Category: Senior leadership

Director of Sustainability

Harriet Wallace has accepted appointment as Imperial’s first Director of Sustainability. Harriet began transitioning into this role in June from her previous secondment to Imperial as an Imperial Policy Fellow from the Civil Service, working with colleagues on implementing our Sustainability Strategy. 

In this new role, Harriet will lead and coordinate delivery of the Sustainable Imperial initiative announced in our new Strategy, working collaboratively with colleagues across Imperial. As the Strategy set out, Imperial’s goal is to set a global benchmark for university sustainability, nurturing graduates who understand and advocate for climate science, supporting our researchers to investigate and respond to planetary challenges and leading by example in our activities and on our campuses. 

Harriet will report to the Chief of Staff to the President and continue to work closely with Professor Tim Green, Academic Lead for Sustainability. The Sustainability Programme will continue to be governed by the Sustainability Strategy Committee, chaired by Professor Nigel Brandon, and supported by the central Sustainability Hub team and Sustainability leads and champions across Faculties and Professional Services.  

Harriet is a scientist by training and a policy, strategy and change practitioner by profession. She has had a lifelong interest in how we can make the most of science’s potential: for understanding the world better; for solving real-world problems; and to inform and influence both policy-making and human behaviours.  

She previously worked in government for many years, most recently as Director International Research and Innovation at BEIS (negotiating the Horizon Europe deal and sponsoring several Research and Funding bodies) and before that in roles on environmental, health and science policy and spending. Before joining government, she worked at Unilever on social and environmental responsibility and their corporate brand.

Director of the Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC)

Professor Mark Thursz has accepted the appointment of Director of the Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC), with effect from 1 August 2024, for a term of five years. He succeeds Professor Jonathan Weber who had held this position since 2012. We express our thanks to Professor Weber for his long stint in office and for his unwavering commitment to the AHSC and its NHS partners and to Imperial College London.

Professor Thursz has been the Head of the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction (MDR) since 2019, a role he will step down from in due course once a new postholder is identified and takes up the post.

Professor Thursz joined Imperial in 1991 as a clinical research fellow and was appointed to a Senior Lectureship in 1997. He was promoted to Professor of Hepatology in 2006. He has held many senior roles within the Department and Faculty, including Head of the Division of Digestive Diseases within MDR, and St Mary’s Campus Director.

He is R&D Director at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, where he is a consultant hepatologist based at St Mary’s Hospital. He is also Director of the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, which in 2022 was awarded a five-year grant of over £95M from the NIHR to support research activity in collaboration with Imperial College London.

Professor Thursz is a former secretary of the British Association for Study of the Liver (BASL) and led the European Association for Study of the Liver, as Secretary-General (2011-13). Professor Thursz’s research interests are focussed on viral hepatitis and alcohol-related liver disease. He established the Prevention of Liver Fibrosis and Cancer in Africa (PROLIFCA) programme to address barriers that prevent the control and elimination of viral hepatitis in countries with limited resources. He also runs a translational research programme in alcohol-related liver disease funded by the MRC and NIHR.

Head of the Department of Surgery and Cancer

Professor George Hanna FMedSci has accepted an extension to his appointment as Head of the Department of Surgery and Cancer until 31 January 2027.

Professor Hanna is currently Head of the Division of Surgery within the department and holds a chair in Surgical Sciences. Professor Hanna’s clinical work is based at Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in oesophageal and gastric cancer surgery.

The current interest of his laboratory revolves around volatile organic compounds analysis to investigate molecular drivers of volatile biomarkers and develop a non-invasive breath test as a platform technology to detect gastrointestinal cancers. He leads an NIHR Health Technology Centre in In-Vitor Diagnostics.

Registrar and University Secretary

Following the recent appointment process, Richard Martin has accepted appointment as Registrar and University Secretary, with effect from 1 March 2024.

Richard will combine the responsibilities of University Secretary (Central Secretariat, Legal & Regulatory, Risk and Corporate Compliance) with his current role leading Academic Services.

He will report to the President as University Secretary (and also to the Chair of Council as Clerk to Council) and to the Provost as Registrar leading the Academic Services Group.

Richard began his career in Higher Education as a Graduate Management Trainee at Imperial in 2000, becoming Deputy Faculty Administrator for the Faculty of Engineering in 2003 and then moving to work at UCL and in Australia where he was responsible for establishing UCL’s first overseas campus in Adelaide as Chief Operating Officer of UCL Australia.

Richard returned to Imperial in 2011 to take up the role of Faculty Operating Officer for the Faculty of Engineering, after which he served as Director of Transformation and most recently Director of Academic Services.

Chief Property Officer

Patrick Marsh has accepted the appointment of Chief Property Officer, leading the newly created Property Team with effect from 1 March 2024.

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the Chief Property Officer will be responsible for the development, operation, repair and ongoing management of Imperial’s property and estates with the goal of having a world class infrastructure to support a world changing academic endeavour.

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Associate Provost for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion 

Professor Lesley Cohen and Dr. Wayne Mitchell will be taking up the role of Associate Provost for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) from 1 September 2023, for a term of two years.  

Reporting to the Provost, as the Associate Provosts (EDI) Professor Cohen and Dr. Mitchell will share the duties of the post, bringing additional capacity to support the EDI agenda. They will lead on the EDI strategy, in line with Imperial’s wider strategy. They will champion EDI across the Imperial community, helping to facilitate cultural change.  

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Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience)

Following an open international search, Professor Peter Haynes has accepted appointment as Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience) with effect from 1 February 2023, for a term of five years. Professor Haynes has held the role of Interim Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience) since October 2022.  

Reporting to the Provost and working closely and collaboratively with key colleagues, in this role Professor Haynes will be responsible for leading the delivery of the College’s strategic aims for the provision of a of high-quality education and delivering an exceptional student experience. He will be responsible for enhancing the quality, impact, coordination and delivery of education at the College.  

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Reappointment of the Provost 

Professor Ian Walmsley FRS has been reappointed as the Provost of Imperial for a second term of three years, starting 1 September 2023. Professor Walmsley also holds the Chair in Experimental Physics in the Department of Physics.

Reporting to the President, the Provost is the College’s chief academic officer, upholding Imperial’s high academic standards and its core academic mission. As the Provost, Professor Walmsley will continue to hold overall responsibility for the quality of the College’s educational provision and research, with a deep commitment to enhancing our students’ experience and the working environment for staff, championing equality, diversity and inclusion.

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