* Cambridge University has named Tony Minson - a fellow of Wolfson College and chairman of the council of the school of biological sciences - pro vice-chancellor for planning and resources. He is the first of a proposed five new pro vice-chancellors.
* Robert Lethbridge, professor, life fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and former vice-principal, Royal Holloway, University of London, has been appointed director of the University of London's British Institute in Paris.
* David Bates - professor of medieval history at the University of Glasgow and fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries of London - has become director of the University of London's Institute of Historical Research. He replaces David Cannadine, who takes the IHR's Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother chair of British history.
* Janice Mee, principal lecturer at De Montfort University and founding member of the International Foundation of Fashion Technology Industries, has been named honorary professor at the Beijing Fashion Institute.
* Judith Elkin, dean of the faculty of computing, information and English at the University of Central England, has been named vice-principal of University College, Worcester.
* Ben Knights, professor of English studies at Teesside University, has been named director of the Learning and Teaching Support Network English subject centre at Royal Holloway, University London.
* Helen Hayes, vice-principal (information) at the University of Melbourne, has been named vice-principal for knowledge management and librarian at the University of Edinburgh.