Professor Peter Haynes became Provost & Deputy President of Imperial College London in October 2025.
He leads the academic mission of Imperial, overseeing its research, education and innovation and translation activities. His role includes both strategy and planning, ensuring that resources are aligned with the strategic aims of the Imperial's plan.
Professor Peter Haynes joined Imperial in 2007, and is a Professor of Theory and Simulation of Materials, a post held jointly between the departments of Materials and Physics and associated with the Thomas Young Centre.
Previously, Peter was Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience) and was responsible for facilitating and supporting the provision of high-quality education and delivering an exceptional student experience.
Professor Haynes’ research interests focus on the development of new methods for performing first-principles quantum-mechanical simulations and their application to materials science, nanotechnology and biological systems. Recently these have expanded to include methods for simulating molecules and materials on emerging quantum computers, in collaboration with the Imperial Centre for Quantum Engineering, Science and Technology and Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology. Much of his work has centred on linear-scaling methods for large-scale simulations, and he is a founding author of the ONETEP code. In recognition of this work, he received the Maxwell Medal and Prize for Computational Physics from the Institute of Physics in 2010.
Professor Haynes studied Natural Sciences at Christ’s College, Cambridge, specialising in Theoretical Physics, and completed his doctorate in the Theory of Condensed Matter group at the Cavendish Laboratory in 1998. He then held the Thomas Nevile Research Fellowship at Magdalene College, followed by the Ramon Jenkins Senior Research Fellowship at Sidney Sussex College, and was a Royal Society University Research Fellow from 2005 to 2013.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2021.
In his role as academic leader, he works with the community to shape and implement Imperial's Academic Strategy, ensuring alignment with its long-term mission in discovery, innovation and impact. He oversees the prioritisation and support of major strategic projects, strengthens interdisciplinary collaboration, and champions a culture of diversity, inclusion and excellence across research and education.