After studying Mathematics at the University of Warwick, Simon worked in finance and IT for 25 years. Returning to academia, he took an MSc and PhD in Statistics at University College London. He stayed on in the Statistics Department there, and taught a wide range of courses in Statistics and Probability for 11 years. His research interests include effective teaching of statistics and probability, composite surrogates, philosophy and history of probability and statistics.

Prof. Harden now work part time, mostly for charities. He enjoys film, classical music, running, cycling and George Eliot.