Professor Sir Christopher Snowden has been appointed as the University’s tenth Vice-Chancellor from October 2015. He succeeds Professor Don Nutbeam, who has served Southampton as Vice-Chancellor since 2009.
Current President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Surrey and President of Universities UK, Professor Snowden joins Southampton at a time when the University’s global reputation for research, education and enterprise continues to rise. With an annual turnover in excess of £500m and research income surpassing £100m year-on-year, Southampton:
- is one of the country’s strongest universities for research, ranking eighth amongst all UK institutions in the recent Research Excellence Framework for research intensity
- is expanding its international links and influence through strategic partnerships with universities and businesses around the globe, including specific ties with organisations in Malaysia, Singapore, China, the United States, South America and throughout Europe
- thrives at the forefront of innovative education in a range of areas, including the University’s leadership in the development of MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses)
- has created the UK’s largest university-business collaboration with Lloyd’s Register
Professor Snowden joined the University of Surrey in 2005 as President and Vice-Chancellor and was knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to higher education and engineering. He is a member of the Prime Minister’s advisory Council for Science and Technology and President of Universities UK (2013-2015). He has just become Chair of the Queen Elizabeth II Prize Committee – the ‘Nobel Prize’ of Engineering and sits on the governing body of the UK’s InnovateUK.
