Suchir Salhan

Computer Science PhD, Cambridge University & Journalist

Suchir Salhan is a PhD Candidate in Computer Science at Cambridge University (Gonville & Caius College), focusing on Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning. He is a journalist and writer, establishing Cambridge University's newest independent publication, Per Capita Media.

Writing & Journalism

Writing & Journalism

Suchir Salhan is the Founder and Director of Cambridge University's newest publication, Per Capita and the Founder & President of Gonville & Caius College's Media & Journalism Society. 

He leads Per Capita Media (PCM) with a team of students and academics from the University of Cambridge, Oxford University, UAL (London College of Fashion & Central St Martins) and contributors from secondary schools. 

Previously as Deputy Editor of The Cambridge Student and a News Correspondent and Investigations Editor for Varsity, Suchir contributed to reporting on the Marking & Assessment Boycott among national publications, interviewed Cambridge-based novelists and academics and published Varsity's first AI-generated article, and supported the revival of TCS in Michaelmas 2023 and Lent 2024, including introducing a new “long-form” journalism format covering global politics and higher education.

Per Capita Media (PCM)

Co-founded by Suchir Salhan, Per Capita Media is a progressive, independent publication open for all university, sixth-form and secondary school students across the UK, covering News, Features & Culture. Since its establishment in August 2023, PCM has received interest from national publications nationwide, including The Times and The Sunday Times. It is a Registered Club & Society of the University of Cambridge.

Per Capita Media is supported by Lady Stothard, Dr Ruth Scurr FRSL– a Fellow at Gonville & Caius College, the University of Cambridge. Scurr was a judge for the Man Booker Prize in 2007 and the Baillie Gifford Prize panel in 2023. She frequently contributes to The Times Literary Supplement and was previously the Editor of The Mays Anthology in her student days at Cambridge. To date, the publication has student contributors from Oxford University, the University of the Arts, London (Central St Martins & London College of Fashion) and UCL.

Photo by YunLu Zhao on Pexels

Portfolio

Per Capita Media •

Oxford’s pro-Palestinian Encampments Dismantled, after threats of Legal Action by Oxford University

Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P) has decided to dismantle its Gaza Solidarity Encampment, after Oxford University threatened to dismantle the camp occupied by pro-Palestinian students. 


The University issued an open letter to its students citing “significant damage” to its lawns and a “failure of protestors to consult with proctors”, threatening to pursue legal action if the camp was not shut down by Sunday 7th July. Last week, the University decided to dismantle the Palestinian memorial ga...
Per Capita Media •

Oxford Student dies in “tragic circumstances”, diving into river post-exams

A spokesperson for Oxford University has confirmed that “a first year student has died in tragic circumstances”.


The 19 year-old student, believed to be wearing academic dress, dove into the River Thames on Friday 21st June. 


Witnesses at the scene described seeing “one man wearing academic dress [that] jumped in and drowned before he could make it back to the bank”. There was “massive emergency response, after his friends noticed that he didn’t come out of the water”. 


The student’s d...
Per Capita Media •

“Who wants to be a job blocker?” Cambridge academics divided over support for Forced Retirement Policy, despite pushback from colleagues 

A group of Cambridge academics have been campaigning over the last few months against a rule that requires them to leave their post once they reach 69. However, academic Dame Mary Beard, an honorary fellow of Newnham College, has defended the retirement policy, as a means of providing more opportunities to younger academics, who often can gain career progression with the retirement of senior academics .


“I could not look my precarious colleagues in the eye if I was sticking it in my post as...
Per Capita Media •

Students react to Oxford University condemnation of “violent” pro-Palestinian protest, as seventeen students released on bail

Seventeen students were arrested in a sit-in protest organised by Oxford Action for Palestine at Oxford University offices in Wellington Square, marking a significant escalation after two weeks of protest action from an encampment coalition “liberated zones” that were set up at Oxford’s Museum of Natural History, and the Radcliffe Camera.

The University argued that they “do not have to follow others’ playbooks”, releasing a statement condemning the “direct action tactics” used by the protestors
Per Capita Media •

Hear from Academics against Student Encampments: “I would ask all protestors to reconsider their view of Israel”, says leader of movement

As a publication, we are committed to highlighting the diversity of opinion and perspectives among students, young people and higher education institutions. We are committed to accurately reporting the events in the solidarity camps and the wider reaction. We invite you to share your reaction and response with us, by contacting editor@per-capita.co.uk.

“Free Speech will return to our great universities– a high quality university experience depends on it”, penned Arif Ahmed in The Telegraph in M
Per Capita Media •

EXCLUSIVE: Trinity College has not officially approved divestment plans, despite “hearing students concerns about the situation in the Middle East”

The College Council at Trinity College, Cambridge reportedly voted to remove the college’s investments in early March according to “well-informed” student sources, the Middle East Eye (MEE) reported (12/05), as students in a Solidarity Camp outside King’s College continue to protest. A university-wide divestment from arms companies, including Trinity College’s funding of Elbit Systems, are one of its central demands.

However, this timeline of events has been disputed. No official divestment pla
Per Capita Media •

Councillor Chloe Hawryluk on what the British left should be doing for young working-class people.

Local Councillor, Chloe Hawryluk, “started her journey into politics with the climate strikes in 2019” and became involved with the Labour Party. She is now no longer a part of the party, but celebrating her “four year anniversary of joining Labour”, and ahead of her upcoming talk at the Cambridge Union, she has declared that “Labour and the factionalism of Young Labour is toxic” and “undemocratic”.

Hawryluk is a final year politics student at Liverpool University, devoting much of her time to
Per Capita Media •

Analysed: Trinity College Cambridge Invests in Israeli Arms Manufacturer and over £2.5m in companies funding conflict in Gaza

Elbit reportedly supplies up to 85% of Israel’s drones and land-based military equipment, describing its Hermes 450 drones – which have been used by Israel for strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza in recent months – as “the backbone of the Israeli Defence Forces”.

The arms firm’s chief executive, Bezhalel Machlis, said in November that it had “ramped up” its weapons production “in support of the Israel MOD [Ministry of Defence] and Israel’s security forces”.

Trinity College’s investment in Elbit S
Per Capita Media •

“I truly hope to emulate Zephaniah’s gentle bravery” and defend Spoken Word as a “legitimate Art Form”, says Birmingham Poet Laureate, Jasmine Gardosi.

Jasmine Gardosi, Birmingham’s Poet Laureate, feels the need to defend her craft and the value of spoken word as a medium to address society’s most pressing issues, from deconstructing a combative view of gender identity through the lens of Culture Wars to shaping narratives of climate optimism and climate justice.

Spoken word has long been a cuckoo stuck in the nest of the British poetic establishment. The culture-shifting polemics of a long-line of popular British spoken poets, including Kae T
Per Capita Media •

The State of Fashion 2024: The Disruptive Power of AI Fashion

The latest campaign of Etro takes us to “Nowhere”– the apex of human imagination, as the Fashion House like us to see it, for their Spring/Summer 2024 campaign.

Creative Director of Etro, Marco de Vincenzo, in collaboration with “prompt designer”, Silvia Badalotti, depicts Etro’s latest collection – grounded in nature-like prints– through a series of hazy and ethereal scenes, where technology and humanity collide.

“Together, we embarked on a journey to a parallel universe where infinite possib
Per Capita Media •

Anger and Sadness over the Pitchfork-GQ Merger: a “Crisis and Tragedy” in Music Journalism

Music website Pitchfork has been folded into men’s magazine GQ, resulting in wide layoffs including the departure of the publication’s editor-in-chief Puja Patel.

Condé Nast– the media conglomerate that owns Vogue and The New Yorker, among other publications– bought Pitchfork in 2015. Pitchfork, founded as an independent online publication in 1996, and brands itself as ‘the most trusted voice in music’.

Now, although nearly 44% of the publication’s readership are women, Pitchfork has merged wi
Per Capita Media | The Independent Media Organisat •

Per Capita Media | News | “We don’t want Superpowers in our Backyard”, says Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, as the country faces criticism over “draconian” Internet Laws.

“We don’t want superpowers in our backyards […] We’ve burnt our fingers many times”, says the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka at an event in Cambridge University.

Back home in Colombo, his government has approved controversial Internet Laws, which human rights organisations have condemned as “draconian” and repressive– potentially seriously threatening the right of freedom of expression in the run up to domestic parliamentary and presidential elections this year.

As the United States expressed c
Varsity Online •

SU by-elections underway to fill empty positions

Voting for the Student Union’s Easter by-elections opened earlier this week (08/05), after the BME and Women’s officer roles received no applicants in the regular elections last term.

Many of the incoming sabbatical officers ran uncontested, in a campaign bemoaned by its participants for the low turnout at hustings. Voter turnout at the Lent elections stood at 10.8%, down from 12% and 18% in the preceding years.

Sabbatical officers represent students on University committees and command a sala
Varsity Online •

A week in Cambridge science: New research on dwindling vaccine protection

Cambridge scientists have found that the protection offered by COVID-19 vaccines declines much quicker in people with severe obesity, compared to people with an average BMI, recommending that people with obesity may need more frequent booster doses to maintain their immunity.

Dr Agatha van der Klaauw from the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science said: “This study further emphasises that obesity alters the vaccine response and also impacts the risk of infection. We urgently need to unders
Varsity Online •

Does radical climate activism help the environment?

“Listen up BP, listen up Shell, take your cash and go to hell!” “The people, united, will never be defeated!”

These were just a few of the chants of protestors outside Senate House this term, calling for Cambridge University to end all ties with fossil fuel companies. The protest came less than two weeks after Varsity revealed that the Department of Chemical Engineering has ‘paused’ a scheme which gave oil companies a say over academic content in exchange for money. In February, the activist gr
Varsity Online •

Students criticise voter ID laws after local elections

Figures have shown that hundreds of voters were turned away during the Cambridge council elections earlier this month (04/05), after students expressed frustration at new voter ID rules.

The new requirements also posed issues for those who use forms of ID that are not recognised under the new requirements.

One international student said they had wrongly turned up to the polling station “thinking [their] non-UK passport would be a valid ID”. The student had to return later in the day, after ret
Varsity Online •

A week in Cambridge science: King’s meadow, Ukraine war and solar power breakthrough

No Mow May? King’s College scientists investigate the environmental effects of its wildflower meadow

The meadow in King’s College’s “iconic back lawn” had boosted biodiversity and is more resilient to climate change, according to research led by the College’s scientists.

Dr Cicely Marshall, a researcher at King’s College and the University of Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences, led a study to monitor the effects of the change in 2020 to let the wildflower meadow in King’s College “bloom”
Varsity Online •

A pioneer for women in science 70 years on from the discovery of DNA

Now 70 years on from Varsity’s article about the discovery of DNA, female scientists continue to face barriers that punctuate the legacies and research traditions of the laboratories that STEM students continue to step into today.

Cambridge has not always been a beacon of diversity – and female scientists have, in particular, continued to face unique challenges in Cambridge laboratories that their male counterparts have not necessarily experienced.

The Varsity archives represent this clearly –
Varsity Online •

Cambridge signs up to new AI rules

The University of Cambridge has agreed to a new set of guiding principles to help capitalise on the use of AI in university education.

The University, as a member of the Russell Group, has helped draw up these guiding principles to support “ethical and responsible use of generative AI, new technology and software like ChatGPT”, while preserving academic rigour and educating students on the potential risks of AI.

Despite past suggestions that generative AI should be banned from higher education
Varsity Online •

New vice-chancellor admits graduating cohort have had ‘worst ever student experience’

Cambridge’s new vice-chancellor, Deborah Prentice, admits the current cohort of graduates have been “dealt a terrible hand by fate”. She also has outlined her plans for promoting free speech in the University, her concerns on research collaboration with China and her aims to promote access in the University.

Of the students affected by the marking and assessment boycott after also being drastically impacted by the pandemic, Prentice told The Times: “I admire their resilience enormously. I was v
Varsity Online •

Oppenheimer in Cambridge: The father of the atomic bomb who tried to poison his supervisor

In 1925, a depressed American physicist completing a year of graduate study in Cambridge dosed an apple with poisonous chemicals and placed it on his supervisor’s desk.

This young student was Robert Oppenheimer, the hat-wearing, chain-smoking Manhattan Project scientist behind the atomic bomb. In light of the release of Christopher Nolan’s biographical thriller of the enigmatic scientist (in what some cinemagoers have dubbed “Barbenheimer”, a consequence of the simultaneously screening Barbie f
Varsity Online •

Churchill alum at heart of Chinese foreign minister scandal

A Churchill College alumna, who has a garden at the college named after her, is at the centre of a scandal surrounding the resignation of China’s Foreign Minister.

Xiaotian Fu is a Chinese broadcaster who is now alleged, according to a report from The Times, to have had an affair with the Chinese Foreign Minister. The scandal saw the Chinese Foreign Minister disappear from public life earlier this month before he was abruptly sacked earlier this week. Fu, and her newborn son Er-Kin, have also b
Varsity Online •

The Lies Behind Cambridge Minds

Behind the pristine facade of a collegiate University full of archaic tradition, the realities of student life, ‘beyond the looking glass’, can often be demystifying. And while the well-trodden cobbled streets of Cambridge have long provided authors and creatives with a perfect backdrop for their protagonists, Homerton alum James Hayes has set out to write his debut novel for a different purpose: to uncover the “the lies behind Cambridge minds”.

Loosely based on his own experiences studying Lan
Varsity Online •

Sham graduations and the farce of provisional results

Upon exiting Senate House after an all but identical ceremony this year, only a few of us were handed degree certificates. I was not one of them, nor were most of my friends.

Most of my cohort participated in graduation “ceremonies” before knowing any of our marks; some had provisional marks for a few papers and only a fortunate few had a final and immutable degree classification. Yes, most of us had chosen to participate in the ceremony. Who wouldn’t? We wanted to celebrate our degrees with ou
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