Faculty | The Cambridge Tradition Faculty

Dr Jessica Frazier. BA (Hons), MA Cambridge, MSt Oxford, PhD Cambridge. Jessica lives in Oxford where she is a Junior Research Fellow at the Oxford Center for Hindu Studies. She completed her doctorate at Queens’ College, Cambridge University, having previously earned First Class Honours for her BA at Cambridge and a Master’s degree at Oxford. Her doctoral research focused on Hans-Georg Gadamer and Rupa Gosvami. She has a number of teaching specialties, including European and Indian philosophy, comparative religion, and religious studies.

Dr Simon Dyton. BA (Hons), MA, MPhil, PhD Cambridge. During the academic year, Simon works in our New York office as Head of Faculty Coordination and Academic Development and joins The Cambridge Tradition as Associate Director. After earning his PhD in 17th-century history and literature at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University, he worked as a writer and researcher in London, contributing to books such as The English Civil War At First-Hand and Puritans and Puritanism in Europe and America. A former university athlete and a college rower, rugby player, and MCR President, his stellar academic record includes a Double First and a distinction for his MPhil in Medieval and Renaissance literature. Simon returns to The Cambridge Tradition for his tenth year.

Henry Adams. BSc University College London, BA (Hons) Cambridge. A member of the British Rowing Team for eight years, Henry has represented the UK at European and World Championships. He has represented Cambridge University against Oxford and captained the University of London Boat Club where he was voted ‘London University Athlete of the Year.’ At Cambridge, he has built upon his first degree in neuroscience by further specializing in psychology.  He now teaches Biology at St Paul’s School in London.

Justin Richards. BA (Hons) University of Melbourne, Australia, MSc Oxford. A Rae and Edith Bennett Travelling Scholar at Oxford University and winner of a prestigious Clarendon Bursary, Justin holds a Master’s in the science and medicine of athletic performance. During his first degree, Justin won The Royal Melbourne Hospital & Western Hospital Clinical School Prize for top physiotherapy marks and The Freda Kimpton Prize for top marks in anatomy and neuroscience.  Afterwards, he worked as a clinical physiotherapist for two years, acquiring experience in sports injury treatments, pediatrics, and surgical aftercare and rehabilitation.

Simon Kennedy. BA (Hons) University of British Columbia. After graduating with First Class Honours in Film and Television Studies from the University of British Columbia in Canada, Simon moved to London, where he embarked on a successful career as a television producer, including being Head of Production at Premier and Head of Promotions and Presentations at Lifestyle and Fox Kids (Europe). Since 1997, he has run his own production company, making award-winning documentaries and other programs for British TV networks.

Raina Brands. BA (Hons), MA University of Queensland, Australia, MPhil Cambridge. Raina is a graduate student at Clare College, Cambridge University, where she is undertaking an MPhil in Innovation, Strategy and Organisation at the Judge Business School. With degrees in Organizational Psychology and Psychological Science, and winner of the University Medal for Academic Achievement at the University of Queensland, her background includes considerable professional experience as a development consultant for BDO, one of Australia’s largest accounting and financial advisory practices. She has also worked extensively with the Australian Department of Health and Aging. At Cambridge, she is a keen hockey-player and member of the University’s Entrepreneur’s Club.

Lisa Mullins. BA (Hons) University of King’s College, MPhil Cambridge. A Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholar, Lisa is pursuing doctoral research at Cambridge University’s Department of the History and Philosophy of Science. The author of children’s introductions to the printing press and electricity, she has also written articles on Swift, Milton, and witchcraft. She has acted as President and Senior Editor of the Early Modern Studies Society at the University of King’s College, Canada, where she also sang in the choir, directed, and acted. Now a member of the Cambridge University Musical Chorus and rowing for Peterhouse Boat Club, she brings a great deal of enthusiasm and expertise to the program.

Noah Charney. BA (Hons) Colby College, MA The Courtauld Institute, MPhil Cambridge.  Studying for a PhD in the history of art theft, Noah is an award-winning graduate of the Courtauld Institute in London and Colby College in Maine, where he won the Owen Morgan Humanitarian Award and the Gordon P. Stillman Athletics Award. More recently, he has worked at Christie’s International Fine Art Auctioneers in London and Boston and as the Student Curator at the Yale Center for British Art, where he was the winner of the Bartels Fellowship and the Duncan E. Robinson Scholar. His first novel, The Art Thief, is published in 2007.

Dr Stephen Marsh. BA (Hons), MA, BPhil, DPhil Oxford. A former Schoolmaster Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge University, Stephen originally graduated from Oxford University, where he gained First Class Honours in Classics and a BPhil and a DPhil in Philosophy. Having taught Latin and Philosophy at Oxford, and with extensive experience of teaching Latin at the university and school levels, he has also taught on The Oxford Tradition as well as The Cambridge Tradition for many years. Stephen is currently Head of Classics at Kamuzu Academy, Malawi.

Dr. James Gilbert. BA (Hons), MA, PhD Cambridge. A Cambridge-educated and –trained zoologist, James obtained First Class Honours for his first degree at Clare College, Cambridge University, where he remained to conduct his doctoral research into insect parental care behaviour. Over the course of his doctorate, he lived in Uganda for two years and conducted fieldwork in Egypt. An experienced teacher, field scientist and researcher, James takes up a postdoctoral position in 2007 at the University of Maryland in insect ecology.

Léa Guzzo. BA Université Henri Poincaré, France. A graduate student at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in London, Léa is a photographer, journalist, writer, artist and singer, whose first novel was published in English in 2005 and whose photography and artwork has been exhibited in both France and the UK. She released her first CD, Est-ce que ce monde est sérieux? in 2000 and, in 2007, takes the leading role in a short independent film. She is also a former French rowing champion, winning first place in international regattas throughout France.

Dr. Shrinivas Rao. BTech J. N. Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, India, MEng, PhD Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, MPhil Cambridge. With 14 years of experience in the biotechnology sector, Shrinivas has taught students at many different levels and in many countries. He has worked with organizations in Thailand, France, India, Switzerland, Vietnam and the Netherlands. As a Gates Scholar at Clare Hall, Cambridge University, he recently received his Master’s in Bioscience Enterprises. Besides his qualifications in science and engineering, Shrinivas has a degree in music and has performed as a percussionist internationally, in the USA, Australia, France, China, and India, as well as on MTV, and has released several CDs.

Lauma Skruzmane. BA (Hons) Smith College, MPhil Cambridge. A graduate student at the BPP Law School in London, Lauma studied European Studies at Cambridge University. While at school in Latvia, she won a scholarship from the Soros Open Foundation to spend a year in England and, inspired to study abroad, was subsequently educated in Switzerland and the United States, as well as the UK. She is a member of the English Speaking Union’s British Debate Squad, the winner of several international debating awards, and has taken part in numerous international student conferences. She is also an accomplished violinist and the youngest woman ever to complete one of the UK’s most renowned canoe marathons.

Michael Sofranko. BGS Ohio University, MFA University of Iowa. Michael is a writer, poet, editor, and professor who has led numerous creative writing workshops throughout the United States and Europe, and whose most recent book, American Sign, received the Antonio Machado Prize in Poetry. Michael teaches Literature and Creative Writing at the high school and university levels in Houston, Texas, and his current project is Voices Without Borders, a non-fiction dramatization of immigration. He has also been awarded the Sean Christopher Britton Prize, the Chancellor’s Medallion, and a NISOD National Award for Teaching Excellence.

Justin Bangs. BA (Hons) University of Florida, MPhil Cambridge. A Gates Scholar at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge University, Justin won a number of awards as an undergraduate, including the Morris K. Udall Award, a Unilever Congressional Fellowship, and joined the University of Florida’s Hall of Fame in recognition of his scholarship, leadership and contribution to university life. His doctoral research explores the role of expert advisory bodies in policy-oriented learning in the realm of environmental action. With a wealth of organizational experience, he is the Cambridge Graduate Union’s General Secretary, has served as the St Catharine’s College MCR Welfare Officer and is a member of the Cambridge University Committee for Environmental Management. 

Katherine Cooper. BA (Hons) Cambridge, Dipl. Art Cambridge Regional College, MA University College London. The winner of Cambridge University’s Mark Gregson Prize for Archeology, Katherine earned First Class Honours for her degree from Clare College, where she was a Foundation Scholar. After Cambridge, she undertook fieldwork in Hungary and Rome, worked as a freelance tutor and earned a Diploma in Art Studies and an MA in Comparative Art and Archeology. Katherine has pursued research with the University of Cambridge Maltese Project, worked for the East Asian Museum in Stockholm whilst studying at Stockholm’s Royal Art College, and returns to Cambridge in 2007 to begin doctoral research into the aesthetics of ancient art.

Dr Ramesh N. Dass. MBChB University of Pretoria, South Africa, MPhil Cambridge, DA(SA) South African Colleges of Medicine, ATLS, ACLS, PALS. An Abe Bailey Scholar, member of Girton College and winner of the prestigious Nelson Mandela Scholarship to study at Cambridge University, Ramesh is a skilled medical doctor with a great deal of experience in Trauma Surgery, Acute Care Medicine, Anesthetics and Aviation Medicine (management of aero-medical patients).  He is an accomplished flight-doctor, having spent two years flying aboard air ambulances in Africa and is very experienced in the acute resuscitation and management of patients in Trauma and Trauma Surgery environments.

Eva Eylers. Dipl-Ing. University of Fine Arts, Hamburg, MA Architectural Association, London. A Winner of the German Academic Exchange Service’s PhD Scholarship in 2006 and 2007, Eva is a doctoral student at the Architectural Association in London, where her research concerns the relation between tuberculosis sanatoria and modern urban planning. She graduated from the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg in 2002, having studied for her degree in Architecture and Urban Planning at both Hamburg and at the Royal University of Technology in Stockholm. Her considerable professional experience includes working at the design studio Park Associati in Milan, Italy, and teaching at the University of Applied Sciences in Trier, Germany.

Alison Holroyd. BA (Hons) Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Alison has been teaching Drama for over ten years and is studying for her Postgraduate Certificate in Contemporary Shakespeare in Theory and Performance at the University of Central Lancashire. A prolific stage actor, she has toured nationally with the Black Cat Theatre Company as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth and Hero in Much Ado About Nothing, as well as in more modern plays, both traditional and avant-garde. An experienced teacher, Alison has also taught Drama at schools in the UK, and acted as Head of Drama at Sutton High College in St Helens, Merseyside. A keen sportswoman, she has played hockey for Preston Hockey Club and tennis for Barclays in London and St Fagan’s in Cardiff.

Sergejs Saksonovs. BSc Towson University, MPhil Cambridge. The Winner of the Wall Street Journal Award for Outstanding Senior, the J.J. German Economics Award and a Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Award, Sergejs arrived in Cambridge as a Gates Scholar, whose doctoral research concerns how countries choose to lend or borrow money from each other. He has undertaken research internships in the UK, with economic consultants in Cambridge, as well as in his home country, Latvia, at the country’s Association of Commercial Banks and the Bank of Latvia’s Monetary Policy Department.

Stuart Lee. BA (Hons) Flagler College, MPhil Cambridge. Stuart is a doctoral student at Darwin College, Cambridge, studying the relationship between crime rates and terrorism in Ireland. In 2001, he moved to Florida from his native UK and attended Flagler College, where he became Head Resident Advisor, Vice President of the Flagler College chapter of Omicron Delta Kappa, and a member of various executive student committees.  Upon graduation in 2005, Stuart was awarded the Behavioural and Social Sciences Award for his research within the department as well as an internship with the Violent Crimes Unit at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.  Stuart plays basketball for the University of Cambridge and is a member of the British Territorial Army’s intelligence battalion.

Fenna van Marle. MSc Free University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, MPhil Cambridge. Fenna is a former VSB-Fund Scholar who, having completed her MPhil at Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, has remained at the University for her PhD. With a background in clinical forensic psychology, she has interned at a forensic psychiatric hospital in Amsterdam and worked with schizophrenic offenders. She has also worked for the Police Foundation in London as a research assistant. Her doctoral research concerns the sociological and psychological reasons for punishment.

Olena Fimyar. BA (Hons) Kherson University, Ukraine, MPhil Cambridge. Olena is an award-winning doctoral student at Cambridge University’s Faculty of Education, where her research concerns educational policy-making in post-communist Ukraine. She arrived in Cambridge as an Open Society Institute & Foreign and Commonwealth Office Chevening Scholar to undertake her MPhil that was also supported by the Cambridge Overseas Trust and the award of a TNK-BP Kapitza Scholarship. With a passion for education, she has taught widely. In 2002, she was selected as a national finalist of the Ukraine-USA ‘Partners in Education’ teacher exchange programme and later won The ‘District Teacher of the Year’ Award and collaborated with US Peace Corps volunteers.