Mark Smith (physicist)

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Mark Smith
CBE FInstP
President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Southampton
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 October 2019
Thesis A High Resolution Multinuclear Magnetic Resonance Study of Ceramic Phases  (1987)

Mark Edmund Smith, CBE , FInstP (born March 1963) is a British physicist, academic, and academic administrator. He specialises in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and materials physics. Since October 2019, he has been the President and Vice-Chancellor of University of Southampton, having previously held the office of Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University, and Professor of Solid State NMR in its Department of Chemistry since 2012. [1] He has previously lectured at the University of Kent and the University of Warwick. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Smith was born and brought up in Suffolk, England. [3] He studied natural sciences at Churchill College, Cambridge, and graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. [4] He undertook postgraduate research in physics at the University of Warwick, graduating with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree. [5]

Smith began his career as an application scientist and worked for Bruker Analytische Messtechnik (part of the Bruker Corporation) in Germany. [5] He then worked as a research scientist in the Division of Materials Science at Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia. [3]

Academic career

Smith's research specialises in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and materials physics. [6] [4]

In 1992, Smith returned to England and began his academic career, having been appointed a lecturer at the University of Kent. [4] He was later promoted to reader in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. [3]

In 1998, Smith moved to the University of Warwick where he had been appointed a reader in its Department of Physics. [6] [7] He was later promoted to Professor of Physics. [3] He was appointed Chair of the Faculty of Science in 2005 and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research in 2007. [4] On 1 May 2010, he was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC), making him the second most senior academic at the University of Warwick. [8] As DVC, he deputised for the Vice-Chancellor of the university when needed, and was in charge of all academic resourcing issues (with a budget of £240 million), of human resources and of the university's capital program. [7] [8]

Lancaster University

On 5 August 2011, Smith was announced as the next Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University. [9] He took up the post on 1 January 2012, becoming the university's sixth Vice Chancellor since it was established. [9] [7] [3] He was also appointed Professor of Solid State NMR in the Department of Chemistry. [7] He was paid £271,000 in 2012/13 academic year and £281,000 in 2013/14 academic year. [10]

University of Southampton

In April 2019, it was announced that Smith would be moving to the University of Southampton as its next President and Vice-Chancellor. He took up the appointments on 1 October 2019. [11]

External appointments

Outside of his university work, Smith has held a number of appointments. In 2012 and 2013, he chaired a review into the content of A-Levels. [12] From 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2015, he was a member of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. [5] In December 2014, he became a trustee of Jisc (previously called the Joint Information Systems Committee). [13] As of March 2015, he is the Chair of the Board of the Higher Education Careers Service Unit. [14] He is also currently Chair of Advance HE's Board of Directors. [15]

Honours

Smith is an elected Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP). [4] He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to research and higher education. [16]

References

  1. ↑ "Financial Statements 2022-2023" (PDF). University of Southampton. p. 30.
  2. ↑ "Outrage at uni's choice to host in-person exams for few subjects 'picked at random'". 12 January 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Professor Mark E. Smith". Biographies. N8 Research Partnership. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Vice Chancellor". Officers of the University. Lancaster University. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 "Professor Mark Smith". Council members. Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Prof. Mark E. Smith". Department of Physics. University of Warwick. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Professor Mark Smith". Department of Chemistry. Lancaster University. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  8. 1 2 "Professor Mark Smith". insite. University of Warwick. 28 May 2010. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  9. 1 2 "Lancaster appoints Professor Mark Smith as new Vice-Chancellor". News Archive. Lancaster University. 5 August 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  10. ↑ "University head under fire for flights bill". Lancaster Guardian. 5 March 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  11. ↑ "Southampton announces new vice-chancellor". University of Southampton. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  12. ↑ "Mark E Smith". Council of Trustees. AQA. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  13. ↑ "New trustees to join Jisc's board". Jisc. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  14. ↑ "HECSU Board". Higher Education Careers Service Unit. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  15. ↑ "Advance HE Board | Advance HE". www.advance-he.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  16. ↑ "No. 62666". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 June 2019. p. B10.
Academic offices
Preceded by Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University
2012 to 2019		Succeeded by
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