Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow has been elected President of Universities UK (UUK) for 2015 – 2017
by Gary Hughes
Dame Julia was elected following a ballot of UUK members. She will succeed the current President, Professor Sir Christopher Snowden, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Surrey, on 1 August 2015 and will hold the post for two years until July 2017.
Dame Julia has been Vice-Chancellor of Kent since 2007. She is a board member ofUUK , and was appointed to both the Science and Technology Facilities Council and Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology in 2011.
Before joining Kent, Dame Julia was Chief Executive of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) which she joined from Birkbeck College where she had been Professor of Biomolecular Science, and Vice-Master. She was the first woman to become Chief Executive of any of the UK Research Councils.
Nicola Dandridge, Chief Executive of UUK, said: ‘Julia is widely respected both in her academic field, and as successful university leader who brings with her a wealth of knowledge about the higher education sector. We look forward to working with her during what promises to be a challenging two years following the general election. Further public spending cuts, immigration, membership of the European Union and student funding and fees are all likely to be high on the political agenda and will have an impact on universities.’
Dame Julia said: ‘I am honoured to have been elected as the next president of UUK. I look forward to working with all the university sector to ensure that its strengths are recognised. This is a time of unprecedented change and UUK needs to play a key role in ensuring that the value of the sector is recognised. It will be a pleasure to work with Nicola and her colleagues.’