Adam Tickell - Vice-Chancellor and Principle

Professor Adam Tickell is Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Birmingham.

Professor Adam Tickell standing in the Whispering Gallery in the Aston Webb buildingAdam took up the post in January 2022 after five years as Vice-Chancellor at the University of Sussex. Prior to this he served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Transfer), and then Provost, at Birmingham and has also worked in leadership roles at the University of Bristol and Royal Holloway, University of London.

Adam trained as an economic geographer at the University of Manchester, and, amongst other things, his research explored the political economy and regulation of finance, English regionalism, and the economic ‘common sense’.

Adam recently led a review, on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, that sought to reduce research bureaucracy in government and the wider sector. He is on the Board of Universities UK and the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), and has served on a wide range of public bodies and charity boards.

Adam is rarely happier than clambering through bogs or up hills and mountains, irrespective of the weather.