When Professor Nira Chamberlain OBE was told at school he should consider becoming a boxer, it wasn’t because he lacked brilliance. It was because someone lacked imagination. Luckily, his father didn’t.
“You don’t need anybody’s permission to be a great mathematician,” he said.
And that’s exactly what Professor Nira Chamberlain OBE became.
Today, Professor Nira Chamberlain OBE is one of the UK’s most influential applied mathematicians—a global leader in industrial modelling, a champion for inclusion in STEM, and a voice who has brought mathematics to stages, sectors, and minds that might otherwise have closed the door.
Professor Nira Chamberlain OBE has six mathematical doctorates and has spent over 30 years building mathematical models and simulation algorithms to solve real-world problems. His work has shaped naval engineering, risk analysis, complex forecasting and industry strategy across the world. He is one of the few British mathematicians featured in the Encyclopedia of Mathematics and Society, which highlights not just his theories, but their impact.
In 2022, Professor Nira Chamberlain OBE was awarded an OBE for services to mathematical sciences. He has served as President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, President of the Mathematical Association, and remains a Visiting Professor at Loughborough University. In 2023, he was named FIN and Forbes Best of Africa Excellent Mathematician of the Year.
But titles are not what make Professor Nira Chamberlain OBE extraordinary. His brilliance is not just in equations—it’s in how he brings them to life.
Professor Nira Chamberlain OBE’s talks have filled the Royal Institution, the Royal Society, and Oxford’s lecture halls. He has headlined science festivals and delivered keynote addresses around the world. But whether he’s explaining “The Mathematics that can Stop an AI Apocalypse” or breaking down the formulas behind “Saving Aston Villa”, he speaks not just to academics, but to everyone—especially to those who never thought mathematics had space for them.
In 2018, the public voted Professor Nira Chamberlain OBE the World’s Most Interesting Mathematician, in an international competition designed to communicate the beauty of the subject. It was no surprise. He doesn’t just teach maths—he embodies it: as a language of justice, of wonder, of power.
Professor Nira Chamberlain OBE has been listed for five consecutive years in the PowerList Top 100 Most Influential Black People in the UK. He is recognised by the Science Council as one of the top 100 UK scientists. He has appeared in Who’s Who, written for national publications, and led work that continues to change the face of STEM.
But still—Professor Nira Chamberlain OBE returns to classrooms. To Saturday schools. To talks in city centres. He published a method for teaching percentages and long multiplication without a calculator—developed while helping students in an inner-city maths session. Because while he has stood on the world’s biggest stages, he never forgets who he once was—and who’s still watching.
Professor Nira Chamberlain OBE is a pioneer not just because of what he has achieved, but because of who he has brought with him. He opens doors. He changes minds. He proves that brilliance isn’t rare—it’s too often overlooked.
And every time Professor Nira Chamberlain OBE stands behind a microphone or in front of a whiteboard, he offers what his father once gave him: permission not needed. The right to belong. The maths of possibility.
