A former Rydal Penrhos pupil returned to her roots for a special academic event last week.

Professor Emerita Joy Hendry, who attended Penrhos College, was the Scientific Society’s first special guest speaker of the academic year on Thursday, September 19.

The topic of the lecture was Anthropology and Social Anthropology, which proved to be of considerable interest for anyone wishing to pursue a possible career in science, psychology, history or geography.

A large number of Sixth Form pupils attended the lecture, with joint-Deputy Head Boy Eddie Farrell introducing Professor Hendry prior to her talk.

Mrs Hendry is a Professor Emerita in Anthropology at Oxford Brookes University, senior member of St. Antony’s College, Oxford University and Honorary Fellow of the University of Edinburgh.

She graduated with B.Sc in General Science from Kings College, London, and after living and working abroad for five years, studied for a Diploma, B.Litt and D.Phil Social Anthropology at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, completing her studies in 1979.

Mrs Hendry taught at Oxford Brookes (and formerly Oxford Poly) from 1980 until 2010, with periods away at Keio University in Japan, Stirling University in Scotland, the CNRS in Paris, the University of Melbourne, McMaster University in Canada, the Institute for Japanese Studies, University of Vienna, and the University of Freiburg. Since becoming professor emerita in 2010, she has been the McGeorge Fellow at the University of Melbourne, and de Carle Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Otago.

She has carried out anthropological fieldwork several times in Japan, but more recently has also been working in a context that requires travel to different countries. She was the founder of the Erasmus programme in the Anthropology Department, Brookes Japan Interest Group and the Europe Japan Research Centre.