New Trustee Appointed

22nd April 2013

We are pleased to announce that the EAUC has a new Trustee and Director joining our Board.

Professor Wendy Purcell, Vice Chancellor at Plymouth University was appointed at the AGM at University of Nottingham on 19th April 2013.

Wendy says "Despite the myriad of pressures on universities and colleges, sustainability needs to be seen as part of the long-term solution not part of the problem and seen to advance institutional resilience, attractiveness and reputation. As Vice-Chancellor at Plymouth, I consider myself to be in a strong position to work with EAUC to help make things happen."

Appointed in December 2007, Professor Wendy Purcell is Vice-Chancellor of Plymouth University which has established itself as the UK’s leading Green University. Professor Purcell was previously Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Hertfordshire, and prior to this she was Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Dean of Applied Sciences at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Wendy is Professor of Biomedicine and holds a degree in Biological Sciences and a PhD in Immunopharmacology.

Professor Purcell acted as a Special Adviser to the UK government (Department of Business, Innovation and Skills) on the Postgraduate Review, conducted by Sir Adrian Smith, and is a member by invitation of the Council for Industry and Higher Education.

She is a member of the Universities UK (UUK) Long-term Strategy Group and the UUK Sustainable Development Group. Professor Purcell is a Member of two Policy Networks at UUK, namely Employment, Business & Innovation and Health Education & Research. She was a member of the HEFCE Strategic Advisory Committee on Leadership, Governance and Management and led a national leadership project on enterprising leadership in the sector.

Professor Purcell is a Member of the Medical Education England Healthcare Science Programme Board reporting in to Medical Education England. Through this role she accepted the invitation of the Chief Scientific Officer at the Department of Health to establish and Chair the Healthcare Science Strategic Advisory Group in Higher Education. Having done so, Professor Purcell has led this group through to the establishment in 2012 of the Council of Healthcare Science in Higher Education which she now chairs. Professor Purcell co-chaired the Healthcare Science Clinical Academic Careers Strategy Group with Sir Ron Kerr, Chief Executive of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

Professor Purcell is a member of the CBI South West Council and the SW Science and Industry Council. She is a member of the Plymouth Local Strategic Partnership Board, was on the Plymouth City Development Company Board. She is a Trustee of the National Marine Aquarium, the Drake Foundation and The Lord Caradon Lectures Trust.

Professor Purcell has an international reputation in her field of biomedical research and led a number of research teams in developing cell culture models for preclinical studies. Funded by industry, medical charities, Research Councils UK (BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC) and the EU, she attracted millions in research grants, published widely in international journals and had patents applications filed on her work. She is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and is active in the field of leadership practice.

Educational Members vote for our Trustees and this appointment follows the vote taken place online and at the AGM. We thank all our Members for taking part in the vote.

We would like to thank Janet Haddock-Fraser for her nomination and interest in the EAUC.

We would like to thank Fraser Lovie who has retired from the Board. Fraser was previously the Scotland Branch Convenor and has been an asset on the Board for the past 4 years. Our sincere thanks go to Fraser for his enery and commitment.

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