Announcements

Professor Steven Rose, Head of Plasma Physics and Director of the Institute of Shock Physics, has accepted appointment as Deputy Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences with effect from 1 October 2011, succeeding Professor Donal Bradley on his appointment as Pro Rector (Research).

Professor Rose joined the College as the Head of Plasma Physics in December 2006. Prior to this he was at Oxford University as a William Penney Visiting Professor and Keeley Visiting Fellow of Wadham College. Professor Rose has worked in plasma physics for all of his career, with a particular emphasis on plasmas produced using high-power lasers. He has spent much of that time working at the two high-power laser facilities in the UK: the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory’s Central Laser Facility where he became the Associate Director for Physics and at AWE Aldermaston where he was the Head of Plasma Physics.

Read Deputy Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences in full

Researchers in the Business School plan to analyse data about the activities of Imperial staff that involve engagement with industry. The goal of the project, funded by the EPSRC and the European Commission, is to explore the nature of the College’s engagement with industry and its commercial activities, in order to increase understanding of universities’ economic and social impact.

The Management Board and the Research Ethics Committee have given the research team approval to access College records on the patenting and licensing of inventions, creation of spin-off businesses, collaboration with industrial partners and consulting activities. The data will be compiled by the ICT Division. All records will be fully anonymised and no personal data, as defined in the Data Protection Act, will be made available for the research.

Staff who do not wish their data to be made available for this research project are able to opt out. To do so, and for further information about the project, visit the project’s website.

Read Research project into industry engagement and commercialisation at Imperial in full

The College’s annual Commemoration Day ceremonies will take place in the Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday 19 October. Academic staff are invited to join the procession and celebrate the achievements of Imperial’s newest graduates.

To confirm attendance, complete this form on the graduation website by Monday 3 October.

Staff interested in volunteering to support the ceremonies or to apply for a limited number of audience seats should contact Louise Birrell by email.

In the morning ceremony starting at 11.15 graduands from the Faculties of Engineering and Medicine (MBBS) will be presented.

Honorary awards will be conferred upon:

• Emeritus Professor Bob Schroter, Senior Research Investigator, Department of Bioengineering (Imperial College Medal)

• Susan Hartman, former Assistant Secretary, Faculty of Medicine (Imperial College Medal)

In the afternoon ceremony starting at 15.30 graduands from the Faculties of Natural Sciences and Medicine (BSc Biomedical Sciences and BSc Intercalated) will be presented. An honorary award will be conferred upon:

• Dr Anna Thomas-Betts, former College tutor, Education Office (Imperial College Medal)

Read Commemoration Day – 19 October in full

The College is pleased to announce that a number of academic staff were successful in the 2011 promotions round.

A full list of academic promotions can be found here.

Promotions took effect from 1 August 2011.

For details of the academic promotions procedure, please refer to the Human Resources guidance.

Read 2011 Academic Promotions Round in full

Professor Murray Selkirk, Professor of Biochemical Parasitology, has accepted appointment as Head of the Department of Life Sciences with effect from 1 October 2011. He will succeed Professor Ian Owens who is leaving the College to become Director of Science at the Natural History Museum.

Professor Selkirk joined the College in 1984 as a Research Fellow following a PhD at the National Institute for Medical Research and postdoctoral appointments at the University of Washington, Seattle and University of California Berkeley. He was appointed as a Lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry in 1986, promoted to Reader in 1994 and Professor in 2001, and was Head of the Division of Cell & Molecular Biology from 2005-2008. He has served on numerous steering committees and advisory boards worldwide related to infectious diseases, and is currently Director of the Wellcome Trust PhD Programme in Molecular and Cellular Basis of Infection at the College. His research focuses on infections caused by parasitic helminth worms, and in particular on the mechanisms these parasites use to manipulate the host immune system for long-term survival.

Read Head of the Department of Life Sciences in full

Dr John Shemilt, Head of Technology Operations and Deputy Director of ICT, has accepted appointment as Director of ICT with effect from 1 October 2011 in succession to Mr Arthur Spirling, MBE, who will retire from the College on 30 September 2011.

Dr Shemilt’s association with the College began in 1971 when he began studying for an undergraduate degree in physics at Imperial. He continued his studies at the College gaining MSc and PhD degrees, before spending nine months in 1978 as a Research Assistant in the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Science.  Dr Shemilt was appointed to the role of Microcomputer Centre Supervisor in the Imperial College Computer Centre in 1980 and held posts of increasing responsibility before promotion to his current position in February 2009.

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Professor Richard Craster, Professor of Applied Mathematics, has accepted appointment as Head of the Department of Mathematics with effect from 1 October 2011. He succeeds Dr Emma McCoy who has been interim Head of Department since July 2010 and will return to her role as Deputy Head of Department.

Professor Craster joined the College in 1988 as a lecturer holding an EPSRC Advanced Fellowship, following a lectureship at the University of Nottingham and Junior Research Fellowship at Corpus Christi College Cambridge. He became Reader in 2000 and Professor in 2004 and has additionally held distinguished, visiting and adjunct professorships at the University of Alberta, Brunel University and University of Aix-Marseilles. He is currently an executive editor of the Quarterly Journal of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics, Wave Motion and the Journal of Engineering Mathematics. His research focuses on the fluid mechanics of thin films and waves in microstructured elastic or electromagnetic media.

Read Head of Department of Mathematics in full

Professor Richard Thompson, Professor of Experimental Physics and Head of Quantum Optics and Laser Science Research Group in the Department of Physics, has been elected to succeed Professor Chris Phillips as one of the Deans for the Faculty of Natural Sciences from 1 September 2011 to 31 August 2014.

Professor Jeff Kramer, Professor of Distributed Computing in the Department of Computing and the current Senior Dean, has been re-elected to serve as Senior Dean for a further year from 1 September 2011 to 31 August 2012.

The full list of Faculty Deans for 2011-12 is below:

Read Election of Deans in full

Professor Donal Bradley FRS, Deputy Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, has accepted appointment as Pro Rector (Research), with effect from 1 October 2011. He will take over from the Acting Pro Rector (Research), Professor David Begg who continues as Principal of Imperial College Business School.

Professor Bradley will be responsible for strategic research issues across the College, determining priorities for strategic research investment and coordinating and developing the College’s research relationships externally. He will be a member of the Management Board and will report to the Rector. The position is part-time and Professor Bradley will retain his research activities within the Centre for Plastic Electronics and the Department of Physics.

Professor Bradley is one of the most highly cited scientists in the fields of physics and materials science, and is a co-inventor of conjugated polymer electroluminescence, an innovation that launched the field of plastic electronics. He graduated from Imperial with a first class BSc and ARCS in Physics in 1983 and returned to the College in 2000 as Professor of Experimental Solid State Physics after extended periods at Cambridge and Sheffield Universities.

He became the Lee-Lucas Professor of Experimental Physics in 2006, was Head of the Department of Physics from 2005 to 2009, and has been Deputy Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences since 2009. In 2009 he was named the first Director of the Centre for Plastic Electronics. He is a co-founder of Cambridge Display Technology Ltd and a co-founder and Director of Molecular Vision Ltd, an Imperial spin-out company. He is also a Director of the Solar Press (UK) Ltd.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2004, a Fellow of the Institute of Physics in 2005, and was awarded a CBE in the 2010 New Years Honours for services to science.

Professor Bradley’s successor as Deputy Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences will be announced in due course.

Rodney Eastwood
College Secretary

Read Pro Rector (Research) in full

Following the signing of an agreement by the College and the University of Oxford on 1 August 2011, staff in the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology have transferred to the University of Oxford. From this date the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology has ceased to be an Institute within Imperial’s Faculty of Medicine.

The transfer follows consideration by the Trustees of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology Trust about their support for funding rheumatology research.

Staff in the new Oxford institute will operate from the Aspenlea Road premises for the immediate future until their new building in Oxford is completed and available for occupation.

Read Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology in full