Deputy Vice-Chancellor

Professor Steve Bradley

Professor Bradley was the former Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) prior to becoming Interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor in January 2019, Interim Vice-Chancellor in October 2019 and reprising the role of Interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor in May 2020. He was appointed as Deputy Vice-Chancellor in October 2020. Steve Bradley is a Professor of Economics. He was educated at Leeds Polytechnic and Lancaster University from which he holds Master's and doctorate degrees. Prior to his entry to academia, Steve spent ten years working in Local Government as a member of the Education Department of Lancashire County Council.

His research interests fall into two areas – Education Economics and Labour Economics. He has published widely on issues related to the operation and impact of introducing a quasi-market in the secondary education sector, and the econometric analysis of educational policy. Published work in the field of Labour Economics includes the employer selection and recruitment, tests of theories of labour market matching, the effect of employment protection on worker effort.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor Global (Digital, International, Sustainability)

Professor Simon Guy

Professor Simon Guy’s Global remit is to develop, connect and lead Lancaster University’s digital, international and sustainability strategy. He is currently leading the creation of Lancaster’s new campus in Indonesia, scaling up our campus in Leipzig, Germany, while also overseeing the evolution of our other partner campuses in China, Ghana and Malaysia. Simon also leads our work on sustainability and the climate emergency, coordinating work across the University to meet our net zero goals and commitments. He also has responsibility for our digital agenda, ensuring our infrastructure and operational processes are digitally enabled to promote agility and efficiency and that digital innovation underpins our academic practices.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise)

Professor Malcolm Joyce CEng FNI

Professor Malcolm Joyce has been interim Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise of Lancaster University since March 2024. He was previously Cross-faculty Associate Dean for Research (2019-2024) and Head of Engineering at Lancaster (2008-2015).

He has a background in nuclear engineering specialising in applied radiation detection and materials assay for applications in nuclear energy, decommissioning, and environmental characterisation.

Professor Joyce studied Physics followed by a PhD in Nuclear Physics and a DEng in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Liverpool and then spent 4 years in industry. He was awarded a national teaching prize by the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2005, the James Watt medal by the Institution of Civil Engineers in 2014, a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award in 2016 and was promoted to Distinguished Professor of Nuclear Engineering in 2023. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Nuclear Institute.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Engagement)

Professor Sarah Kemp

Sarah Kemp is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Engagement. She leads on the Knowledge Exchange Framework and the Civic University’s Agreement. Lancaster University places equal weight on the quality of its teaching, its research and its engagement, as all are critical to the civic responsibility of a university in the 21^st Century. She leads on the Eden North project and broader external engagement with National Cyber Force and is the senior management link to the Chaplaincy.

Sarah has built a career which is fluid across many sectors within the private and public sector arena, building on an original foundation as a science and technology graduate of Kings College London. She subsequently became a successful international business development manager in life science and scientific instrumentation markets, at which time she also successfully completed a Master's in Business Administration.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education)

Professor Wendy Robinson is the University’s PVC Education and is responsible for leading the University’s strategy for delivering an excellent, transformative, rigorous and innovative educational experience for all students and to ensure that the quality of the student experience remains at the heart of University activity.

Wendy joined Lancaster University in 2021, having previously held academic appointments at the Universities of Exeter, Warwick and Cambridge. During her sixteen years tenure as Professor of Education at Exeter, Wendy developed her academic leadership portfolio through a number of senior leadership positions, including as Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the College of Social Sciences and International Studies, University Academic Dean, Faculty Associate Dean for Education and Head of the Graduate School of Education.

Wendy’s academic background is as an educationist where she has published extensively in the field of history of education and historical perspectives on teacher development, teacher effectiveness, teacher education and gifted education. Selected research monographs include:

• A Learning Profession? Teachers and their Professional Development in England and Wales 1920-2000
• Effective Teaching in Gifted Education: Using a Whole School Approach; Power to Teach: Past and Present Perspectives on Learning Through Practice
• Assessing Teacher Effectiveness: Developing a Differentiated Model
• Pupil Teachers and their Professional Training in Pupil-Teacher Centres in England and Wales, 1870-1914.

Executive Dean, Faculty of Science and Technology

Professor Peter M. Atkinson

Professor Peter Atkinson is the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at Lancaster University. Since 2015, he has been responsible for the strategic leadership of the Faculty, which comprises seven departments. In 2018-19, he was simultaneously Interim Dean of Lancaster's Faculty of Health and Medicine. In 2018-19, Peter Chaired the University’s Athena SWAN Institutional Self-Assessment Team (ISAT), leading to a successful Institutional Bronze Award.

Peter is a Distinguished Professor of Spatial Data Science at Lancaster. His research is highly interdisciplinary, covering a wide range of statistical and numerical modelling methods on the one hand and several application domains on the other. He is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, was awarded the 2016 Peter Burrough Medal of the ISARA organisation, and held the 2015 Belle van Zuylen Chair at Utrecht University.

Executive Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Professor Edward Simpson

Professor Edward Simpson is Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. FASS is a large and vibrant faculty with a global outlook and reputation. The Faculty includes arts, humanities, languages and social sciences as well the Confucius Institute, Lancaster Arts and The Ruskin. Edward joined Lancaster in 2023 having previously served as Head of College at SOAS University of London.

Edward is Professor of Social Anthropology. His research has focused on India, particularly post-disaster reconstruction and politics. More recently, with funding from the European Research Council, he has led projects looking at climate change, infrastructure and thought politics.

Executive Dean, Lancaster University Management School

Professor Claire Leitch

Professor Claire Leitch was appointed Executive Dean of Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) in May 2022, with responsibility for leading the Faculty to align with Lancaster University’s strategy. She joined LUMS in 2012 and served as Interim Executive Dean, Deputy Dean and Associate Dean in LUMS prior to her recent appointment. Before arriving in Lancaster, Professor Leitch held posts at Queen’s University Management School, Belfast and the University of Ulster. In 2021, she was elected as one of Senate’s representatives to University Council for a three-year period.

Claire has an international research reputation and recognition in gender, leadership and learning in entrepreneurial contexts and was responsible for leading the Faculty’s successful Athena Swan Bronze submission in April 2021. Currently, she is co-director of LUMS’s Academy for Gender, Work and Leadership and is leading a major EU project addressing gender inequality in management schools, which positions Lancaster at the heart of the European EDI agenda.

Executive Dean, Faculty of Health and Medicine

Professor Jo Rycroft-Malone OBE

Professor Jo Rycroft-Malone is the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medicine with responsibility for leading the Faculty to align with Lancaster University’s strategy. She has considerable university leadership experience being previously Head of School, University Director of Research, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Impact.

Jo is a Distinguished Professor of Health Research, undertaking research that is directly relevant to improving patient and public outcomes and experiences. In 2014, Jo was named a highly cited researcher in the top 1% globally by citation for field (social sciences) in the Web of Science. Jo has considerable experience in research and policy contexts, including as Director of the National Institute for Health Research’s (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research (HS&DR) Programme, member of the NIHR Strategy Board, and as Chair of the National Institute for Care and Health Excellence (NICE) Implementation Strategy Group.

Deputy Chief Executive (Operations)

Nicola Owen

Nicola Owen is the Deputy Chief Executive (Operations) at Lancaster University. Together with the Director of Finance, she leads the Professional Services at Lancaster. As Deputy Chief Executive (Operations), she is the Head of Administration and has responsibility for the following administrative divisions:

• Alumni and Development
• External Relations
• Facilities
• Information Systems Services
• People and Organisational Effectiveness
• Research and Enterprise Services
• Strategic Planning and Governance
• Student and Education Services

Director of Finance

Director of Finance

Sarah Randall-Paley BA, FCA

Prior to joining Lancaster, Sarah Randall-Paley studied English at Nottingham University and then qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in London, working in audit and forensic accounting.

Sarah has been Lancaster University’s Director of Finance since 2009. Together with the Deputy Chief Executive (Operations), she leads the Professional Services at Lancaster. As Director of Finance, she is responsible for Finance and Procurement activities including financial management and control, financial reporting, preparation of data returns, audit preparation, treasury management and promoting value for money. She also supports the Vice-Chancellor in his wider responsibilities as designated Accountable Officer under the OfS regulatory framework.

In 2010 Lancaster was successful in winning the ‘Outstanding Finance Team’ in the Times Higher Education Awards (THELMAs) and in the 2014 THELMAs Lancaster was shortlisted for ‘Outstanding Procurement Team’. In 2023 the Procurement team won an award for ‘Outstanding Responsible Procurement Initiative’ from the UK Universities Purchasing Consortium.

In addition to Director of Finance at Lancaster University, Sarah is former Chair of the national British Universities Finance Directors Group (BUFDG), current Chair of the BUFDG Tax Group, a co-opted member and Chair of the Audit Committee of UCAS, a member of the national TRAC Development Group and Governor and Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee of Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School.

Finance Divisional Assistant: Katharine Bennett

E-mail: k.bennett1@lancaster.ac.uk