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The Vice-Chancellor is the University’s chief executive. 

I am its most senior academic and also its most senior administrative officer. 

Biography

I have been Vice-Chancellor of the University of York since 2002.

I was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Christ’s College, Cambridge.  I have worked at the Universities of Sussex, Banaras, Oxford and York, and with leading companies such as Alcan, Elsevier, General Electric and Rolls-Royce. 

I have advised agencies such as EPSRC, NASA, the EU, and the UK, Dutch, Spanish and German governments.  At Oxford, I was Cookson Professor of Materials, Head of the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, a Fellow of Jesus and St Catherine’s Colleges, founder of the Begbroke Science Park, and on the Boards of the Kobe Institute and Isis Innovation. 

At York, I am on the Boards of Yorkshire Innovation, the White Rose Consortium, Worldwide Universities Network, the National Science Learning Centre, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Centre for Low Carbon Futures.

Roles and responsibilities

What is your day job?

My job is to provide strategic leadership for all the University's activities:

• Overseeing its academic and organisational development
• Supporting staff and students
• Promoting the University throughout the UK and worldwide

Role on SMG

I chair the Senior Management Group (SMG) and oversee the agenda and minutes. 

My role on SMG is to ensure that all important issues facing the University are debated and discussed in detail, so that agreed policies and decisions can be presented for approval at Senate and Council. 

I lead these debates, ensuring input from all parts of the University community, and acting as the final arbiter of important decisions.

About me

What makes me tick?

I enjoy working with outstanding colleagues.  I enjoy appointing them and helping them to do a great job.  

I enjoy seeing students develop their own abilities and go on to rewarding lives.  I enjoy supporting great research, advancing human understanding and contributing to solving the problems of the world.  I enjoy promoting the University as an outstanding organisation throughout the world.

I like working hard but I also like taking time off.  My main external activities are mountaineering, playing the guitar and collecting modern art.

My vision for the University

My vision is to make the University of York a world leader in the creation of knowledge through fundamental and applied research, the sharing of knowledge by teaching students from varied backgrounds, and the application of knowledge for the health, prosperity and well-being of people and society.

Achievements

My research has contributed to fundamental scientific advances and improvements in many industrial products.  I have supervised over 130 research students and postdocs, published over 300 papers and books, given over 100 invited talks in more than 15 countries, and am on the ISI Most Cited Researchers List. 

I was awarded the Rosenhain and Platinum Medals of the Institute of Materials, am an Honorary Professor at Shenyang, Zhejiang and Nanjing Universities, a Member of Academia Europea and the World Technologies Network, and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, the Institute of Physics, the Chartered Management Institute and the Royal Academy of Engineering. I was elected to the last as 'a world authority on materials and manufacturing'.

Register of interests

Register of Interests (September 2012)

1. Rolls Royce
   Consultant (paid but donated to the University)
2. Progress in Materials Science
   Co-ordinating Editor (paid but donated to the University)
3. Royal Academy of Engineering
   Vice-President and Board Member
4. Worldwide Universities Network
   Board member
5. Science City York
   Board member
6. Yorkshire Universities
   Board member
7. National Science Learning Centre (Myscience.Co.Ltd and Enthuse)
   Board member
8. White Rose
   Chair and Board member
9. University of York Pension Trust Ltd
   Board member
10. York Economic Partnership
    Board member
11. Centre for Low Carbon Futures
    Board member
12. Employers' Pensions Forum (EPF) and USS Sub-Group
    Chair
13. Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership
    Board member
14. Russell Group
    Board member and Director

[3-14 are non-paid; 4-14 are on behalf of the University]