* Michael Osbaldeston , director of Cranfield School of Management, is the new chair of the Association of Business Schools.
* Royal Northern College of Music has appointed: Dame Gillian Weir , former president of the Royal College of Organists, to an international chair in organ studies; Nicholas Childs , music director of the Black Dyke Band, music director of RNCM Brass Bands; and Charles Rosen , pianist, to an international chair in performance and musicology.
* Bernard MacLaverty , award-winning author and screenwriter, takes up a teaching post in creative writing at Aberdeen University.
* The University of Wales, Newport, has appointed Penny Jarman , formerly of Lloyds TSB Insurance, to a new post as head of development.
* The Institute for Electronics, Communications and Information Technology at Queen's University Belfast has appointed to its advisory board: Jan Rabey , University of California, Berkeley; Andy Hopper , Cambridge University; Jeff Patmore , BT; Paul McCambridge , Xilinx Ireland; Franz Dielacher , Infineon Technologies; Steve Furber , Manchester University; Michael Kelly , Cambridge; Norman Apsley , Northern Ireland Science Park; Hugh Cormican , Andor Technology; Mike Flynn , Stanford University; John Mann , Queen's; Daniel McCaughan , industrial consultant; Denis Murphy , Mobile Cohesion; Steve Nightingale , ERA Technology; Tobias Noll , AWTH Aachen University; Michael O'Sullivan , University College Cork; Stephen Seawright , TDK Ltd.; Earl Swatzlander , University of Texas at Austin; and John Thompson , Invest NI.