Our people

My research is focused on the application of complexity science to the solution of engineering problems. I've been working in using AI, particularly intelligent systems, to modeling and simulation of industrial processes, smart grids, and other systems.

Pedro was born in Ponce and raised in Coamo, on the island of Puerto Rico. After completing his Ph.D. in Telematic Engineering from Universidade de Vigo (Spain) in 2017 he returned to the University of Puerto Rico’s main campus (Río Piedras) as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science (2017-2019), where he had taught Computer Engineering at UPR-Mayagüez in 2008. He was an Associate Researcher and later a Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-2023) at the Center for Complexity Sciences (C3) of the National Autonomous University of México (UNAM), specializing in Self-Organizing Systems and Complexity-Based Telecommunications Systems, under the supervision of Prof. Carlos Gershenson García. His Ph.D. dissertation focused on the use of Probabilistic Boolean Networks and a means of modelling Manufacturing Systems, especially those under preventive maintenance. This dissertation obtained the prestigious Doctoral Excellence Award (Premio Extraordinario de Doctorado) and the ‘Doctor Internacional’ distinction. He has a professional experience spanning more than 20 years, that includes working for the aerospace, biopharmaceutical and other manufacturing industries, as an engineer.

Pedro holds a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (2001), a Graduate Certificate in Project Management (University of Wisconsin, 2004), a M.Sc. in Engineering Management (University of Wisconsin, 2005), a Master of Telematic Engineering (2008), Diploma of Advanced Studies, (2008), and Ph.D. in Telematic Engineering (2017) from Universidade de Vigo, Spain, a Master of Computer Engineering (2021) and a Master of Telecommunications Engineering from Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (2022) and is working towards a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. He is a licensed telecommunications engineer in Spain, and a member of the Official College of Telecommunications Engineers since 2018 (COIT). He collaborates with scientists from the US, Puerto Rico, Spain, Cuba, Mexico and Brazil.

Publications

• Rivera Torres, P.J., Chen, C., Macías, J.E., Rodríguez, S., Prieto, J., Llanes, O., Gershenson, C., Kanaan, S., A learning Probabilistic Boolean Network model of a smart grid with applications to system maintenance., 2024, MDPI/Energies, https://doi.org/10.3390/en17246399
• Rivera Torres, P.J., Gershenson, C, Kanaan, S. Fault Detection and Isolation in Smart-Grid Networks of Intelligent Power Routers Modeled as Probabilistic Boolean Networks, 2023, Wiley/Complexity, https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/6690805.
• Rivera Torres, P.J., Gershenson García, C., Kanaan, S. Reinforcement Learning with Probabilistic Boolean Network Models of Smart Grid Devices. 2022, Wiley/Complexity,
• Guerrero, D., Rivera Torres, P., Febres, G. L., Gershenson García, C. Towards a Measure for Characterizing the Informational Content of Audio Signals and the Relation Between Complexity and Auditory Encoding, 2021.

Awards & Recognitions

• Maria Skłodowska Curie Actions Fellow - University of Salamanca, Spain (2024 to present).
• 2020 Technical Sciences Award, National Academy of Sciences of Cuba. Research Team Member.
• Premio Extraordinario de Doctorado - 2017 Universidade de Vigo
• "Las 20 mejores de 2012" – Awarded #10 of 20 among the best musical productions of 2012 for the album “Café Colao Orchestra, Vol. 1”, by Fundación Nacional para la Cultura Popular de Puerto Rico, 2012.
• "Las 20 mejores de 2016" – Awarded #14 of 20 among the best musical productions of 2016 for the album “Yo no quiero… ser normal”, by Fundación Nacional para la Cultura Popular de Puerto Rico, 2016.

Dr Merav Rosenfeld-Hadad is both a Bye-Fellow and Associate Tutor at St Edmund's College.

She is an historian musicologist who specialises in the history, culture, religion, and music of Jews from the Arab-Muslim world. She leads a project on 20th-century Judaeo-Arabic culture in Baghdad and Aleppo, collaborating and lecturing internationally, and publishing widely in leading journals.

Dr Merav Rosenfeld-Hadad (PhD, University of Cambridge, St Edmund's College) is a leading scholar in Judaeo-Arabic studies based at the University of Cambridge, and a Bye-Fellow and Associate Tutor at St Edmund's College. She is a historian musicologist who specialises in the history, culture, religion, and music of Jews from the Arab-Muslim world, examining Arabic music across Jewish, Muslim, and Christian societies, with a particular focus on its role in identity and interfaith relations. She currently leads a research project on the religio-cultural life of Jews in Baghdad and Aleppo during the first half of the twentieth century. She also collaborates with the Universities of Tübingen, Heidelberg, Ben-Gurion and Bar-Ilan on research projects that examine the literary, musical, and religious life of Jewish communities from the Arab-Muslim world. Additionally, in partnership with Professor Geoffrey Khan at the University of Cambridge, Merav is working on a project that explores the Jewish oral reading traditions of Biblical Hebrew. Merav also sits as a Trustee on the Board of The Cambridge Junction where she promotes values of coexistence through the arts. Merav's work has been published by leading publishers in the UK, US, Germany, and Israel. She has received multiple awards, both in the UK and abroad, including ORS, BA, Wingate, and Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, and she lectures internationally. Prior to her academic career, she worked in Israel as a senior economist in the investment banking and education sectors, and she is the author of music programmes for schoolchildren, designed to foster values of peace between Jews and Muslims in Israel.

Academic Profile 

Publications

• “The Bible in the Paraliturgical Song of Middle Eastern Jewry: The Making of Song as a Guardian of Jewish Faith and Identity.ˮ In Reworking the Sacred through Music and Poetry: The De/Sacralization of Texts, eds. Angelika Zirker, Matthias Bauer and Jan Stievermann, (LIT, 2025)
• “‘We Shall Sing Songs and Praise to the LORD Who Created Us Last in the World:’ Ḥakham Yosef Ḥayyim of Baghdad, Leadership with Poetry and Music.” In The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Music Studies, ed. Tina Fruhauf, 91-115 (Oxford University Press, 2023)
• Judaism and Islam One God One Music (Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2019)
• “‘There on the Poplars [Arabs] We Hung Up [Rely On] Our Lyres [Jewish Music]’ Rabbi ‘Ovadyah Yosef’s Halakhic Rulings on Arabic Music.” In Muslim-Jewish Relations in Past and Present: A Kaleidoscopic View, ed. Yousef Meri, 172−205 (Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2017)

Corinne is Director of Studies for our Archaeology degree

Maura Ryan is the John Cardinal O’Hara, C.S.C. Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at the University of Notre Dame. Ryan's primary interests are in the areas of bioethics and health policy, women’s health and development, and Catholic Social Teaching.  She is the editor of two volumes in social and medical ethics and her book Ethics and Economics of Assisted Reproduction: The Cost of Longing was published by Georgetown University Press in 2001. Her articles have appeared in the Hastings Center Report, Theological Studies, The Journal of Philosophy and Medicine, Signs, The Journal of Catholic Social Thought, Christian Bioethics, Environmental Health Perspectives and Ethics and Behavior.  Her current project treats the intersections of health, development and human rights in Christian bioethics. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Society of Christian Ethics, the editorial boards of the Religious Studies Review and Ethics and Behavior, the St. Joseph County Healthcare Advisory Consortium and the ethics committee for Hospice of St. Joseph County. Ryan served as Associate Provost at Notre Dame 2001-2004, Associate Dean for the Humanities and Faculty Affairs in the College of Arts and Letters 2009-2015 and is currently serving as Vice President and Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs.

Liam is Director of Studies for Geography

Dr Liam Saddington is a political and environmental geographer based in the Department of Geography. His research examines the geopolitics of climate change with a particular focus on small island developing states. He has undertaken research in Fiji, Tuvalu, Antigua and Barbuda, Seychelles and Cabo Verde.

He contributes to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching within the Department. He is particularly interested in pedagogic innovations; outreach and widening participation; and connecting geography across primary, secondary and higher education.

I am a dentist with special interest in Oral Surgery currently working in private practice in Cambridge. I have worked in the UK for 24 years in NHS, Community and private practice.

Dr. Zainab Salim is an experienced dentist with a global career in Kenya, Oman, and the UK. She holds a Master of Clinical Dentistry in Oral Surgery from the University of Edinburgh, where her research focused on Human Papilloma Virus in laryngeal cancers.
Her expertise includes:
• Surgical removal of wisdom teeth and coronectomies
• Management of odontogenic infections, soft tissue biopsies, and peri-radicular surgeries
• Pain and anxiety control, including intravenous sedation for apprehensive patients
• Familiarity of benign salivary gland diseases and management of medically complexed patients
• Use of laser technology in dentistry
Dr. Salim is dedicated to maintaining her knowledge of the latest techniques and materials through continuous postgraduate education. She places a strong emphasis on clinical governance, ensuring safe, effective, and evidence-based care in all aspects of her practice. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Salim is passionate about dental education and has been actively involved in training and supervising dental trainees and postgraduate students. She is a strong advocate for oral health, providing educational talks and free dental kits to disadvantaged children, to raise awareness about the importance of maintaining good oral hygiene.

Publications 

• Sara Al–Mahozi, Zainab Salim, Nicholas J Malden, Crispian Scully and Victor Lopes
• Tobacco Habit-Associated Oral Disease and the Negative Effects on Surgical Outcomes

Dr Samols is a ISGAP-Woolf Institute Postdoctoral Fellow. His research explores the connections between European history, Jewish studies, and visual cultures across the twentieth century. His work focuses on vernacular media forms such as photobooks, analysing how they shaped understandings of Jewish history for both Jews and wider publics. Samols holds a PhD in History from the University of Southern California (2023), an MSc in European studies from the London School of Economics (2016) and a BA in history from New York University (2012). He has received grants and fellowships from the German Historical Institute, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Association for Jewish Studies, the Leo Baeck Institute, and the Israeli Council for Higher Education.

Clemens is Professor of Social Ethics in the Keough School of Global Affairs and Director of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, University of Notre Dame (USA), and holds a joint appointment with Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns. He is also a concurrent professor of theology in the Department of Theology.

Sedmak holds doctoral degrees in theology (Catholic University of Linz), philosophy and social theory (University of Innsbruck). Prior to his appointment at the University of Notre Dame, he was F. D. Maurice Professor for Moral and Social Theology at King's College London, and has held multiple positions at the University of Salzburg, serving as Director of the Center for Ethics and Poverty Research and Chair for Epistemology and Philosophy of Religion, and as President of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Social Ethics.

Former Master of Trinity College Cambridge

Dr Sampad Sengupta is a Post Doctoral Research Associate at St Edmund's. His research bridges the gap between engineering and healthcare, focusing on translational aspects of engineering applications. His work involves using computational tools to model cardiovascular diseases and their treatment.

The overarching aim of Dr Sengupta's research is to carry out computational investigations of cardiovascular flow and to improve understanding of cardiac disease and its response to treatment. He aims to improve clinical outcomes by employing bioengineering principles using computational tools. His areas of expertise include fluid dynamics, structural mechanics, cardiovascular mechanics, and computational modelling. He has previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Manchester, having obtained his undergraduate degree from Queen Mary, University of London, and postgraduate degree and PhD from Imperial College London. He is also an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA).

Publications

• Sengupta, S., Yuan, X., Maga, L., Pirola, S., Nienaber, C. A., & Xu, X. Y. (2023). Aortic haemodynamics and wall stress analysis following arch aneurysm repair using a single-branched endograft. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2023.1125110
• Sengupta S, Zhu Y, Hamady M, Yun Xu X. Evaluating the Haemodynamic Performance of Endografts for Complex Aortic Arch Repair. Bioengineering 2022, 9(10), 573. doi:10.3390/bioengineering9100573
• Sengupta S, Hamady M, Xu XY. Haemodynamic Analysis of Branched Endografts for Complex Aortic Arch Repair. Bioengineering. 2022;9(2). doi:10.3390/bioengineering9020045
• Bhute VJ, Sengupta S, Campbell J, Shah U v., Heng JYY, Brechtelsbauer C. Effectiveness of a large-scale implementation of hybrid labs for experiential learning at Imperial College London. Education for Chemical Engineers. 2022;39:58-66. doi:10.1016/J.ECE.2022.03.001

Javad Shamsi is deeply interested in light-matter interactions, particularly in tiny semiconductors known as Quantum Dots (QDs), which possess intriguing properties for lighting technologies such as LEDs, lasers, and quantum light sources.

Javad completed his undergraduate studies in Chemistry at the University of Tehran, where he undertook a research project under the supervision of Prof. Mohammad Reza Ganjali. He then pursued a PhD at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the University of Genoa, focusing on semiconducting nanocrystals and their optoelectronic properties. Following his PhD, Javad joined the Hyperion ERC project led by Prof. Sam Stranks at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, where he researched quantum-confined perovskite nanoplatelets for lighting technologies, including LEDs and quantum lighting, from 2018 to 2022. After completing his postdoctoral research in September 2022, he stepped away from intensive research roles and accepted a position as the EPSRC Programme Grant Manager in the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge. Although he initially intended to take a brief break of about a year, his plans were disrupted in October 2023, when he tragically lost his mother in an accident. This profound loss had a significant emotional impact, leaving him unable to re-enter the research sector immediately.

Recently, Javad began teaching energy materials courses to MPhil students in the Department of Materials and Physics at the University of Cambridge. He also took on a part-time lecturing role at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. In 2019, he joined St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge, initially as a PDRA, and later as a Tutor and Bye-Fellow, providing pastoral support to approximately 40 students each term. He has also delivered several public lectures on his research, making it more accessible to a wider audience and contributing to broader societal benefits. Additionally, Javad is the director of ShamsLab, a consultancy specialising in energy, energy materials, nanotechnology, and quantum technologies, with a focus on tackling the pressing challenges within the energy sector.

At the college, aside from engaging in intellectual discussions with peers and providing pastoral support to students in their academic lives, Javad is keen to explore his interest in understanding the nature of light - something beyond the ripples of the electromagnetic field. This work bridges his expertise with his religion, which to some extent aligns with the philosophy of Ishraq. Inspired by Georges Lemaître, he believes St Edmund’s College is the ideal place to contemplate the connection between science and religion.

Academic Profile

Professor Philip Sheldrake's research currently focuses on the intersection of both spirituality and theology with “place identity” and cities, particularly cultivating public values/virtues and enabling effective public leadership. 

Professor Philip Sheldrake is a Visiting Scholar at St Edmund’s College. He is also Professor, Senior Fellow & Research Director of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Spirituality at Oblate School of Theology, San Antonio, Texas.

Rupert was the Religion Editor and Hispanic Editor of The Times Literary Supplement from 2000 to 2020 and was previously Assistant Editor of The Tablet. He held a Visiting Fellowship at Oxford University from 2011 to 2013.

His books include: Benedict XVI (Hodder, 2005), Christianophobia: A Faith Under Attack (Penguin, 2012), Rowan’s Rule: The Biography of the Archbishop (Hodder, 2014), God Is No Thing: Coherent Christianity (Hurst, 2016), Does Religion Do More Harm Than Good? (SPCK, 2019), Outgrowing Dawkins: God for Grown-Ups (SPCK, 2019), The Hardest Problem: God, Evil and Suffering (Hodder, 2022), and The Eclipse of Christianity and Why It Matters (Hodder, 2024).

Dr Sara Silvestri is interested in the contested meaning and multifaceted roles of religion in international relations, with particular attention to Islam and the Euro-Mediterranean region. Located at the intersection between IR, Politics, and Sociology, her research, publications and teaching are concerned with how religious identities, symbols and political theologies impact global governance; the way faith-based networks, social movements, and secular international institutions relate to each other; and the evolution of public policies responding to the challenges of migration, multiculturalism, Islamism, and terrorism.

Sara is based between London, where she is Senior lecturer in International Politics at City University, and Cambridge, where she undertook her PhD (at St John’s College) and ESRC Post-Doc. In Cambridge she is currently Bye Fellow and Director of Studies in HSPS (Politics) at St Edmund’s College and collaborates with the POLIS department and the Divinity faculty. Sara also held visiting positions at the Cambridge Muslim College, the University of Bristol, the Univ. of Padua, and was a Marie Curie Fellow in Paris.

After her first degree in Arts (La Sapienza University, Rome) and qualifying as a journalist, Sara went to the University of Cambridge to undertake and MPhil in EU affairs and PhD and Post-Doc on the Politics of and about Islam in Europe. She also specialised in EU migration policies at the ULB (Belgium). She then became interested in role of Christians (especially but not only the Catholic Church) in the governance of migration and refugee flows when she was a Research Associate of the Von Hügel Institute and a member of the Cambridge Centre for the Study of Global Human movement .

Dr Silvestri has collaborated extensively with the policy and media world in her areas of expertise. She has worked in the Cabinet of the EU Commission President, has been a Research Associate at Chatham House (London); she has served as an advisor to the Brussels think tank European Policy Centre and the Annal Lindh Foundation for Intercultural Dialogue (Alexandria, Egypt) and as a 'global expert' for the UN Alliance of Civilisations. Sara currently serves as a Trustee of the Centre for Catholic Social Thought and Practice and of the Council on Christian Approaches to Defence and Disarmament.

Her research has been funded inter alia by the ESRC, British Academy, British Council, Luce Foundation, FCDO, European Commission, Caritas Internationalis, the European Science Foundation.

Gemma Simmonds is a sister of the Congregation of Jesus.  She is a senior research fellow at the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology in Cambridge, UK, where she is director of the Religious Life Institute, teaching Christian spirituality and pastoral theology. An international speaker and lecturer, she is an honorary fellow of Durham University, past president of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain and chair of trustees of the ecumenical Community of St. Anselm based at Lambeth Palace, London.  Gemma is an ecumenical canon of the Church in Wales and lectured in theology at Heythrop College, University of London from 2005 until its closure in 2018, specialising in Christian spirituality.  She has trained candidates for religious life and ordination in the Catholic and Anglican churches and been a spiritual director and retreat giver for over 30 years.

Gemma has been a missionary in Brazil, a chaplain in the Universities of Cambridge and London and a chaplaincy volunteer in Holloway Prison for 25 years.  She is a regular broadcaster on religious matters on the BBC, Radio Maria England and other radio and television networks.

Recent publications include:

Conspiracy Theories and Ignatian Discernment’ in Martin Dojčár ed., How Do We Discern Conspiracy Theories? (Trnava University Press, 2023)

Contributions on ‘What it Means to be Human’ and ‘Living a Religious Life’ in Peter Vardy ed., The Philosophers’ Daughters, (London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 2023)

‘Religieus Leven: de Toekomst Onderscheiden’ in Henk Witte and Arnold Smeets eds., Religieus leven met toekomst, (Berne Media, Tilburg University, 2023)

Dancing at the Still Point: Retreat Practices for Busy Lives (London, SPCK, July 2021)

Religious Life: Discerning the Future (with María Calderón-Muñoz), Joint Project Report for the Religious Life Institute and Centre for Catholic Studies, Durham University, 2020

‘Reflections on Mary and Mission’ in Susan Lucas ed., God’s Church in the World: the Gift of Catholic Mission, (London, Canterbury Press, 2020)

‘Mystical Ecclesiology’ in Mark McIntosh and Edward Howells, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology, (Oxford, OUP, 2020)

‘Perfectae Caritatis’ in Richard Gaillardetz, ed., The Cambridge Companion to the Second Vatican Council, (Cambridge, CUP, 2020)

‘Mary Ward: a Hidden Life in Painting’ in Kathryn Kerby-Fulton and Kate Bugyis eds., Women Leaders and Intellectuals of the Medieval World, (University of Notre Dame Press, 2020)

‘Women at the Grassroots’ Level of Church Leadership’, in Gunter Prüller-Jagenteufel et al., (eds.), Towards Just Gender Relations: Rethinking the Role of Women in Church and Society, Religion and Transformation in Contemporary European Society, vol. 13, (Vienna University Press, 2019), 29-36

‘Hearing the Call: a Theology of Vocation’ in Kevin J. Alban, ed., A Festschrift for Wilfrid McGreal, (Rome, Edizioni Carmelitane, 2019)

The Way of Ignatius: a Prayer Journey through Lent, (London, SPCK, 2018)

I'm William Simpson; a philosopher and scientist. I was born in Lincoln, a cathedral city in England, but now live in Scotland (or wherever my work happens to take me). I have a doctorate in physics from St Andrews, in which I considered the macroscopic behaviour of sticky quantum mechanical forces, and I have a doctorate in philosophy from Cambridge, in which I put forward an ontology of quantum mechanics inspired by Aristotle's theory of hylomorphism. In 2020, I was honoured with an Expanded Reason Award for my work in philosophy. In 2021, I was awarded the Cardinal Mercier Prize in Philosophy. I continue to think about the metaphysics of quantum mechanics, and I am interested in both the nature of consciousness and the mind-body problem. Broadly speaking, I am preoccupied with the ontology of nature, the unity of mind and nature, and the unity of nature and divine being.

After concluding his undergraduate studies in Brazil (with a year abroad at the University of Bristol), José came to Cambridge to pursue Part III of the Mathematical Tripos and a PhD. He now works as a College Teaching Officer and Director of Studies at St Edmund’s, and has been lecturing in Part III since 2022.  His research is in the Foundations of Mathematics, particularly Category Theory and its relationship to Logic, Geometry, and Computation.  More recently, he has been working with the Topos Institute to develop and use double categorical tools for the modelling and understanding of specifications and behaviours of complex systems. Other interests include facets of mathematical thinking and how its understanding affects education, pure and applied logic, computer science, and languages (broadly construed).