Appointments

A new pro vice-chancellor has been appointed at Nottingham Trent University. Ann Priest will be responsible for non-course-related student matters at the university, alongside her role as head of the College for Art and Design and Built Environment. She replaces Simon Lewis, who retired in December 2008.

The director of corporate affairs at Harper Adams University College has been named its new principal. David Llewellyn, who joined Harper Adams in 1998, has also worked as a consultant on higher education strategic planning in Brazil. An associate of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries and Administrators, Dr Llewellyn will take over from Wynne Jones in September.

An organisational-change management expert from Queen Margaret University has been appointed editor of Routledge's Journal of Change Management. Rune Todnem By takes over from founding editor Colin Carnall.

An expert in Welsh politics has been appointed to a key role at Cardiff University. Richard Wyn Jones has been named director of the university's Wales Governance Centre, which studies the Welsh Assembly. He said: "Devolved government is now a fact of life in Wales. It's not going away. By helping to inform policy development, encouraging public debate and even, on occasion, speaking some uncomfortable truths to politicians and the public at large, the centre has an important role to play in ensuring that devolved government is good government."

John Girkin has been appointed chair of biophysical science at Durham University. He joins from the University of Strathclyde, where he co-founded the Centre for Biophotonics. Lutz Sauerteig, deputy director of Durham's Centre for the History of Medicine and Disease, has been elected chair of the Society for the Social History of Medicine.

Two senior managers are retiring from their positions at the UHI Millennium Institute. Colin MacKay, chair of the board of governors, and Robert Cormack, the institute's principal, have announced their intention to step down at the end of the year.

The University of Nottingham's Chinese operation has a new provost and chief executive officer. Roger Woods, former head of the university's School of Modern Languages, has been appointed to lead Nottingham Ningbo after helping to set up the Routes into Languages scheme, which aims to increase student interest in foreign tongues. Professor Woods has spent more than a year in Ningbo as vice-president. He takes over from Peter Buttery, who has served a two-year term.

A University of Hull graduate is returning to his alma mater as commercial manager. Richard Faint will take up the role at Hull University Business School's Logistics Institute.

The challenge of expanding the international presence of University of Wales Institute, Cardiff has been taken on by Mohamed Loutfi. As its new director of international development, he has been charged with boosting its links and partnerships with overseas institutions. The former head of transnational education and business development at the University of Sunderland, Dr Loutfi has worked for the Egyptian civil service and the Suez Canal Authority.

The endangered red squirrel has a new champion in the University of Aberdeen's Stephen Willis. He takes on the role of red-squirrel conservation officer for northeast Scotland, where he will be involved in initiatives to protect and preserve the native mammal. The red-squirrel population has dwindled as the grey squirrel, introduced from North America in Victorian times, has thrived.

An academic with experience of working in several African countries, Richard Black, has been made head of the School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex. The school brings together the university's departments of anthropology, geography and international relations, as well as interdisciplinary programmes in development studies. Professor Black is an expert in international migration who has advised both governments and international organisations.

Paul McDonald has been presented with a professorship in environmental radiochemistry at the University of Central Lancashire. He is based at the institution's Westlakes Research Institute in West Cumbria, and has been recognised for his work in environmental radiochemistry in the nuclear industry.

A professor at the University of Surrey has won the inaugural Academic Enterprise Award 2008. Adel Sharif, founder of the university spin-off company Surrey Aquatechnology, won the award for his achievements in the development of desalination technologies for the provision of clean drinking water in regions with poor water resources.

A Napier University professor has been appointed economic policy adviser to Age Concern Scotland. John Adams, professor of economics, will carry out research projects for the charity as well as offering advice on its economic and social policy.

Glamorgan Business School's Anne Marie Doherty has joined the academic senate at the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the professional body that aims to maintain industry standards. She joins many of the UK's leading marketing professors, along with senior industry representatives, to advise on educational policy, qualifications and research issues.

Joy Wingfield, special professor of pharmacy, law and ethics at the University of Nottingham, has been appointed visiting professor at the University of Hertfordshire. Professor Wingfield will help to establish its Centre for Law, Ethics and Professionalism, whose remit is to improve postgraduate teaching and research at the university.

The former chief executive of the Football Association has been made a visiting professor at the University of Liverpool. Brian Barwick, a graduate of the university, joins the university's Management School. He will lead seminars in strategic management and supervise students of the football industries MBA. Professor Barwick will also take on an ambassadorial role, representing the university in the UK and Asia.

Janine Griffiths-Baker, practice editor of the journal Legal Ethics, has transferred to the University of Bedfordshire to become head of law. She was previously based at the University of Bristol, where she was director of undergraduate studies.