Elections by Congregation: Council (MPLS & MedSci constituency) -- TT2025

All organisations are fundamentally about people. At Oxford we are surrounded by world-class colleagues at all levels, and by most measures the University is successful in a global context.  Our success, nevertheless, often masks the many challenges the University faces in terms of its finances, crumbling infrastructure, workloads, and the cost-of-living pressures faced by our staff.  In addressing these the University will have to make difficult long-term strategic decisions but at the heart of these decisions must lie our core mission of enabling people to do the very best research and teaching, with finances and infrastructure serving that core mission.

I came to Oxford as a Marie Curie research fellow in 1996 and experienced the relative precarity of 17 years as a Departmental Lecturer with stipendiary and non-stipendiary positions at several colleges.  I became Professor of Earth Sciences and Tutorial Fellow at Exeter College in 2015.  I have served as Associate Head of Department; Tutor for Undergraduate Admissions at Exeter College; and divisional representative on the Admissions Executive.  I have been the co-ordinator of the MPLS Opportunity Oxford programme since its inception.  Most recently I have served as Junior Proctor, where many of the challenges the University faces were crystallised for me in my work on several major University Committees.

If elected, I will work to ensure that Council’s deliberations on the myriad issues that confront it are centred on that core mission and on its people, who make the University what it is.

As Head of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (SMBMS), I have an established profile in strategic collaborative leadership, capacity-building, financial planning and educational innovation. My experience stems from leading SMBMS, my national roles at the GMC and Medical Schools Council, the development and co-directorship of new and successful Doctoral and Masters programs within and across Divisions, and Governing Body Fellowship. I work with colleagues nationally and across Oxford’s divisions, departments, colleges and administrative units, and have a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities that we collectively face. Through service on committees and boards I consistently advocate for transparency, inclusivity, collegiality, and evidence-based decision-making. I understand the importance of balancing academic freedom with institutional responsibility and at a personal level align attention to detail with maintaining perspective, a breadth of vision and drawing new voices into educational and research narratives.  For two decades I have identified key opportunities, mitigated risk and ‘solved the right problem’, working across disparate systems to unlock new avenues for our students, faculty and professional support staff. As Oxford responds to challenges both within and beyond the institution - from funding pressures and international competition to technological transformation and sustainability – we need to critically re-examine and re-imagine how we deliver on our core values. On Council I will listen, ask challenging questions where needed and bring my experiences to help shape our responses, future directions and priorities, whilst supporting our most valuable elements: student experience, staff development and world-class academic output.