A specialist in emergency medicine at the University of Sheffield has become the first female academic in the UK to take up a professorship in the subject. Suzanne Mason, from Sheffield's School of Health and Related Research, is an expert on the organisation and evaluation of health services in emergency care. Among the projects she has worked on are an investigation into waiting times in accident and emergency departments and an assessment of the effectiveness of providing self-help information to patients.
A former public relations director for the armed forces has been appointed pro vice-chancellor and director of corporate services at the University of Wolverhampton. Helen Wildman spent 23 years working for the British Army and the Ministry of Defence in roles that included head of public relations for British forces in Germany and spokeswoman for the International Security and Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Since moving into higher education, she has held posts as director of strategic planning at De Montfort University and regional director for the east of England at The Open University.
An academic who has written about bullfighting, cockfighting, zoos and hunting has been promoted to a new role at Roehampton University. Garry Marvin has been appointed professor of human-animal studies, believed to be the first such post in the UK. His expertise is in social anthropological perspectives on the relationship between humans and animals. Most recently he has been conducting fieldwork on foxhunting in England and is also researching the experiences and activities of other recreational hunters.
The University of Lincoln has appointed Paul Stewart founding head and chair of control engineering at its new School of Engineering. He has previously worked as a senior lecturer in the department of electronic and electrical engineering at the University of Sheffield, and as professor of aeronautical and automotive engineering at the University of Salford. He also held various positions at the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre at Sheffield. Prior to moving into higher education, Professor Stewart worked for 14 years in the automotive industry.
A new registrar and secretary has been appointed at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Donald Beaton, former secretary at Kingston University, will join Soas this spring. Also at the institution, Anne Pauwels, a sociolinguist, has been named dean of the faculty of languages and cultures. Her interests include multilingualism, minority languages in education, and language and gender, and she has previously held a number of senior posts in the UK and Australia.
An academic who introduced "offender profiling" techniques to British police has been recruited by the University of Huddersfield. David Canter, a pioneer of investigative psychology methods, will bring with him the International Research Centre for Investigative Technology - his own archive of material from 40 years in the field. Professor Canter will be involved in supervising postgraduate research at Huddersfield in various topics, including: the relationship between personality and crime; eyewitness testimony; and pathways to radicalisation among Islamic extremists.
An academic at King's College London has been elected a fellow of the European International Business Academy. Pervez N. Ghauri, professor of international business at King's, is also vice-president of the Academy of International Business and editor-in-chief of the International Business Review journal.
John Hough has been named the first vice-principal for enterprise management at the Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. He joins from the Aga Khan University in London, where he was head of administration. Professor Hough has held a number of roles at private higher education institutions, including the posts of professor of marketing and dean of the Business School at Richmond, The American International University. In his new position, he will develop alternative revenue streams for the college.
An expert in tropical food crops has been named the next director of the National Resources Institute at the University of Greenwich. Andrew Westby first joined the agricultural and development research organisation as a research scientist in 1987, and is currently professor of food technology and director of research and enterprise at the institute. His work in promoting food security in the developing world played an important part in helping the institute to win a Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2000. He will take up the post of director of the institute in May.
The Government has asked an academic at the University of Reading to advise it on the psychological factors people take into account when facing decisions. Rachel McCloy, lecturer in the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, has been awarded a public sector placement fellowship, which will allow her to work alongside the Government Social Research Unit and the Government Economic Service teams. As part of the placement, which is jointly funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, she will analyse how research into behavioural change can be used when developing policies. Her work will also feed into the Cross-Government Behaviour Change and Insight programme, which is led by the Cabinet Office.
An Australian academic working at the University of Bristol has been presented with an award from her home nation. Ainsley Newson, senior lecturer in biomedical ethics, was named the Young Australian Achiever of the Year in the UK by the Australia Day Foundation. Her research focuses on the ethics of clinical genetics, reproductive decision-making and synthetic biology. Dr Newson completed a PhD in medical ethics at the University of Melbourne before moving to the UK in 2003.
A visiting professor at the University of Oxford has been named a non-executive director of a biotechnology firm. Jonathan Knowles, who is also William Pitt fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, joins the board of Immunocore, a company involved in the development of cell technology for treating cancer and viral infections. Dr Knowles has previously held posts as president of group research at Roche and research director at Glaxo Wellcome Europe. He has also served as chair of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations' research directors group.