Our people

Professor Sandesh Sivakumaran's research focuses on international law, particularly the human dimension of international law.

Professor Sivakumaran is Professor of International Law at the University of Cambridge, Director of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, and Fellow of St Edmund's College, Cambridge. He is a Senior Fellow at the Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare, United States Military Academy (West Point), Fellow of the University of Nottingham Human Rights Law Centre, and Fellow of the Centre on Armed Groups. He advises and acts as expert for a range of states, international organizations and non-governmental organizations.

Academic Profile

Publications

• Sivakumaran, The Law of Non-International Armed Conflict, 2012, OUP
• Higgins, Webb, Akande, Sivakumaran & Sloan, Oppenheim's International Law: United Nations, 2017, OUP
• Harris and Sivakumaran, Cases and Materials on International Law, 2020, Sweet and Maxwell
• Moeckli, Shah, Sivakumaran (eds), International Human Rights Law, 2022, OUP
• Sivakumaran and Burne (eds), Making and Shaping the Law of Armed Conflict, 2024, OUP

Dr. Jing Su holds the position of Cancer Bioinformatics Lead at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. With an educational background that includes an MPhil and PhD in Computational Biology from the University of Cambridge, she has been associated with St. Edmunds College since 2004 and has been actively engaged in cancer research throughout her career. Driven by a deep passion, she aims to leverage her academic expertise to contribute to the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of cancer patients.

Beyond her work in cancer bioinformatics, Dr. Su is deeply committed to her role as an Associate Tutor and Bye-Fellow at the college. She views these positions as opportunities to give back to the college that has shaped her journey. Through her service to the college, she aspires to make a positive impact by sharing her knowledge and experiences.

I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, specialising in drug resistance and diagnostic development for parasitic worms. My research uses advanced genomic and transcriptomic approaches to address key challenges in parasitology and improve disease control.

Dr Mona Suleiman is a postdoctoral fellow at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, specialising in anthelmintic drug resistance and the development of diagnostic tools for parasitic helminths. Her research focuses on using experimental evolution models to investigate the genetic mechanisms underlying drug resistance in the nematode Strongyloides and identifying selection pressures in populations undergoing mass drug administration. Additionally, Mona is advancing molecular barcoding techniques to develop a high-throughput sequencing assay for human-infective helminths, which will enable more accurate diagnostics in resource-limited settings. Mona completed her PhD at the University of Bath, where she explored the role of small RNAs in parasitism, contributing to a deeper understanding of host-parasite interactions. Her research has been recognised with numerous awards, including the William C. Campbell Award from the Irish Society for Parasitology and multiple Best Oral Presentation prizes from the British Society for Parasitology and ISP.

Beyond research, Mona has extensive experience in global health collaborations, working with researchers in Kenya, Ghana, and Bangladesh to enhance diagnostic capabilities for parasitic infections. She is committed to interdisciplinary research and actively engages in mentorship and university initiatives to support the next generation of scientists.

Academic Profile

My research focuses on the history of Israel-Palestine, particularly on the pre-state period of British rule between 1918-1948. I also have an interest in how events in the Middle East impact communities in the UK, and how issues 'over there' effect us here and how these issues are played out.

James completed his DPhil in history at Merton College, University of Oxford, and his undergraduate and master's degrees in Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. His doctoral thesis focussed on (often violent) interactions between the Jewish Yishuv (community) and the British during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine (1917-1948). He also examined continued interactions between the Yishuv and Palestinian Arab community during the latter stages of the Mandate when clear Nationalist camps were crystalising and interaction became more difficult.

James has also previously engaged in teaching for the University of Oxford and for the University of Georgia on a range of topics including Modern Middle Eastern history and politics, the Israel-Palestine conflict, religion, society and politics in Victorian England, and IR approaches to terrorism and insurgencies. He also lectured at Brunel University in 2023, delivering classes on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Academic Profile

Publications

• Book chapter entitled Whispers of Lives: Jewish Women and Sex Work in Mandatory Palestine 1918-1948, in 'Sex Work and Jewish History,' ed. Stefanie Fischer, Elisabeth Janik-Freis, Daniel Lee, and Paola Zichi [forthcoming]

Dr Wojciech Szczerba's research explores contemporary challenges -migration crises, climate change, geopolitical tensions, and technological shifts - through the lens of philosophical theology. They examine these issues in relation to such concepts as Imago Dei, Deus Migrator, hospitality, and the theology of the Other.

Professor Wojciech Szczerba (PhD., habilitatus) is the Rector of the Evangelical School of Theology in Poland and a scholar specializing in the philosophy of religion, patristics, and ecumenism. His research explores themes of universal salvation, human dignity, and interreligious dialogue, engaging with historical and contemporary theological discourse. He has authored and co-authored multiple books and scholarly articles in these fields and has served as an editor for various academic publications on philosophy, theology, and religious studies. Professor Szczerba completed his undergraduate studies at the Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw (1996) and the Economic Academy in Wrocław (1997). He pursued theological studies in the Netherlands at the Theological Seminary in Amsterdam and in Belgium at the ETF in Leuven. In 2000, he earned his PhD. in Patristics from the University of Wrocław and a second PhD. (habilitation) in Ancient Philosophy from the same institution in 2009. His scholarly contributions include three books on universal salvation in Greek philosophy and Christian thought and numerous articles on Protestant theology, ancient philosophy, and religious traditions. In 2025, he published In Search of Dignity: Humanity in the Light of Formative Metaphors, a monograph exploring human identity's philosophical and theological dimensions.

Since 2002, Professor Szczerba has played a key role in theological education and leadership. He served as the Academic Dean of the Evangelical School of Theology before being appointed Rector in 2006. He is the editor-in-chief of Theologica Wratislaviensia and secretary of the Evangelical Union. His commitment to ecumenical dialogue and interreligious engagement is reflected in his involvement with numerous scholarly and practical initiatives. In 2021, he was nominated as chairman of the Foundation of Mutual Respect in Wrocław, Poland, an organization dedicated to fostering mutual understanding. Prof. Szczerba has held research and teaching affiliations with several institutions. Since 2016, he has been a member of the International Doctoral School at “Aurel Vlaicu” University in Arad, Romania. In 2019, he joined the Von Hügel Institute at St. Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge, as a Research and Senior Research Associate. In 2025, he was nominated as a Visiting Fellow at the Duke Center for Reconciliation at Duke University.

His current research analyses contemporary global challenges—including migration crises, climate change, geopolitical tensions, and the technological revolution—through philosophical theology. His work examines these issues within sociological and historical frameworks, engaging with theological concepts such as Imago Dei, Deus Migrator, Apocatastasis, hospitality, and the theology of the Other. In recognition of his contributions to preserving religious and cultural minority identities, Professor Szczerba was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit by the President of Poland in 2018.

Academic Profile

Publications

• W. Szczerba. 2025. „The Imago Dei Concept as a Symbol of Human Dignity?” Rocznik Teologiczny 67
• W. Szczerba. 2024. „Post-religious World and Religion: Jürgen Habermas”. Studia Religiologica 57 (1)
• W. Szczerba. 2023. „Knowing the Unknowable: Gregory of Nyssa”. Rocznik Teol. LXV (1)
• W. Szczerba. 2022. „The Concept of Apocatastasis - Human Equality and Inclusion”. Forum Phil. 27 (2)
• W. Szczerba. 2022. „There and back again: freedom in the Plato’s cave”. Forum Phil. 27 (1)

Awards & Recognitions

• 2018, the Polish president awarded Prof. Szczerba the Silver Cross of Merit.

My research focuses on understanding the physics of the formation and evolution of galaxies and black holes across cosmic time. One of my main goals is to find the very first galaxies and black holes in the early Universe with cutting-edge observations obtained with the most advanced telescopes.

Sandro Tacchella is an Assistant Professor in Astrophysics working at the Department of Physics (Cavendish Laboratory) and at the Kavli Institute for Cosmology of the University of Cambridge. Before joining the University of Cambridge in 2022, he was Assistant Professor at the Physics Department of UNIST in Ulsan, Korea. From 2017-2021, he was a CfA Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, USA. He has received his Ph.D. from ETH Zurich (Switzerland) in 2017.

Academic Profile

I am the intercollegiate Director of Undergraduate Admissions. I work with the Colleges on matters of process, policy and strategy relating to undergraduate admissions.

Martin began working in the admissions office at Peterhouse, Cambridge. Initially as a Schools Liaison Officer and then as Outreach Manager and Admissions Coordinator, Martin worked to support the admissions team and to plan and run programmes of events for schools and students about studying at Cambridge.

Martin moved on from Peterhouse in 2019, taking up the position of Director of Admissions and Fellow at St Edmund's College. Martin took up the role of Director of Undergraduate Admissions in July 2023. This role acts as the principal officer acting on behalf of all of the Cambridge Colleges to guide and to articulate strategy and policy relating to undergraduate admissions.

Professor Alain Tschudin completed his PhD in Psychology in 1999 through the then University of Natal (The University of Kwazulu-Natal) on the comparative evolution of social complexity and intelligence in dolphins and primates.

In 2007, he completed his second PhD in moral philosophy and theology on the meaning of being, at the University of Cambridge. Tschudin worked for the University of Seville and the European Commission on a project to foster social integration and economic participation for immigrant and ethnic minorities in Spain. He later returned to South Africa and ran the Conflict Transformation and Peace Studies Programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal using dialogics to pursue solidarity among residents and refugees, along with peace, democratization and human rights initiatives in marginal communities.

Tschudin has done humanitarian work with Save the Children International, with UNICEF in the Central African Republic and served as the UN’s inter-agency Child Protection Assessment Coordinator for Northern Syria. He was Executive Director of Good Governance Africa, a pan-African NGO, in Johannesburg, Professor in the WITS School of Governance and lead consultant for the UN Special Advisor on Africa. Subsequently, Tschudin was Director of the International Centre of Nonviolence at the Durban University of Technology. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland and is a Senior Research Associate at the Von Hügel Institute, St Edmund’s College, Cambridge. Since 2022, he has served voluntarily as President of the Association Montessori Internationale, the NGO set up by Dr Maria Montessori in 1929, and he recently joined the Board of the Gorée Institute in Senegal.

Dr Tsougarakis has been Assistant Professor of European Medieval History at the University of Crete since 2022. Before joining the University of Crete, he was Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at Edge Hill University. His research focuses on the ecclesiastical history of the Venetian and Frankish states of Greece, especially in the period 1204 to 1500, with a particular focus on the Franciscans. He has also published on medieval pilgrimage, the crusades and heresy.

Latest publications
‘The Library and School of the Franciscans in Candia: A New Examination’, in The Friary of St Francis in Venetian Candia: Art, Learning and Sources, special issue of Frankokratia: A Journal for the Study of the Greek Lands under Latin Rule 6.2 (2025), 180-204
(With Donal Cooper), ‘The Fifteenth-Century Inventories of the Friary of St Francis, Candia: A New Edition and Commentary’, in The Friary of St Francis in Venetian Candia: Art, Learning and Sources, special issue of Frankokratia: A Journal for the Study of the Greek Lands under Latin Rule 6.2 (2025), 205-283

‘Art, Identity and the Franciscans in Crete’, in V. Foscolou και S. Kalopissi (eds), Intercultural Encounters in Medieval Greece after 1204 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2022), 113-30.
‘Sharing on the Way to the Holy Land: The Shrine of Our Lady of Cassiope on the Island of Corfu’, Al-Masāq 34 (2022), 162-71
‘Perceptions of the Greek Clergy and Rite in Late Medieval Pilgrimage Accounts to the Holy Land’, in N.G. Chrissis, A. Kolia-Dermitzaki and A. Papageorgiou (eds), Byzantium  and the West: Perception and Reality (11th-15th C.) (London: Routledge, 2019), 230-42

Dr Alexandra Urban studied German philology and Latin at LMU Munich (First State Examination, 2016) and went on to complete a Master’s degree in German Language and Literature with a specialization in medieval studies (2017). From 2016 to 2020, she was a research associate in the DFG research group 1986 “Nature in Political Conceptions of Order: Antiquity – Middle Ages – Early Modern Period”, where she completed her PhD, awarded summa cum laude, in July 2020. The book was published in 2021 by De Gruyter under the title Poetik der Meisterschaft in ›Der meide kranz‹: Heinrich von Mügeln auf den Schultern des Alanus ab Insulis (series Deutsche Literatur. Studien und Quellen). Since 2020, she has been a research associate at the Chair of Professor Kellner (LMU Munich).

Brandon Vaidyanathan is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institutional Flourishing Lab at the Catholic University of America.

His research examines the cultural dimensions of religious, commercial, medical, and scientific institutions and has been widely published in peer-reviewed journals. He is the author of Mercenaries and Missionaries: Capitalism and Catholicism in the Global South (Cornell University Press, 2019), co-author of Secularity and Science: What Scientists Around the World Really Think About Religion (Oxford University Press, 2019), and editor of Rebuilding Trust: Clergy Morale in the Wake of the Abuse Crisis (CUA Press, 2025). His latest book (under review) is The Beauty of Understanding: What Scientists Can Teach Us About the Pleasure of Learning. Brandon is also Founder of Beauty at Work, a media platform which includes a podcast and YouTube channel exploring the role of beauty. His ongoing research examines the transformative power of beauty at the individual and collective levels.

Stephan van Erp is Full Professor of Fundamental Theology, and holds the Ladies of Bethany Chair at KU Leuven, Belgium.

He is the Coordinator of the Research Group for Fundamental and Political Theology, and Director of the Interfaculty Centre for Catholic Thought. Currently, he is also a Professorial Fellow at the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at the Australian Catholic University, and Director of the KUL/AdMU Research Centre for Catholic Theology and Social Justice at Ateneo de Manila University. He studied theology at the Theological Faculty of Tilburg and at the University of Oxford, and philosophy at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. His dissertation was on fundamental theology and aesthetics, and was entitled The Art of Theology: Hans Urs von Balthasar's Theological Aesthetics and the Foundations of Faith. His research interests concern the fields of philosophical and fundamental theology, in particular the relationship between faith and reason, and between metaphysics and theology.

My research focus is on philosophy of religion. More specifically topics like: theodicee and suffering, religious language and metaphor, religious emotions, and broader interdisciplinary, collaborative research on subjects related to 'lived/living religion'.

Walter Van Herck received a BA in Philosophy from the Jesuit university (UFSIA) in Antwerp and a MA in Philosophy from the Institute of Philosophy of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. His PhD dissertation was on the role of metaphors in religious language (Catholic University of Leuven, 1996). After postdoctoral research on religious emotions, he became lecturer and later on professor of philosophy of religion at the University of Antwerp. From 2013 till 2023 he was also a guest-professor for the same discipline at the University of Ghent. From 2017 till 2024 he was senior research associate of the VHI, Saint Edmund's College.
He provided together with colleagues the first Dutch translations of David Humes The Natural History of Religion and Immanuel Kants Die Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der blossen Vernunft. He has published numerous book reviews, journal articles and contributions to collections of essays.He is the editor in chief of International Journal of Philosophy and Theology (published by Routledge). Currently, he is president of the European Society for Philosophy of Religion (ESPR).

Publications

• Lemmens, Willem & Walter Van Herck (eds), Religious Emotions. Some Philosophical Explorations, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008
• Geybels, Hans & Walter Van Herck (eds), Humour and Religion: Challenges and Ambiguities, London/New York: Continuum, 2011, paperback edition: London: Bloomsbury, 2012
• Gómez, Liliana & Walter Van Herck (eds), The Sacred in the City, London/New York: Continuum, 2012, paperback edition: London: Bloomsbury, 2013
• Cools, Arthur, Walter Van Herck, Koen Verrycken (eds), Metaphors in modern and contemporary philosophy, Brussels: University Press Antwerp, 2013
• Latré, Stijn, Walter Van Herck and Guido Vanheeswijck (eds), Radical Secularization? An inquiry into the religious roots of secular culture, New York: Bloomsbury, 2014

My research interest focuses on optical sensors and sensing systems for non-destructive testing and structural health monitoring. I'm a a Marie Curie Fellow at the Future Roads Programme and my research topic is AI-assisted vehicle-mounted sensors based road surface condition monitoring system.

Dr Xiang Wang is a Marie Curie Fellow in the Automation and Robotics Group at the Future Roads project at the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. His research interest lies in the field of advanced sensing and sensing systems for non-destructive testing and structural health monitoring, investigating the development and application of sensing and optical metrology systems for versatile monitoring purposes.

Academic Profile

Dr Harry Wardell is a Consultant in Emergency and Paediatric Emergency Medicine and Fellow with PaNDR (Paediatric critical care transport service, Cambridge University Hospitals). He joined the CGCM as Clinical Tutor at St Edmunds in June 2025.

His particular interests in medical education include social learning and how to adapt teaching strategies to high pressured and time poor environments such as the resuscitation room.

He holds a PGDipMedEd and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Jonathan Warner holds a B.A. in PPE from Oxford University, a PhD in welfare economics from the University of Wales, and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education from Birmingham University. After completing his degrees, Jonathan taught at Maidstone Grammar School (England) for four years, moving on to North Cyprus in 1988 to teach at Eastern Mediterranean University. After ten years (with a year off at Nicholas Copernicus University, in Torun, Poland), he moved to Central Asia and taught for a year at the American University in Kyrgyzstan, before moving to Dordt College, in the scenic corn country of northwestern Iowa, U.S.A. After nine years there, he joined Quest University Canada, an innovative new teaching university.

He has also taught at the Russian-American Christian University in Moscow, and in the Creation Care Study Program in Belize, and latterly at LCC International University in Klaipeda, Lithuania. In 2018 he retired from Quest, allowing him to begin concentrating on new research areas.