Distinguished engineer takes senior role at Lancaster University

Prof Rebecca Lingwood, a respected and influential STEM champion, has been appointed deputy vice-chancellor of Lancaster University.

She is both a professor of fluid dynamics and a higher education leader, and most recently served as Provost of Brunel University London and before that vice-principal (student experience, teaching and learning) at Queen Mary University of London.

The appointment at Lancaster University will begin in July following the retirement of Prof Steve Bradley.

Prof Lingwood said: “I am thrilled to be joining Lancaster University. I look forward to meeting everyone at Lancaster and working together on the many exciting opportunities, and tackling the challenges, to help the University meet its ambitious goals.”

Prof Andy Schofield, vice-chancellor of Lancaster University, said: "Professor Lingwood brings a wealth of strategic higher education experience and I’m delighted to welcome her to the University and to my leadership team.

“She will play a critical role in the delivery of Lancaster’s ambitious academic vision and strategy and will also ensure that equality and diversity are integrated into all of our strategic planning.”

Prof Lingwood completed her PhD at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, going on to be appointed to a Research Fellowship at Pembroke College, Cambridge, followed by a Dorothy Hodgkin Royal Society Research Fellowship.

She moved to France in 1999 working at École Polytechnique, before returning to the UK - first to work in industry and then for the University of Oxford in a variety of roles, ultimately as director of continuing professional development.

In 2009, she returned to Cambridge as director of the Cambridge University Institute of Continuing Education and warden of Madingley Hall. During this time, she was elected as a member of the University of Cambridge Council.

Since 2007, her research activities have been based at the Royal Institute of Technology KTH in Stockholm, Sweden, where she is also an affiliated professor.

In 2019, Professor Lingwood was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng). She is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), and is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA).

She has been a STEM champion throughout her career and has a deep commitment to widening opportunities and social mobility.

She is a member of the Board of the Institute for Educational & Social Equity and has been a trustee (and is now academic assessor) for the Daphne Jackson Trust.

She is also a visiting professor at the New Model Institute for Technology & Engineering (NMITE).

Professor Lingwood has conducted numerous strategic reviews for universities in the UK, Norway and Sweden and has experience working with industry and business in research and education, nationally and internationally.

Across her various roles prior to joining Lancaster University, she has co-led the establishment of two Institutes of Technology, co-founded a University Technical College, and introduced degree apprenticeship programmes and portfolios of fully online degree programmes.