David Willetts, Minister for Universities & Science, has announced the appointment of two new independent academic members to the governing body, the Council, of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Council members are appointed by the Minister for Universities & Science and are responsible for the overall strategic direction of the AHRC including its key objectives and targets, and key decisions about the research direction of the AHRC.

Sir Alan Wilson, Chair of the AHRC, has confirmed that David Willetts, the Minister for Universities & Science, has appointed Professor David Eastwood and Professor Greg Walker to the AHRC Council for four years with effect from 1 September 2011.

Sir Alan says: "We’re delighted with the appointment of David Eastwood and Greg Walker to the AHRC Council who both bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the organisation. At the start of a new Spending Period, with many new challenges as well as opportunities facing us, their expertise and wise counsel will be considerable assets to the AHRC.”

Professor Eastwood, who is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham said “I am delighted to be joining the AHRC Council at an exciting and challenging moment. I hope I can play a creative role in a number of areas, drawing on my academic background in the humanities and putting my policy and political experience to the service of the Council”.

Professor Walker, Regius Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, said “I am looking forward to joining the AHRC’s Council and to working with colleagues there to represent the needs of the subject communities and to help to secure the future of Arts and Humanities research funding in the current financial climate. One of the major challenges I foresee is the need to find a clearer, more supportive and sustainable structure for colleagues seeking to make the increasingly difficult transition from postgraduate student to early career teacher and researcher”.

The appointment of the Council members has been made in accordance with the OCPA Code of Practice.

Further to this 5 members of the AHRC council have been reappointed for a further two or three years from September 1st. They are

• Ms Sally Doganis (2007-11): reappoint for two years to 2013
• Mr John Howkins (2008-11): reappoint for two years to 2013
• Professor Ellen Douglas-Cowie (2008-11): reappoint for three years to 2014
• Professor Roger Kain (2008-11): reappoint for three years to 2014
• Dame Lynne Brindley (2008-11): reappoint for three years to 2014

A full list of Council members can be seen at:
http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/About/Structure/Pages/Council.aspx

END

Media Contact: Jake Gilmore, AHRC Communications Manager; T: 01793 41 6021,
E: j.gilmore@ahrc.ac.uk

Notes to Editors:

The AHRC Council is the governing body responsible for determining the strategy and policy of the AHRC. Members receive an honoraria of £6,850 per annum. Appointments are made in accordance with OCPA Code of Practice. These appointments have been made on the basis of merit. In accordance with Nolan recommendations there is a requirement for appointees' political activity to be made public. The appointees have not been involved in any relevant political activity in the last five years and do not hold any other ministerial appointments.

Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC): Each year the AHRC provides approximately £100 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes hundreds of research awards ranging from individual fellowships to major collaborative projects as well as over 1,100 studentship awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.

Biographical Summary:

• Professor David Eastwood, University of Birmingham, Vice-Chancellor
  Professor Eastwood became Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham in April 2009. Former posts include Chief Executive at the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Vice-Chancellor at the University of East Anglia, and Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Board. 

He has chaired the 1994 Group of Universities, UUK’s Longer Term Strategy Group, and the Association of the Universities of the East of England, as well as a number of other national bodies and committees.  He also chaired the Westminster Education Commission in 2009, and was a member of the Government’s Independent Review Panel looking at Higher Education Funding and Student Finance.

He is currently Chair of Supporting Professionalism in Admissions (SPA), a Director of Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), a Board member of Universities UK (UUK), and Chair elect of Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).  He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Higher Education Policy Institute.

• Professor Greg Walker, University of Edinburgh, Regius Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature
  Greg Walker is Regius Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature at the University of Edinburgh and Head of the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, having previously been the University’s Masson Professor of English Literature. He gained his first degree in English and History and subsequent PhD at the University of Southampton between 1979 and 1986, and held a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at Southampton, and lectureships at the Universities of Queensland and Buckingham, before joining the University of Leicester in 1991. He was successively lecturer, reader and Professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture and Director of the Medieval Research Centre at Leicester before moving to Edinburgh in 2007. He was Chair of the Council for College and University English from 2006-9, and is still a member of the CCUE Executive committee. He was a member of the RAE 2008 sub-panel for English and the HEFCE REF pilot ‘impact’ panel, and is a member of the REF 2013 sub-panel for English, the AHRC Peer Review College and Strategic Reviewers Panel, and the Higher Education Committee of the English Association. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, The English Association and the Society of Antiquaries.

Greg’s research is primarily focused on the literary and political history of the late medieval period and the sixteenth century, although he has also published on modern popular music and the films of Alexander Korda. He is interested in the history of the stage, and in the cultural consequences of the Henrician Reformation. His first book, John Skelton and the Politics of the 1520s (Cambridge, 1988) was a study of early Tudor poetry and politics, and he has maintained a strong affection for England’s most belligerent Poet Laureate ever since. His most recent books are Writing under Tyranny: English Literature and the Henrician Reformation (Oxford, 2005) and The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Literature in English (Oxford, 2010), co-edited with Professor Elaine M. Treharne. In his spare time he is a passionate enthusiast for Nottingham Forest Football Club and progressive rock music.