Frank Mueller
Business schools have a key part to play in restoring faith in an embattled banking sector, according to Frank Mueller, Newcastle University Business School’s new professor of strategy and international business. “If you watch programmes like Question Time, a lot of people have lost trust with politicians, the financial elite and senior executives,” he said. “Business schools have a role in re-establishing that trust. Ordinary people (are asking), why have these people been paid what they are paid? Are they doing a good job for society? These issues should inform our teaching and research.” He added that businesses were like universities in that they operate in a product and labour market. “If you are seen to be behaving in a not responsible way (as a university) you might fail in the product market - (students) won’t pick up your product - and in the labour market, by not recruiting top-class people,” he said. Professor Mueller joins Newcastle from the University of St Andrews, where he was professor of management. He has also held positions at the University of Leicester, the University of Oxford, Royal Holloway, University of London, Aston University and London Business School. He holds an MA from the University of Konstanz and an MSc and a DPhil from Oxford.
Tryphon Lambrou
A newly appointed lecturer in computer science who swapped University College London for the University of Lincoln said that making the transition from a large city to a smaller one did not present a problem. “I did my master’s up in Aberdeen, so it wasn’t the first time that I’ve been in a smaller town,” said Tryphon Lambrou, who specialises in medical imaging and signal/image processing. Noting that he has found the people of Lincoln to be more friendly than some of their counterparts in the capital, Dr Lambrou said that one of the attractive aspects of joining the institution was its rapid progress up league tables due to “aggressive recruitment” from research-intensive universities. Being surrounded by academics who had come from UK institutions with a high degree of global recognition created a “dynamic environment” at Lincoln, he said, adding that he was keen to set up research collaborations with local hospitals. Dr Lambrou gained a BSc in medical instrumentation engineering from the Technological Educational Institute of Athens in Greece before moving to the UK to complete an MSc at the University of Aberdeen and then a doctorate at University College London.
Owen Evans
A newly appointed professor of film at Edge Hill University has said that his appointment was “one of those things I probably never thought I was going to achieve” when he began his academic career. “You talk to people and meet professors, and they seem very experienced, and when you’re a young academic you aspire to that, but it was not something I genuinely thought would ever happen,” said Owen Evans, who was given the chair at the end of last year. Professor Evans joined Edge Hill in 2011 from Swansea University, where he took his undergraduate degree and his PhD in German studies. He said he was looking forward to developing his field’s research profile at Edge Hill and that he was especially keen to work with different disciplines to complement his own diverse background in film, languages, literature and history. “I’ve grown up in a system where it’s publish or perish,” he said. “Here it’s a bit more enabling, I think. There’s a willingness to try things that might not work, and not quite the same pressure to always achieve those results.” Professor Evans has previously held positions at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany and the University of Wales, Bangor (now Bangor University).
Royal Northern College of Music
Linda Merrick
“I got into music at quite a young age, like many do, by having piano lessons from the age of about six. Then when I got to secondary school…I took up the clarinet because it was the only instrument the school had available at the time,” said Linda Merrick, a former professional solo clarinetist with more than 20 CD recordings to her credit, who has just taken over as principal of the Royal Northern College of Music. Professor Merrick, who became acting principal in July 2012, added that her enthusiasm for the field was a vital ingredient in her plans and prospects for success as head of the college. “I’ve had a portfolio career myself for many years, so I’ve got an understanding of what it’s like to make your way in the music world and what it’s like to keep redefining yourself so you can meet the demands of the profession. That link to reality is absolutely crucial, and I see that as being very helpful in going forward in the institution,” she said. Her own tastes in music span classical, world and popular genres, and Professor Merrick said that she hopes to imbue her staff and teachers with similar broadness in order to better help their students. Professor Merrick studied at the Royal Academy of Music before undertaking an MMus at the University of Reading and a PhD at the Birmingham Conservatoire, University of Central England (now Birmingham City University).
Other changes
Harper Adams University has made two new appointments. Iona Huang has taken up the post of senior lecturer in business enterprise and management in the land, farm and agribusiness management department, and Andrew Cherrill has joined the crop and environmental sciences department as senior lecturer in ecology and countryside management. Dr Huang was previously director of the Centre for International Education at Edge Hill University. Dr Cherrill’s most recent post was at the University of Sunderland, where for 18 years he taught a variety of environmentally themed undergraduate and postgraduate modules.
The chemistry department at the University of Southampton has welcomed a number of new starters. They include Darren Bradshaw, reader in functional materials; Ramon Rios Torres, reader in organic chemistry; Graeme Day, reader in computational modelling of molecular systems; Seung Seo Lee and Jonathan Watts, both lecturers in chemical biology; Ilya Kuprov, principal research fellow in chemical physics and an EPSRC advanced research fellow; and Marcel Utz, reader in magnetic resonance.
Andy Hibbert, a teaching fellow in the University of Bath’s department of education, has been appointed chef de mission for the team representing Great Britain in the World University Summer Games to be held in Kazan, Russia this July. He will be responsible for ensuring that the best performance environment is created for all members of the British team including athletes, officials and support staff.
Kathryn McPherson has been appointed to the post of associate dean of students in the Faculty of Graduate Studies at York University in Canada. She is also a professor in the department of history in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies and a historian of women, health and work.