Marika Taylor is Professor and Head of the School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Southampton. She carried out her doctorate in string theory and gravity at Cambridge under the supervision of Stephen Hawking. Following postdoctoral work in Harvard and Utrecht, Marika became a permanent staff member of the University of Amsterdam. She moved to Southampton in 2012 to develop a new research centre interfacing between mathematics and the physical sciences.
Marika has extensive experience of working in advisory and leadership roles with research councils and professional bodies, including UKRI and European research councils; the Dutch Royal Society (KNAW); the Royal Society University Research Fellow committee and the REF 2021 Mathematics subpanel.