Amanda Wolthuizen has accepted appointment as Vice-President (Strategic Engagement), with effect from 28 October 2024.
Reporting to the President, in this role Amanda will be responsible for the development and implementation of Imperial’s Strategy, Science for Humanity. This includes the development of our international strategy and operations, and the implementation of Imperial’s government relations and stakeholder engagement strategy.
Professor Alison Holmes OBE FMedSci has accepted appointment as the inaugural Director of the Fleming Initiative, with effect from 1 October 2024.
A partnership between Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, the Fleming Initiative is focused on driving solutions to antimicrobial resistance that are co-designed with patients, the public, and policy makers and underpinned by a rich and diverse evidence base.
Professor Peter Lindstedt has accepted an extension to his term as Associate Provost (Academic Promotions) until 30 September 2026.
Reporting to the Provost, Professor Lindstedt is responsible for oversight of the academic promotions policy and its implementation for Imperial, working in conjunction with the Consuls, Deans, and HR colleagues.
Professor Lindstedt received his PhD from Imperial’s Department of Chemical Engineering, where he went on to work as a Research Associate in 1984. He then joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering as a Lecturer and was promoted to Professor of Thermofluids in 1999. He has served as Head of the Thermofluids Division, Director of Research and Deputy Head of Department. He was elected Consul for the Faculty of Engineering and Business School for the period 2013 to 2016 and Senior Consul from 2017 to 2019.
Professor Lindstedt’s current research interests include reduced environmental impact from propulsion devices, methods for the prediction of particle size distributions of particulate matter from aero-engines, heterogeneous surface-fluid interactions leading to material degradation in fuel cells, catalytically active materials, highly reactive fuels for advanced propulsion applications and turbulence-chemistry interactions occurring during the use of ammonia and other hydrogen-rich fuels.
We are pleased to announce that the following staff were successful during the promotions rounds.
Academic promotions take place on an annual cycle, with promotions taking effect from 1 September 2024. The last combined Learning and Teaching promotions took effect on 1 October 2023 and 1 January 2024. Learning promotions continue to take place termly, and the most recent round took effect on 1 June 2024. Teaching promotions now follow a new annual process, with the first round taking effect 1 September 2024.
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.
Kathryn Al-Shemmeri has accepted appointment as Chief People Officer with effect from 4 November 2024.
Reporting directly to the President, Kathryn will be a vital member of the University Management Board and its committees. She will oversee the Human Resources function and provide strategic leadership on all people-related matters.
Professor Phillip Bennett has accepted the role of Acting Head of the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction in the Faculty of Medicine, with effect from 1 October 2024. Professor Bennett will continue in this role until a new postholder is identified and appointed. This is to replace our current Head of the Department, Professor Mark Thursz who has been appointed as Director of the Academic Health Science Centre.
Professor Bennett has been Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology since 1995, after joining RPMS (Royal Postgraduate Medical School) in 1988 as a Senior Clinical Research Fellow, which later became Imperial. He was formerly the Director of the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology. He also directs (together with David MacIntyre and Lynne Sykes) the March of Dimes European Preterm Birth Research Centre at Imperial and (together with Tom Bourne) the Tommy’s National Miscarriage Research Centre at Imperial.
Professor Bennett’s principal research interests are the microbiology, biochemistry and endocrinology of pregnancy, human term and preterm labour, and the stratification, prediction and prevention of miscarriage and preterm birth.
Professor Bennett was elected Fellow of Academy of Medical Sciences in 2017; Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, London, UK, in 2000; Honorary Fellow Maltese College Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 2006; Honorary Fellow American Gynecologic and Obstetrical Society in 2018.
Kristin Blanchfield has accepted appointment as Imperial’s Vice-President (Advancement), with effect from January 2025.
Reporting to the President, Kristin will lead the Advancement Division to drive funding and alumni engagement in support of our new institutional strategy. She will be a key member of the University Management Board and its committees.
Professor Anne Dell CBE FRS FMedSci FAA has been elected Consul for the Faculty of Natural Sciences and cross University organisations for a term of office starting from 1 November 2024 until 31 August 2026. Professor Dell will be replacing one of the two Consuls for this constituency, Professor Stephen Curry, who will serve as Consul until 31 October 2024.
The full list of Consuls and Proconsuls for 2024-2025 is set out below.
Consuls
Professor Jonathan Mestel – Senior Consul
Professor Renata Kosova – Faculty of Engineering and Business School
Professor Alessandro Astolfi – Faculty of Engineering and Business School
Professor Miriam Moffatt – Faculty of Medicine
Professor Wisia Wedzicha – Faculty of Medicine (Clinical)
Professor Stephen Curry – Natural Sciences and cross University organisations – until 31 October 2024
Professor David Evans – Natural Sciences and cross University organisations
Professor Anne Dell – Natural Sciences and cross University organisations – from 1 November 2024
Proconsuls
Professor Dorian Haskard
Professor Richard Jardine
Professor Liz Lightstone
Professor Martin McCall
Professor Ann Muggeridge
Professor Peter Openshaw
Professor Richard Craster has accepted an extension to his term as Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences until 31 August 2027.
Reporting to the Provost, Professor Craster is responsible for providing strategic leadership, planning and coordination for the Faculty of Natural Sciences, and for driving continuing excellence in research and education. As Dean, Professor Craster is a member of Imperial’s Council and its University Management Board (UMB).
Professor Craster was both an undergraduate and PhD student of Imperial, and joined Imperial as a staff member in 1998 as a lecturer holding an EPSRC Advanced Fellowship, following a lectureship at the University of Nottingham and Junior Research Fellowship at Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge. He was promoted to Professor of Applied Mathematics in 2004 and was Head of the Department of Mathematics from 2011 to 2017. He was the Director of the CNRS-Imperial Abraham de Moivre International Joint Research Unit until 2023 and is Co-Director of the EPSRC-funded UK Acoustics Network. Professor Craster is also a member of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering.
Professor Craster’s research interests lie at the intersection of applied mathematics, engineering and physics in particular in metamaterials, guided waves, fluid mechanics and elasticity.