University of Sydney
Shane Houston
One of Australia's leading experts on Aboriginal people has been appointed deputy vice-chancellor for indigenous strategy and services at the University of Sydney. Shane Houston is currently adjunct professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, as well as executive director for systems performance and Aboriginal policy at the Northern Territories Department of Health and Families. He said that Sydney, as the first of the Australian universities to have produced an Aboriginal graduate, had a "special place" in the country's history. "It sits on the land of the Cadigal people who were the first to confront the new colony of New South Wales," he explained. "The university is also adjacent to Redfern, which is the cradle of Australia's first Aboriginal medical service and first Aboriginal legal service." Professor Houston, who has also sat on the board of the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health and the Lowitja Institute, which coordinates research into Aboriginal issues, said of his new role: "I want to bring the passion, energy and determination that were part of Aboriginal people's lives throughout this history to the task of graduating future generations of Aboriginal and Australian leaders, and to finding answers to the many challenges facing Aboriginal people today. I want to help build a fair and more compassionate Australia."
University of California, Los Angeles
Kristy Edmunds
An internationally known performing arts curator has been named executive and artistic director of UCLA Live, the performing arts programme at the University of California, Los Angeles. Kristy Edmunds studied film direction at Montana State University before joining the teaching staff at the institution. She moved to Western Washington University to pursue a postgraduate degree in playwriting and theatre direction. She went on to establish the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, where she was founding executive and artistic director. In 2004, she became artistic director of the Melbourne International Arts Festival, a position she held for four years. She joins UCLA from the University of Melbourne, where she is deputy dean of the Victorian College of the Arts. Ms Edmunds said she was looking forward to moving to LA as the area has "dizzying potential" for both artists and audiences. "There is a fantastic momentum swirling in the Los Angeles arts scene, which has clearly been generated from the longstanding efforts of many individuals, artists and organisations," she said. "The thought of contributing to this atmosphere while leading the next phase of UCLA Live's evolution is authentically inspiring."
Kevin Singh
Kevin Singh may be new as the head of the School of Architecture at Birmingham City University, but he has been at the institution in other roles for more than two decades. "I've adopted Birmingham as my home," he said. "It keeps trying to reinvent itself, so in terms of architecture it's always really hopeful. The city never feels like it's finished and for an architect that's challenging." Mr Singh was fascinated by architecture as a child. "We travelled to India when I was 10 and the buildings were pretty inspiring," he recalled. "I sort of forgot about it and then ended up doing work experience at an architect's." He studied for degrees at University College London and Birmingham City, which was then Birmingham Polytechnic. It was there that he got involved in teaching. "They were offering about six quid an hour to be a studio assistant in the days when you got about four quid to work at a pub," he said. "So, back then, it seemed like a good income stream." Mr Singh said he "fell in love" with teaching and has been with Birmingham City ever since, where he has run an undergraduate interior design course, co-founded a design-led practice - the space* studio - with an ex-interior design student and been a course director.
Angela Clough
A scholar who came into the academy with a mission to pass on her passion for physiotherapy has been made a member of the International Academy for Manual/Musculoskeletal Medicine. As well as being director of sports rehabilitation and a senior lecturer at the University of Hull, Angela Clough is also a part-time PhD student. "It's something I want to enjoy, but when you've got 120 students and supervising dissertations and a heavy teaching load, it's not easy to juggle it all," she said. "Having said that, I'm lucky enough to do things like fly out to Monaco, and I am enjoying it." Ms Clough said her interest in physiotherapy originally came from doing her Duke of Edinburgh's Award at school. She studied as an undergraduate and postgraduate at the University of Leeds before working in the NHS. She moved back to Leeds to teach."As much as I loved the health service and thought that was where my career would be until I retired, bureaucracy took over and I got to a stage where I was too qualified to do all the bits I liked," she said.
Other changes
The Academy of Social Sciences has conferred the award of academician on the following: Pauline Adair, professor of health psychology, University of Salford; Kathleen Armour, professor of education and sport, University of Birmingham; John Baylis, professor of politics and international relations, Swansea University; Andrew Beer, professor of geography, University of Adelaide; Ron Boschma, professor in regional economics, University of Utrecht; Allan Brimicombe, professor and head of the Centre for Geo-Information Studies, University of East London; Roger Burrows, professor of sociology, University of York; Noel Castree, professor of geography, University of Manchester; Ian Clarke, professor of marketing and strategic management, Newcastle University Business School; Fiona Cownie, professor of law, Keele University; Fiona Devine, professor in sociology, Manchester; Philip Dewe, professor of organisational behaviour, Birkbeck, University of London; Judith Dunn, professor of developmental psychology, King's College London; Kevin Durkin, professor of psychology, University of Strathclyde; John Elliott, emeritus professor, School of Education, University of East Anglia; Alan Felstead, research professor, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University; Bernard Fingleton, professor of Economics, Strathclyde; Chris Gilleard, honorary research Fellow, University College London; Mark Goodwin, professor of human geography, University of Exeter; Wyn Grant, professor of politics, University of Warwick; Robert Haining, professor of human geography, University of Cambridge; Alan Hamlin, professor of political theory, Manchester; Seamus Hegarty, Marie Curie senior research Fellow, Trinity College Dublin; Steve Hindle, professor of history, Warwick; Wendy Hollway, professor of psychology, The Open University; Barrie Houlihan, professor of sport policy, Loughborough University; Peter Jarvis, emeritus professor of education, University of Surrey; Peter John, Hallsworth professor of governance, Manchester; Andrew Jones, professor of economic geography, Birkbeck; Mark Tewdwr-Jones, professor of spatial planning and governance, UCL; Allan Kellehear, professor of sociology, University of Bath; Peter Kemp, professor of social policy, University of Oxford; Richard Kwiatkowski, senior lecturer in organisational psychology, Cranfield School of Management; Wendy Larner, professor of human geography and sociology, University of Bristol; Robert MacDonald, professor of sociology, Teesside University; Donald MacKenzie, professor of sociology, University of Edinburgh; Helen Margetts, professor of society and the internet, Oxford; Duncan McCargo, professor of Southeast Asian politics, University of Leeds; Colin McInnes, professor of international politics, Aberystwyth University; Paul Milbourne, professor of human geography, Cardiff; Graham Moon, professor of spatial analysis in human geography, University of Southampton; Greg Myers, professor of rhetoric and communication, Lancaster University; Jamie Peck, professor of geography, University of British Columbia; Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, professor of economic geography, London School of Economics and Political Science; Philip Powell, professor of management, Birkbeck; Colin Pritchard, professor in psychiatric social work, Bournemouth University; Michael Reed, professor of organizational analysis, Cardiff Business School; Stephen Reicher, professor of psychology, University of St Andrews; Eve Rosenhaft, professor of German historical studies, Cambridge; Judy Sebba, professor of education, University of Sussex; Paschal Sheeran, professor of psychology, University of Sheffield; James Shields, professor of French politics and modern history, Aston University; Peter K Smith, professor of psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London; Liz Stanley, professor of sociology, Edinburgh; Michael Storper, professor of economic geography, LSE; Alan Tomlinson, professor of leisure studies, University of Brighton; Max Velmans, emeritus professor of psychology, Goldsmiths; Alan Warde, professor of sociology, Manchester; Christopher Webster, professor of urban planning and development, Cardiff; Paul White, professor of European urban geography, Sheffield; Sue White, professor of social work, Birmingham; Antje Wiener, professor of political science and global governance, University of Hamburg; Jane Wills, professor of geography, Queen Mary, University of London; Steve Woolgar, professor of marketing, Saïd Business School, Oxford; Mike Wright, professor of financial studies, University of Nottingham.