Professor Stephen Jarvis has been appointed as Pro-Vice-Chancellor and the new Head of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences.
Professor Stephen Jarvis
Professor Stephen Jarvis has been appointed as Pro-Vice-Chancellor and the new Head of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences.
Professor Jarvis, who is currently Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Warwick, will be joining the College at the end of June 2020.
Announcing the appointment Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, Professor Sir David Eastwood, said: “Stephen is an outstanding scientist who has worked extensively with industry harnessing data and computational science to address major scientific problems. This expertise will enable the College and University to build on its excellent record of developing pioneering research that makes a real-world difference to organisations and society. Stephen brings significant leadership experience to the role and will ensure that Birmingham continues to play an important role in driving and shaping the national data science agenda.”
Professor Jarvis is a computational scientist, whose research has been employed by industry and national laboratories to address scientific problems, ranging from simulating fusion energy reactions to the design of efficient turbofan jet engines. He is also a former Royal Society Industry Fellow, Director of an EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre which supports more than 60 PhD students, and non-Executive Director of the Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence.
Accepting the post, Professor Jarvis said: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to serve as Head of College and to contribute to the University’s wider vision and ambitions. Birmingham has an outstanding reputation across the STEM disciplines, and a rich history of transformative research and education. I look forward to working with staff and students as we discover, apply and translate science to shape solutions to significant human challenges.”
Professor Jarvis studied at London, Oxford and Durham Universities before taking his first Lectureship at the Oxford University Computing Laboratory. After a short secondment to Microsoft Research in Cambridge, he joined the University of Warwick, rising to Professor in 2009. From 2013 to 2018 he was Head of the Department of Computer Science at Warwick where he was responsible for leading the Department to rank 2nd (out of 89 UK Computing Departments) in the 2014 UK Research Excellence Framework (REF). Since 2018 he has held the role of Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research). He has been a Visiting Exchange Professor at New York University since 2017.
