Iain Torrance, dean of Aberdeen University's faculty of arts and divinity, has been appointed moderator-designate of the general assembly of the Church of Scotland.
In the one-year post, which will begin next May, he will have an ambassadorial role in Scotland and abroad as well as chairing the assembly, the Kirk's supreme court. Professor Torrance holds the chair of patristics and Christian ethics. His research interests include bioethics, the ethics of war and early Christian thought.