Sir Paul James Curran FRGS (born 17 May 1955) was president of City, University of London between August 2010 and June 2021. [1] [2] Sir Paul is now professor emeritus. Following a period of significant progress, City joined the University of London Federation in September 2016. [3] He served previously as vice-chancellor of Bournemouth University (2005–10) and deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Southampton, where he is currently a visiting professor. [4] As a member of the senior management team at Southampton, progressing from head of geography to dean of science, Curran was credited with high-profile leadership as head of the Winchester School of Art, part of the University of Southampton.
A former NASA research scientist and advisor to the European Space Agency, [5] Curran's research interests include investigations into global environmental change, in particular the movement of carbon between the atmosphere and forests. His award-winning work in Earth observation, involving the use of satellite sensors to monitor the environment at local to global scales, is widely published and he is the youngest recipient of the Remote Sensing Society's gold medal.
He is chair of the MS Society, NHS National Joint Registry and NERC Advisory Committee on Scientific Leadership; non-executive director and trustee of the Universities Superannuation Scheme Ltd.; president of the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society and patron of The Conversation UK. He was chair of the national Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration (DDRB), [6] [7] [8] where his 2015 report on hospital doctors' contracts sparked controversy in a stated attempt to the move to seven-day-a-week healthcare services; [9] founding chair of the board of trustees for The Conversation UK; [10] Chair of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) Board and led the employers' negotiating team in the national pay negotiations; [11] a Member of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and its remuneration committee and the chair of its Audit & Risk Assurance Committee; [12] the chair of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Higher Education Workforce Steering Group; a Member of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Board and its Remuneration and Audit Committees; a member of the board of trustees for London Higher; and a member of Universities UK and its Research Policy and Innovation & Growth Policy Committees.
Curran received a BSc from the University of Sheffield in 1976, an MBA from the University of Southampton in 1998 and PhD and DSc degrees from the University of Bristol in 1979 and 1991 respectively. He is a Chartered Geographer and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society and Chartered Management Institute. His PhD was followed by academic appointments at the universities of Reading and Sheffield before moving to NASA Ames Research Center in 1988. He held established chairs in physical geography at the University of Wales, Swansea, from 1990 and the University of Southampton from 1993.
Curran is married, with one daughter. His leisure interests include boating and middle-distance running. [13]
In 2007, Queen Elizabeth II approved the award of the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for his 'international development of geographical science through remote sensing and Earth observation'. [14]
Curran holds honorary doctorates from Grand École ESCP, Paris (2017), and Peter the Great University St Petersburg, Russia (2019), and is a Freeman of the City of London (2017).
Curran was knighted in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to higher education. [15] [16]
HCSA - the hospital doctors' union is a nationally recognised professional association and trade union in the UK dedicated solely to hospital consultants, specialty doctors and core/specialty hospital doctors in training and Foundation grades, originally established in 1948 as the Regional Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association.
Sir Michael James Paul Arthur FMedSci is a British academic who was the tenth provost and president of University College London between 2013 and January 2021. Arthur had previously been chairman of the Russell Group of UK universities and the vice-chancellor of the University of Leeds between September 2004 and 2013.
Paul William Wellings is an Australian/British ecologist and long serving university leader. He is notable for his past service as vice-chancellor of University of Wollongong (2012–21), Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University (2002–12) and Deputy Chief Executive of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (1999-2002).
A Review Body in the United Kingdom is a government mechanism to replace collective bargaining for certain groups of employees in the public sector, for example doctors and nurses in the National Health Service. A Review Body makes independent recommendations on pay after considering evidence from the relevant parties, with cherished expectations that the Government will honour those recommendations and the unions will not pursue national industrial action.
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Professor Dame Jane Elizabeth Francis, is the Director of the British Antarctic Survey. She previously worked as Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds where she also was Dean of the Faculty of Environment. In 2002 she was the fourth woman to receive the Polar Medal for outstanding contribution to British polar research. She is currently the Chancellor of the University of Leeds.
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Sir Christopher Maxwell Snowden, is a British electronic engineer and academic. He was the former Vice-Chancellor of Surrey University (2005–2015), and of the University of Southampton (2015–2019). He was president of Universities UK for a two-year term until 31 July 2015. He is currently the chairman of the ERA Foundation.
Andrea Nolan, is Professor of Veterinary Pharmacology and Principal & Vice Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University. In 1999, she was the first woman ever appointed to head a British veterinary school.
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Mark Edmund Smith, 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. He has previously lectured at the University of Kent and the University of Warwick.
Elizabeth Tulip Treasure is a former consultant dentist and professor of dentistry who served as the Vice-Chancellor of Aberystwyth University in Wales from 2017 to 2023.
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John Scott Davidson is a British legal scholar and academic administrator. He has served as vice-chancellor of Newman University Birmingham since 1 January 2017.
Andrew John Timothy George, is Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Brunel University London and Professor of Immunology.
Edward William Peck is vice-chancellor of Nottingham Trent University. Brought up in Skelmersdale, he was educated at Ormskirk Grammar School, and the University of Bristol, graduating with a degree in Philosophy in 1981. He subsequently undertook graduate studies at Bristol Polytechnic and the University of Nottingham focusing on Health Services Management and Social Policy.