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58 Notable alumni of Birkbeck, University of London

Updated: June 22, 2026 EliteDegrees

Birkbeck, University of London is ranked #626 in the world and #53 in United Kingdom by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 58 notable alumni from Birkbeck, University of London sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Birkbeck, University of London won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.

Wai Hnin Pwint Thon

1. Wai Hnin Pwint Thon

1989-. (aged 37)
human rights defender
Wai Hnin Pwint Thon is a Burmese activist based in London. Wai Hnin was born in Rangoon, Burma (Myanmar) and is the daughter of Mya Aye, one of the leaders of the 88 Generation student group in Burma.
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Clive Barda

2. Clive Barda

1945-. (aged 81)
photographer
Clive Blackmore Barda OBE FRSA is a London-based, British freelance photographer best known for capturing the performances of classical musicians and artists of the stage (opera, ballet and theatre). During his career spanning over five decades, Barda has created a collection of over a million photographs of performers, composers, and conductors.
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Clement Edwards

3. Clement Edwards

1869-1938 (aged 69)
barrister politician trade unionist
Allen Clement Edwards was a Welsh lawyer, journalist, trade union activist and Liberal Party politician.
William Maw

4. William Maw

1838-1924 (aged 86)
engineer civil engineer
William Henry Maw was a British civil engineer and astronomer. Born into a seafaring family and orphaned at age 16, Maw was taken into the workshops of the Eastern Counties Railway as an assistant before progressing to the design office as a draughtsman. He was made the head of the office and designed the first outside cylinder locomotive for use...
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James Hemsley

5. James Hemsley

1941-. (aged 85)
businessperson
James Hemsley is the founder of the EVA Conferences on Electronic Imaging & the Visual Arts.
Catherine Mason

6. Catherine Mason

art historian
Catherine Mason is an art historian and author who specialises in digital art, especially computer art.
David Casals-Roma

7. David Casals-Roma

1972-. (aged 54)
screenwriter writer film director
David Casals-Roma is a Spanish writer/director based in Spain.
Eliane Glaser

8. Eliane Glaser

journalist
Eliane Glaser is an English writer, lecturer, radio producer and broadcaster.
Anita Pollack

9. Anita Pollack

1946-. (aged 80)
politician
Anita J. Pollack was a Labour MEP for London South West from 1989 to 1999.
Andrej Šali

10. Andrej Šali

1963-. (aged 63)
computational biologist biologist
Andrej Šali is a computational structural biologist. Since 2003, he has been Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at University of California, San Francisco. He also serves as an editor of the journal Structure.
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Sucharitha Gamlath

11. Sucharitha Gamlath

1934-2013 (aged 79)
academic
Sucharitha Gamlath was a veteran professor of Sinhala, and a bright student of the Peradeniya University. After that he functioned as the dean of the Sinhala Language Faculty of the Jaffna University. He has also served in the University of Ruhuna and Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka. And he was a well-known scholastic in linguistics and critiques who...
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Claude Ambrose Rogers

12. Claude Ambrose Rogers

1920-2005 (aged 85)
mathematician
Claude Ambrose Rogers FRS was an English mathematician who worked in analysis and geometry.
William Pett Ridge

13. William Pett Ridge

1859-1930 (aged 71)
novelist short story writer writer playwright humorist
William Pett Ridge was an English fiction writer, born at Chartham, near Canterbury, Kent, and educated at Marden, Kent, and at the Birkbeck Institute, London. He was for some time a clerk in the Railway Clearing House, and began about 1891 to write humorous sketches for the St James's Gazette and other papers.
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Elizabeth Esteve-Coll

14. Elizabeth Esteve-Coll

1938-2024 (aged 86)
curator librarian
Dame Elizabeth Anne Loosemore Esteve-Coll DBE FRSA was a British academic, museum director and librarian.
Andy Saull

15. Andy Saull

1988-. (aged 38)
rugby union player
Andy Saull is a rugby union player who plays at flanker and was part of the Saracens team who won the English premiership in 2011. Saull also represented Oxford University in The Varsity Match against Cambridge University.
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Cyrus Chothia

16. Cyrus Chothia

1942-2019 (aged 77)
bioinformatician
Cyrus Homi Chothia FRS was an English biochemist who was an emeritus scientist at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) at the University of Cambridge and emeritus fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge.
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Ada Aharoni

17. Ada Aharoni

1933-. (aged 93)
poet writer translator
Ada Aharoni is an Israeli poet, writer, lecturer, sociologist and peace researcher. She has published numerous books of peace poetry, historical novels, sociology, history, biography, drama, film-scripts, literary criticism, and children's books. In her work she often focuses on the "Second Exodus", the uprooting of the Jews from Egypt, following the establishment of Israel in 1948, which she personally experienced....
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Ian Blatchford

18. Ian Blatchford

1965-. (aged 61)
art historian exhibition curator jurist
Sir Ian Craig Blatchford, FSA is the director of the Science Museum Group, which oversees the Science Museum in London, England and other related museums. He was previously deputy director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, opposite the Science Museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, southwest London.
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Stephen Gaukroger

19. Stephen Gaukroger

1950-2023 (aged 73)
university teacher philosopher philosophy historian
Stephen Gaukroger was a British historian of philosophy and science who spent the majority of his academic career in Australia. Gaukroger was Emeritus Professor of History of Philosophy and History of Science at the University of Sydney.
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Paul Ekins

20. Paul Ekins

1950-. (aged 76)
economist
Professor Paul Ekins OBE is a British academic in the field of sustainable economics, currently Professor of Resources and Environment Policy at University College London. He was formerly co-director of the UK Energy Research Centre (2004–2014). He is a former member of the Green Party.
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Richard Burchett

21. Richard Burchett

1815-1875 (aged 60)
painter
Richard Burchett was a British artist and educator on the fringes of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who was for over twenty years the Headmaster of what later became the Royal College of Art.
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Markus Campbell-Savours

22. Markus Campbell-Savours

politician
Markus Dale Campbell-Savours is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Penrith and Solway since 2024. He had the whip suspended from the Labour Party in December 2025 for voting against plans to extend the inheritance tax to farmers.
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Mercedes Cebrián

23. Mercedes Cebrián

1971-. (aged 55)
poet writer translator
Mercedes Cebrián is a Spanish writer and translator.
Mark Lowcock

24. Mark Lowcock

1962-. (aged 64)
civil servant accountant
Sir Mark Andrew Lowcock KCB served as the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) between 2017 and 2021. Prior to his appointment by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on 12 May 2017, Lowcock was the Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development...
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Pierre Adolphe Valette

25. Pierre Adolphe Valette

1876-1942 (aged 66)
painter
Pierre Adolphe Valette was a French Impressionist painter who spent most of his career in England. His most acclaimed paintings are urban landscapes of Manchester, now in the collection of Manchester Art Gallery. Today, he is chiefly remembered as L. S. Lowry's tutor.
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Mohammed Al-Ghabban

26. Mohammed Al-Ghabban

1961-. (aged 65)
politician
Dr. Mohammed Al-Ghabban is an Iraqi politician and the former Minister of Interior.
John Walter Gregory

27. John Walter Gregory

1864-1932 (aged 68)
explorer university teacher geographer geologist botanical collector
John Walter Gregory, FRS, FRSE, FGS was a British geologist and explorer, known principally for his work on glacial geology and on the geography and geology of Australia and East Africa.
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Amina Mama

28. Amina Mama

1958-. (aged 68)
academic non-fiction writer
Amina Mama is a Nigerian-British writer, activist and academic. Her main areas of focus have been post-colonial, militarist and gender issues. She has lived in Africa, Europe and North America, and worked to bridge the gap between feminists and related movements across the globe.
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Elizabeth Fremantle

29. Elizabeth Fremantle

1962-. (aged 64)
novelist teacher writer
Elizabeth Fremantle is an English novelist. Her published works include Queen's Gambit (2013), The Girl in the Glass Tower (2016) and the critically acclaimed thriller The Poison Bed (2018). In 2024, a revised edition of Queen's Gambit was published as Firebrand to mark the release of the novel's adaption into a major motion picture, starring Alicia Vikander as Katherine Parr...
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Michael Wilshaw

30. Michael Wilshaw

1946-. (aged 80)
civil servant
Sir Michael Wilshaw was the Chief Inspector of Schools in England and head of Ofsted from 2012 until 2016.
Cyril Ponnamperuma

31. Cyril Ponnamperuma

1923-1994 (aged 71)
chemist
Dr. Cyril Andrew Ponnamperuma was a Sri Lankan scientist in the fields of chemical evolution and the origin of life.
Eyal Weizman

32. Eyal Weizman

1970-. (aged 56)
university teacher architect opinion journalist
Eyal Weizman MBE FBA is a British Israeli architect. He is the director of the research agency Forensic Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London where he is Professor of Spatial and Visual Cultures and a founding director there of the Centre for Research Architecture at the department of Visual Cultures. In 2019 he was elected Fellow of the British Academy.
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Topsy Ojo

33. Topsy Ojo

1985-. (aged 41)
rugby union player
Temitope "Topsy" Ojo listen is an English former rugby union player who played for London Irish and England. He is London Irish's all-time leading try scorer, with 73 tries in all competitions.
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Jennifer Donnelly

34. Jennifer Donnelly

1963-. (aged 63)
writer author children's writer novelist
Jennifer Donnelly is an American writer best known for the young adult historical novel A Northern Light.
Melanie Dawes

35. Melanie Dawes

1966-. (aged 60)
economist
Dame Melanie Henrietta Dawes DCB is a British economist and administrator. In February 2020 she was appointed Chief Executive of Ofcom. She was previously the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and before that worked at HM Treasury, HM Revenue and Customs, and in the Cabinet Office. She is a Trustee of the Patchwork Foundation,...
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Arthur Wing Pinero

36. Arthur Wing Pinero

1855-1934 (aged 79)
actor playwright director writer theatrical director
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero was an English playwright and, early in his career, actor.
John Altman

37. John Altman

1949-. (aged 77)
conductor composer jazz musician
John Altman is an English film composer, music arranger, orchestrator and conductor.
Kostas Lapavitsas

38. Kostas Lapavitsas

1961-. (aged 65)
university teacher economist politician
Costas Lapavitsas is a professor of economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and was elected as a member of the Hellenic Parliament for the left-wing Syriza party in the January 2015 general election. He subsequently defected to the Popular Unity in August 2015.
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Tale Heydarov

39. Tale Heydarov

1985-. (aged 41)
editor businessperson entrepreneur
Tale Heydarov is an Azerbaijani businessman and investor.
Jah Wobble

40. Jah Wobble

1958-. (aged 68)
composer poet recording artist singer
John Joseph Wardle is an English bass guitarist and singer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s; he left the band after two albums.
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Helen Sharman

41. Helen Sharman

1963-. (aged 63)
chemist astronaut Research Cosmonaut
Helen Patricia Sharman is a British chemist and cosmonaut who became the first British person, first Western European woman and first privately funded woman in space, as well as the first woman to visit the Mir space station, in May 1991.
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Claudia Webbe

42. Claudia Webbe

1965-. (aged 61)
politician council member
Claudia Naomi Webbe is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester East from 2019 to 2024. Elected to Parliament as a Labour MP in 2019, she sat as an Independent from 2021 until she lost her seat at the 2024 General Election.
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Jon Lansman

43. Jon Lansman

1957-. (aged 69)
politician
Jonathan Lansman is a British political activist. He is best known for having worked on Jeremy Corbyn's successful 2015 campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party, and for subsequently founding the pro-Corbyn organisation Momentum. He was a member of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee. Lansman has worked for both Tony Benn and Michael Meacher, and was a prominent...
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Irene Lozano

44. Irene Lozano

1971-. (aged 55)
writer journalist biographer politician
Irene Lozano Domingo is a Spanish writer, journalist, and politician, who served as President of the Consejo Superior de Deportes and Secretary of State for Sports of Spain from 2020 to 2021 and as Secretary of State for Global Spain from 2018 to 2020 under Pedro Sánchez.
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Sidney Webb

45. Sidney Webb

1859-1947 (aged 88)
aristocrat historian economist professor sociologist
Sidney James Webb, 1st Baron Passfield, OM, PC was a British socialist, economist and reformer, who co-founded the London School of Economics. He was an early member of the Fabian Society in 1884, joining, like George Bernard Shaw, three months after its inception. Along with his wife Beatrice Webb and with Annie Besant, Graham Wallas, Edward R. Pease, Hubert Bland...
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Ramsay MacDonald

46. Ramsay MacDonald

1866-1937 (aged 71)
diplomat politician journalist
James Ramsay MacDonald was a British statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The first two of his governments belonged to the Labour Party, where he led a minority Labour government for nine months in 1924 and again between 1929 and 1931. In 1931, MacDonald was expelled from the Labour Party, after he formed a...
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Prince Louis of Luxembourg

47. Prince Louis of Luxembourg

1986-. (aged 40)
aristocrat
Prince Louis of Luxembourg, Prince of Nassau, Prince of Bourbon-Parma is the third son of Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Maria Teresa, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, and the younger brother of Grand Duke Guillaume V.
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Daisy Ridley

48. Daisy Ridley

1992-. (aged 34)
singer actor film actor
Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley is an English actress. She rose to prominence for her role as Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy from 2015 until 2019. Following the Star Wars films, Ridley appeared in the mystery film Murder on the Orient Express (2017), and played Ophelia in the romantic drama Ophelia (2018). She had voice roles in the animated...
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Marcus Garvey

49. Marcus Garvey

1887-1940 (aged 53)
religious leader entrepreneur sociologist printer politician
Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. ONH was a Jamaican political activist. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL, commonly known as UNIA), through which he declared himself Provisional President of Africa. Garvey was ideologically a black nationalist and Pan-Africanist. His ideas came to be known as Garveyism.
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Kemi Badenoch

50. Kemi Badenoch

1980-. (aged 46)
author politician
Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party since November 2024. Badenoch previously worked in the Cabinet for prime ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak from 2022 to 2024. She was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Essex, previously Saffron Walden, in 2017.
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Alfred Russel Wallace

51. Alfred Russel Wallace

1823-1913 (aged 90)
writer botanist botanical collector mathematician zoological collector
Alfred Russel Wallace was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 paper on the subject was published that year alongside extracts from Charles Darwin's writings on the topic. It spurred Darwin to set aside the "big species book" he was drafting and to quickly write an...
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Annie Besant

52. Annie Besant

1847-1933 (aged 86)
freedom fighter women's rights activist theosophist journalist writer
Annie Besant was an English socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights and Home Rule activist, educationist, and campaigner for Indian nationalism. She was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian self-rule. She became the first female president of the Indian National Congress in 1917.
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Romesh Ranganathan

53. Romesh Ranganathan

1978-. (aged 48)
actor comedian presenter
Romesh Ranganathan is a British comedian, actor, and presenter. His style of comedy is deadpan and often self-deprecating.
Simon Bird

54. Simon Bird

1984-. (aged 42)
television actor film director actor stand-up comedian film producer
Simon Antony Bird is an English comedian, actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Will McKenzie in the multi-award-winning E4 comedy series The Inbetweeners (2008–2010), as well as its two films (2011 and 2014), and Adam Goodman in the Channel 4 comedy series Friday Night Dinner (2011–2020). He is set to appear in Shawn Levy's Star Wars:...
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Brittany Kaiser

55. Brittany Kaiser

2010-2011 (aged 1)
executive
Brittany Nicole Kaiser is the former business development director for Cambridge Analytica, which collapsed after details of its misuse of Facebook data became public. Cambridge Analytica potentially influenced voting in the UK Brexit referendum and the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Kaiser testified about her involvement in the work of Cambridge Analytica before a select committee of the UK Parliament and...
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Bisi Alimi

56. Bisi Alimi

1975-. (aged 51)
LGBTQ rights activist HIV/AIDS activist
Adebisi Ademola Alimi Listen, known as Bisi Alimi, is a British-Nigerian gay rights activist, public speaker, blog writer, filmmaker and HIV/LGBT advocate who gained international attention when he became the first Nigerian to come out on television.
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Chris Abani

57. Chris Abani

1966-. (aged 60)
playwright university teacher professor writer academic
Christopher Abani is a Nigerian American author. He says he is part of a new generation of Nigerian writers working to convey to an English-speaking audience the experience of those born and raised in "that troubled African nation".
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Nick Smith

58. Nick Smith

1960-. (aged 66)
politician
Nicolas Rex Smith is a New Zealand politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the National Party from 1990 to 2021. He served as a Cabinet minister, holding various posts including Minister for Building and Housing, Minister for the Environment, Minister for Climate Change Issues, and Minister of Local Government. For a brief time between October and...
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