Support Staff

Dr Theofrida Maginga is a lecturer and a researcher from Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania, and a Schmidt Fellow in AI 2025-26.

Dr Maginga specialises in Embedded Computing Systems, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Geospatial technologies to advance precision agriculture and climate resilience.
In this fellowship, Dr Maginga will work on Predicting Soil Erosion Risk and Sustainable Land Use in Tanzania’s Uluguru Mountains Using AI and Climate Geospatial Data.

Dr Uma Das is an Assistant Professor in Physics at the Indian Institute of Information Technology Kalyani (IIIT) and a Schmidt Fellow in AI 2025-26.

Dr Das received her PhD from Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad in 2009, for her work on rocket-borne studies of atmospheric dynamics. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Central University, Taiwan from 2010 to 2013 and at the University of New Brunswick from 2013 to 2015. She has been working as Assistant Professor (Physics) at the Indian Institute of Information Technology Kalyani (IIIT) since 2016.

Dar Das’ research expertise is in Space and Atmospheric Physics and Dynamics, and her research interests include problems related to atmospheric vertical and lateral coupling and effects of climate change on the terrestrial atmosphere. She has authored 29 publications in peer-reviewed journals on mesospheric turbulence, thermospheric dynamics, equatorial Kelvin waves, tides, and planetary waves. She is currently working on applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence in advancing predictive capabilities in various atmospheric problems including cyclones and fog. She also advocates for inclusivity and increased participation of women in all fields of science, technology and engineering disciplines.

Evie is a recent Music graduate from Hertford College, where her research focused on the societal impacts of musical women, past and present.

She could frequently be found organising events and revelling in admin, alongside singing in choirs and playing the oboe. Singing with Somerville College Choir in her third year was a particular highlight!

As Chapel and Music Administrator, Evie is the first point of contact for all queries to do with the Chapel and Choir. She assists with booking events and concerts in the Chapel, as well as organising piano tunings, looking after PRS reporting, and acting as clerk for the Chapel and Music Committee.

Evie works for Somerville in term time only, usually on Tuesdays and Fridays. She can be reached on chapel.music@some.ox.ac.uk or choir@some.ox.ac.uk

Jan was principal of Somerville College from 2017-25. During this time, she was an unstoppable champion of higher education and of all the students and academics that make up our community. Driven by her belief that “Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not”, Jan led initiatives that drove social mobility across Oxford. She paved the way to Somerville becoming a College of Sanctuary, and supported Somerville in creating scholarships for students from BAME, Working Class and Marginalised backgrounds, with the result that 1 in 5 students of all backgrounds now receive financial support during their time at Oxford.

Alongside social mobility, Jan championed academics’ research and entrepreneurship, working closely with colleagues from all disciplines across initiatives from medical spin-outs to community partnerships tackling child malnutrition. She led on initiatives for decarbonising the college, was an active champion of greater ties between the university and city of Oxford and served as Chair of Conference of Colleges during the most tumultuous period of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Naijing Liu completed her PhD in linguistics at the Australian National University in 2023. Her research interests are phonology, prosody, and anthropological linguistics.

She works on endangered language documentation in the Manaslu region of Nepal and has been working as a research assistant on various anthropological and linguistics research projects in Botswana, Ethiopia, and Australia. She is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Linguistics, Philology, and Phonetics at the University of Oxford.

At Oxford, her research focuses on the typology of prosody in tonal languages and examines prosodic interfaces through a fine-grained analysis of Tsum, an endangered Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Nepal.

ORCID：https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1892-8475

Personal web: https://naijingl.github.io/

Thomas is a senior post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG) where his research focuses on the control of metabolism in the developing and failing heart.

Thomas completed his PhD at the Medical Research Council Harwell Institute in 2018 where he worked on models of cardiac disease in the lab of Dr Paul Potter.

Thomas also holds a position at University College as a senior lecturer in metabolic biochemistry.

I conduct experimental research at the Oxford Thermofluids Institute to improve the efficiency and longevity of gas-turbine engines. In modern aircraft engines, air temperature in the hottest regions exceeds the melting point of metal components, requiring active cooling to prevent damage. Modest improvements in this cooling effectiveness can significantly extend engine lifetime and performance.

My research experimentally measures cooling effectiveness to inform new cooling technologies and validate the numerical models used in industry. I am currently redesigning a high-speed, rotating experimental facility (OTRF) that uniquely replicates conditions found in next-generation high-pressure turbines, while co-supervising a DPhil project to improve high-speed infrared thermography.

I completed an experimental PhD on transonic shock wave–boundary-layer interactions, followed by two years in industry. Alongside my current postdoctoral work, I am also developing a new experimental facility for heat-exchanger research. My broader goal is to research experimental topics in fluid dynamic that contribute to net-zero technologies.

Dr McDonald is a historian of modern Latin America in the world with a particular focus on inequality, religion, the Cold War, and comparative urban history. At Oxford, he is a postdoctoral research fellow for the “Global Pontificate of Pius XII: Catholicism in a Divided World” research project supported by the German Historical Institute in Rome.

His research explores Latin America in Catholicism’s global Cold War along two axes. The first centers on networks created through the Vatican-led deployment of foreign clergy, missionaries, laypeople, and resources to the region. The second examines how Latin American laypeople shaped Catholic internationalism in the Cold War through transnational Catholic Action movements.

His previous work has appeared in the American Historical Review, Hispanic American Historical Review, and The Americas, among other venues. Dr McDonald’s research featured in the recent Netflix film, Apocalypse in the Tropics (2025), and in public outlets like the Washington Post and Harvard Review of Latin America.

Prior to Oxford, he held fellowships at Harvard University and the University of Rochester. He received his PhD in History from Brown University.

Dr. Tan is a cancer cell biologist in the laboratory of Professor Richard White at Ludwig Cancer Research.

She completed her PhD in the laboratories of Associate Professor Andrew Cox and Professor Mark Dawson at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and University of Melbourne. Her current research focuses on understanding how pigmentation in our skin may influence how skin cells communicate with one another and potentially be involved in tumour initiation.

The White Laboratory have previously shown that skin cells (melanocytes and keratinocytes) communicate through electrical signalling and intriguingly, melanin, the pigment produced by melanocytes has electrical properties. This led Vicky to ask whether melanin may modulate electrical behaviour in skin cancer (melanoma) cells, and play a role in cell-cell communication and melanoma progression. To address this, Vicky will use melanoma cell lines with differing pigmentation levels and develop a new unique model to study calcium activity in melanocytes as a readout for electrical activity. With new models to assess electrophysiology, Vicky aims to understand whether pigmentation is involved in initiating melanoma, which could ultimately inform new therapeutic strategies targeting cancer.

Sue is responsible for the purchase ledger, mainly dealing with supplier invoices, enquires regarding payments, and expense payments. She works Monday-Thursday.

To contact Sue, please email invoicing@some.ox.ac.uk 

Dr Younger’s research focuses on improving maternal healthcare delivery and addressing inequalities in access and quality of care.

She examines how biases in medical technologies and healthcare systems affect access to antenatal care, particularly for ethnic minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. By engaging diverse stakeholders including patients, clinicians, engineers and regulators, her work seeks to redesign and implement inclusive maternal health solutions.

Based at the Nuffield Department of Women’s and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Dr Younger also leads Patient and Public Involvement initiatives to incorporate user perspectives into person-centred implementation of maternal health services.

Her background includes clinical experience as a nurse practitioner and global health work on midwife led health promotion projects in low- and middle-income countries. She holds a PhD from the University of California, San Francisco, where she studied environmental factors impacting maternal health.

Martin’s research focuses on developing drugs that manipulate the activity of immune cells in our body, with a particular emphasis on finding new ways to activate immune cells to fight cancer. His work bridges fundamental immunology and protein engineering.

Martin pursues two complementary approaches. First, he studies how T-cell receptors – the immune system’s ‘detectors’ – recognise cancer-specific molecular patterns, to inform the design of more specific and effective therapies. Second, Martin engineers proteins to block tumour ‘stop signals’ (inhibitory ligands) that suppress immune responses, aiming to restore and amplify anti-cancer activity.

Martin completed his PhD in 2023 at the University of Oxford in the group of Prof Simon Davis and is now a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Dr Ricardo A. Fernandes.

Dr Smith is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the group of Prof. Christopher J. Schofield, FRS, jointly based in the Department of Chemistry and Ineos Oxford Institute.

Her research centres on the discovery and development of novel antibiotics to combat multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. In particular, she is pioneering innovative methodologies to elucidate the interactions between antibiotic candidates and their bacterial targets.

Beyond her scientific work, Dr Smith is actively engaged in outreach and public engagement initiatives aimed at raising awareness of antibiotic resistance and inspiring the next generation of scientists to pursue careers in research.

My research focuses on developing and integrating advanced NMR and mass spectrometry–based multiomics approaches to characterise metabolic pathways underlying neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis.

I aim to bridge analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, and data science to identify blood-based biomarkers for early disease detection and progression prediction.

At Oxford, I combine NMR metabolomics with proteomic and imaging biomarkers to develop predictive models for cognitive decline and disease progression, working in close collaboration with groups in Pharmacology and Biochemistry. Alongside my research, I tutor medical students at Somerville College, offering insights into disease from a molecular and analytical chemistry perspective.

I completed my DPhil in Chemistry at the University of Oxford in 2025 and am now an EPSRC-funded postdoctoral fellow in Physical Chemistry.

I’m College Lecturer at Somerville, as well as Departmental Lecturer in Computer Science. I’m teaching a range of courses, most of which about programming languages and theory.

My research revolves around dependent type theory, which is a very powerful logic that can be used both as a programming language and as a formal language for mathematics. I’m interested in understanding better the foundations of type theory and finding new applications for it.

I completed my DPhil in 2024 under the supervision of Samson Abramsky and Sam Staton. Before coming to Oxford, I studied Computer Science, Mathematics and Philosophy at RWTH Aachen, Imperial College London and LMU Munich.

Rasmus is a DPhil student with an interest in the philosophy of mathematics. His main interest lies at the intersection of axiomatic theories of truth and set theory.

With his supervisor, Professor Volker Halbach, he is currently looking at ways of extending the base theory of certain axiomatic theories of truth from arithmetic to set theory. This will allow him to explore the proof-theoretical consequences of adding axiomatic theories of truth to set theory.

Rasmus has an MA (Hons) in Philosophy and Mathematics from the University of Edinburgh and an MSc in Mathematics and Foundations of Computer Science from the University of Oxford.

Dr Christiana Mavroyiakoumou is a Fulford Junior Research Fellow at Somerville College. She is also a Hooke Research Fellow at the Mathematical Institute, affiliated with OCIAM. 

Christiana is an applied mathematician specialising in developing mathematical models and computational methods to tackle complex problems in science and engineering. Her current research focuses on fluid dynamics, particularly fluid–structure interactions. Some of her current research topics include the deformation of extensible membranes, the dynamics of sailing manoeuvres, and the aerodynamics of bird flight formations. She also studies interactions between vortices and free surfaces. These research fields have practical applications in flow energy harvesting and the development of efficient propulsion systems.

Dr Mavroyiakoumou completed her PhD in Applied & Interdisciplinary Mathematics and Scientific Computing at the University of Michigan and then worked as a Courant Instructor/Assistant Professor at the Courant Institute of New York University. Her achievements include the Joseph B. Keller Postdoctoral Fellowship and Peter Smereka Dissertation Award.

A link to her personal website can be found here.

In my research, I look at attitudes towards gender-inclusive language in German from the perspective of second-language speakers of German in the UK. Furthermore, I am interested in the didactics and the implementation of varieties of German in the language classroom.

At Somerville, I am Lektorin for German after having gained valuable teaching experience at the University of St Andrews, Keimyung University in Daegu, South Korea and University of Heidelberg in Germany.

I am currently working towards completing my PhD at the University of Freiburg in Germany, my research profile can be found here.

Dr David Schramm is a Foundation Doctor at Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust and a Somerville alumnus with research interests in interventional radiology, medical innovation, and data-driven approaches to improving patient outcomes.

David matriculated at St Peter’s College, Oxford, to read Biochemistry before completing graduate-entry Medicine at Somerville. His academic work includes developing AI tools for opportunistic vertebral fracture detection and leading multicentre studies on contrast-associated kidney injury and venous thrombosis management. He has also contributed to national collaborative studies through the UK Interventional Radiology Trainee Collaborative (UNITE) committee and evaluated digital health technologies such as wearable ECG devices and virtual operating platforms.

Alongside his clinical training, David maintains an active interest in translational biotechnology and early-stage innovation, contributing to protocol design and patent development.

I am a Wellcome Trust early career fellow in the Department of Biochemistry. My research investigates organisation and biophysical properties of bacterial membranes.

I first started looking at the outer membrane during my PhD in the lab of Bart Hoogenboom at University College London. I then did a postdoc in the lab of Prof Tom Silhavy at Princeton University, where I learnt bacterial genetics.

In Oxford, I am looking at how and why the outer membrane of species like E. coli are kept organised and highly immobile. These are intriguing properties, since cells must be dynamic to survive. They must insert new proteins and lipids to grow, move molecules laterally to migrate, and deform the membrane to divide. I investigate these properties using atomic force microscopy, bacterial genetics and super resolution microscopy.

Amytess Girgis is a doctoral candidate in Politics. Her research focuses on the evolution of the  US labour movement.

She examines how precarity and changing political conditions exacerbate challenges to labour organising, how those conditions shape workers’ tactics in under-organised sectors, and how these trends situate the labour movement in relation to broader social movement building. 

Amytess completed her MPhil in Politics (Comparative Government) at the University of Oxford in 2023. Her graduate study at Oxford has been supported by the Rhodes Scholarship.

Ming Kit Wong is a DPhil student in Politics at Magdalen College and teaches Theory of Politics at Somerville.

His doctoral project focuses on the thought of Judith Shklar and Richard Rorty with the aim of reconsidering twentieth-century liberal conceptions of, and attitudes towards, utopia.

Ming has remained at Oxford to pursue the DPhil after completing the MSc in Political Theory Research. He additionally holds an MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History from Cambridge, where he first read History as an undergraduate.  

For more information and a list of publications, see his departmental profile here.

I work primarily on the intersection of literature and economics (in the ‘Economic Humanities’), and have published works on modernism, economics, critical theory and the philosophy of language. 

As a Rhodes Scholar, I received my DPhil (PhD) in English from Hertford College, Oxford, in 2024. I am currently working on turning my dissertation on Walter Benjamin into a book. This project not only tries to demonstrate how Benjamin’s philosophy allows us to think traditional approaches to economics anew, it also helps us see how, in Benjamin’s words, we might begin to work ourselves free of “the net in which we are caught.”

I have an edited collection with Palgrave Macmillan due to be published at the beginning of next year, entitled Inflationary Modernities: Literature, Culture and Economy. 

Zhao Dong is a final-year DPhil candidate in Economics at the University of Oxford. She previously earned an MPhil in Finance from the University of Cambridge (Judge Business School) and a BSc (Hons) in Economics from the University of Bath.

Her research sits at the intersection of applied microeconomics and economic history, using original archival data to study how political institutions shape long-run development. She applies quasi-experimental designs in Qing China to examine how external shocks—such as wars and invasions—shift elite selection toward kinship, with implications for bureaucratic capacity. Complementary projects reconstruct GDP per head from the Han through the Yuan and analyse royal-household demography to test Malthusian dynamics. A broader comparative strand examines institutional systems across China and Europe—contrasting feudal, bureaucratic, and aristocratic arrangements—and situates China alongside the Roman Empire and the medieval Arabic world. Together, these studies show how shocks shape institutions, which in turn shape economic outcomes.

Zhao teaches Quantitative Economics at Somerville College and has previously taught Introductory Economics and Core Macroeconomics at Brasenose College. She is committed to clear, data-driven teaching and to fostering genuine enthusiasm for economics among her students.

Dr. Sontag González works on spatially-resolved luminescence approaches to date old archaeological sites in Spain.

Through innovative methods including infrared-radiofluorescence and infrared-photoluminescence of feldspar minerals, Dr. Sontag González is targeting Middle and Early Pleistocene localities relevant for human evolution studies to test the limits of state-of-the-art luminescence dating of sediment.

Previously, Dr Sontag González has worked as a postdoc at the University of Heidelberg (Germany), Stony Brook University (USA), and Justus Liebig University of Giessen (Germany), primarily investigating IR-RF dating methodologies and the complex interplay between luminescence characteristics and chemical composition. During her PhD at the University of Wollongong (Australia), she focused on improving available approaches to date samples from volcanic regions in Indonesia. She originally trained in molecular biotechnology and then transitioned into archaeological sciences.

View Dr Sontag González’s latest publications