping provide lots of opportunities for students to get involved in a wide variety of sports, and hopefully keep things as normal as possible in these strange times! If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch via email av564@cam.ac.uk.
Mabel Smith - Sustainability Officer (she/her)
sidneymcr-green@srcf.ucam.org
MPhil student in Engineering for Sustainable Development. I am from Canada, where I completed my undergraduate in civil engineering. During my free time, I enjoy hiking, photography, knitting/crocheting, and listening to podcasts. As a Green Officer with the Sidney MCR, I am excited to be organizing events and initiatives around environmental and social sustainability. Please feel free to reach out regarding any ideas related to these topics.
Ellen Harrison - Sustainability Officer (she/her)
sidneymcr-green@srcf.ucam.org
Chaitanya Nallaparaju - Sustainability Officer (he/him)
sidneymcr-green@srcf.ucam.org
Armelle Kim - LGBTQ Officer (she/her)
sidneymcr-lgbt@srcf.ucam.org
Masters student, Business Administration at Cambridge Judge Business School. I am fortunate enough to be the MCR LGBTQ officer for Sidney Sussex College for the academic year 2020/2021. My role is to represent the interests and needs of the LGBTQ community at Sidney. Always feel free to reach out for anything! My email is mkk45@cam.ac.uk.
John Lim - LGBTQ Officer
sidneymcr-lgbt@srcf.ucam.org
Lorna Thomas - Freshers' Rep (she/her)
sidneymcr-firstyears@srcf.ucam.org
MPhil student in Sociology. Hi, I am Lorna one of the Fresher's Reps this year alongside Izzy. Together we are here to represent first year students and help the MCR to organise events (Covid permitting) for the graduate community. This year it is especially hard to settle in, so hopefully our virtual events can be a good way to meet people. If you have any questions or just fancy a chat, don't hesitate to reach out to us!
Izzy Greenock - Freshers' Rep (she/her)
sidneymcr-firstyears@srcf.ucam.org
LLM student. Hi! I’m Izzy, one of the Freshers’ Reps for 2020-21. While this role has been made slightly more complicated due to Covid-19, myself and Lorna are still aiming to put on a number of events (be it in person or online) over the course of the year. In general, we also act as points of contact for all postgraduate freshers, so feel free to get in touch with any questions you might have!