Milton Mermikides (born 26 May 1971) is a British composer, guitarist and academic of Greek heritage. His diverse output includes compositions, academic papers, talks (TED (conference)) and musical performances. He has worked with a number of artists including Tim Minchin, Pat Martino, John Williams, Tod Machover, Steve Winwood and Brian Eno and research bodies such as the Wellcome Trust, UCL Neuroscience, British Library, Science Museum, Aldeburgh Music and the Smithsonian Institution. Mermikides is widely recognised as a leading figure in data sonification. His 2004 work Bloodlines, written with his sister Dr Alex Mermikides, received critical acclaim. Bloodlines was created by translating his daily blood results, whilst suffering from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, into each second of a musical composition. He currently holds the position of Reader in Music, Head of Composition and Director of the MMUS Programme at the University of Surrey. He is also a professor of Jazz Guitar at the Royal College of Music in London and previously held the post of Head of Music Technology and Lecturer in Music at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2014 Mermikides co-founded the International Guitar Research Centre (IGRC) with Stephen Goss and John Williams. Background Milton John Mermikides was born in Hampton, England in 1971 to CERN nuclear physicist Michael Mermikides and Law Student Olga Lioufis. He travelled widely as a child, receiving music classes from Ivor Cutler at Fox Primary School in Kensington, London and eventually attending Highgate School in North London. He gained a BSc in Analytical and Descriptive Economics from the London School of Economics and a BMus in Jazz Performance and Composition from Berklee College of Music (Boston, USA). Whilst at Berklee he studied Jazz Improvisation with Ed Tomassi, Hal Crook and John Damian. Mermikides is an atheist and sceptic and a vocal opponent to the Anti-vax movement. He has been associated with the sceptic movement and has collaborated with George Hrab (with several appearances and references on his podcast and an interview of George by Milton on his album Trebuchet – the 'Virtual liner notes' ), the QED conference (for which he wrote the theme tune), the James Randi Educational Foundation and The Amazing Meeting. He was also interviewed on Meet the Skeptics. Compositions His music blends data sonification, Jazz, modernist, generative, world music, IDM, groove, rock and electroacoustic genres. These are informed by research into musical theory, cognition & perception, scientific concepts, natural processes, algorithmic