Queen’s University in Belfast has appointed Prof Ian Greer as its next president and vice-chancellor.
Prof Greer, a native of Scotland and currently vice-president of the University of Manchester, succeeds the late Prof Patrick Johnston who died unexpectedly in June last year, aged 59.
Prof Greer is the 13th vice-chancellor in the 172-year history of the college. Like Prof Johnston he has a medical background. He will take up the post in August.
Prof Greer said the appointment was a “great honour and privilege”.
“I have great affection for Northern Ireland and tremendous respect for the university. Queen’s has an enviable reputation for research, education and innovation and plays a major leadership role in the economic, social and cultural development of Northern Ireland,” he added.
“I very much look forward to committing my energy, drive and enthusiasm to leading the further development of Queen’s as a world-class global university with regional impact,” said Prof Greer.
Queen’s pro-chancellor and Senate chairman Stephen Prenter said Prof Greer “with his track record of extraordinary leadership” would be an “inspirational leader for Queen’s University”.
A graduate of the University of Glasgow, Prof Greer was appointed a research fellow at the department of medicine, Glasgow in 1982 and became a lecturer in obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Edinburgh in 1987.
He returned to the University of Glasgow in 1991 as head of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology and held the Muirhead Chair of Obstetrics and Gynaecology from 1991 until 2000.
He became regius professor of obstetrics and gynaecology in 2001, and deputy dean in the faculty of medicine in 2003. In 2007 he was appointed dean of the Hull York medical school before moving to the University of Liverpool in 2010 where he was pro-vice-chancellor of the faculty of health and life sciences and provost for research from 2013.
He joined the University of Manchester in 2015, where he is vice-president and dean of the faculty of biology, medicine and health.
The post until now commanded an annual salary of about £250,000. A Queen’s spokeswoman said that as Prof Greer was employed at another institution it would be “inappropriate to comment” on his contract. His salary would be published when he took up post, she added.
