Meet Our Trustees

We value our Board of Trustees who bring a wide range of knowledge and expertise to the organisation. Their experience helps guide and shape the future of The Oxford Trust. They ensure the work that we do and the goals of the organisation are in line with our vision. Select individual profiles to find out more about our Trustees.

Dr John Boyle

Chairman

Dr John Boyle, Chairman

John Boyle is co-founder and Managing Director of Oxford Computer Consultants. He gained his first degree with Honours in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nottingham. He was seconded to Cambridge University to work with Professor Alistair MacFarlane on Artificial Intelligence techniques for Control Engineering Design. He was awarded a PhD and the IEEE Control Prize for this research. John started his company in the Oxford Trust’s first incubation centre, known as The Step Centre, in 1989. John became a Trustee in September 2014 and was appointed Chairman on 31st March 2015.

Jude Bennett

Trustee

Jude Bennett, Trustee

Jude Bennett has been involved in education for 32 years. She gained a BEd (Hons) from St Pauls and St Mary’s in 1988, taught in the secondary sector and then took at transition course in primary education in 2000. Since 2012, she has been Headteacher at St Andrew’s Primary in Headington. She is also a local leader of education and works as a School Improvement Partner for the local authority.

Paul Dean

Trustee

Paul Dean, Trustee

Paul Dean is an experienced Non-Executive Director and Audit Chair, who currently sits on the Boards of a number of quoted businesses including RM PLC. Earlier in his career, he was Chief Financial Officer of Foseco plc and then Ultra Electronics Holdings plc. He has an MA in Modern History from Oxford University and is an FCMA. Paul became a Trustee in January 2016 and heads up the Trust’s Finance and Investment Committee.

Head and shoulder photo of Sarah Dry, wearing glasses

Dr Sarah Dry

Trustee

Dr Sarah Dry, Trustee

Sarah is a science writer and historian of science. She is the author of a history of climate science titled Waters of the World: The story of the scientists who unravelled the mysteries of the oceans, atmosphere and ice sheets and made the planet whole; The Newton Papers: The strange and true odyssey of Isaac Newton’s manuscripts; and Curie: A life. She is currently a researcher with the Making Climate History project the University of Cambridge and a Trustee of the Science Museum.

Professor Alistair Fitt

Trustee

Professor Alistair Fitt, Trustee

Professor Alistair Fitt is Vice-Chancellor at Oxford Brookes University. Alistair joined OB in March 2011 from the University of Southampton where he worked for 22 years, latterly as the Head of the School of Mathematics and then Pro Vice-Chancellor, International. He studied at Lincoln College, Oxford, and specialises in industrial applied mathematics research. Alistair’s external involvements include close connections with EPSRC and other funding agencies. He is a long-standing member of the Council of the IMA (Institute of Mathematics and its Applications) and the Executive Secretary of ICIAM, the worldwide organisation for Applied Mathematics. Alistair joined the board of Trustees in September 2014.

Jonathan Flint

Jonathan Flint CBE

Trustee

Jonathan Flint CBE, Trustee

Jonathan is former Chief Executive of Oxford Instruments (OI), founded by the Trust’s patrons the late Sir Martin and Lady Audrey Wood. Jonathan, a physics graduate from Imperial College and Fellow of the Institute of Physics, started work as a systems engineer for the Marconi Company and held a number of senior roles before joining OI in 2005. During his time as CEO (2005–2016), OI grew significantly – becoming a leading supplier of high value systems to the physics research community as well as industrial customers.

Currently Jonathan is Executive Chair of the Oxford start-up Refyn Ltd, a Director of Oxford University Innovation and, in addition, he has been a member of the Board of the UK National Neutron Source at Harwell and on the economic advisory Board for the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council. He served on the Council of the Institute of Physics as President from 2019 to 2021. In 2012, he was awarded a CBE for services to business and science.

Monawar Hussain

Imam Monawar Hussain MBE DL

Trustee

Imam Monawar Hussain MBE DL, Trustee

Monawar is an experienced entrepreneur and social innovator. He is Imam at Eton College and founded The Oxford Foundation, a charity that promotes religious and racial harmony through (mainly) educational and arts-based programmes. He has devised, pioneered and successfully piloted a unique educational programme confronting violent extremist ideology, aspects of which have been published and the programme has also been utilised to train RE teachers in the UK.

Monawar sits on a number of advisory boards including the Department for Communities & Local Government Review of Muslim Faith Leader Training; the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education and the Religious Education Council Resilience Advisory Board.  In addition, he is a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of Oxfordshire.

Megan Morys-Carter

Megan Morys-Carter

Trustee

Megan Morys-Carter, Trustee

Megan is the Executive Director of the Entrepreneurship Centre at the Said Business School, University of Oxford. Her professional career has spanned a range of sectors including energy, transportation, cryogenics, space, healthcare technologies, medical devices, construction, and property management. Megan has a wealth of experience in innovation ecosystems, strategy, change management and science commercialisation. She is also a Trustee of the Leys Community Development Initiative in Blackbird Leys and sits on the Advisory Board of the angel network Oxford Investment Opportunities Network (OION). Megan joined the board of Trustees in September 2014.

Alison Noble

Professor Alison Noble

Trustee

Professor Alison Noble, Trustee

Professor Alison Noble OBE FREng FRS is the University of Oxford Technikos Professor of Biomedical Engineering and an Associate Head of the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division acting as academic lead of the divisional strategy on corporate partnerships and innovation. She is a European Research Council Advanced Research award holder. Alison is best known for her group’s research on ultrasound image analysis, much of which has involved inter-disciplinary collaborators with clinical partners. Throughout her career she has had an interest in the commercialization of scientific research as a pathway to realizing impact of academic research and she is Chief Technology Officer of Intelligent Ultrasound Ltd, a spin-out from her research laboratory. Alison is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (2008) and a Fellow of the Royal Society (2017). She is also a Trustee of the Institution of Engineering Technology (IET) and was awarded an OBE for services to science and engineering in 2013. Alison joined the board of Trustees in September 2014

Lynne Pebworth

Lynne Pebworth

Trustee

Lynne Pebworth, Trustee

Lynne has a degree in Chemistry, PGCE and Masters in Education Management. She taught chemistry in comprehensive schools from 1980 until 1999 and became department head at John Mason School. She then taught PGCE students at Reading before becoming a full time member of the science advisory team at Oxfordshire County Council’s education department. Since 2010 she has been a full-time consultant in science education and education management. She contributes to courses for teachers for the Oxfordshire Teaching Schools Alliance. Lynne joined the board of Trustees in September 2014.

Nicola McConville

Nicola McConville

Trustee

Nicola McConville, Trustee

Nicola is a partner at law firm Mishcon de Reya and has worked extensively with science-based companies and social ventures, predominantly in Oxfordshire, for nearly 20 years. Nicola is heavily involved in the Oxfordshire ecosystem. As well as providing legal advice, she mentors on various accelerator and incubator programmes, sits on advisory boards for research into diversity, and helps to curate and deliver ‘Structuring for Success’- a free educational programme for founders of early stage companies in Oxfordshire. Outside of work she has a young daughter and she is passionate about making science accessible (and fun) to all.

David Reid

David Reid

Trustee

David Reid, Trustee

David is an expert in strategic communications and is a member of the executive leadership team of Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a global charity that supports education, research, and innovation to make the world a safer place. His role at the Foundation is to lead on creating global campaigns to raise awareness of the world’s biggest safety challenges and to build partnerships with major international organisations and UN agencies.

He also has a long history in science communication having been the Director of The Times Cheltenham Science Festival and led public engagement for various organisations including the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). He is the founder and executive chairman of Matter PR, one of the world’s only communications agencies specialising in helping science and engineering organisations.

David is also a part-time rowing coach and the head coach for St. Peter’s College, Oxford.

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