Appointments

August 21, 2008

Glyn Redworth, a University of Manchester historian, has been appointed to the post of Queen Victoria Eugenia chair, in a year-long tenure beginning in September. The position, created through an agreement between the British Hispanic Foundation and the Complutense University of Madrid, involves meeting postgraduates, giving public lectures and nominating two Spanish students to visit the chair holder's home university. "(The post is) an important symbol of the closeness of Spanish-British relations," said Dr Redworth, who will use his lectures to give the Spanish public a chance to learn more about the missionary Luisa de Carvajal. She is the subject of Dr Redworth's forthcoming book, The She-Apostle, which will be reviewed in a future issue of Times Higher Education.

Anna Fazackerley, director of higher education at the think-tank Agora, is moving to Policy Exchange in September. Ms Fazackerley, a former Times Higher Education journalist, will launch a programme of work on universities within the centre-Right think-tank's existing education division and will be its director of arts and culture. She said: "Agora is now firmly on the HE map ... The board will now seek to recruit a new director to take the think-tank forward (and) we also aim to appoint a project manager very soon to run a major international conference on HE involving the United States and China."

The Royal Observatory Greenwich, part of the National Maritime Museum, has appointed Marek Kukula public astronomer. The appointment, assisted by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, is part of a programme to develop public engagement. The museum says Dr Kukula has 15 years of science research experience in British universities, including five years as a fellow at the University of Edinburgh's Institute for Astronomy.

The University of Lincoln has announced three new faculty dean appointments. Sara Owen is appointed to health, life and social sciences; David Head to business and law; and Norman Cherry to art, architecture and design. Professor Owen has previously worked at Guy's Hospital, St Christopher's Hospice and the Maudsley/Bethlem hospitals, as well as higher education institutions, of which De Montfort University was the first. Professor Head has joined Lincoln after seven years at the University of Plymouth, before which he was the head of the School of Modern Languages at Northumbria University. Professor Cherry has taken up his post from Birmingham City University, where he was head of the Birmingham School of Jewellery, part of Birmingham City University.

Imperial College London has named four new senior appointments, effective from September. Sir Peter Knight, currently principal of the faculty of natural sciences, is senior principal. Sir Peter, a professor of quantum physics, is also chairman of the Science Board of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, and a fellow of the Institute of Physics, the Optical Society of America and of the Royal Society. Maggie Dallman has been named principal of natural sciences. She joined Imperial after appointments at the universities of Oxford and Stanford, becoming professor of immunology in 1999, and later head of the section of immunology and infection. Stephen Richardson has been named principal of the faculty of engineering. He was formerly professor of chemical engineering at Imperial, and has been head of department since 2001. Finally, John Wood, who also chairs the European Research Area Board, has been named Imperial's new international relations adviser. He joined Imperial from the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils, where he was appointed chief executive in 2001.

Iain Hunter, professor of molecular microbiology at the University of Strathclyde, has been elected dean of the faculty of science. Professor Hunter, based at Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, spent a number of years as a research scientist with Pfizer Central Research before returning to higher education. He succeeds the current dean, Brian Furman, who will be retiring but will remain at Strathclyde as an emeritus professor.

Julia King has been appointed to the first governing board of the European Institute of Technology. Currently vice-chancellor at Aston University, Professor King, who is interviewed on page 18 of this issue, is also a member of the Government's Technology Strategy Board and a non-executive director of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. Other appointees include: Joao Caraca, professor of science and technology policy, Universidade Tecnica de Lisboa; Manuel Castells, research professor, Open University of Catalonia, and University of Southern California; Bertrand Collomb, chairman, Institut des Hautes Etudes pour la Science et la Technologie; Giovanni Colombo, adjunct professor at the Politecnico di Torino; Daria Golebiowska-Tataj, professor and researcher, Warsaw University of Technology Business School; Wolfgang Herrmann, president of the Technische Universitat Munchen; Karen Maex, vice-rector of science, engineering and technology, and professor of electrical engineering at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Yrjo Neuvo, professor and research director, Helsinki University of Technology; and Linnar Viik, associate professor and member of the board, Estonian Information Technology College.

Tom Horlick-Jones has been appointed to a personal chair at Cardiff University in the School of Social Sciences. The university said he is well known for his work both in the sociology of risk and as a consultant to public and private-sector organisations. In recent years, Professor Horlick-Jones has acted as an adviser to the Mayor of London's review of safety measures at the Notting Hill Carnival.

A lecturer from Swansea University has been awarded the Helmut Coing Prize, which recognises the international significance of her historical research. Regina Poertner has been given the award, worth EUR6,000 (£4,731), which includes a four-month fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History in Frankfurt. She will use the prize to fund her work on a monograph on aristocratic privilege and enlightened reform in 18th-century Britain and Europe.

Heather Fry has been appointed head of learning and teaching at the Higher Education Funding Council for England. She is the founding head of the Centre for Educational Development at Imperial College London, where she is a reader in higher and professional education. Beginning her career teaching in Nigeria, Ms Fry subsequently worked at the Institute of Education, University of London, and at Bart's and London School of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary, University of London.

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