Wolfson College has announced the creation of the Rachel Conrad Scholarship for the study of clinical depression. The endowed doctoral scholarship has been made possible thanks to a generous legacy from Reuben Conrad CBE in memory of his late wife, Rachel.
Oxford is home to significant expertise in the field of clinical depression, hosting a range of research groups committed to investigating both its origins and impact. Studies range across neuroscientific, cognitive and social perspectives, and include children and adolescents, as well as adults.
‘Depression causes more ill health worldwide than any other medical condition,’ says Paul Harrison, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford and Governing Body Fellow of Wolfson College. ‘Although there have been recent advances in understanding its causes and in how to treat it effectively, much more remains to be done. Oxford is one of the leading centres in this endeavour, and the Rachel Conrad Scholarship is a generous and timely bequest which will allow us to train the next generation of researchers.’
Reuben Conrad, who passed away in March of 2020 at the age of 103, was a distinguished psychologist and pioneer in deaf education – a field he turned to after the loss of his wife in 1968. At Oxford’s Department of Experimental Psychology, he embarked on a ground-breaking work: a psychological study of deaf school-leavers in the UK entitled The Deaf School Child. He was thereafter awarded a Leverhulme Emeritus Award for his study of deafness and became a Member of Common Room at Wolfson in 1982.
Professor Conrad left a generous gift to the college in his will under the express direction that it be applied toward scholarship and research in the field of clinical depression, and that this scholarship should bear the name of his late wife in memory of her life. His gift will endow the scholarship in perpetuity, providing fees and living expenses for a DPhil student beginning in October 2022.
Sir Tim Hitchens, President of Wolfson College, says: ‘Legacies provide an invaluable way to support our most talented students, while at the same time remembering the life and achievements of those whose memory they perpetuate. Wolfson is so very grateful to Reuben Conrad for his generous gift, which will help us understand clinical depression and learn how to treat it more effectively. Wolfson College is very proud of its new Rachel Conrad Scholarship.’