New appointments to Senior Principal, Faculty Principal and International positions at Imperial College London

Four new internal appointments to senior academic leadership positions announced - News Release

For immediate release
Tuesday 5 August 2008

Imperial College London has today announced four new internal appointments to senior academic leadership positions.

Professor Sir Peter Knight becomes Senior Principal, Professor Maggie Dallman becomes Principal of Natural Sciences, Professor Stephen Richardson becomes Principal of Engineering, and Professor John Wood becomes International Relations Advisor. All appointments are effective from 1 September 2008.

Professor Sir Peter Knight FRS, currently Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, will take up the new role of Senior Principal. Sir Peter will deputise for the College’s Rector, Sir Roy Anderson, and will be responsible for the overall research strategy of the College, determining research priorities and providing high level coordination of initiatives requiring interdisciplinary working and cross Faculty engagement.

Professor Maggie Dallman, currently Deputy Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, has been appointed Principal of the Faculty. She takes charge of a Faculty containing five departments, five inter-disciplinary Institutes and a range of research centres, employing over 1,200 staff, teaching over 3,900 students and with an annual turnover of approximately £100m.

Professor Stephen Richardson FREng, currently Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology, is appointed Principal of the Faculty of Engineering. He will lead a Faculty of 10 departments, with around 1,000 members of staff, more than 4,700 students and an annual turnover in excess of £100m.

Professor John Wood FREng, currently Principal of the Faculty of Engineering, will take up the new role of International Relations Advisor. Professor Wood, who also chairs the European Research Area Board, will foster and develop research opportunities, and explore the potential for collaborative ventures primarily within Europe and India. He will be responsible for managing the College's relationship with the new European Institute of Technology. As International Relations Advisor, Professor Wood will work within the team led by the Pro Rector International Affairs, Professor Mary Ritter.

Welcoming the appointments, Sir Roy Anderson, Rector of Imperial College said:

"I'm delighted that our senior academics Sir Peter, Maggie, Stephen and John will be taking up their new positions in September. In their respective areas they have already demonstrated great service and leadership to Imperial College. As the College explores exciting new academic and international opportunities, we are very fortunate to be guided by such dedicated and talented individuals."

Each of the appointees will be members of the College’s Management Board, its senior decision-making body.

**Pictures of the new appointees are available from Abigail Smith, and further biographical details are available below in Notes to Editors.**

ENDS

For further information contact:

Abigail Smith
Imperial College London Press Office
Tel: 020 7594 6701
Email: abigail.smith@imperial.ac.uk

Notes to editors:

Professor Sir Peter Knight FRS

Professor Sir Peter Knight is currently Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperial College London, a member of the Imperial College Management Board and Council, and Professor of Quantum Optics. He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2005 for his work in optical physics.

He joined Imperial in 1979, becoming Head of the Department of Physics in 2001, Acting Principal of the Faculty of Physical Sciences in 2004, and Principal of the new Faculty of Natural Sciences in 2005. His research centres on theoretical quantum optics, strong field physics and especially on quantum information science. He has won a number of prizes and awards including the Ives Medal of the OSA, a Humboldt Prize from Germany and the Thomas Young Medal of the Institute of Physics. He is the (delete new) chair of the Science Board of the Science and Technology Facilities Council and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, the Optical Society of America and of the Royal Society. He recently ended a term as an elected member of Council of the Royal Society and chairs their Hooke Committee, their Evaluation Panel and is a member of their Audit Committee.

More information at: www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/p.knight 

Professor Maggie Dallman

Professor Maggie Dallman joined Imperial College in 1994 following appointments at Oxford and Stanford Universities. She became Professor of Immunology in 1999, Head of the Section of Immunology and Infection in 2001 and Deputy Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences shortly after its formation in 2006.

Her research and teaching interests are in the area of immunology, inflammation and infectious disease and whilst her studies are mainly basic experimental in nature she has a real desire to translate new understandings into clinical care. Other current projects include spearheading Imperial's new Junior Research Fellowship scheme, which offers young researchers to the opportunity to concentrate on establishing their scientific careers free from administrative or teaching duties. She is an emeritus fellow of Hertford College, University of Oxford, and a member of the British Transplantation Society, The Transplantation Society, in which she is an elected member of Council and Chairs the Basic Science group, and the British Society of Immunology.

More information at: www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/m.dallman 

Professor Stephen Richardson FREng

Professor Stephen Richardson completed his PhD at Imperial in 1975 and, after a period of research at Cambridge rejoined the College as a lecturer in chemical engineering in 1978. He was appointed Professor of Chemical Engineering in 1994 and became Head of Department in 2001.

His research is focused on improving safety in the oil and gas industry, and achievements include the development of a computer program to simulate and predict events when high pressure systems become rapidly depressurised.

More information at: www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/s.m.richardson 

Professor John Wood CBE FREng

Professor John Wood became Principal of Imperial's Faculty of Engineering in 2007, joining the College from the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils, of which he became Chief Executive in 2001. He completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge, where he spent his early academic career before joining the Open University in 1978. He was appointed Cripps Professor of Materials Engineering, Head of the Department of Materials and Dean of Engineering at the University of Nottingham in 1998, where his research focused on the area of materials processing of non-equilibrium structures.

He was appointed Chair of the Office of Science and Technology's Foresight on Materials panel in 1997, on which he served until 2001, as well as of the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures, launched in 2002. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1999 and appointed CBE for services to science in the 2007 New Year Honours.

More information at: www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/j.wood 

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Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and business, delivering practical solutions that improve quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.

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