We are deeply saddened to announce that Dr Isabelle McNeill, Trinity Hall Fellow, died on Friday 21 February from cancer, which she faced with positivity, strength and resilience.
Isabelle joined the Trinity Hall Fellowship in 2005 after completing her undergraduate degree, postgraduate degree and PhD at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. At Trinity Hall, Isabelle was Associate Professor in French and Film, and a Philomathia Fellow. She was also an Affiliated Lecturer in Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics (MMLL) and a key figure in Cambridge Film & Screen. Isabelle specialised in Francophone cinema, feminist film theory and creative practice in relation to memory, urban space, Internet culture and girlhood. She was an instigator of Tactics and Praxis, a group exploring feminist and ethical intersections between academic and creative work, and was influential in the foundation of The New School of the Anthropocene, serving as a member of the advisory board. She was also active in the wider promotion of film culture through her work with the Cambridge Film Trust, of which she was a co-founder and trustee.
In 2017, Isabelle delivered Trinity Hall’s flagship Milestone Lecture on Ways of Seeing a City: The Rooftops of Paris in Cinema, and the College’s Eden Oration in 2023. Beloved and respected by the student community, Isabelle was commended in the Undergraduate Supervisor category of the Cambridge University Students’ Union’s (CUSU) Student-Led Teaching Awards in 2019.
Remembering Isabelle, her close friends and colleagues at Trinity Hall, Drs Heather Inwood, Leila Mukhida, Rachel Tolley and Professor Louise Haywood, said: “There are no words capacious enough to convey Isabelle’s brilliance of mind, generosity of spirit, humour and creativity. Everything she did as a Fellow, friend, teacher and Tutor was underpinned by a feminist ethics of care. We loved her dearly and Trinity Hall was a better place with her in it.”
Paying tribute to Isabelle, Mary Hockaday, Master of Trinity Hall, said: “Isabelle was a gifted teacher and committed tutor. She was a wonderful and positive member of our College community and a dear friend to many of us. We will miss her greatly.”
Our thoughts and prayers are with Isabelle, her family, and her many friends, colleagues and students.
The Trinity Hall community is being supported by our pastoral and wellbeing teams. The Chapel is open to the community at all times, and further support is available through the University and more widely. Please reach out if you need support.