Parent Mentoring
In 2015, Shared Parental Leave was introduced for all members of staff who meet the eligibility criteria, which is aimed at allowing new parents to more equally share responsibility for childcare and to support fathers and secondary adopters to take a period of paid parental leave.
As a result, Imperial recognises that both men and women would benefit from support in the transition in becoming a working parent and has now extended the maternity mentoring scheme to include new fathers and adopters. The scheme is now being re-launched as the Parent Mentoring Scheme.
Mentors are not trained counsellors or experts but volunteers who have been trained in practical mentoring skills and can share their personal experiences and offer support and advice on a range of issues around being a working parent or parent to be.
The scheme is informal, so it is for individuals to contact a mentor directly who would be most suitable to their needs. Below is a list of Parent Mentors available with contact details.
If you have any queries in relation to the scheme, please contact Emily Michael, Employee Engagement Coordinator.
Parent Mentors
- Dr Colin Cotter - Professor in the Department of Mathematics
- Siobhain Griffin - HR Partner, Faculty of Medicine
- Dr Simon Hepworth – Director of Enterprise
- Dr Aimee Morgans - Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Dr Kevin Murphy - Professor in Endocrinology, Department of Medicine
- Dr Vicky Salem - Clinical Senior Lecturer in Bioengineering
- Professor Spencer Sherwin - Department of Aeronautics
- Dr David Wilson - Head of Research Support, Imperial Business School
I am a professor in the Department of Mathematics. I joined the department in November 2013, having previously been in the Department of Aeronautics since 2006. I research applied numerical analysis and scientific computing, in particular the design, analysis and implementation of methods and algorithms for numerical weather prediction and ocean modelling. I'm part of the Mathematics of Planet Earth CDT team. I'm currently supervising three PhD students and two PDRAs. I have one daughter transitioning to secondary school and one son at primary school. In the pre-pandemic era, I used childcare near home (breakfast and after school clubs) to share responsibilities with my wife, who works for the Civil Service (hopefully, these childcare options become available again soon). I work full time, and in the pre-pandemic era, I worked one day a week at home, initially to look after pre-school kids but more recently to provide a balance with after school childcare.
I have been an HR Partner in the Faculty of Medicine since September 2019, and I am responsible for ensuring a comprehensive and efficient HR service is provided to the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial CBS Facility and the Faculty Centre. This covers approximately 800 members of staff. I manage a team of 4 staff consisting of an HR Adviser, 2 Senior HR Administrators and an HR Assistant.
My role is to connect more of Imperial’s academics, students and discoveries with leading entrepreneurs and pioneers from the industry. My ultimate goal is to generate more opportunities for collaboration that make a real-world impact. I joined Imperial in September 2009 with 14 years of corporate experience in the automotive and electronics sectors. I was a founder of the Corporate Partnerships activity at Imperial and led the development of the Imperial Business Partners membership programme and the Foresight Practice. I am currently Chairman of the board of Imperial Consultants Ltd (ICON) and sits on the Innovations Partnership Board, which oversees the technology transfer operations of the university.
I am a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering. My research interests are sound, flames and aerodynamics. 
I am a Professor in Endocrinology in the Department of Medicine. I run a small research team investigating how the gut senses food to regulate appetite. I am Director of Postgraduate Studies (Research) for the Department of Medicine and responsible for the progress of the approximately 330 postgraduate students we host. I have a number of teaching responsibilities, including being Director of the Intercalated BSc in Endocrinology. In addition, I am heavily involved in Outreach for the Faculty of Medicine; I'm an admissions tutor responsible for widening participation in medicine and lead for our flagship 'Pathways to Medicine' programme, which is supported by the social mobility charity the Sutton Trust.
I have traversed the clinical academic training route at Imperial, from PhD to NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Diabetes and Endocrinology. I am now a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Bioengineering, having completed an Intermediate Clinician Scientist fellowship and Honorary Consultant in Endocrinology and GIM. My lab is based at the South Ken campus, and my research interest is in vivo functional imaging platforms to understand the neuroendocrinology of obesity and glucose homeostasis. I am currently working 80% on the laboratory side and 20% at Charing Cross (AMU and some diabetes clinics). I flexibly trained during my final years as a registrar. 
I am currently a Professor in the Department of Aeronautics, where I have worked at Imperial for the past twenty-five years. My research involves developing and applying advanced computational methods typically applied to fluid mechanics problems ranging from biomedical flows to formula one cars. I serve on the Departmental Management Committee in Aeronautics and have held the role of Director of Research Computing Service within Imperial since 2017. 
I am Head of Research Support in the Business School, which encompasses support for grant applications, the School’s REF submission, research policy and most other things that can be lumped together under the broad heading of research support.