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COULD there be a better place for contemplation and learning than Cambridge?

I didn’t want to believe it. I never applied to either of the Oxbridge institutions, even though academically I might have gotten in, in part because I didn’t want to go to such places. All that pomp and circumstance, the attitude of certain alumni and the air of pretentiousness – all detracted and put me off for good. Yet all were misguided and prejudiced preconceptions. I’ve seen Cambridge in an unfair light for years, stemming from before going to university myself. I judged it, unreasonably. I was the snob. Though I do not regret not applying, as I am very happy with the niche I have carved out in Birmingham, I do regret my prejudice back then toward both Oxford and Cambridge.

My foolish reasons are now years old, forgotten and out of date. Since then I have visited Oxford several times and always enjoyed it, but I had not visited Cambridge until last Wednesday.

A collaboration between our lab and one at Cambridge has recently come to fruition, and we were there for three purposes — to present findings based on shared work of a colleague, to discuss ideas for my own ongoing work and to plan for the future as the collaboration is strengthened.

I realised in the days leading up to the visit that I knew so very little about Cambridge, not even, really, where it is. I realised, too, that because of this lack of knowledge all judgements I had made of it in the past could not have been based on the place itself, and were therefore completely wrong. It was time to go and see it and evaluate it for myself.

And, well, isn’t Cambridge lovely?

It is small, quaint, epic, important and peaceful all at the same time.

What I loved particularly was how it was set up to encourage not only study and learning but particularly the discussion of ideas. I could easily see how the RNA Tie club had existed here, where the greatest minds shared ideas and collectively deduced some of the fundamental structures of cell biology. We had a tour of Christ’s College, adorned in wisteria and with swathes of parkland at the back in which students were sunbathing and reading, and I was mesmerized by its tranquillity, but even in the less aesthetic common room of the Department of Biochemistry people could sit, mug of tea or coffee in hand, discussing their thoughts. Nothing like this exists in Biosciences in Birmingham – there are designated coffee areas, but they are far from quiet and cut off from distraction, and serviced only by an overpriced franchised coffee shop that serves everything in polystyrene cups, sapping away any flavour. In Cambridge, two coffees, a tea and the optimism of a world leading academic cost only £1.10.

Our presentations and discussions went well and flowed straight into lunch at Giraffe. Lunch into Giraffe led to a wander around the city, basking in the sunshine, and a quick drink in a pub on the River Cam. As a group we could talk peacefully and informally both about ourselves and our work, a dynamic often impossible with so much going on in the lab. Obviously it's not always so sunny, but the place captured my admiration completely.

But best of all we could watch the ducks. In the shadow of King's College, with its prestige and history, an iconic symbol of human endeavour, discovery and learning - indeed a bastion of intellect - a duck flapped and squealed in delight as its scavenging bore fruit and it found a morsel of stale bread.