Ewan Kirk

Dr Ewan Kirk

Co-founder and co-chair, Turner Kirk Trust

Dr Ewan Kirk is a technology entrepreneur, former President of GAM Systematic Cantab, and Chairman of the Management Committee of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences. A seed investor in startups in Cambridge and London, he has been active in philanthropy since 2007.

Ewan has been involved in a number of ventures to commercialise, apply and support science, technology and mathematics research.

He is best known for founding Cantab Capital Partners, a science-driven quantitative investment management firm that uses data analysis to research and implement systematic investment strategies. Between 2007 and 2016, Cantab grew from a team of two with £30m AUM to 60 people with over £4bn AUM and was consistently ranked as one of the top-performing quant funds. In 2016 it was acquired by GAM Investments. He went on to serve as President of GAM Systematic Cantab until 2021.

A partner at Goldman Sachs between 1992 and 2005, Ewan was responsible for leading their 120-strong quantitative technology group. He previously served as Director of Innovation at Scientific Generics (now Sagentia), a consultancy providing scientific solutions to business problems, and founded DaLEK Software, which developed the Microdraft CAD software package.

Alongside his wife Dr. Patricia Turner, he founded the Turner Kirk Trust, an evidence-led, strategic charitable foundation, which supports STEM, conservation, and early childhood development causes in the UK and the developing world. The Trust is one of the largest private funders of fundamental mathematics research in the UK.

In 2015, the couple made a £5m gift to the University of Cambridge to establish the Cantab Capital Institute for the Mathematics of Information.

Ewan holds a PhD in General Relativity, MAST in Mathematics (Part III, Cambridge Mathematical Tripos), and a BSc in Natural Philosophy and Astronomy.