To commemorate the College’s bicentenary in 2023, we’re showcasing 200 ‘Birkbeck Effects’ which capture the incredible stories of our vibrant and diverse community, highlighting their achievements and impact on the world. 

“Ma” Francis was one of Birkbeck’s unsung heroes, an essential worker during the second world war who made a considerable contribution to sustaining university life. 

She joined Birkbeck’s Fetter Lane premises in 1896, and left fifty years later, aged eighty. When bombs dropped in the vicinity, she was “unruffled,” calmly handing out mugs of coffee and “sardines on toast, with fried tomatoes twopence extra.”  

On 11th May 1941, incendiary bombs started falling on the College. Ma Francis made her way to the College’s kitchen. A “policeman in Fetter Lane tried to stop me,” she later recalled, who told her “Can’t go down there, Ma!” She abruptly retorted, “Impudence. Young man … I’ve got my work to do – you can’t stop me.” And work she did. Although the building next to Birkbeck was a “raging inferno,” Ma Francis made coffee for everyone on a Primus stove and then served 150 people for lunch. She was heard muttering, “Lucky I cooked the joints yesterday!” 

To commemorate the College’s bicentenary in 2023, we’re showcasing 200 ‘Birkbeck Effects’ which capture the incredible stories of our vibrant and diverse community, highlighting their achievements and impact on the world. 

Christina is a mathematician, professor of Operational Research and an advocate for women in STEM.  

She has used tools from her research to design and analyse political data from public polls, particularly in the context of Brexit and health policy and during the COVID-19 pandemic won a HealthWatch UK award, for her work in public engagement in science. 

In 2019, Christina was one of the awardees of the Lyn Thomas Impact Medal from the Operational Research Society for work related to congenital heart disease and was one of two recipients of a special recognition award from the British Medical Journal in response to her work during the pandemic. In 2022, she was appointed as Vice President of the UK Operational Research Society. 

Christina began her academic studies in the fields of medieval history and classical civilization. She returned to study at Birkbeck to complete a Master’s in Applied Statistics with Medical Applications in 2012. This led her to a career in operational research, applying mathematical modelling and data analysis to healthcare situations. 

To commemorate the College’s bicentenary in 2023, we’re showcasing 200 ‘Birkbeck Effects’ which capture the incredible stories of our vibrant and diverse community, highlighting their achievements and impact on the world. 

Michelle is Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK and is motivated by creating lasting and impactful change in the world today through innovative research. 

She was the first in her family to attend university, gaining an MSc Politics and Administration degree from Birkbeck in1997, and spent the early years of her career in London working for a local MP.   

Michelle felt more attracted to charity work as this was where she believed real social change could be brought about. Her work in the charity sector has seen her working in numerous exciting roles including the Chief Executive of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Director General of Innovative UK and also a Non-Executive Board Member of NHS England.   

Under her leadership at Cancer Research UK, the Brain Tumour Award funding scheme was launched, in collaboration with the Brain Tumour Charity and a refreshed research strategy for children’s and young people’s cancers. 

To commemorate the College’s bicentenary in 2023, we’re showcasing 200 ‘Birkbeck Effects’ which capture the incredible stories of our vibrant and diverse community, highlighting their achievements and impact on the world. 

Sidney Webb was a leading British socialist economist and one of the founders of the Fabian Society. He helped to reorganize the University of London into a federation of teaching institutions and served in the government as a Labour Party member. 

Sidney studied Law at Birkbeck and was one of Birkbeck’s most enthusiastic students. In 1879-80 alone, he won the Institution’s English Essay Prize, Mednyansky Essay Prize, Henken Prize in correspondence, Ravenscroft Prize for English grammar, Chester Prize in political economy, and the Birkbeck Prize for mental science, as well as prizes for logic and geology.  

In 1880, along with sixteen other students, he sent a memorandum demanding representation of students on the Committee and equal privilege for “lady members.” While their initial requests failed, Webb and his co-activist William Bull eventually got themselves elected to the governance committee and oversaw the progressive changes to the leadership of the Institution that they’d called for over many years. 

With his wife, Beatrice, a sociologist and economist, Sidney deeply influenced British institutions and social thought during the first half of the 20th century. Among his many contributions are the creation of the system of secondary state schools and, using a gift inherited from the Fabian Society, helping to found the London School of Economics. 

Four years after leaving Birkbeck, Webb was to become one of the founding members of the socialist Fabian Society and he later co-established the London School of Economics (LSE). 

To commemorate the College’s bicentenary in 2023, we’re showcasing 200 ‘Birkbeck Effects’ which capture the incredible stories of our vibrant and diverse community, highlighting their achievements and impact on the world. 

Annette is an executive coach and Founding Member of Impact X Capital Partners, a venture capital firm focused on supporting underrepresented founders and innovators across Europe.  

She trained as an executive coach and has worked at the U.S. Senate and also supported a U.S. presidential campaign. Alongside Impact X and her work as an executive coach, Annette has been involved with many organizations which champion the arts, broaden education, and tackle structural inequality. 

Annette came to Birkbeck to explore creative writing and took the course titled ‘The Secret Lives of Women.’ She recently finished her first book, Always Enough, A Global Food Memoir, which combines her family memories and global experiences with the food that connects them.  She is now writing her second book and feels that Birkbeck played an essential part in her journey to becoming a writer. 

She has said that she doesn’t hinge her achievements on career successes: “What I am most proud of is surviving this life with my moral DNA and values intact. I believe that in all the challenges of life, the highs and lows, one must be able to face oneself in the mirror and always calibrate on your values. I am proud that I remain curious, engaged, and can still smell the roses.” 

To commemorate the College’s bicentenary in 2023, we’re showcasing 200 ‘Birkbeck Effects’ which capture the incredible stories of our vibrant and diverse community, highlighting their achievements and impact on the world. 

From a mature undergraduate student of History of Art, Leslie Primo is now a world class art historian and has been consulted for Art on the BBC.  

Leslie left school aged 16 with barely any qualifications and no awareness of higher education. It wasn’t until years later, while working in the National Gallery gift shop in London, that Leslie’s colleagues saw his passion for art history and suggested he apply to Birkbeck.

He graduated from Birkbeck with a BA in History of Art in 2004  and went on to complete an MA in Renaissance Studies in 2010. At Birkbeck he received huge support, not only helping him adjust back into education, but also identifying his dyslexia which hadn’t been diagnosed before.

Leslie received additional support from Birkbeck’s disability office, including full funding for his first computer. Acknowledging his dyslexia for the first time meant Leslie could make sense of his school years and understand why he left the traditional education system with very few qualifications. Leslie now teaches art history at Imperial College London. 

To commemorate the College’s bicentenary in 2023, we’re showcasing 200 ‘Birkbeck Effects’ which capture the incredible stories of our vibrant and diverse community, highlighting their achievements and impact on the world. 

The Birkbeck Land and Building Society and Birkbeck Bank were the creations of Francis Ravenscroft, who studied at Birkbeck in 1848 and a year later, went on to become a Governor. 

Today, Ravenscroft is known for the company ‘Ede and Ravenscroft, thought to be the oldest tailors in the world and whose robes Birkbeck students still wear at graduations.  

Ravenscroft was inspired by his father’s passionate belief in education and helping others to further themselves and personally guaranteed the cost of developing new premises for Birkbeck where he was Governor for half a century. He also served on the institution’s management committee for many years. 

Ravenscroft helped reverse the fortunes of the Mechanics Institute, which had not recovered from the death of George Birkbeck in 1841 and the bank became the largest of its kind in the country, offering services to the working and middle classes. Under Ravenscroft, both the bank and building society flourished. 

To commemorate the College’s bicentenary in 2023, we’re showcasing 200 ‘Birkbeck Effects’ which capture the incredible stories of our vibrant and diverse community, highlighting their achievements and impact on the world. 

Melanie is the most prominent female civil servant in the UK and a distinguished economist, with particular interests in public spending, tax, macroeconomics, monetary policy, and the Euro.  

Between 2018 and 2020, Melanie worked as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Melanie joined Ofcom as an Executive Board Member and Chief Executive in March 2020, where she is responsible for a range of jobs, from regulating the BBC to monitoring the prices of mobiles (including 5G mobile phone networks), landlines and broadband. As Chief Executive of Ofcom, she is also responsible for safeguarding people from online harm and proving other forms of consumer protection.   

Melanie is a believer in ‘soft power’ and influence. She is known for her skills in facilitating conversations and collaborations that support local communities at grassroots level.   

As a Trustee of the youth charity Patchwork Foundation, she encourages young people from disadvantaged and minority communities to engage with politics and civil society.She completed her MSc in Economics at Birkbeck and was made a Fellow of the College in 2022.

To commemorate the College’s bicentenary in 2023, we’re showcasing 200 ‘Birkbeck Effects’ which capture the incredible stories of our vibrant and diverse community, highlighting their achievements and impact on the world. 

Gillian Bates is a Professor of Molecular Neuroscience and a co-discoverer of the causes of Huntington’s disease, a late-onset brain disorder that leads to uncontrolled movements, emotional problems and cognitive difficulties.   

She completed her postgraduate study in MSc in Biomolecular Organisation at Birkbeck where she was awarded a Master of Science degree in 1984. 

Her interest in human genetics, and the possibilities of identifying the mutations causing genetic diseases, led her to work as a research assistant in 1983, where she then carried out her PhD on the molecular genetics of cystic fibrosis. In 1987, she continued her research as a postdoctoral fellow to work on Huntington’s disease. 

In 1998, she was awarded the Royal Society Glaxo Wellcome Award jointly with Stephen Davies, for the discovery of the cause of Huntington’s Disease. She was elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1999, the European Molecular Biology Organisation in 2002 and the Royal Society in 2007.