Professor Sinclair Goodlad, 1938 - 2026

A tribute to Professor Sinclair Goodlad, former Director of the Humanities Programme at Imperial College London, innovator in education and technical communications.

Generations of alumni and staff will look with gratitude on the life of Professor Sinclair Goodlad, who died on 5 August 2026, at the age of 88, peacefully and at home. Goodlad was influential at Imperial for his vision in seeing the benefits of a STEM education firmly entwined with the humanities, the social sciences and the modern languages.  

Sinclair Goodlad grew up in Lincoln, the son of a psychiatrist. He graduated from Cambridge with a BA degree in English Literature and obtained his doctorate from the London School of Economics in the sociology of television. He then spent a year teaching in St Stephen’s College, Delhi, before returning to the UK. He was drawn for a while to ordination to the priesthood of the Church of England.  His lively interest in education, and his ability to make connections, however, led him to an opportunity to teach at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) instead.  

Goodlad stayed at Imperial throughout his career, rising through the rank of Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and then Professor of Sociology of Higher Education. In 1973, he left Electrical Engineering to join the newly-formed Department of Associated Studies, bringing non-technical education to the whole College. Goodlad served as the Director of the Humanities Programme (successor to the Department of Associated Studies, and today the Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication) from 1992 until his retirement in 2002: a career at Imperial that spanned four decades. He liked Nehru’s notion of ‘the scientific temper’, believing the life of science could be enhanced by the insights and challenges of history, ethics, philosophy, art, or the study of a modern language.  Goodlad argued that humanities be taught in a STEM university not simply to ‘broaden the mind’ but that these disciplines enhance your critical abilities: they make you a better scientist. He argued his point in a stream of publications and Imperial students agreed, enrolling into the Humanities Programme in ever greater numbers. 

Another impactful contribution from Goodlad was the introduction of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP) in 1980.  UROP was first conceived at MIT, offering students the chance to work with a research team at the College, “experiencing the demands of theory and practice, and of social constraints on individual insights1”.  This programme, still thriving at Imperial today, remains one of the extracurricular activities that our undergraduates students enjoy. 

Goodlad’s contributions benefited not only students, but also academic colleagues.  In the late 1970’s, he started organising internal workshops to train new academics how to teach effectively.  His legendary ‘Workshop D’, where new lecturers were videoed explaining some technical point, as though to a packed lecture hall, with Sinclair then providing sage feedback, is remembered by many. Typical of Sinclair’s kindly style, those somewhat challenging workshops were always followed with a good lunch, and good conversation, at 170 Queen’s Gate. 

Goodlad is legendary for the tenaciousness and grace with which, over several decades, he wove together the ‘STEM-humanities tapestry’. In getting his way Goodlad’s style was obvious: he was persistent to an extraordinary degree; he was quick-witted in his understanding of what we might mean by the term ‘a well-trained scientist’; and he was generous and attentive to colleagues and students. He will be greatly missed by his many colleagues, friends and former students. 

Goodlad was a Fellow of the Society for Research into Higher Education.  In recognition of his contributions at Imperial, he was awarded the Imperial College medal in 2013.  He is survived by his daughter Emily, son-in-law Toby and his two grandchildren.