Oxford appoints New Pro-vice Chancellor for Research

19 February 2009 

Professor Ian Walmsley, Hooke Professor of Experimental Physics, Head of Atomic and Laser Physics and Professorial Fellow of St Hugh’s College, Oxford, is to become Oxford University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research.

Professor Walmsley said: ‘Research and teaching are the defining characteristics of our University, and I'm looking forward to helping to maintain and enhance research across the whole institution. Maintaining our leading position will present new challenges and new opportunities, and I will do everything I can to help realise these, and to sustain our reputation in research in all areas.’

Among his duties as Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor Walmsley will be responsible for co-ordinating the University's relationships with its major research funders. In the academic year 2007-2008, Oxford's overall research income from external sponsors reached over £285 million out of an overall total research income of almost £390 million, the highest of any UK university.

Dr John Hood, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, said: ‘A remarkable breadth and depth of research takes place at Oxford and Professor Walmsley’s knowledge and experience will play an important role in supporting members of the University as they continue to produce research with a global impact.’

Professor Walmsley was educated at Imperial College, London, and the Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, New York. His research is in the areas of ultrafast optics and quantum optics, and he has published widely in these fields. He has led two academic programs in the USA and UK, most recently the Sub-Department of Atomic and Laser Physics. He is a Science Delegate for Oxford University Press and served on the Physics RAE panel in 2008.