John Wood named next Principal of Engineering at Imperial College London

Chief Executive of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils takes over from Dame Julia Higgins in summer 2007 - <em>News Release - 13 March 2007</em>

For immediate use
Tuesday 13 March 2007

The next Principal of Imperial College London's Faculty of Engineering will be Professor John Wood, it is announced today.

Currently Chief Executive of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils, Professor Wood will join Imperial in late summer 2007, succeeding Professor Dame Julia Higgins .

Imperial's Rector Sir Richard Sykes   said: "This is the biggest academic engineering job in the UK and it demands enormous understanding of the environment in which all facets of this wide-ranging discipline are operating. I'm delighted that in John we have been able to attract one of the world's most influential professional engineers, with the stature necessary to represent this internationally leading Faculty on the world stage."

Imperial's Faculty of Engineering is the largest in the UK, with the greatest number of academic staff rated 5* - indicating research quality that is rated as internationally excellence - in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. It is made up of nine departments, with around 1,000 staff, more than 4,700 students and an annual turnover in excess of £100m. Engineering at Imperial was rated the best in the UK and Europe and fourth in the world in the 2006 Times Higher Education Supplement World University Rankings.

Welcoming his appointment as Principal of the Faculty, Professor Wood said: "I believe that engineering is a key component for solving many of the challenges facing our society from energy provision to new approaches to health delivery. Imperial is one of the few institutions worldwide that has strength and depth in engineering and related sciences to be a significant player in helping deliver sustainable solutions to these challenges. I look forward to consolidating and building on this reputation and making sure Imperial continues to influence international policy and activity by engaging with all key decision makers. There are great opportunities before us and I count it a privilege to be appointed to this post at this critical time."

Professor Wood has a strong background in engineering, with a career comprising numerous public and industrial appointments in the UK and worldwide. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Chair of the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures and was Chair of the Office of Science and Technology's Foresight on Materials panel from 1997 until 2001. He joined the CCLRC in 2001 on secondment from the University of Nottingham, where was Cripps Professor of Materials Engineering, Head of Department and Dean of Engineering.

His many honours and prizes include the William Johnson International Gold Medal in 2001 for his lifetime of achievement in materials processing. He was appointed CBE in the 2007 New Year Honours for services to science.

Photographs of Professor Wood are available.

For further information contact:

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

Notes to editors

About Professor John Wood FREng CBE

John Wood graduated from Sheffield University in 1971 with a first class degree in materials. He went on to take 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. In 2001 he became Chief Executive of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils.

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.

About Imperial College London

Rated as the world’s ninth best university in the 2006 Times Higher Education Supplement University Rankings, Imperial College London is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research that attracts 11,500 students and 6,000 staff of the highest international quality.

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

With 62 Fellows of the Royal Society among our current academic staff and distinguished past members of the College including 14 Nobel Laureates and two Fields Medallists, Imperial's contribution to society has been immense. Inventions and innovations include the discovery of penicillin, the development of holography and the foundations of fibre optics. This commitment to the application of our research for the benefit of all continues today with current focuses including interdisciplinary collaborations to tackle climate change and mathematical modelling to predict and control the spread of infectious diseases.

The College's 100 years of living science will be celebrated throughout 2007 with a range of events to mark the Centenary of the signing of Imperial's founding charter on 8 July 1907.

Website: www.imperial.ac.uk