* Leicester University has appointed Carol Hedderman , assistant director of Home Office research, development and statistics since 2002 and former deputy director of the criminal policy research unit at South Bank University, as professor of criminology; Panu Minkkinen , former deputy director and fellow at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies and director of the Finnish Institute in London, professor of law; Suzanne Alexander , former promotions director of the British Council, director of the international office.
* Ruth Lister is to be the first holder of the visiting chair at the Glasgow University, created in memory of the late Donald Dewar, First Minister for Scotland. The appointment is for two years, commencing January 1. She is currently professor of social policy at Loughborough University.
* Essex University's department of literature, film and theatre studies has appointed: Marina Warner , prize-winning author, former visiting fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford University and Tanner lecturer at Yale University, professor and head of department; Eva-Lynn Jagoe , formerly at the University of Illinois; Elizabeth Kuti , who has acted with Ireland's National Theatre Society, the Royal National Theatre, London, the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, and whose play May Child was broadcast on Radio 4; Yvonne Coppard , the university's first Royal Literary Fund writing fellow; and James Raven , former reader in social and cultural history and fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford, professor.
* Alastair Hunter , senior lecturer in Hebrew and Old Testament studies at Glasgow University, has been elected president of the Association of University Teachers, Scotland.