Rector of Imperial College London

Sir Roy Anderson to return focus to international research and advisory career; Sir Keith O'Nions is Acting Rector from 1 January 2010 - News release

For immediate release
Monday 16 November 2009

The Rector of Imperial College London Sir Roy Anderson FRS  has today announced that he is stepping down from his post in order to focus on his research career. The governing Council of the College has accepted Sir Roy’s resignation with deep regret.

Sir Roy will continue to serve as Rector until 31 December 2009, after which he will return to his position as Chair of Infectious Disease Epidemiology within Imperial’s Faculty of Medicine. Sir Keith O’Nions FRS, currently Director of Imperial’s Institute for Security Science and Technology, will serve as Acting Rector from 1 January 2010 until a new Rector is appointed by the Council.

Sir Roy Anderson

Sir Roy made his announcement in an email sent to staff and students earlier today in which he thanked them for their support and explained his decision:

“I have decided to step down as Rector as I want to return to my primary concern, which is my deep and abiding research interest into global health. All my working life I have been, and I remain today, a research scientist and a teacher with a very strong interest in the global problem of infectious diseases and their control. This requires me to maintain a broad range of external roles and I will therefore continue with my international advisory work for both governments and leading public and private sector bodies around the world. Such activity informs and broadens my academic research, which in turn increases my ability to add value in my advisory roles.

“I am immensely proud of and loyal to Imperial and I shall do all I can from my new position to ensure that our College maintains its world-leading position of today, and is well-prepared to meet new challenges tomorrow.”

In his message Sir Roy also praised the outstanding contributions of the College’s staff and students:

“I have had the pleasure of meeting many of you, and on every occasion I am reminded strongly of your dedication and brilliance. You are testament to what I believe above all about this university: that Imperial’s success and reputation is built, from the bottom-up, on the shoulders of all the people who have come together to work and study here.”

Speaking on behalf of the College, Lord Kerr, Chairman of the Court and Council, said in an email to staff and students:

“During his time as Rector Sir Roy has led the College through a challenging economic environment, has highlighted the economic and social value of research-intensive universities and has advanced Imperial’s interests by playing a full part in public debate about the future of higher education. Driving forward the College’s research agenda, Sir Roy has promoted the creation of key interdisciplinary institutes: the Institute for Global Health and the Institute for Security Science and Technology will ensure that our research strength focuses on tackling global challenges. And he has encouraged an increased focus on the quality of the academic experience we offer, championing new ways to recognise and reward the importance of high quality teaching.”

“Sir Roy has been a loyal servant of the College for over four decades. People across the world have benefited from his research on infectious diseases and their control, most recently through his advice on the swine flu outbreak, and thousands of students have been inspired by his teaching. As Rector, Sir Roy has built on the College’s strengths. On behalf of all members of the College community, I thank him most warmly for the important contributions he has made to the College’s success, and wish him all the best for the future. We are delighted that he will remain here at Imperial.”

Sir Keith O'Nions

From 1 January 2010, Sir Keith O’Nions FRS, currently Director of Imperial’s Institute for Security Science and Technology, will take over as Acting Rector.

Welcoming his appointment, Lord Kerr said:

“I am delighted that Sir Keith, another ‘insider’, has agreed to serve the College in this way. His talents as leader and scientist are widely recognised and his extensive experience of both government and academia will greatly benefit us.”

Sir Keith said:

“I am hugely honoured to be asked to follow in Sir Roy’s footsteps, as Acting Rector. Sir Roy is a scientist I admire greatly who has led the College with enormous skill thanks to his deep understanding based on many years of service. On a personal level I am particularly grateful to him for his vision in developing the Institute where I currently work, and allowing me to be part of this truly exceptional community of academics, support staff and students.”

The Council will now establish a search committee to identify Sir Roy’s successor, and their choice will be announced next year.

For further information contact:

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

Duty press officer: 07803 886248

Notes to editors:

About Sir Roy Anderson FRS, FMedSci

Sir Roy Anderson FRS, FMedSci, became Rector of Imperial College London on 1 July 2008, following a 40-year association with the College. He continues to be Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology in the Division of Epidemiology, Public Health and Primary Care.

Sir Roy attended Duncombe School and Hertford Grammar School in Hertfordshire. He gained a first in zoology in 1968 and a PhD in parasitology, both at Imperial College London. After completing his PhD in 1971 he became an IBM biomathematics research fellow at the University of Oxford, before moving to King's College London to become a lecturer in parasitology in 1973.

He returned to Imperial in 1977 as a lecturer and was made professor in 1982 and Head of the Department of Biology in 1984, a position he held until 1993 when he became Head of the Department of Zoology and Linacre Chair of Zoology at the University of Oxford.

In 2000 he returned to Imperial, bringing with him a research team of around 40 people, to set up and lead the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, focused on the epidemiology, population biology, evolution and control of infectious diseases such as AIDS and HIV, SARS, bird flu and pandemic influenza, BSE and vCJD and the epidemic viral infections of livestock including foot and mouth. Between 2004 and 2007 Sir Roy was on secondment from Imperial College to act as Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence.

Sir Roy has also served as Director of the Wellcome Centre for Parasite Infections from 1989 to 1993 (at Imperial) and as Director of the Wellcome Centre for the Epidemiology of Infectious Disease from 1993 to 2000 (at Oxford). He is the author of over 450 scientific articles and has sat on numerous government and international agency committees advising on public health and disease control including the World H ealth Organisation and UNAIDS. From 1991-2000 he was a Governor of the Wellcome Trust.

He currently chairs the science advisory board of WHOs Neglected Tropical Diseases programme, is a member of the Bill and Melinda Gates Grand Challenges advisory board, and chairs the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative advisory board (SCI) funded by the Gates Foundation. He is a non-executive director of GlaxoSmithKline.

Sir Roy was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1986, a Founding Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1998, a Foreign Associate Member of the Institute of Medicine at the US National Academy of Sciences in 1999 and he was knighted in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours.

About Sir Keith O’Nions FRS

Sir Keith O'Nions, was appointed to set up and lead Imperial's Institute for Security Science and Technology in July 2008, prior to which he was Director General, Science and Innovation, in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. This followed his position as Chief Scientific Advisor at the MoD from January 2000 to July 2004 and Director General, Science and Innovation, and Chief Scientific Adviser in the DTI (then DIUS) from 2004 onwards.

He attended the University of Nottingham and gained a PhD in Earth Sciences from the University of Alberta and became a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oslo. From 1971 to 1975 he was Demonstrator and then Lecturer in Geochemistry at University of Oxford. He became Professor of Geology at Columbia University in 1975, Royal Society Research Professor in Cambridge from 1979 and Head of Earth Sciences in Oxford in 1995.

He became a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1979, and a Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 1980. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (1983), Honorary Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences (1998), Fellow Indian National Science Academy (2001), and Honorary Fellow Royal Academy of Engineering (2005). He has received Honorary doctorates from a number of Universities.

He has been the chairman, or a member, of a number of Research Council committees over the last 25 years and a member of the Council of Science and Technology from 1998-2000. He was Trustee and Chairman of the Natural History Museum from 1996 to 2005. He received a knighthood for services to earth sciences in the 1999 Queen's Birthday Honours.

More about Sir Keith and the Institute for Security Science and Technology is available in this press release: Sir Keith O'Nions appointed Director of new security research institute at Imperial College

About Imperial College London

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