Advance HE Board

Professor Mark E. Smith is the President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton.  As President and Vice-Chancellor he is the Chief Executive of the University and has overall responsibility for its operations.  He took up this role on 1 October 2019. Professor Smith was Vice-Chancellor at Lancaster University from January 2012 until September 2019.  He was previously Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Warwick.

Throughout his academic career, he has published more than 380 papers about advanced magnetic resonance techniques, helping to understand a range of problems in the field of materials physics.  He is currently a member of the executive group overseeing the National High Field Solid-State NMR Facility at the University of Warwick.

In addition to his role as President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton, he holds a number of external appointments including Senior Independent Member of UKRI EPSRC’s Council; and board member of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, chairing their Research Wales Committee. He also chairs UKRI’s Financial Sustainability of Research Group and was the former Chair of the University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) 2016-2022. He has also served on the Boards of Jisc, HESA and HESCU.

He was awarded a CBE for Services to Research and Higher Education in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Professor Steve Decent joined Glasgow Caledonian University as Principal and Vice-Chancellor in January 2023. Professor Decent also chairs Universities Scotland’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee.

He joined Glasgow Caledonian from his position of Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Manchester Metropolitan University. Previously he was Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) and later Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic Development) at Lancaster University, and Vice-Principal and Head of College of the College of Art, Science and Engineering at the University of Dundee. 

Having graduated with a BSc in Mathematics at Brunel University and a PhD at the University of St Andrews, Professor Decent moved to the University of Birmingham as a Research Fellow in 1995, followed by being a lecturer, before becoming Professor of Applied Mathematics and later the Head of School of Mathematics. He then took on the additional role of Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Professor Decent is a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, and specialises in research on free-surface flows, including liquid jets and water waves. He also has a keen interest in hydrogen fuel cells.

Following an early career in the creative industries, Sam has spent the last decade and a half in student-centric leadership positions within a range of higher UK education institutions. As Pro Vice Chancellor for Student Experience at the University of Salford, Sam holds Executive responsibility for quality and standards of the academic portfolio, Executive responsibility for the Learning and Teaching Network within the university, Executive responsibility for developing the learning philosophy underpinning the student journey and Executive oversight of the wider pastoral and supporting infrastructure which underpins the student journey and outcomes. These responsibilities focus upon enabling student success in the context of performance against student quality metrics to ensure value for money.

Sam has also led on the university’s academic response to Covid-19. He has ensured teaching and learning practices have adapted towards delivery of excellent student outcomes, and that institutional practices are reimagined to learn from the pandemic as we tilt towards positive and lasting change.

Alongside work at Salford, Sam continues to work in leadership and thought leadership nationally and internationally, building on a range of external engagements and board experiences.

Annette has recently been appointed as the Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at De Montfort University in Leicester.  She completed her first Degree in Social Studies at the University of Warwick and later completed her Masters Degree in Leadership and Management at Coventry University.  She is also an alumni of Advance HE’s successful, Diversifying Leadership Programme.

De Montfort University is a leading pioneer for EDI initiatives and activities in Higher Education and have recently become the first institutional holders of the Silver Race Equality Chartermark and Annette aims to build on this success by continuing to embed EDI considerations and actions in all aspects of university life for the benefit of all its staff, students and the university as a whole.

Annette is an accomplished manager and leader and who has a demonstrable ability to build and maintain strategic and purposeful relationships and collaborations, on a local, national and global scale.  She is recognised for her strategic influence and input on policy, practice and external engagements.

Annette is able to reflect on over 30 years of leadership and activism around EDI, which she has maintained throughout her working career in Higher Education and has been a passionate advocate for the importance institutional leadership has in tackling racial inequalities and embedding anti-racist practices. 

She is a member of several other Boards and Committees including the esteemed American based ‘National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education’ (NADOHE), which is the leading voice for Senior Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officers.  She is one of the founding members of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group for the Association of Research Management and Administration (ARMA), the Vice-Chair of the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, a member of the Women in Higher Education Network (WHEN) and an alumni of the International focussed leadership Common Purpose programme.

Janet is the Senior Lay Member of Court at the University of Edinburgh, Chair of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and a member of the advisory panel of IntoUniversity. A lawyer by profession, Janet is the former Senior Partner, Board Chair and Global Co-Chair of DLA Piper, a global law firm with 90 offices worldwide, where she combined senior leadership roles with an international disputes practice, latterly representing Governments.

Janet has significant governance experience in higher education, in particular from her prior roles on the Audit Committee of the University of Cambridge, as Deputy Chair of City, University of London where she was also a Trustee of the Student’s Union, as Deputy Chair of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission and on the Board of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education. She is an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

On her appointment as Queen’s Counsel Honoris Causa in 2018, the Lord Chancellor described Janet as “… a pioneer in enhancing the role of women in the law, promoting social mobility, diversity and inclusion within her firm and the wider profession…”

Professor Joanna Newman MBE FSRA joined SOAS as Deputy Director and Provost in September 2023. In her role she provides academic and strategic leadership to support the School’s overall strategy and lead on its Education Strategy 2021-26 that sits at the heart of the Strategic Plan 2021.  

Prior to joining SOAS, Joanna became the first female Secretary General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, an international organisation dedicated to building a better world through higher education, with more than 500 member universities in over 50 countries. In that role she directed the administration of the UK government’s three main international scholarship programmes – Chevening, Commonwealth, and Marshall Scholarships – as well as the multilateral Queen Elizabeth Commonwealth Scholarships.  

Her previous roles include serving as the Vice-Principal (International) at King’s College London, where she was instrumental in forging new international research and teaching collaborations; the Director of the UK Higher Education International Unit (now known as Universities UK International), where she led the development of a UK-wide international education strategy; and Head of Higher Education at the British Library.   

Joanna serves on a number of boards, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s Leadership Council, the High-level Advisory Group for Mission 4.7, CARA (the Council for displaced academics) and the QS Global Advisory Committee . She is a Senior Research Fellow in History at King’s College London and contributes to the MA in transnational History. Her most recent publication is Nearly the New World: The British West Indies and the Flight from Nazism, 1933-1945. In 2014, Joanna was awarded an MBE in recognition of her work promoting British higher education internationally.  

Professor Andrea Nolan is Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University, a role she has held since 2013.  Andrea graduated as a veterinary surgeon from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and, after a short time in veterinary practice, embarked on an academic career which led to her appointment as a Lecturer and then Professor in Veterinary Pharmacology at the University of Glasgow where she established herself as a research leader in the field of animal pain, its recognition and management.  Her senior leadership in Glasgow developed through roles as Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Vice-Principal for Learning, Teaching and Internationalisation, and Senior Vice-Principal.  She served as Convenor of Universities Scotland, the professional body representing Scotland’s 19 Higher Education institutions from 2016 to 2020, and currently chairs its International Committee.  She serves on a range of Boards and groups contributing to the development of Higher Education.  She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies and was awarded an Honorary OBE in 2013 for services to Higher Education and Veterinary Science.

Professor Karen O’Brien joined Durham University as Vice-Chancellor and Warden in January 2022. As the chief executive, she has overall responsibility for the educational and research mission of England’s third oldest university, reporting to its Council of Trustees. Since joining she has led Durham University through a significant period of strategy renewal, with a focus on key areas of research growth (particularly in the sciences), access and inclusion, financial sustainability, equality and inclusion, and sustainable development goals in both the region and the wider world.  She has worked to strengthen Durham’s global reputation, and to support research excellence across all disciplines.   As VC she engages extensively in national HE policy including as a member of the Russell Group Board.  She has also worked with universities, public sector and industry partners greatly to enhance the role Durham plays in the North East region for economic growth and social mobility. 

Before joining Durham, she was for five years a member of the senior team at the University of Oxford where she was Head of the Humanities Division. During that time the Division increased its position near or at the top of the global and national league tables, enjoyed unprecedented research grant success, and secured unprecedented levels of philanthropic gifts to endow scholarships, academic posts and key activities.   She was the driving force behind the University’s new, £150m Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. As part of this project, she established a new Institute for the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence.  Prior to joining Oxford, she was Vice-Principal for Education at King’s College London, PVC (Education) at the University of Birmingham, and chair of the Russell Group Pro-Vice-Chancellors for Teaching and Learning. 

She originally studied at Oxford and at the University of Pennsylvania. She spent most of her earlier career teaching and publishing research, and held academic posts at the universities of Warwick, Cardiff and Cambridge. She is a former Harkness Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the English Association, and an Honorary Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and of St Cross College, Oxford. She has published widely on the literature and intellectual history of the European Enlightenment. Her first book won the British Academy’s Rose Mary Crawshay prize.  She is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service and other media networks.  

David Sadler was appointed to the University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) as the Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic in April 2024. Previously, David was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) at the University of Western Australia (UWA) from 2017-2024 and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students and Education) at the University of Tasmania (UTAS) from 2011 to 2017. David has led many initiatives around physical and digital infrastructure for education, student experience, curriculum renewal, sustainability and especially the educational attainment agenda, leading the Children’s Universities in Western Australia and Tasmania which now operates in Western Australia. 

David is a Principal Fellow of Advance HE (PFHEA). He is currently Chair of Universities Australia DVC A Executive and leads UA’s work on academic integrity; teaching recognition and stakeholder relationships with TEQSA.  David is also Chair of the Australian Awards (Program Awards) for University Teaching. 

In the UK, David was Director (Networks) for the Higher Education Academy and previously Director of the Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics (CSAP) at the University of Birmingham.  David is a UK National Teaching Fellow (2005). David’s academic specialism is in crisis decision-making in international security and he worked for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office as a Senior Research Officer in Arms Control and Disarmament from 1988-1992, embracing many aspects of the end of the Cold War.

David is a life fellow of the RSA and a former Council member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

South African-born Whittaker studied music at conservatoires in South Africa, the Netherlands and Czechia, where he was a student of the renowned conductor Vladimír Válek. He has more than 20 years of experience in specialist creative higher education, leading significant organisational change and transformation projects.

He worked closely with the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education to advance leadership in specialist institutions and has held positions at specialist institutions in South Africa, the Netherlands and the UK. He is known for his work on representation and frequently writes and presents on the topic.

Whittaker has made a contribution to the activities of several specialist institutions acting in an external or non-executive director capacity; these have recently included the Utrecht School of the Arts, the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Christies Education and BIMM Institute.

Paul is an expert in strategy, operations, change and leadership in universities.

He was previously responsible for building and running the education consulting practice of PA Consulting internationally. He has worked with more than 30 universities in the UK as well as many others overseas. His experience was in delivering major programmes to define strategy, improve academic outcomes, deliver better services, and reduce cost. He has also worked extensively with government departments, regulators and funding bodies in the higher education sector in the UK and elsewhere.

Paul graduated from Durham University with a BA (Hons) in Economics and then qualified as a chartered accountant. He worked as a consultant, programme leader and change manager in a range of organisations particularly in the public sector.

He is a Governor of De Montfort University and works as an independent advisor and writer on change in universities.

Parveen is currently Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at the University of Reading, with leadership across a broad portfolio of activity. She is responsible for implementing the research strategy, fostering a positive research culture and delivering on research-based key performance indicators, and she has played a significant role on national and international research funding panels, particularly in the area of nutrition and health.

She manages several strategic institutional partnerships and is the University’s senior lead for equality, diversity and inclusion. Parveen also has a sector-level presence on equality, diversity and inclusion, having held the role of inaugural Chair of the Athena Swan Governance Committee for three years, overseeing the transformation of the Athena Swan Charter. She was appointed OBE for services to higher education in 2022.