Our people

Institute for Life Sciences

Our strength lies in our interdisciplinary collaborative network which is made up of over 430 academic members from across all the University’s faculties.

Institute for Life Sciences core team

Professor Max Crispin (Director)

Professor Mary Barker (Deputy Director)

Professor Hywel Morgan (Deputy Director)

Doctor Alexandra Mant (Collaboration Manager)

Janette Thompson (Project Manager)

Snita Bansal - Institute Coordinator

Interested in joining us? Please see details about current academic recruitment opportunities here.

Professor Sumeet Mahajan MSc, MTech, PhD, FHEA, FRSC

Prof of Molecular BioPhotonics & Imaging

Research interests

New chemical biology methods based on Raman spectroscopy and label-free imaging
Methodology and device development for commercialisation and clinical translation
Neuro-diagnostics and early detection of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Sumeet

Email: S.Mahajan@soton.ac.uk

Tel: +44 23 8059 3591

ORCID

Dr Sylvia Pender

Associate Professor

Connect with Sylvia

Email: S.Pender@soton.ac.uk

Tel: +44 2380592828

ORCID

Dr Tess Maguire

Principal Teaching Fellow

Connect with Tess

Email: T.L.Maguire@soton.ac.uk

Tel: +44 23 8059 1930

Professor Thanassis Tiropanis

Professor

Research interests

Decentralised information systems and infrastructures
Decentralised information retrieval
Data (and Web) observatories

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Thanassis

Email: t.tiropanis@soton.ac.uk

Tel: +44 23 8059 9109

ORCID

Professor Thomas Blumensath

Professor

Research interests

I develop and study advanced algorithms that can solve challenging inverse problems by efficiently exploiting complex prior information. Using techniques from mathematics, statistics and machine learning, my work concentrates primarily on problems in x-ray tomographic image reconstruction and modelling.
I work closely with state-of-the-art imaging facilities (µ-VIS, the National Research Facility in Lab-based XCT, the UK’s synchrotron facility at the Diamond Light Source, and ISIS neutron imaging beamline) to find practical solutions to a range of important scientific problems from plant science to manufacturing.
My research interests cover areas such as: Theoretical and computational methods for Signal and Image Processing (Machine Learning, Compressed Sensing, Statistical Signal and Image Processing, Quantum Computing, Inverse Problems, Optimisation, X-ray Tomographic Imaging); Advanced tomographic imaging strategies: (limited angle tomography and laminography, Spectral X-ray imaging, Stereo and extreme limited view tomography); Efficient computational methods for tomographic reconstruction, including GPU acceleration, distributed computation and advanced optimisation strategies, Constrained optimisation for ill-conditioned and underdetermined tomographic inverse problems, Applications of X-ray tomography to the inspection of manufactured components, Multimodal tomographic imaging

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Thomas

Email: Thomas.Blumensath@soton.ac.uk

Tel: +44 23 8059 3224

ORCID

Dr Thomas Dekeyser

Lecturer in Human Geography

Research interests

Digital Geographies
AI & Deep Learning
Politics of Refusal

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Thomas

Email: T.D.C.Dekeyser@soton.ac.uk

Google Scholar

ORCID

Dr Thomas Richardson B.A.(Hons), D.Clin.Psych

Assoc Professor in Clinical Psychology

Research interests

Relationship between Financial Difficulties such as Debt and Impulsive Spending and Mental Health
Psychological understanding and treatment of Bipolar Disorder
Cannabis Use and Psychosis

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Thomas

Email: T.H.Richardson@soton.ac.uk

Tel: +44 23 8059 5324

ORCID