* The Arts and Humanities Research Board and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council have appointed a director for their first collaborative initiative, Designing for the 21st Century. Tom Inns , professor and former head of the School of Design at Dundee University, will take up the post in January.
* Lorna Cocking , director of education at Pearson Education and former director of open learning at Sunderland University, has been elected chair of Middlesex University's board of governors.
* Baroness Jay , former leader of the House of Lords and Minister for Women, currently chair of the Overseas Development Institute, and Lloyd Clarke , chief executive and chief constable of the Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency, have been appointed to the Committee on Standards in Public Life. Their appointments are for three years.
* John Arbuthnott , former principal and vice-chancellor of Strathclyde University, currently chairman of the Greater Glasgow National Health Service Board, has been elected president of the Scottish Association for Marine Science.
* Don Barry, first holder of the chair in statistics at Limerick University has been appointed vice-president (academic) and registrar of the university.