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. 

Judith Butler is  a world-famous theorist and activist for gender, feminism and race equality. They were made a Fellow of Birkbeck in 2021 and have been active in the departments of psychosocial studies, law and the Birkbeck Institute of the Humanities.  

Raised by Jewish parents in the state of Ohio, USA, they studied philosophy before writing their most influential book, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, at just 33. The book, published in 1990, outlined the beginnings of their work on gender performativity and is now a seminal text for students and scholars in the arts, humanities and social sciences.  

The recipient of many awards and accolades, such as the Adorno prize and the Yale University Brudner Prize for lifetime achievement in gay and lesbian studies, Judith continues to advocate for social justice not just for LGBTQ+ communities but for diverse marginalized groups such as Palestinian Liberation and for racial equality. 

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. 

Marai is an activist and campaigner and is known for her campaigns against racialised and gendered violence.  

A graduate of Birkbeck’s MA in Culture, Diaspora and Ethnicity, she has volunteered for Hackney Women’s Aid, was executive director of Imkaan, an organisation dedicated to addressing violence against Black and racially minoritised girls and women, and she was joint chair of the End Violence Against Women Coalition. 

Born in London to Jamaican parents, she was inspired by the work of political activist and scholar, Angela Davis which addressed the intersectional identities of being female, Black and queer.  

Marai is a Fellow of Birkbeck and has also been awarded an MBE for her campaigning and activism. She was named one of the world’s 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy and is one of the most influential LGBTQ people in the political and activist space. She was also voted one of the 100 Great Black Britons in 2020. 

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. 

Jamaican-born economist Albert (‘Bertie’) Gregorio Hines was instrumental in setting up Birkbeck’s first Economics department in the 1970s and had a career which ranged from a job in the Jamaican civil service to a Chair in Economics at Birkbeck. He was also an active proponent of black arts and culture. 

Albert moved to the UK from Jamaica in the 1950s to explore opportunities, studying at the London School of Economics and going on to lecture in political economy at University College, London. In 1968, at the incredibly young age of 32 years, he was appointed Professor of Economics at Durham University. Three years later, he joined Birkbeck. 

An advocate for racial and social equity, Hines chaired the Minority Group Arts, from 1974, to encourage the arts within minority communities, ‘thereby enrich[ing] the cultural life of the entire community’. Minority Group Arts was also responsible for conducting the ‘first comprehensive and independent study of arts activities’ amongst Bangladeshis, Chinese, Cypriots, East and Central Europeans, Indians, Pakistanis, West Indians, and Africans living in the UK. Although he was a Professor of Economics, Hines did not restrict his anti-racism activism to issues of economics and employment and was an active proponent of the Black arts and culture as important sites of resistance.  

In 1975, he gave evidence to the Select Committee on Race Relations and Immigration where he was grilled about conflicts within minority communities and calmly replied, “We have learned that there are things that divide us and things that unite us, and on this particular issue we see the things that unite us as being more important than the things that divide us.” 

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.