In 2023–24, Cambridge had an excellent year, with an impressive roll call of new Fellows of the learned societies, and many members of our community recognised with national honours. We enjoyed sporting success, award-winning exhibitions, celebrated discoveries, new spin-out companies, and made significant progress on major capital projects.

It was also a strong year for philanthropy, as we reached the goal of £500m raised for the Student Support Initiative. That scheme has been transformative – it has underpinned the Foundation Year, the Stormzy scholarships, the Mastercard Foundation scholarships, and the Harding postgraduate scholarships. It has enabled the transformation of our student health and wellbeing services, and much more.

In collaboration with the Colleges, we are stepping up widening participation efforts to attract students from areas of the country where we do not draw as strongly. We are in the advanced planning stages for 2 new hospitals on the biomedical campus – the Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital and the Cambridge Children’s Hospital – which will revolutionise care across East Anglia, the UK, and beyond. We are expanding the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, already a hub of academic and policy research about the major challenges facing the country and the world. And we have bold, ambitious plans for the creation of an innovation hub at our Cambridge West site that will bring together the very best researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, spinouts and funders under one roof. Read more about our achievements and plans below.