* Winchester University has appointed Joy Carter vice-chancellor. She is currently pro vice-chancellor (academic) at Glamorgan University and will succeed Paul Light on his retirement in April.
* Leeds University has appointed: Stephen Coleman , former Cisco professor of e-democracy at the Oxford Internet Institute, to a chair in political communications; Frank Esser , associate professor of mass communication, Missouri University, to a chair in mass communications; Andrew Gouldson , lecturer in environmental policy at the London School of Economics, to a chair in sustainability research; Anne Kerr , lecturer in bioethics at York University's department of sociology, to a chair in sociology; David Towers , of Heriot-Watt University, to a chair in engineering optics; Clive Upton , expert on sociolinguistics and a pronunciation consultant to Oxford English Dictionaries, to a chair in modern English; and Sue Yeandle , director of the Centre for Social Inclusion at Sheffield Hallam University, to a chair in sociology.
* Sir Peter Williams , chairman of the Engineering and Technology Board, has been installed as chancellor of Leicester University.
* Mike Nicholson , head of undergraduate recruitment and admissions at Essex University, has been elected vice-chairman of the Higher Education Liaison Officers' Association.
* Essex University has appointed two funding development managers - David Crawford , professor and former managing director of Harris Broadcast Europe, and Andrew Fairweather-Tall , formerly at the department of politics and international relations at Oxford University.