About us

Professor Tony Croft Loughborough University

Tony has taught mathematics to students in further and higher education for over thirty years. He is currently one of the Directors of sigma - the Centre for Excellence in university-wide mathematics and statistics support and is Professor of Mathematics Education in the Mathematics Education Centre at Loughborough University. He continues to work to ensure that all students entering higher education who need additional help with mathematics, have access to quality resources.

He was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2008.

Professor Duncan Lawson Coventry University

Professor Duncan Lawson is an Associate Dean in the Faculty of Engineering and Computing at Coventry University. For the last 15 years he has been Director of the Mathematics Support Centre which provides drop-in support for all students in the University on any issues relating to mathematics and statistics.  He was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2005.

Duncan is a Director of sigma, a collaboration between the Mathematics Support Centre at Coventry University and the Mathematics Learning Support Centre at Loughborough University, which was designed by HEFCE as a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) in 2005 and has undertaken a wide range of work to promote mathematics support both within the two host institutions and throughout the sector.

He is Director of the Maths, Stats and OR Network, a Higher Education Academy Subject Centre based at the University of Birmingham.  In November 2009, he was elected Chair of the Joint Mathematical Council.

Michael Grove Higher Education Academy

Michael Grove is Director of the National HE STEM Programme which seeks to increase participation within the STEM disciplines at university level, and enhance the delivery of STEM programmes of study, particularly in relation to encouraging participation amongst those currently within the workforce.  Prior to this, Michael was Assistant Director of the Higher Education Academy Maths,Stats & OR Network, and has previously worked as a lecturer of Mathematics & Physics in the FE sector.

Audrey Jones Pink Mayhem

Audrey Jones is a designer and developer for Pink Mayhem and has been responsible for the design and development of the upgrade of mathcentre.

She has over twelve years experience of providing web and elearning services to both educational institutions and the private sector.

Dr Aruna Palipana Loughborough University

Aruna Palipana is the Learning Technology Manager at Loughborough University's Mathematics Education Centre since its establishment in 2002. Aruna's e-learning experience includes development and evaluation of educational software, web based distance learning and computer aided assessments.  He was involved in e-learning projects such as HELM, EASEIT-Eng, BestMaths, ExPOUND and FETLAR. With a first degree and a PhD both in Mechanical Engineering and five years of experience as a university Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, Aruna has a good understanding of the mathematical needs of the engineering undergraduate.

Janette Matthews Loughborough University

Janette Matthews is the Project Pedagogic Officer in the Mathematics Education Centre at Loughborough University and has played a major role in the recent upgrade of mathcentre and the deposit of resources to OpenJorum and FETLAR.

She is a Support Tutor in the Eureka Centre for Mathematical Confidence working with students with Specific Learning Differences and provides workshops for students preparing for Employers' Numeracy Tests.  

Moira Petrie SIGMA CETL

Moira Petrie is Assistant Director of sigma - a Centre for Excellence in the Provision of University-wide Mathematics and Statistics Support - funded by HEFCE and run collaboratively by Loughborough and Coventry Universities. sigma is building on the extensive experience in the support of thousands of students from across these universities for whom mathematical and statistical methods are required components of their undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. All materials developed are made available through the mathcentre site.

Moira has several years experience of working in industry, in a number of sectors, including e-learning, IT training and electronic media production.

Shaun Canon EBS Trust

Shaun managed the recent upgrading of mathtutor and co-managed the original production. He was responsible for the wider distribution of the resources outside the UK.

Peter Coltman University of Leeds

Peter Coltman has worked all his life in educational television, both in Britain and abroad, and mostly in higher education. He has won the Educational Television Association's premier award four times. In retirement, he now works with the Citizens Advice Bureau and is a trustee for the York Travellers Trust, Solace and The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Nick Blenkin SIGMA CETL

Nick Blenkin was sigma’s industrial placement student at Coventry for 2009/10. He has successfully completed the first two years of an undergraduate Mathematics and Computing degree at Coventry University. Nick was involved with the testing of the mathcentre website and the production of several tutorial videos.

Professor Tony Croft Loughborough University

Tony has taught mathematics to students in further and higher education for over thirty years. He is currently one of the Directors of sigma - the Centre for Excellence in university-wide mathematics and statistics support and is Professor of Mathematics Education in the Mathematics Education Centre at Loughborough University. He continues to work to ensure that all students entering higher education who need additional help with mathematics, have access to quality resources.

He was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2008.

Janice Gardner EBS Trust

Janice Gardner helped to develop, promote and publicise mathcentre and its sister project mathtutor. She was formerly EBS Trust Company Secretary and managed projects using new media for distance learning. She continues to maintain a keen interest in developments.

Michael Grove Higher Education Academy

Michael Grove is Director of the National HE STEM Programme which seeks to increase participation within the STEM disciplines at university level, and enhance the delivery of STEM programmes of study, particularly in relation to encouraging participation amongst those currently within the workforce.  Prior to this, Michael was Assistant Director of the Higher Education Academy Maths,Stats & OR Network, and has previously worked as a lecturer of Mathematics & Physics in the FE sector.

Professor Duncan Lawson Coventry University

Professor Duncan Lawson is an Associate Dean in the Faculty of Engineering and Computing at Coventry University. For the last 15 years he has been Director of the Mathematics Support Centre which provides drop-in support for all students in the University on any issues relating to mathematics and statistics.  He was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2005.

Duncan is a Director of sigma, a collaboration between the Mathematics Support Centre at Coventry University and the Mathematics Learning Support Centre at Loughborough University, which was designed by HEFCE as a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) in 2005 and has undertaken a wide range of work to promote mathematics support both within the two host institutions and throughout the sector.

He is Director of the Maths, Stats and OR Network, a Higher Education Academy Subject Centre based at the University of Birmingham.  In November 2009, he was elected Chair of the Joint Mathematical Council.

Paul Newman Loughborough University

Paul Newman joined Loughborough University in 2003, to design and develop the original mathcentre website and resource database. 

He now works for the Engineering Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (engCETL), where he develops e-learning tools and applications.

Tom Roper University of Leeds

Tom Roper is Head of the School of Education at the University at Leeds and previous Head of Initial Teacher Training. He spent 17 years teaching mathematics in schools and colleges before moving into mathematics teacher training. As well as training teachers of mathematics, he teaches mathematics to first year undergraduate physicists. 

Dr David Saunders Symplekta

David Saunders has extensive experience of distance education. For many years he was a BBC producer with the Open University, and has also taught maths at Worcester College, Oxford. For the past ten years he has combined mathematical research with activities as an educational software developer; he now plans to concentrate on research.

Professor Mike Savage University of Leeds

Mike's academic career spans 40+ years teaching mathematics and theoretical mechanics whilst researching in fluid dynamics. His contributions to work at the school/university transition include:

1. Mechanics in Action Project (Co-Director) 1990-96.

2. Measuring the Mathematics Problem (Co-Author), Engineering Council, London 2000.

3. Newton's Mechanics: Who Needs It? (Co-author) @Findings and Recommendations of a two day seminar, Cambridge, 2008.

Current interests concern the provision of effective mathematics and mechanics support for students entering physical science and engineering courses in higher education.

Dr. Jim Stevenson EBS Trust

We remember with thanks and great fondness the contribution of Dr Jim Stevenson who died February 2007. As Chief Executive of the Educational Broadcasting Services Trust and former BBC Open University Head of Programmes and Education Secretary, his understanding of distance learning through television and new media inspired and guided development of the mathtutor resource.

Dr. Sarah Williamson SIGMA CETL

Sarah Williamson is the eLearning Change Champion for Cardiff University. From August 2005 to May 2007 Sarah was the Assistant Director of sigma - a Centre for Excellence in the Provision of University-wide Mathematics and Statistics Support - funded by HEFCE and run collaboratively by Loughborough and Coventry Universities.

Sarah has a PhD in Chemical Engineering and has previous experience of working in industry, teaching undergraduate engineering students, directing the LTSN MathsTEAM project and working for the Higher Education Academy - Engineering Subject Centre.