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. 

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. 

Brougham was a British statesman and was the London Mechanics’ Institute’s leading orator, playing a significant role in its establishment and survival. In 1826, he founded the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge which published information to people who were unable to obtain formal teaching or who preferred self-education.   

His book on education became the ‘Bible’ for everyone involved in educating working people.  He argued that only “tyrants “and other “bad rulers” should be terrified by “the progress of knowledge among the mass of mankind”.  

In Parliament, Brougham was a tireless champion of workers’ education and believed that mass education was essential for political reform.  He also played a prominent role in passing the 1832 Reform Act, which introduced major changes to the electoral systems of England and Wales, and the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act. 

Brougham holds the House of Commons record for non-stop speaking in 1828 when he spoke for six hours on law reform. 

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. 

Helena Kennedy KC is one of the UK’s most distinguished lawyers and has spent her professional life advocating for the least represented in society, championing civil liberties and promoting human rights.  

Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws was elevated to the House of Lords as a peer in 1997 and has acted in many of the most prominent British criminal cases of the last 30 years, including the Brighton bombing attack on the British cabinet, the Guildford Four Appeal and the Michael Bettany espionage case.  

As chair of the Further Education Commission into Widening Participation, she produced the seminal Learning Works 1997 (aka the Kennedy Report), which led to changes in government policy in further education and has been hailed as a turning point in efforts to close the education divide in the UK. 

Baroness Kennedy was made a Fellow of Birkbeck since 2021 and was commended during her oration for sharing Birkbeck’s ethos of promoting higher education for everyone, and not only the privileged few. In 2023, she participated in King Charles and Queen Camilla’s coronation at Westminster Abbey, carrying the Queen Consort’s Rod with Dove.  

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. 

Geraldine Sundstrom is a managing director and portfolio manager at investment management firm PIMCO, the world’s biggest bond fund manager and a passionate advocate for increasing the visibility and empowerment of women in finance and committed to building a portfolio of investments that support a green recovery.     

She is a prominent figure in the hedge fund industry and was formerly a partner and portfolio manager at Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP, where she was responsible for leading the Emerging Markets Strategies Fund, which invests in interest rates, currencies and bonds. With over twenty years investment experience, Geraldine has also held positions at Moore Capital and Citigroup.  

She has been referred to as “The Hedgefund Superstar”, by the London Evening Standard and “the most prominent woman in the famously secretive world of hedge funds” by The Times. Geraldine has said that she follows the motto of “winning by not losing” when it comes to managing investor portfolios. 

Geraldine graduated with an MSc in Finance from Birkbeck in 1998 and in 2010 received the 100 Women in Hedge Funds European Industry Leadership Award.