Page 27 - 2018 Powerlist

5 The Top 10

Dr Nira
Chamberlain

Principal Consultant,
Babcock International
Group; Professional
Mathematician

NEW
2018

ailed by the Science Council as one of the UK’s aircraft carrier should be built – when the designs were
top 100 scientists, Dr Chamberlain is also the first still at computer stage and before the first sheet of steel had
Hblack mathematician to appear in the prestigious been cut.
autobiographical directory Who’s Who. He is renowned He has also devised a new method of long multiplication
for using algorithms to solve complex problems across that is widely used in schools as far afield as Malaysia.
engineering and industry. Dr Chamberlain is one of the BBC Academy Expert Voices
An inspirational thinker, he describes maths as – a database for TV and radio producers of BAME experts in
a “beautiful and powerful subject – the poetry of their field. A passionate believer in inspiring young people to
logical ideas”. take up maths, he is also a member of Speakers for Schools, a
He is currently principal consultant for data science network of influential figures who give talks to schools, free
and mathematical modelling at Babcock International of charge, in a bid to demystify certain professions.
Group, and vice-president of the Institute of Mathematics In 2016, he was a specialist speaker at the London
and its Applications (IMA). Nira has been described by International Youth Science Forum, a conference bringing
Loughborough University, where he is a visiting fellow, as together 500 of the top science students from around the
one of its ‘greatest scientific minds’. world, and he is part of the National HE STEM Programme
He has more than 25 years’ experience developing aimed at recruiting more students to STEM subjects in
mathematical solutions across industries in the UK, France, higher education.
the Netherlands, Germany and Israel. A school careers adviser once told him he had the jawline
Successes include the creation of a mathematical cost of a boxer. But while his love of maths led him to global
capability trade-off, which led to the commission and acclaim, he says solving problems is not unlike stepping into
creation of the Royal Navy’s £6.2 billion HMS Queen the ring: “[It] can be like fighting an invisible boxer, but I find
Elizabeth. His model convinced the client that the ambitious the harder the battle, the sweeter the victory.”

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