Chris Ham, director of the health services management centre at Birmingham University, is joining a new strategy unit set up to advise ministers on the future direction of the National Health Service and social care.
Tina Downes, adult education lecturer in English at Bradford College, has been elected vice-president of the university and college lecturers' union Natfhe.
John Wilson, former deputy director of the business school at Liverpool John Moores University, has been appointed director of the University of Teesside's school of business and management.
Tim Blackman, former deputy head of social sciences and law at Oxford Brookes University, has been appointed director of Teesside's school of social sciences.
Stephen Vickers, principal officer for qualifications development at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, has been appointed chief executive of the National Examination Board for Occupational Safety and Health.