Colin Wright juggling
David Acheson making music
SPEAKERS
Maths Inspiration has a pool of some of the UK's best maths and engineering speakers who are experienced in giving stimulating, interactive talks to teenagers.
Many of the speakers have their own web sites, and these can be acessed by clicking on the speaker's name below.
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Nadia Baker studied Maths, Computer Science and Japanese at Adelaide University, Australia. She worked for a Science Circus, then came to England where, after a spell teaching maths, she became the Enigma Schools Project Officer. Now she travels the UK talking about codes and code breaking.
Kate Bellingham has had an impressive career as a broadcaster for television and radio, including four years as a presenter on Tomorrow’s World, and her own programmes on Radio 5 Live and Radio 4. Before that she graduated in Physics from Oxford. She is a former President of Young Engineers.
Chris Budd is Professor of Applied Maths at the University of Bath, and a passionate populariser of mathematics. He is Chair of Maths at the Royal Institution and has given lectures to all ages across the country. He co-wrote Mathematics Galore!.
Katie Chicot is a lecturer at the Open University, and is passionate about bringing the beauty and clarity of mathematics to a broader audience. She has a PhD in mathematics from the University of Leeds and spent a year as the Clothworkers' Fellow at the Royal Institution. In her spare time she is, among other things, a keen basketball player.
Dave Cliff is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Bristol. He has worked at two of the world’s most prestigious technical centres - MIT and Hewlett-Packard Labs - and for a while worked at Deutsche Bank, at the cutting edge of the financial world. He is author of over 70 academic publications, and as an inventor his patents range from software used in night clubs to systems used to beat City traders at their own game.
Rachel Crossley has a PhD in Microbiology. After working for several years at The University of Manchester, she joined STEMNET. Her job is to inform young people about Science, Technology and Maths, and encourage them to pursue careers in those areas. A keen athlete, she regularly competes in triathlons and extreme fitness challenges.
Rob Eastaway is an independent lecturer and author whose books on everyday maths include Why do Buses Come in Threes?, Beating the Odds and How Many Socks Make a Pair?. For several years he set puzzles for New Scientist and The Sunday Times, and he is often to be heard on radio talking about the maths of everyday life.
Claire Ellis has been involved with Maths Inspiration from its first event back in 2004. Her degree was in Genetics, and for two years she was responsible for the Enigma Schools Project. She spent a year in Guatemala studying the mathematical systems of the Mayans (among other things).
Mike Fletcher is a lecturer in Mathematics Education at the University of Southampton, and was formerly Chief Examiner for GCSE Statistics. He's an expert on the mathematics of TV game shows and has been a probability consultant for Bruce Forsyth's Play Your Cards Right, among others.
Hugh Hunt grew up in Melbourne, Australia, and is now a lecturer at the Engineering Department at Cambridge University and is holder of the ‘Best First Year Lecturer’ award. He loves all things mechanical, and is particularly interested in the mechanics of falling cats.
Helen Joyce is Education correspondent for The Economist. She was previously the editor of Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society, and also Plus, the website magazine of the Millennium Maths Project. She grew up in Dublin, and trained as a dancer. Moving on to do a maths degree seemed like a natural next step at the time.
Mark Lewney has a PhD in guitar acoustics from Cardiff. He was the first winner of FameLab, a national competition to find the new faces of science communication. Mark has appeared on CBBC’s Xchange! (as the 'Rock Doctor'), Channel 4 and Radio 4.
Richard Lissaman is Deputy Programme Leader of the Further Mathematics Support Programme which works to promote maths and provide opportunities to study it. With a PhD in Algebra, Richard continues to search for a mathematical formula to help Birmingham City stay in the Premier League.
Ed McCann is a Civil Engineer and Director of Expedition Engineering. His projects include the 2012 Olympic Velodrome and Heathrow Terminal 5. He lectures widely and has a part-time TV career, having appeared in over 30 documentaries.
Matt Parker describes himself as a stand-up mathematician and won the People’s Choice Award in the final of the 2009 national Famelab competition. After studying Mathematics and Physics in Australia, Matt headed for the UK. He now combines teaching with entertaining presentations around the UK. Matt’s favourite number is currently 496.
Helen Pilcher is the only Lithuanian, Elvis-obsessed scientist/journalist/comedian in the world. Helen writes for the science magazine Nature. She is also one half of the Comedy Research Project, a stand-up comedy duo who spent long hours deriving the mathematical formula for the perfect joke - and so has no excuse not to be funny.
John Roberts is a director at Jacobs, one of the UK’s largest engineering firms. He is one of the UK’s leading theme park engineers, with projects including the London Eye, and the ‘Big One’ at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. He is also a visiting professor of Engineering Design at Manchester University.
Sue Rowe qualified in animation and design before moving into the world of computer animation. She's one of the country's top visual effects supervisors, and has worked with some of the world's most famous directors and actors, on films ranging from James Bond to The Golden Compass (for which she and her team won an Oscar).
Paul Shepherd is Research Fellow in the Architecture and Civil Engineering Department at Bath. He has worked on projects led by some of the world’s leading architects including Norman Foster and Richard Rogers, and his design software has won several awards.
David Spiegelhalter has always been fascinated by not knowing what is going to happen and now rejoices under the title of the University of Cambridge Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk. He was the mastermind behind the Risk Roadshow, which visits schools around the UK. He likes walking, talking and never buys lottery tickets.
Colin Wright graduated in Pure Mathematics at Monash University, Melbourne, before going on to get a PhD at Cambridge. While there he learned how to fire-breathe, unicycle and juggle. These days he is director of a company that specialises in software for marine radar, but takes out time to give juggling talks all over the world.
