Appointments

Rositsa Bateson has been named pro vice-chancellor (recruitment and student experience) at the University of Abertay Dundee. Dr Bateson, who is currently vice-president of student services at the Central European University in Hungary, will also take on the role of professor of higher education management at Abertay. She gained her PhD in higher education management at the University of Southampton, where she remains a visiting fellow.

A professor of politics from the University of Bath has been elected the new chair of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies. Richard Whitman will head the organisation, which promotes research and teaching and provides an independent forum for debate on the subject. He succeeds Alex Warleigh-Lack, professor of politics and international relations at Brunel University.

The University of the West of England's Bristol Business School has appointed four new staff to its organisation studies department. Noel Burchell, who was previously based at Unitec in New Zealand, takes over as head of the department. Also joining are: David Knights, who transfers from Keele University and becomes professor in organisation studies; Mark Neath, managing director of ORMultiView, who becomes senior lecturer; and Rob Sheffield, owner of Bluegreen Consulting, who has been appointed lecturer. The team will be involved in developing the new Bristol Centre for Leadership and Organisational Ethics, which will offer specialist consultancy advice and training for organisations in the South West of England. In other appointments at Bristol Business School, three new senior lecturers have been added to the accounting and finance department. They are: Michael Davies, previously risk-management director at HBOS; Alexa Brown, formerly a trainer at the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy's Education and Training Centre; and Kathryn Green, who was finance and commercial manager at Bupa.

Bournemouth University has appointed Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers its fourth chancellor. Lord Phillips is a prominent figure within the legal profession and is the UK's most senior law lord. He was the first Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales to serve as head of the English judiciary. He will succeed Lady Dione Digby as the university's chancellor in November. Also at Bournemouth, Paul Curran, the vice-chancellor, has been named the next president of the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society. Professor Curran was one of the first people to complete a PhD in remote sensing, which involves analysis of the Earth's surface without direct contact. He has authored or co-authored six books and about 400 articles on the subject.

Two new professors have been appointed at the University of Glamorgan as part of plans to strengthen the university's research in the hydrogen and analytical science fields. David Antonelli, the new chair of hydrogen research, joins from the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada, where he developed technology that allowed hydrogen to be stored at room temperature. Tony Davies takes on the role of chair of analytical science. Professor Davies has held a variety of roles in both industry and academia, including a spell as head of the Molecular Spectroscopic Methods Research Group at the Institute of Spectrochemistry and Applied Spectroscopy in Germany.

David Soutter, pro vice-chancellor for resources and group finance director at Coventry University, will be moving to Edinburgh Napier University early next year. In his new role as vice-principal for strategy and resources, he will oversee the development and implementation of policy, strategy and resource use at Edinburgh Napier. Mr Soutter, who is a chartered accountant, moved into academia after working for more than a decade at the financial services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers; he has previously held posts at the universities of Gloucestershire and Hull.

Christine Abbott has been named the new secretary at Birmingham City University. She joins from the University of Birmingham, where she is currently director of planning. Having also worked at Aston University, Ms Abbott's area of expertise is in change management, strategic planning, policy advice and formulation, risk and project management, governance and committee secretariat roles. The current secretary and registrar at Birmingham City, Maxine Penlington, will take on the newly created role of chief operating officer at the institution.

Anne Glover has been named the chair of the UK Collaborative on Development Sciences, an organisation that aims to provide a more co-ordinated approach to development sciences research in the UK. She was appointed Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland in August 2006. Professor Glover also holds a personal chair in molecular and cell biology at the University of Aberdeen, along with honorary positions at the Rowett and Macaulay institutes and the University of New South Wales in Australia.

The Awarding Body for the Built Environment (ABBE) has appointed Hayley Yarnell research and development officer after a year working with the institution in another post. In her new role, Ms Yarnell will be responsible for researching the viability of new awards, including examining changes in legislation and preparing business cases for investment. ABBE develops vocational qualifications for the construction, property and energy assessment sectors.

Adrian Walters, the Geldards LLP professor of corporate and insolvency law at Nottingham Trent University, has been appointed INSOL scholar for the Europe, Africa and Middle East Region. In his new role, which is for a one-year term beginning this month, Professor Walters will assist in the preparation of reports on current legislative and case law developments relevant to international insolvency for INSOL International - the association of restructuring, insolvency and bankruptcy professionals who specialise in turnaround and insolvency.

One of the UK's most respected police chiefs has been named a visiting professor at the University of Ulster. Sir Hugh Orde, the former Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, takes up the position at Ulster's School of Criminology, Politics and Social Policy. In his previous role, Sir Hugh oversaw the reform of policing in Northern Ireland, and he was the first Chief Constable to hold face-to-face talks with Sinn Fein. He stepped down from the role last month to take up a new post as president of the Association of Chief Police Officers.