Three pro vice-chancellors have been appointed at the University of Cambridge. Jennifer Barnes, president of Murray Edwards College, takes on the role of pro vice-chancellor for international strategy; Lynn Gladden, Shell professor of chemical engineering and head of the department of chemical engineering and biotechnology, becomes pro vice-chancellor for research; and Ian White, van Eck professor of engineering and chair of the School of Technology, has been appointed pro vice-chancellor for institutional affairs. They will succeed Kate Pretty, Ian Leslie and Andrew Cliff next January.
The Robert Gordon University has named Cherry Wainwright director of its Institute for Health and Welfare Research. The institute, which will focus on cardiovascular and metabolic disease, neurological disorders, as well as mental, environmental and occupational health, will bring together multidisciplinary teams from Robert Gordon's faculty of health and social care.
Keele University has announced two appointments to its faculty of health. Gordon Ferns, a specialist in chemical pathology and dean of medicine at the University of Surrey, will take on the combined position of director of the Research Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine and director of research and development at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire; and Val Wass, professor of community-based medical education at the University of Manchester, has been named professor of medical education and head of Keele University Medical School.
Chris McMahon, director of the University of Bath's Innovative Design and Manufacturing Research Centre, has been elected vice-president of the Design Society, the international organisation that promotes education and understanding of the subject. Steve Culley, head of design at Bath's department of mechanical engineering, has been elected to the society's advisory board to help guide the organisation.
A pro vice-chancellor at Bangor University has been made president of the Society for General Microbiology. Hilary Lappin-Scott, pro vice- chancellor for research and enterprise at Bangor, becomes the 26th president of the organisation. Its first was Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin. Professor Lappin-Scott is currently president of the International Society for Microbial Ecology.
Six prominent researchers have been awarded Royal Society 2010 Anniversary Research Professorships, presented to celebrate the society's 350th anniversary. They are: Andre Geim, Langworthy professor of physics at the University of Manchester, who is renowned for his discovery of graphene, the versatile carbon substance that is expected to succeed silicon in electronics; Andrew Wiles, professor of mathematics at Princeton University, who is best known for proving Fermat's Last Theorem in 1995; Jon Driver, professor at University College London's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience; Timothy Gowers, fellow in mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge; Tim Palmer, a physicist at the University of Oxford; and Andrew Watson, professor at the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia.
The head of a global metal-trade company has been promoted at City University London. Apurv Bagri, managing director of the Metdist Group, becomes pro-chancellor at City and will chair its council. Mr Bagri is also director of The Indus Entrepreneurs, a global not-for-profit organisation that promotes entrepreneurship. He has been a member of City's council since 2002.
A consultant to businesses including Unilever and Tesco has taken up a position at Durham University. Amanda Broderick has been made professor of marketing at Durham's School of Economics, Finance and Business. She previously worked at Coventry University as professor of marketing and advertising and was research director of Coventry Business School.
Former Reuters journalist Andrew Huddart has joined City University London to lead its new collaborative transport hub, which aims to develop educational programmes and solutions for the challenges facing the transport industry. Mr Huddart was previously based in New Zealand, where he advised universities on enterprise and entrepreneurship investment, acted as commercialisation manager at the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, and advised the New Zealand Government on innovation.
The vice-chancellor and chief executive of the University of Surrey, Christopher Snowden, has taken on the presidency of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, a global organisation. A leading light in the field, Professor Snowden was also recently appointed to the Technology Strategy Board and is vice-president of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The British Academy has presented its annual medals recognising the achievements of individuals within the humanities and social sciences. James Adams, senior research fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, receives the Kenyon Medal for classical studies and archaeology; Giorgio Chittolini, professor of medieval history at the University of Milan, picks up the Serena Medal for Italian studies; Ernest Nicholson, former provost of Oriel College, Oxford, wins the Burkitt Medal for biblical studies; the Leverhulme Medal for humanities and social sciences is awarded to Sebastian Brock, emeritus reader in Syriac studies at the University of Oxford and emeritus fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford; the Derek Allen Prize goes to Dafydd Jenkins, emeritus professor of legal history and Welsh law at Aberystwyth University; Martin Seligman, Albert A. Fox leadership professor and director of the Positive Psychology Centre at the University of Pennsylvania, receives the Wiley Prize in psychology; Michael Lapidge, emeritus fellow at Clare College, Cambridge, receives the Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Prize for English language and literature; the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize for English literature is jointly awarded to Frances Wilson for The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth and Molly Mahood, emeritus professor of English literature at the University of Kent, for The Poet as Botanist; and the John Coles Medal for landscape archaeology is awarded to Tony Wilkinson, professor of archaeology at Durham University.
Television and film producer Stephen Garrett has been named the News International visiting professor of broadcast media at the University of Oxford. An alumnus of the institution, Professor Garrett is executive chairman of Kudos Film & Television, and has been involved in a range of hit TV productions including the BBC's Spooks and Life on Mars.