Who's who in Postgraduate Research at the OU

Last update 18 March 2026; email [email protected] if you need to update the information.

Graduate School 

Graduate School core team

Graduate School Director: [email protected]  

Clare Warren, Graduate School Director 

Sara Spencer, Head of PGR Services

Soraya Hussain, Personal Assistant, RIS Directorate

Terri Portas, PGR Assistant

Rebecca Nicholls, PGR Assistant

PGR Services team - for registry and administrative matters 

Including: letters supporting visa applications; transcripts; railcard or Oyster card application stamps; registration and fee matters; and key milestones in a student’s studies, such as upgrade, progress reporting and examination. Based in the Betty Boothroyd Library building. 

Nicola Boyce, Manager PGR Operations

Alannah Brien, Manager PGR Operations

Ellie Milnes-Smith, Manager PGR Operations

Darsini Raghavan, Manager PGR Operations 

Research Degrees Coordinators

Use the details on Contact us | Graduate School Network to get in touch.

Jeanette Chandler

Ellie Dickinson 

Monika Bown 

Gabriela Costa

Lynne Fahey

Louise Fulk

Sara La Roca

Briggitta Silva

Rob Simpson

Emma Todd

Louise Topley

Mate Szenyan, Systems and Data Manager

Groups and Committees 

Christopher Heath, Chair of the Affiliated Research Centre Management Group (ARCMG) 

Pallavi Anand, Chair of the Research Degrees Committee 

Jennifer Barratt, Secretary of the Research Degrees Committee  

FASS 

Eleni Andreouli, DRD (Director of Research Degrees) 

Postgraduate convenors 

Margit Thofner, Art History 

Jasmine Hunter Evans (Maternity leave Sept 24) & Marchella Ward, Classics 

Mark Lamont & Frangton Chiyemura, DPP 

Cristina Santos, Economics 

Molly Ziegler & Edward Hogan, English 

Carry Van-Lieshout & Kim Kullman, Geography 

Anna Plassart, History 

Helen Barlow, Music 

Alex Barber, Philosophy 

Dan Taylor, POLIS 

Ailsa Strathie & Sandra Obradovic, Psychology 

David Robertson, Religious Studies 

Marie Gillespie, Sociology 

Rossana Perez-del-Aguila, SPC 

FBL 

Alexandra Bristow, DRD (Director of Research Degrees) 

Caroline Derry, Deputy Director of Research Degrees for the Law School (DDRD Law) 

Richard Godfrey, Deputy Director of Research Degrees for the Business School (DDRD Business) 

WELS 

PGR core team 

Severine Hubscher-Davidson, Director of Postgraduate Research Studies, WELS 

Jane Cullen, EdD Programme Leader 

Gillian Ferguson, DHSC Programme Leader 

PGR Research Convenors (PGRC) 

Helen Owton, Childhoods, Youth and Sport 

Jon Rainford, Education and Learning

Jennifer Agbaire, Development

Jackie Tuck, Applied Linguistics 

Mara Fuertes-Gutierrez, Languages 

Rob Farrow, Technology Enhanced Learning 

Chris Kubiak, Wellbeing and Health Care Practice 

Sarah Vicary, Social Work and Social Care 

DTP  Leads 

Steve Pile, Grand Union Doctoral Traning Programme Lead 

Margaret Ebubedike, Grand Union Doctoral Training Programme, Learning in Innovation Pathway Lead 

Justin Rogers, Grand Union Doctoral Training Programme, Health and Wellbeing Pathway Lead 

Mara Fuertes-Gutierrez, Open Oxford Cambridge (OOC) English Language, Languages & Applied Linguistics Pathway Lead  

Luc-Andre Brunet, AHRC doctoral focal awards 

STEM 

STEM PGR Core Team  

Sarah Sherlock, DRD (Director of Research Degrees) 

STEM Postgraduate Research Tutors 

Anita Dawes, SPS 

Jesper Skottfelt, SPS 

Richard Greenwood, SPS 

Alexander Mikroyannidis, KMI 

Angelo Salatino, KMI 

Alistair Willis, C&C 

Daniel Gooch, C&C 

Soraya Kouadri, C&C

Fadlalla Elfadaly, M&S 

Kate Nixon, LHCS 

Katja Rietdorf, LHCS  

Rachael Luck, E&I 

James Bowen, E&I 

Dimitar Valchev, E&I 

Katerina Alexiou, E&I 

Susanne Schwenzer, EEES 

DTP Leads 

Julia Semprich (EEES), CENTA Doctoral Training Partnership lead 

Stephen Sergeant (SPS), DISCnet Doctoral Training Partnership lead 

Jim Hague, EPSRC DTP Lead 

Rachel Hilliam, EPSRC Maths DTP Lead 

Stephen Lewis, STFC DTP Lead 

Salih Gungor, Nuclear Energy Futures CDT Lead 

Francsco Crea, The Interdisciplinary Life And Environmental Science Landscape Award (ILESLA) Lead