University of Cambridge Alumni Festival

We look forward to welcoming you back to the Alumni Festival this year, from Friday 26 to Sunday 28 September 2025.

Rediscover your connection with this remarkable city as you hear the latest insights from some of Cambridge's leading academics. Explore their current research through a collection of talks, panel discussions and tours, and learn how your fellow alumni are pioneering solutions to global challenges.

You can view the photos form the Alumni Festival 2024 here and watch previous Festival recordings on the Festival Player or over on the Alumni Festival YouTube channel.

We are delighted to announce that Professor Sir David Clary FRS (m.1974) will be our speaker this year. 

The Lost Scientists of World War II
Professor Sir David Clary FRS (m.1974)

Many scientists who came to the UK and the USA from Germany and other European countries in the 1930s became world famous. What is not often realised is that many brilliant scientists were unable to make this transition and disappeared in World War II. Sir David Clary tells the story of these scientists, explaining the reasons why they could not leave their countries and presents fresh insights into their tragic fates. Notable scientists such as Einstein, Schrödinger and Oppenheimer are an integral part of this story, as is Sir George Thomson who became Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge from 1952-62. 

Professor Sir David Clary FRS

Professor Sir David Clary FRS obtained a PhD in Theoretical Chemistry at Corpus Christi College in 1977. After an academic career in Manchester, Cambridge, UCL and Oxford he became President of Magdalen College Oxford from 2005-20 and was the first Chief Scientific Advisor to the Foreign Office from 2009-13. He is a fellow of many academies, including the Royal Society, and was knighted in 2016 for his services to international science. He has recently published a trilogy of books on scientists and World War II: Schrödinger in Oxford, The Lost Scientists of World War II, and Walter Kohn: From Kindertransport and Internment to DFT and the Nobel Prize. 

Registrations for the Alumni Festival, including for Sir David Clary's talk, will open in the Spring. You can find more information on the Alumni Festival website.