SFOU reception with Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey Zurich, 17th January 2027, 17:00 – 19:00
Members and Friends of SFOU,
Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey will be visiting Switzerland in January to attend the World Economic Forum and has agreed to attend a reception for SFOU members and friends in Zurich in the late afternoon of Sunday, 17th January 2027.
Please note the date in your diary and hopefully you can join us. An official invitation will follow soon.
SFOU dinner with Special guest Professor André Furger Zurich, 16th September 2026, 18:30 drinks/19:00 dinner Geneva, 17th September2026, 18:30 drinks/19:00 dinner
Members and Friends of SFOU,
Professor André Furger who is an Associate Professor at the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford and Tutor and Fellow in Biochemistry at Pembroke College, will be coming to Switzerland in February and has agreed to speak at a dinner for SFOU members and friends on the evening of Wednesday, 16th September 2026 in Zurich and on Thursday, 17th September 2026 in Geneva.
Please note the date in your diary and hopefully you can join us. An official invitation will follow soon.
We are pleased to announce that Ruedi Baumann has been appointed as our SFOU Membership Officer. He will be focused on relationships with current and future members. We wish him much success in his new position.
Once again, we can look back on two very successful and interesting evenings on 18 and 20 February, when Professor von Borzyskowski was our guest speaker at SFOU dinners on the topic: “Why do countries walk away from International Organisations – understanding breakups in Global Politics”. The questions and discussions afterwards were very stimulating.
SFOU dinner with Special guest Professor Inken von Borsyskowski Zurich, 18th February 2026, 18:30 drinks/19:00 dinner Geneva, 20th February 2026, 18:30 drinks/19:00 dinner
Dear Members and Friends of SFOU
Professor Inken von Borzyskowski who is Professor of International Relations at the Department of Politics and International Relations, and Fellow at St Catherine’s College, will be coming to Switzerland in February and has agreed to speak at a dinner for SFOU members and friends on the evening of Wednesday, 18th February 2026 in Zurich and on Friday, 20th February 2026 in Geneva.
Please note the date in your diary and hopefully you can join us.
We enjoyed a very fascinating evening with General Sir Richard Shirreff at UBP Union Bancaire Privée in Zurich, discussing thrilling and highly topical subjects.
We were delighted to welcome two of our distinguished grantees who gave us a fascinating insight into the valuable work that they were presenting thanks to their studies which SFOU was privileged to support.
We had a splendid SFOU lunch in Zurich, where Lord Hague of Richmond, Chancellor of the University of Oxford, was our distinguished guest speaker. At the lunch, Lord Hague has launched our new campaign to expand the SFOU Scholarship Fund which supports Swiss based students studying at Oxford.
SFOU lunch with Special guest Lord Hague of Richmond Chancellor of the University of Oxford Zurich, 25th September 2025, 12:00 drinks/12:30 lunch
Dear Members and Friends of SFOU
William Hague is an alumnus of Magdalen College, Oxford where he studied PPE, graduating with First Class Honours in 1982. He subsequently took an MBA at INSEAD and worked for some years in business before becoming a British Member of Parliament in 1989 until he retired at the 2015 election. He was leader of the Conservative Party between 1997 and 2001, held a number of shadow briefs when the Party was in opposition and then from 2010 held key government positions including Foreign Secretary between 2010 and 2014. He became a life peer and entered the House of Lords as Lord Hague of Richmond in November 2015. After leaving government, Lord Hague has held many non-executive and advisory roles for major companies, charities and NGOs. His literary works include two historical biographies, and he currently writes a weekly column for The Times newspaper. In November 2024, Lord Hague was elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford, taking up his position earlier this year.
Please note the date in your diary and we hope you can join us.
SFOU dinner with Special guest Mark Thomson Next Director-General Designate at CERN Geneva, 23rd October 2025, 18:30 drinks/19:00 dinner
Dear Members and Friends of SFOU
Oxford alumnus Mark Thomson, a British particle physicist, was elected Director-General at CERN in November 2024 and will take up the role on 1st January 2026. He will be speaking to us on the subject of “The future of Particle Physics and CERN’s plans for the next Collider”.
Please note the date in your diary and we hope you can join us. An official invitation will follow soon.
