Biografisk notat

Anthony Croft (Tony) is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Mathematics Education, Loughborough University, UK.  He was awarded a first-class degree in mathematics from the University of Leeds in 1981 and received his PhD in Numerical Analysis from Keele University in 1990. He has around 40 years’ experience of teaching mathematics, which he gained in a variety of further and higher education institutions. In addition to co-authoring several highly regarded and long-standing textbooks, including Engineering Mathematics – a foundation for electronic, electrical, communications and systems engineers – and Foundation Mathematics, both published by Pearson, he is well-known for championing the provision of university-wide mathematics support for those students who find its study particularly challenging.  In 2008, he was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship and the Institute of Mathematics and Applications (IMA) Gold Medal in 2016 for outstanding contribution to the improvement of the teaching of mathematics. In 2023, he was elected to the Council of the IMA. In his spare time, he enjoys playing and listening to music, performing with a local amateur orchestra and folk music bands.

Robert Davison graduated with a first-class honours degree in mathematics from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.  He progressed to Cranfield University, gaining a PhD in applicable mathematics. After working in industry, he took up his first teaching position in a college of further education.  He later moved to Trent Polytechnic (now Nottingham Trent University).  While there, he contributed to a curriculum-development group that developed an A-level in discrete mathematics, and he co-authored two books on decision mathematics to support the new syllabus. A further move took him to Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University (D.M.U.)). While there, he took a secondment to work in the U.S.A., returning to De Montfort University, where he established the university’s first mathematics support centre. In addition to his role at D.M.U., he worked as an auditor for the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education for over 10 years. His books, co-authored with Professor Tony Croft, include Foundation Maths, Introduction to Engineering Mathematics, Engineering Mathematics and Mathematics for Engineers. Some of these books have been translated into Kazakh and Korean. In his spare time, he enjoys cycling, hill-walking, writing fiction, and making amateur movies.  He plays piano and harmonica.