Bridget Kendall keynote speech

Scholars from a huge diversity of subjects are a vital resource for a world as it faces an increasing number of traumatic shocks, former BBC Diplomatic Correspondent Bridget Kendall told the inaugural Gates Cambridge Biennial in July 2016.
Bridget Kendall is the first female Master of Peterhouse College, Cambridge’s first college. She spoke about the increasing uncertainty in the world and the growing sense of risk, danger and confusion, the rise of populism, irrationality and emotion, the feeling of disenfranchisement and dislocation felt by many people. Speaking on the day after the attempted Turkish coup, she said the likelihood was of more profound shocks across the globe which were impossible to predict.
Kendall said the University of Cambridge had given a clear message about Brexit - that it would pursue its links with Europe, remain open to business as usual as a global university and continue to seek to attract and collaborate with the best. Gates Cambridge was “a timely reminder of the importance of resisting tribalism”. She said that the ethos of Gates Cambridge, of giving back, of being open to other viewpoints, of respect for each other, was more important than ever.
Kendall spoke of the importance of all types of academic study and how her own studies in Russian literature, funded through various fellowships, had given her an insight into another culture and helped her to understand developments in her time at the BBC, first as Russia correspondent and laterally as Diplomatic Editor. “My studies were a gateway into understanding Russia and formed the bedrock of my knowledge about the inner workings of Russia. That was to prove invaluable for a 33-year career in journalism,” she said, speaking about her interviews with Putin, Gorbachev and other leading Russian figures.
Kendall ended by saying that Gates Cambridge Scholars should not underestimate their importance as “a resource for the whole world”. “You are incredibly important,” she said, adding that it was vital to support “a wide range of subjects which will bear fruit for who knows what we will face tomorrow”.