MERTON COLLEGE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Tutor in Law and Professor of Corporate Finance Law
Jennifer Payne is Acting Warden of Merton College, Oxford. She is also the Linklaters Professor of Corporate Finance Law and a fellow and tutor at the College. She writes widely in the fields of company law, corporate finance law, financial regulation and corporate insolvency. Her recent books include Corporate Finance Law: Principles and Policy (Hart Publishing, 3rd edn 2020, with Louise Gullifer); Intermediation and Beyond (Hart Publishing, 2019 with Louise Gullifer); Principles of Financial Regulation (OUP, 2016) (with John Armour, Dan Awrey, Paul Davies, Luca Enriques, Jeff Gordon and Colin Mayer); The Oxford Handbook of Financial Regulation (OUP, 2015, with Niamh Moloney and Eilis Ferran); and Schemes of Arrangement: Theory, Structure and Operation (CUP, 2014, 2nd ed 2021). She is a contributor to Palmer's Company Law, a founder editor of the Journal of Corporate Law Studies and of the Oxford Business Law Blog, and Review Articles editor of the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. She was appointed as a Law Delegate of the Oxford University Press in 2020. She has been a Visiting Professor at a number of leading institutions internationally, including Melbourne Law School, the National University of Singapore and the University of Auckland. She was elected to membership of the International Insolvency Institute in 2016. She was a member of the European Security and Markets Authority (ESMA)'s Securities and Markets Stakeholders Group 2016-18 and she was a member of the Consultative Working Group of ESMA's Corporate Finance Standing Committee in 2015-17. She is currently a member of the Expert Advisory Panels to the Law Commission on Intermediated Securities and Digital Assets.
Benjamin Nicholas is responsible for all the music in Chapel, directing and training the College Choir and the Choristers. Ben is also a College Lecturer in Music teaching undergraduates in all year groups. As Director of College Music, Ben encourages music-making across the College.
Benjamin Nicholas is Reed Rubin Organist & Director of Music at Merton, and Principal Conductor of The Oxford Bach Choir. As a conductor he has appeared with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The BBC Singers and The Holst Singers in works such as Elgar's The Apostles, Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony, Holst's Savitri and Verdi's Requiem.
During Benjamin's time at Merton, the annual Passiontide at Merton festival has been established, the Dobson Organ has been installed, and the College Girls' Choir has been founded. He was elected a Bodley Fellow in 2018.
Benjamin has been involved in the commissioning of a great many works, and conducted the premieres of Charlotte Bray's Bach RE:Imagined in Southwark Cathedral with the City of London Sinfonia, Howard Goodall's Veni Sancte Spiritus in Westminster Abbey and numerous choral works by Kerry Andrew, Birtwistle, Chilcott, Dove, Jackson, MacMillan, Martin, Muhly, Tabakova, Weir, and Wilby in Tewkesbury and Oxford.
Benjamin was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral before being appointed Organ Scholar of Chichester Cathedral at the age of 17. He went on to hold organ scholarships at Lincoln College, Oxford and St Paul's Cathedral before becoming Director of Music at St Luke's Church, Chelsea in 2000. Prior to moving to Merton, he was Director of Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum and Director of Choral Music at Dean Close School. From 2011 to 2016 he served the Edington Music Festival, firstly as conductor of the Schola and then as Festival Director.
Job Titles:
- Tutor in Spanish
- Tutor in Spanish / Research
My research focusses on the literature and culture of the early modern Hispanic world, especially New Spain (present-day Mexico) with a particular interest in religious culture, women's writing, and the relationship between religious though and early modern scientific enquiry. My first book explored the presence of empirical ideas in the religious plays by the Mexican poet and nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (The autos sacramentales of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Natural Philosophy and Sacramental Theology, OUP, 2018). I am currently working on a translation and critical edition of the exchange of letters between Sor Juana and her Bishop, the Carta de sor Filotea and the Respueta a sor Filotea. These texts touch on questions of women's learning and their engagement in social and political spheres, the transition between Baroque pessimism and the optimism of the early Enlightenment, and dynamics of publishing and power in the early modern world.
Job Titles:
- Fitzjames Research Fellow in Music
I am a musicologist and historian, specializing in the intersections between religious and cultural life between the 11th and 13th centuries, with a particular interest in the role of women in both areas. I am also interested in historiography, and the shaping of medieval musical and cultural history over the long 19th century. My first article, "‘Soit hom u feme': New Evidence for Women Musicians and the Search for the ‘Women Trouvères'," was awarded the Jerome Roche Prize by the Royal Musical Association in 2021.
I hold degrees from the University of Michigan, King's College London, and Yale University, where I earned my PhD in Musicology in 2020. From 2020-2021, I was a Past & Present Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. While I completed my doctoral dissertation, I was a visiting researcher in the History Department and Henri Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies at Ghent University in Belgium, generously funded by the Belgian American Educational Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Junior Research Fellow in Law
Chloé is a Junior Research Fellow in Law at Merton College, Oxford. She holds a Doctorate and a Master of Science in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Oxford, along with a Master of Philosophy and a Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary History from the University of Florence, Italy. Her research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, Exeter College, Oxford, and the Modern Law Review.
Chloé has delivered lectures and seminars on Race, Ethnicity and Criminalisation at the University of Exeter, along with tutorials on the Death Penalty, Victims, and Policing at various colleges at the University of Oxford.
Job Titles:
- Tutor in Philosophy, Associate
Job Titles:
- Junior Research Fellow in Anthropology
I am a political anthropologist, and I have been working on peace and conflict in Colombia for over a decade as both an engaged scholar and peacebuilding practitioner, particularly on the recent peace process between the government and the FARC-EP guerrilla. I did my PhD in Social Anthropology at University College London (UCL) as a Wolfson Scholar, and before that lectured in Political Anthropology at the National University of Colombia in Bogotá, where I also did an MPhil in Social Anthropology as a Leverhulme Study-Abroad Scholar. My work spans anthropology of the state and of politics, peace and conflict studies, political theory, and Colombian history, ethnography and politics. My research uses the Colombian case to contribute to urgent global debates on topics such as dialogue and reconciliation, political polarisation, so-called ‘post-truth' politics, and the crisis of liberalism.
Job Titles:
- Junior Research Fellow in Mathematics
Job Titles:
- Junior Research Fellow in Modern Languages
- Junior Research Fellow in Modern Languages / Research
Dr Gover joined Merton as the College's Senior Tutor, having held a number of roles within the University. She came to Oxford from a teaching post in Zoology at the University of Glasgow and first worked for two colleges (Wadham and Worcester) as their Academic Registrar and Tutor for Admissions. She was subsequently Senior Assistant Registrar for Education in the Social Sciences Division, working on education policy and standards with 14 departments. While in post, she also spent a period as interim Head of Administration and Finance for the Department of Politics and International Relations. Most recently, she has been Director of the University's Student Fees and Funding team.
Job Titles:
- Tutor in Management Studies
- Tutor in Management Studies / Research
I am interested in how organisations can manage their productive resources and capabilities to achieve and sustain competitive advantage. I have conducted research in the areas of manufacturing, services, and technology management. Much of my recent research focuses on integrating organisational theory with operations management, and also on historical and cross-national perspectives.
Teaching
I currently teach the undergraduate Economics and Management Technology and Operations Management paper and lecture in Introduction to Management on information technology, technological innovation, operations management, and supply management. I have taught core operations management and service management to undergraduates, MSc's, and MBAs. I have extensive experience in teaching postgraduate research students.
Job Titles:
- Mark Reynolds Tutor in History
- Mark Reynolds Tutor in History / Research
Job Titles:
- Junior Research Fellow in Biology
I am an evolutionary biologist interested in the diversity and evolution of eukaryotic complexity. I use a combination of computational and experimental approaches to study the evolutionary history and drivers of major cellular transitions such as the origins and evolution of molecular systems, especially those within the nucleus, the diversification of major lineages, and the evolution of life histories and morphology. I am interested in leveraging the remarkable variation that exists amongst eukaryotic organisms (e.g., animals, plants, fungi, and protozoa) to identify the evolutionary mechanisms that have given rise to the diversity we see today.
Irwin, N. A. T. & Keeling, P. J. 2019. Extensive reduction of the nuclear pore complex in nucleomorphs. Genome Biology and Evolution. 11:678-687
Job Titles:
- Junior Research Fellow in Chemistry
My research interests centre on energy and environmental sectors in heterogeneous catalysis, new-generation materials for hydrogen production and storage, fossil fuel decarbonization, microwave-initiated catalysis, carbon dioxide activation and utilization.
Job Titles:
- Dean and Keeper of the Statutes, Non - Stipendiary Lecturer in Classics
Dean and Keeper of the Statutes, Non-stipendiary Lecturer in Classics
François Cloete is Junior Organ Scholar and is in his first year studying Music. He attended Wells Cathedral School as a specialist musician and has held organ scholarships at Wells Cathedral and Hereford Cathedral, studying repertoire with Daniel Moult during his gap year. At the age of 19 François received his FRCO diploma with three prizes for the highest marks in every component of the examinations.
Job Titles:
- Acting Warden of Merton College, Oxford
Jennifer Payne is Acting Warden of Merton College, Oxford. She is also the Linklaters Professor of Corporate Finance Law and a fellow and tutor at the College. She writes widely in the fields of company law, corporate finance law, financial regulation and corporate insolvency. Her recent books include Corporate Finance Law: Principles and Policy (Hart Publishing, 3rd edn 2020, with Louise Gullifer); Intermediation and Beyond (Hart Publishing, 2019 with Louise Gullifer); Principles of Financial Regulation (OUP, 2016) (with John Armour, Dan Awrey, Paul Davies, Luca Enriques, Jeff Gordon and Colin Mayer); The Oxford Handbook of Financial Regulation (OUP, 2015, with Niamh Moloney and Eilis Ferran); and Schemes of Arrangement: Theory, Structure and Operation (CUP, 2014, 2nd ed 2021). She is a contributor to Palmer's Company Law, a founder editor of the Journal of Corporate Law Studies and of the Oxford Business Law Blog, and Review Articles editor of the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. She was appointed as a Law Delegate of the Oxford University Press in 2020. She has been a Visiting Professor at a number of leading institutions internationally, including Melbourne Law School, the National University of Singapore and the University of Auckland. She was elected to membership of the International Insolvency Institute in 2016. She was a member of the European Security and Markets Authority (ESMA)'s Securities and Markets Stakeholders Group 2016-18 and she was a member of the Consultative Working Group of ESMA's Corporate Finance Standing Committee in 2015-17. She is currently a member of the Expert Advisory Panels to the Law Commission on Intermediated Securities and Digital Assets.
Job Titles:
- Fellow in Modern Asian History, Associate Professor of Chinese History
- Jessica Rawson Fellow in Modern Asian History, Associate Professor of Chinese History
I research and write about the history of modern and contemporary China, in particular the history of life under state socialist governance. Prior to joining the History Faculty and Merton College, I was educated at Cambridge and Heidelberg, and spent a year as An Wang Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. I then taught as Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Chinese History at King's College London.
I am series co-editor of the Cambridge Studies in the History of the People's Republic of China (Cambridge University Press) and Transformations of Modern China (De Gruyter), and serve on the editorial boards of the journals Cultural and Social History and Twentieth Century China. I am also editor of the 'The Mao Era in Objects', a website for anyone interested in the history of modern China as told through interactive biographies of famous and more obscure objects of China's Mao period (1949-1976). The project was funded by an AHRC leadership fellowship award and designed by King's College Digital Lab. At Oxford, I am an affiliate member of the China Center, the Center for Global History, and the Oxford Programme for Asian Laws.
Job Titles:
- Is Director of the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre
John Geddes is Director of the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre.
John has led several trials and research syntheses which have had major influence on clinical practice internationally. He is an editor of the New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry (3rd Edition OUP).
John is an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists and was awarded the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Neuropsychopharmacology Award in 2016 in recognition of his ground-breaking work on the psychopharmacology of bipolar disorder. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and is a Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute 2021-2022.
Lizzie Casey manages the Choral Foundation and is responsible for the management of both the Choir of Merton College and the Merton College Girl Choristers. Lizzie is also the Chaplain's PA and provides administrative support for the Chapel.
Mindy Chen-Wishart is Professor of the Law of Contract and Associate Dean of Graduates at Oxford University. She is also Fellow in Law at Merton College. She holds a fractional professorship at the National University of Singapore and holds or has held visiting professorships at Hong Kong University, the National University of Taiwan, Otago University, Auckland University, Canterbury University and Göttingen University. She is author of Contract Law (6th ed, OUP, forthcoming, 2018), an editor of Chitty on Contracts (32nd ed), and was a member of the Advisory Group on A Restatement of the English Law of Contract. Mindy has lectured to the Judicial College of England and Wales, and the Judicial Academy in Taiwan and Hong Kong. She delivered the Fourth Annual Lecture of the International and Comparative Law Quarterly as author of the best paper. Mindy is leading a six-book project on the contract laws of Asian jurisdictions.
Job Titles:
- Land Agent & Estates Bursar
Owen Chan is Senior Organ Scholar; he is in his third year studying Mathematics and Philosophy.
Job Titles:
- Junior Research Fellow in Global Wellbeing
Vatsal is a development economist who models, measures, and analyses social networks to address challenges critical to global wellbeing.
He recently completed the requirements of the DPhil in Economics at the University of Oxford and received the MSc in Economics for Development from the university before that. He has also worked as a research assistant at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford and a research consultant at J-PAL in India.
Job Titles:
- Founder and Director of the Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips, founder and director of The Tallis Scholars, is Patron of the College Choir. It was Peter's idea that the College should consider establishing a Choral Foundation. Along with Benjamin Nicholas, he was a Reed Rubin Director of Music from 2008, a post he held until 2016. His involvement included recordings, tours and broadcasts, as well as conducting the choir on a number of occasions each term. The College is enormously grateful for Peter's enthusiasm for the Choral Foundation and is delighted that he has accepted the honorary position of Patron. Peter is also a Bodley Fellow of the College.
Job Titles:
- Organist & Director of College Music
- Organist & Director of Music
Benjamin Nicholas was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral before holding organ scholarships at Chichester Cathedral, Lincoln College, Oxford and St Paul's Cathedral. After a period as Director of Music of St Luke's Church, Chelsea, he was Director of Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum for twelve years.
Benjamin is currently Director of Music at Merton College, Oxford and Music Director of The Oxford Bach Choir. As a conductor, he has appeared with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Florilegium, The BBC Singers and The Holst Singers in works such as Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony and Holst's Savitri.
Benjamin Nicholas has been involved in the commissioning of a great many works, and conducted the premiere of Charlotte Bray's Bach Re-imagined in Southwark Cathedral with the City of London Sinfonia, Howard Goodall's Veni Sancte Spiritus in Westminster Abbey and numerous choral works by Kerry Andrew, Birtwistle, Chilcott, Dove, Jackson, MacMillan, Martin, Muhly, Tabakova, Weir, and Wilby in Tewkesbury and Oxford.
As an organist, Benjamin has appeared in concert with the Tallis Scholars, and has most recently given recitals in Bath Abbey and Munich Dom. This year he will give recitals in King's College, Cambridge, Belgium and Rome.
Benjamin Nicholas is responsible for all the music in Chapel, directing and training the College Choir and the Choristers. Ben is also a College Lecturer in Music teaching undergraduates in all year groups. As Director of College Music, Ben encourages music-making across the College.
Job Titles:
- Associate Chaplain and Career Development Researcher
Originally a modern linguist, prior to training Lyndon spent four years living in intentional communities in Dorset with a particular focus on ecology, conservation and the relationship between gardening and mental health for those in recovery from addictive behaviours. Lyndon subsequently trained for ordination at Ripon College Cuddesdon, where he completed a BA in Theology and MSt in Modern Doctrine at Oxford, before returning to Dorset to serve his curacy in the parish of St John's Church, Broadstone. Alongside his pastoral and liturgical role at Merton, Lyndon will also be working on a PhD in ecology, queer theology and the Song of Songs in conjunction with Sarum College, Salisbury and Winchester University.
The Revd Lyndon Webb is Associate Chaplain and Career Development Researcher. Lyndon has particular responsibility for pastoral care within the Chapel community, for leading discussion groups, and developing new initiatives.
Job Titles:
- Resource Services & Support Librarian
Job Titles:
- Professor
- WA Handley Professor of Psychiatry
John Geddes is Director of the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre.
John has led several trials and research syntheses which have had major influence on clinical practice internationally. He is an editor of the New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry (3rd Edition OUP).
John is an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists and was awarded the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Neuropsychopharmacology Award in 2016 in recognition of his ground-breaking work on the psychopharmacology of bipolar disorder. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and is a Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute 2021-2022.