Birkbeck, University of London in the context of "Association of Commonwealth Universities"

Hetan Shah is the chief executive of the British Academy and the chair of Our World in Data. In 2024 he was appointed by the UK Parliament to the Board of the National Audit Office, the UK's spending watchdog. He is a visiting professor at King's College London and a Fellow of Birkbeck, University of London. He served as executive director of the Royal Statistical Society from 2011 to 2019.

The University of London Worldwide (previously called the University of London International Academy) is the central academic body that manages external study programmes within the federal University of London. All courses are branded as simply "University of London", having previously been "University of London International Programmes" and earlier "University of London External Programmes". It claims to be the world's oldest distance and flexible learning body, established under the University of London's royal charter of 1858, although academics have disputed whether it offered distance learning at that time.

Several member institutions of the University of London offer degrees through the programme, including Birkbeck, Goldsmiths, King's College London, London School of Economics, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Queen Mary, Royal Holloway, Royal Veterinary College, School of Oriental and African Studies and University College London.

Anthony Clifford Grayling CBE FRSA FRSL (/ˈɡreɪlɪŋ/; born 3 April 1949) is a British philosopher and author. He was born in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and spent most of his childhood there and in Nyasaland (now Malawi). Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities (now Northeastern University London), an independent undergraduate college in London. He is also a supernumerary fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford, where he formerly taught.

Grayling is the author of about 30 books on philosophy, biography, history of ideas, human rights and ethics, including The Refutation of Scepticism (1985), The Future of Moral Values (1997), Wittgenstein (1992), What Is Good? (2000), The Meaning of Things (2001), The Good Book (2011), The God Argument (2013), The Age of Genius: The Seventeenth Century and the Birth of the Modern Mind (2016) and Democracy and its Crises (2017).

Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm (/ˈhɒbz.bɔːm/; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. His best-known works include his tetralogy about what he called the "long 19th century" (The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848, The Age of Capital: 1848–1875 and The Age of Empire: 1875–1914) and the "short 20th century" (The Age of Extremes), and an edited volume that introduced the influential idea of "invented traditions". He was a life-long Marxist, and his socio-political convictions influenced the character of his work.

Hobsbawm was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and spent his childhood mainly in Vienna and Berlin. Following the death of his parents and the rise to power of Adolf Hitler, Hobsbawm moved to London with his adoptive family. After serving in the Second World War, he obtained his PhD in history at the University of Cambridge. In 1998, he was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour. He was president of Birkbeck, University of London, from 2002 until his death. In 2003, he received the Balzan Prize for European History since 1900, "for his brilliant analysis of the troubled history of 20th century Europe and for his ability to combine in-depth historical research with great literary talent."

Sir Edward Jonathan Davey (born 25 December 1965) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 to 2015 and as Deputy Leader to Jo Swinson in 2019. An "Orange Book" liberal, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston and Surbiton since 2017, a seat he previously held from 1997 to 2015.

Davey was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. After both his parents died before he was 16, Davey was raised by his grandparents, and subsequently attended Nottingham High School. He then went on to study at Jesus College, Oxford, and Birkbeck, University of London. He worked as an economics researcher and financial analyst before being elected to the House of Commons. Davey served as a Liberal Democrat spokesperson to Charles Kennedy, Menzies Campbell and Nick Clegg from 2005 to 2010, in various portfolios including education and skills, trade and industry, and foreign and Commonwealth affairs.

Laura Mulvey (born 15 August 1941) is a British feminist film theorist and filmmaker. She was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She is currently professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck, University of London. She previously taught at Bulmershe College, the London College of Printing, the University of East Anglia, and the British Film Institute.

During the 2008–09 academic year, Mulvey was the Mary Cornille Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities at Wellesley College. Mulvey has been awarded three honorary degrees: in 2006 a Doctor of Letters from the University of East Anglia; in 2009 a Doctor of Law from Concordia University; and in 2012 a Bloomsday Doctor of Literature from University College Dublin.