The senior team will be welcoming some new faces, including roles filled which have been vacant for some time and reconfigured roles which mean that other posts will not be replaced.
Recent developments include:
The announcement of the appointment of our Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, Professor Marcus Munafò, who will join the university on 1 May 2025.
The appointment of Lydia Lee, who replaces Gordon Cox as Director of Advancement, and has recently started in post.
Following news that the current Director of Research and Innovation Services is moving onto a new role, we have taken the opportunity to look at how we configure our research and innovation capacity:
As Professor Jonathan Knight comes to the end of his term as Vice-President (Enterprise), this role will not be replaced. Dr Jon Hunt will now report to the Vice-Chancellor as Executive Director of Innovation to lead on the development of our proposed city centre developments. Ben Woods and the innovation and enterprise teams which report to him will move over to work with Jon, given the synergies between these activities.
Kirsty Grainger, currently Deputy Director, will be stepping up into a Director role, leading a renamed Research and Impact Services (RIS). These teams will continue to work closely together, with both Jon and Kirsty having reporting lines to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research & Enterprise).
The University has not had a University Secretary since 2019, and various arrangements have been in place to lead these functions. Looking at practice across the sector, we have now decided to reconfigure this role and are putting in place the role of University Secretary and Registrar. This role will combine the Registrar function of delivering University-wide student administration, with role of the University Secretary focussing on governance and compliance. Given that this new role is substantially comprised of the current role of Director of Education and Student Services, Ian Blenkharn will be the first incumbent of this new and important change for the University.
Professor Phil Taylor, Vice-Chancellor & President, said:
"It’s vital that we have a senior team which has the capacity both to navigate the challenges ahead for our sector and who can help us achieve our ambitions, whether in laying foundations for the future or building our global excellence with impact.
"I’d like to take the opportunity to thank those members of the senior team who are completing their terms or moving on from their roles for their excellent service to the university. I would also like to thank those who have taken on additional responsibilities to cover vacancies over the last few years, in addition to their substantive roles.
"Looking ahead, we’re pleased to welcome new colleagues from outside the organisation and also to reconfigure some roles, giving opportunities for us to grow talent internally in the most efficient and effective way possible."