* Cambridge University has appointed Jonathan Nicholls , currently registrar at Birmingham University, as registrar and secretary to its council. He will take up his appointment on the retirement of Timothy Mead in October.
* Martin Innes , former professor at Surrey University who has conducted research for the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers, has been appointed professor and director of the Universities Police Science Institute at Cardiff University.
* Leicester University has appointed Martyn Mahaut-Smith , former senior lecturer at Cambridge University, to a chair in cellular and molecular physiology and pharmacology, and Cara Laney as a lecturer of forensic psychology following her PhD at the University of California, Irvine.
* The Guildhall School of Music and Drama has named Jonathan Vaughan its new director of music. He is currently head of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.
* Oxford University has appointed the following: Gregory Neale , founding editor of BBC History Magazine , as editor of Oxford Today ; John Armour , senior lecturer in law and fellow of Trinity Hall at Cambridge University, as Lovells professor of law and finance; Xunyu Zhou , currently professor of systems engineering and engineering management at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, as professor of mathematical finance; Nicholas Harberd - project leader at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, and honorary professor in the school of biological sciences at the University of East Anglia - as Sibthorpian professor of plant science.