Sidney elects three new Honorary Fellows

Professor Claire Preston

Claire Preston is a literary historian and critic specialising in the English sixteenth- and seventeenth-centuries, specifically the relationship between scientific and literary writing in that period. She was Fellow and Director of Studies in English for twenty-one years; since then she has held chairs at the Birmingham and Queen Mary London. Among her books are The Poetics of Scientific Investigation in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford 2015), winner of the British Society for Literature and Science Prize; Thomas Browne and the Writing of Early-Modern Science (Cambridge 2005), winner of the British Academy's Rose Mary Crawshaw Prize; Bee [a cultural history] (Reaktion 2006), translated into several languages including Chinese and Arabic; and Edith Wharton's Social Register (Macmillan, 1999). She is General Editor of The Complete Works of Sir Thomas Browne, 8 vols (in print and forthcoming, Oxford 2023-28). Her work has been supported by the Guggenheim Foundation, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and the British Academy. Her radio and television work includes Radios 3 and 4, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, National Public Radio, and various documentaries. She is currently a judge for the Pol Roger/ Duff Cooper Prize (2025-2030).

“It must have been written in the stars: I joined a college with the family name of the poet I was then writing about, whose magnificent aunt had the inspiration and the means to found it. Sidney gave me wonderful students to teach with the care they deserved; it let me expand my own research and writing; it taught me the meaning of an intellectual collegiality that is also a supportive and encouraging social unit. Academic and pedagogical autonomy together with institutional responsibility, the sense of the College as something far greater than the immediate moment or than individual achievement – that's a rare and privileged combination. To be able to return now as an Honorary Fellow to this beautiful and much-loved place that has been so generous to me is a deep delight.” – Professor Claire Preston

Professor Sue Gibson OBE

Sue Gibson grew up in Lancashire and was educated at Darwen Vale High School, Sidney Sussex College Cambridge, where she studied Natural Sciences, New College Oxford and ETH Zürich. 

Sue worked as an academic first at Warwick University and then at Imperial College London and was subsequently appointed to the Daniell Chair of Chemistry at King’s College London in 1999 before returning to a Chair at Imperial College in 2003. Her research focussed on using transition metals to make organic molecules for which she received the inaugural Rosalind Franklin Award of the Royal Society in 2003. She has collaborated with over forty research students, written a textbook that has been translated into French and German, and served as the President of the Organic Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry. National recognition included featuring in a Faces of Science exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and receiving an OBE for services to Chemistry and Science Education. 

“I am delighted to have received an Honorary Fellowship from Sidney Sussex College and look forward to supporting the College and its members in any way I can. To say that this would have been beyond the wildest dreams of the excited/terrified Lancashire school girl who arrived in Cambridge in 1978 is an understatement. There is no doubt that the College played a key role in my academic development. Less obvious is the impact that the College boat club has had on my life. Skills learnt at Sidney proved life-changing on retirement when I rediscovered my passion for rowing and early morning exercise with Windermere Rowing Club. Thank you, Sidney.” – Professor Sue Gibson OBE

Professor Catherine Morgan OBE, FBA

Catherine Morgan is an archaeologist and cultural historian whose work explores the societies and cultures of Greece, the Adriatic, and the Black Sea from antiquity to the present day. She studied Archaeology at the University of Cambridge and was subsequently a Fellow and Director of Studies in Classics at Sidney Sussex. After teaching at the University of London, she moved to Greece in 2007 to serve as Director of the British School at Athens, one of the UK's leading international research institutes. In 2015, she was elected to a Fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford.

Her publications range across Greek religion, island studies, federalism, and twentieth-century military archaeology, reflecting her curiosity about how landscapes, community histories, and the institutions we make and choose to support shape human experience over time. Alongside her academic research, she is active in charity governance and educational policy internationally, and remains passionate about widening access to education and creating equal opportunities for learners at every stage.

Catherine is a Fellow of the British Academy and in 2012 was appointed OBE for services to Classical scholarship.

“Being elected is a tremendous honour, and returning to Sidney Sussex feels like coming home. I first joined the College in 1990 as a David Thompson Senior Research Fellow, and through the wisdom, generosity, and kindness of colleagues, I not only developed as a researcher but also learned what it means to be a good tutor and mentor. Those lessons stayed with me throughout my career. I am delighted to return, and look forward to getting to know a new generation of students and to supporting and encouraging them as they make the most of their time at Sidney Sussex.” – Professor Catherine Morgan OBE, FBA