The Academic Advisory Committee will provide strategic academic guidance to support Martingale’s continued growth.
As Martingale expands, we recognise the need for an expert, strategic group of academics to guide and inform our work. Now supporting over 100 scholars across ten university partners, we have set an ambitious goal to expand across STEM and support 800 scholarships by 2030. Martingale’s newly established Academic Advisory Committee (AAC) will ensure our expanding programme remains rigorous, focused on excellence, and future-facing.
The goal of the AAC, to uphold our focus on research excellence, will ensure that we are supporting talented people to do world-leading research. The AAC will advise on core parts of our academic work, from new subject areas to academic assessment frameworks, and wider aspects of our programme. The members will provide insight to the Advisory Board, and work closely with the wider Martingale team, helping us to evolve our academic offering and maximise our impact across higher education.
‘The launch of the Academic Advisory Committee is an important and exciting step in strengthening our governance framework. Since Martingale’s inception, supporting the incredible talent of individuals who otherwise would be unable to access postgraduate research has been at the heart of what we do. The establishment of this committee will guide our progress and academic provision, ensuring our work provides the best possible opportunities for our talented researchers.’ – Cassandra Hugill
The committee is made up of nine academics, each bringing insights into the research landscape and unique academic perspectives. Members are representative of the subjects Martingale funds, or intends to fund in the future, and have extensive experience across many aspects of academia including supervising PhD students.
The AAC members are:
- Professor Simon Banks, Chair – Vice Dean (Education) in the Faculty of Natural, Mathematical and Engineering Sciences, and Professor of Natural Sciences Education in the Department of Chemistry, King’s College London
- Dr Alejandra Castro – Associate Professor at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge
- Dr Ed Cohen – Reader in Statistics, Imperial College London
- Professor Karen Halliday – Chair of Systems Physiology, College of Science and Engineering, The University of Edinburgh
- Dr Eric Hewitt – Head of the Faculty of Biological Sciences Graduate School and Associate Professor of Cell Biology, University of Leeds
- Professor Gordon Love – Head of School of Computer Science, University of Leeds
- Professor Reinhold Scherer – Head of School and Professor in Brain-Computer Interfaces and Neural Engineering, School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex
- Dr Geoffrey M. Vasil – Reader in Computational and Applied Mathematics, The University of Edinburgh
- Dr Tiffany Vlaar – Lecturer in Applied Mathematics, University of Glasgow
The AAC will be chaired by Professor Simon T. Banks, Vice Dean (Education) in the Faculty of Natural, Mathematical and Engineering Sciences at King’s College London. Simon brings a strong track record of supporting postgraduate education and research, having served previously as the Faculty Tutor and Director of Education in the Faculty of Engineering Sciences at UCL. As Chair of the AAC, Simon will also join the Martingale Foundation Advisory Board.
Simon is a senior leader in higher education with a breadth of experience across the sector, from research, teaching, and governance roles within research-intensive universities. He has extensive experience across all aspects of postgraduate education, working across multi-department faculties, with oversight of education and wellbeing for several thousand Masters and research students through his current and previous roles. Throughout all aspects of his work, a common thread has been Simon’s focus on how education policy and governance can enhance education quality and the wider student experience.
He has a long-established commitment to improving equitable access to research. On first introduction to Martingale, Simon shared an immediate recognition of Martingale’s goal, to go beyond providing funding, ensuring scholars can not only access research, but thrive when they get there.
Simon’s published research is in the fields of quantum reaction dynamics, low-dimensional magnetism, critical phenomena, and frustrated magnetism. Notable results include the discovery and characterisation of the novel phenomenon of ‘magnetic moment fragmentation’, and an improved treatment of spectator vibrational modes in reduced-dimensional quantum dynamical studies of reactive collisions between molecules. He is currently working with colleagues from Uppsala University and the University of Iceland studying the effects of spin and spatial dimensionality on the ordering behaviour of models of magnetic metamaterials.
Simon’s notable achievements are many, including a Ramsay Memorial Fellowship, multiple UCL scholarships, top graduating student prizes, an International Teaching Excellence Bursary, and a prestigious invited professorship at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Principal Fellow of Advance HE (PFHEA).
‘Placing the broader student experience at the heart of the learning process, rather than treating it as an optional add‑on, enables students to enjoy their studies more deeply and to achieve at a higher level. I look forward to seeing growing numbers of Martingale Scholars who can be confident that their programmes of study and research meet the highest standards of academic rigour while offering the breadth of opportunities they need to realise their full potential.’ – Professor Simon Banks
The launch of the AAC is the latest step in several governance advancements at Martingale. The AAC will meet annually with the first committee meeting in the summer. The meeting will take place over two days, where Martingale will present academic strategies for review and discussion for the year ahead. Members will provide guidance on everything from courses aligned to Martingale’s mission to maintaining quality assurance for the scholars we support. This will mark the main event for the AAC; however, Martingale will work throughout the year with members, drawing on their subject-specific knowledge as needed.
At Martingale, we are thrilled to be working with this group of individuals, each extremely knowledgeable in their area of expertise, student support, and the postdoctoral research landscape. The AAC is well placed to guide Martingale’s next steps, ensuring academic rigour and excellence throughout.
‘The members of the AAC bring a wealth of knowledge, experience and rigour to the important work we do. We are grateful for their time and input as we work to grow our impact and ensure that talent, not socioeconomic background, defines a person’s ability to pursue research’ – Cassandra Hugill
At Martingale, we are always eager to hear from people working towards a shared goal of increased access to postgraduate research. If you are interested in staying in touch, please sign up to our newsletter where we share invitations to get involved.