David Ewins studied Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College and then undertook PhD research at Cambridge University.  He was appointed Professor of Vibration Engineering at Imperial in 1983 and set up the Centre of Vibration Engineering in 1990 with support from Rolls-Royce.  He has held Visiting Professor appointments in France, Switzerland, USA and Singapore, where he was Temasek Professor from 1999 to 2002.  He served as Pro Rector (International Relations) at Imperial College from 2001 until 2005.