Professor Brian Cantor to be new Vice-Chancellor of the University of York
Posted on 30 November 2001
In his current position, Professor Cantor manages the affairs of eight departments, 1,300 staff, 4,000 students and a budget of some £75 million. He is a former Head of the Department of Materials and has worked at Oxford for 20 years. Previous to that, he taught at Sussex University for nine years.
Professor Cantor is regarded as a world authority on materials manufacturing and has acted as a consultant for manufacturing companies all over the world. He describes himself as a 'confirmed internationalist' and has established links with other universities in the US, Japan, China, Korea, India and Eastern Europe.
He and his researchers also have many international industrial collaborations with companies which include AEA Technology, Alcan, BAe, Cookson, Johnson-Matthey and Rolls-Royce. Professor Cantor is a Member of the Board of Directors of Isis Innovation Ltd, Oxford's spin-off company for the commercial exploitation of its research. He is also a founder and Academic Director of Oxford University's Begbroke Business and Science Park.
Professor Cantor said, "York is an outstanding University with an excellent academic record in teaching and research. I am excited by the challenge of leading the University through its next period of development. I am looking forward to working with everyone involved."
"We believe we have been very fortunate to secure Brian Cantor as the next Vice Chancellor for the University of York," said Gordon Horsfield, Chair of the University of York Council.
"His previous roles at Oxford in teaching, research and innovation, and as Head of one of its five divisions, are an excellent preparation for the responsibilities he will assume when Ron Cooke retires next summer.
"In selecting Brian we have been very mindful of the challenges posed in continuing to develop the University's excellent reputation which the whole team at York has worked so hard to establish under Ron's leadership."
Professor Cantor, who is widowed, is 53 and has two grown-up sons. He and his partner, Gill Partridge, will move to York during the summer. He enjoys mountain walking, rock climbing, playing the guitar, modern art and listening to music of all kinds.
Notes to editors:
- Brian Cantor was born in Manchester and educated at Manchester Grammar School. He has a BA in Natural Sciences and a PhD in Metallurgy, both from Cambridge. He worked as a Research Assistant then Lecturer in the School of Engineering, University of Sussex from 1972 to 1981.
- Professor Cantor is currently Cookson Professor of Materials at the University of Oxford, a Professorial Fellow at St Catherine's College and the founding Head of the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. He was Head of the Department of Materials for five years.
- His research centres on understanding the fundamental physics and chemistry of the manufacture of materials in order to control their structure and properties for engineering applications. He has contributed to improvements in the manufacturing of a range of products, including electrical transformers, pistons, car brakes, aeroengine coatings and lithographic sheet.
- Professor Cantor's expertise is much in demand by national and international bodies. He has acted as an assessor of scientific projects and programmes for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the European Union, the Department of Trade and Industry, NASA, and the Dutch, Singaporean and Spanish governments. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, the Institute of Physics, the Royal Microscopical Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering.
- The University of York has established itself in less than 40 years as one of Britain's leading universities. Official assessments confirm York as a leader in both research and teaching - 83 per cent of departments have research ratings of 4, 5 or 5*, and its outstanding teaching assessments are equalled only by Cambridge. The University has a fruitful history of industrial collaborations and commercial spin-offs, particularly in bioscience and computer science.