INFORMATION & UPDATES UPDATES & INFORMATION People
JANE ELLIOTT TO BECOME PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER Professor Jane Elliott, ESRC’s Chief Executive, is to leave the organisation after three years at ESRC, to take up the position of Professor of Sociology at the University of Exeter in September.
Before joining the ESRC, Professor Elliott was Professor of Sociology and Head of the Department of Quantitative Social Sciences, at the Institute of Education, University of London, as well as Director of the ESRC-funded Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) which manages the 1958, 1970 and Millennium Birth Cohort studies together with the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (now known as Next Steps). In 2012 Jane became the founding Director of the Cohorts and Longitudinal Studies Enhancement Resources (CLOSER) programme. ESRC Chair Dr Alan Gillespie
said: “On behalf of ESRC, I would like to thank Jane for her invaluable leadership and contribution to the ESRC. Under her guidance the ESRC has remained focused on its priorities, funding research that has vital real- world impact, and positioned as the leading partner for economic and social science research both at home and throughout the world. We offer Jane many good wishes for the years ahead at the University of Exeter.” The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has begun the process of recruiting Professor Elliott’s successor. n
PHIL SOOBEN APPOINTED CEO OF THE POLITICAL STUDIES ASSOCIATION One of the ESRC’s longest-serving senior members of staff, Phil Sooben, Director of Policy and Resources and Deputy Chief Executive, is leaving in June 2017 to take up the position of CEO at the Political Studies Association.
Phil said: “I have thoroughly p
enjoyed my time at the ESRC and it is with some regret and sadness that I will leave the organisation after more
30 SOCIETY NOW SUMMER 2017
than 28 years. I have worked with so many enthusiastic and professional colleagues and fantastic friends, and it will be difficult to say goodbye – but this position is the perfect opportunity at the right time and I did not want to let it pass by.
It is a privilege to be moving to the
Political Studies Association and I am looking forward to joining them in the summer.” n
NEW ESRC COUNCIL MEMBERS Jo Johnson, the Minister of State for Universities and Science, has appointed Professor Jane Falkingham, Professor Nigel Gilbert, Professor Melinda Mills, and Ms Susan Penwarden as ESRC Council members. They join the ESRC at a crucial time as we work towards the successful creation of UK Research and Innovation. The Council is the senior decision-making body of the ESRC, and comprises individuals from business, civil society and the public sector as well as representatives from the academic community. Jane Falkingham OBE is Professor of Demography and International Social Policy and Dean of the Faculty of Social, Human and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Southampton. She is also the Director of the ESRC Centre for Population Change, President of the British Society for Population Studies and Vice-President (President elect) of the European Association for Population Studies. And also a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences and the Royal Society of Arts. Nigel Gilbert CBE is a computational sociologist and Professor of Sociology at the University of Surrey. Nigel is Director of the ESRC-NERC Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus and a member of the Defra Social Science Expert Panel. He was previously a Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Surrey. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Chartered Engineer, and a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences.
Melinda Mills is the Nuffield Professor of Sociology at Nuffield College and Head of the Department of Sociology at the University of Oxford. She is a specialist in the area of sociogenomics (combining social science and molecular genetics), life course research (fertility, partnerships, assortative mating). Melinda is an elected member of the European Academy of Sociology and has held faculty positions in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Groningen) and Germany (Bielefeld). Melinda is the Editor-in- Chief of the European Sociological Review and publishes in both social and natural science journals. Susan Penwarden joined Aviva
in January 2013. Her current role is Director, General Insurance, Aviva France. Prior to joining Aviva Susan worked for RSA for 14 years. She held increasingly influential and global positions, moving from team leader to regional and then corporate executive level roles. Her last role at RSA was based in the UK as Group Specialty Portfolio Director. n
DIRECTOR FOR UK HEALTH AND BIOMEDICAL INFORMATICS RESEARCH INSTITUTE Professor Andrew Morris has been appointed Director of the new UK health and biomedical informatics research institute, which is to be named Health Data Research UK (HDR UK). The new institute will, for the first time in the world, incorporate on a national scale the whole breadth of data science research aimed at improving human health. HDR UK is a joint investment led
by the MRC, together with the health research departments of England, Scotland and Wales, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the ESRC, British Heart Foundation and Wellcome. Harnessing the power of the NHS and associated health and biomedical data in the UK, HDR UK will develop and apply the cutting edge informatics approaches needed to address the most pressing health research challenges facing patients and the public. n
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