Announcements

Mr John Neilson has accepted appointment as College Secretary and Registrar with effect from 1 May 2012. As a member of the Management Board, and reporting to the Rector, he will have overall responsibility for the Registry and the Central Secretariat, and functions including health and safety, risk management, internal audit, and legal matters. He will also be Clerk to the Imperial College Court and Council.

Dr Rodney Eastwood, who has been College Secretary since 2007, will be retiring from the College in April, after almost 25 years service.

Mr Neilson will join the College from the Ministry of Defence, where he is Director, Financial Management. As part of this role he is a non-executive director of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and the Met Office.

Mr Neilson’s experience in government spans thirty years. After reading mathematics and engineering at Cambridge, he joined the Department of Energy where he worked on the privatisation of several industries, including gas and electricity. He went on to work in the Economic Secretariat of the Cabinet Office, before becoming Principal Private Secretary to John Wakeham when he was Energy Secretary.

In the 1990s he led Department of Trade and Industry teams advising on policy areas including telecommunications, aerospace and defence, before becoming an executive board member of the gas and electricity regulator Ofgem. From 2005 until 2011 he was Director, Research Base in the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and its predecessors.

Read College Secretary and Registrar in full

Professor Nigel Gooderham, Professor in Molecular Toxicology, has accepted appointment as Acting Head of the Department of Humanities with effect from 1 January 2012. He will lead the Department while a search is underway for a successor to Professor Andrew Warwick, former Head of Department, who has left the College after 19 years of service for an appointment at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Gooderham continues as Dean for the Faculty of Medicine (Non Clinical).

Read Acting Head of the Department of Humanities in full

The College invites applications for the posts of Assistant Warden of Parsons House, available from 13 February 2012 and Assistant Warden of Pembridge Gardens, available from 1 April 2012. These posts are open to all staff at the College. The closing date for applications is 17.00 on Friday, 3 February 2012.

Wardens and Assistant Wardens are responsible for the smooth running of the hall and will receive rent-free accommodation in the Hall in return for pastoral and administrative duties. The Assistant Warden should be a good organizer with a desire to help students develop their social life as well as having a balanced approach to their studies. They will normally be expected to work under the guidance of the Warden of the Hall.

Parsons House is a lively hall of residence with 40 students. The hall is located within the grounds of Charing Cross Hospital, Hammersmith. Parsons House is only 20 minutes by bicycle or tube to the South Kensington campus. The wardening team consists of the Warden (living in Pembridge Gardens), an Assistant Warden and a Sub Warden.

Pembridge Gardens is an a Hall of Residence near Notting Hill Gate, about 25 minutes walk from the South Kensington Campus. The hall is a mixed gender residence and houses around 100 undergraduate students. The wardening team consists of a Warden, an Assistant Warden and two Sub Wardens.

For a copy of the Terms of Reference and an Application Form for either post, please contact Dr Marko Krznaric by email.

Read Two Assistant Warden Positions Available – Parsons House and Pembridge Gardens in full