Mark Smith (physicist)
British physicist, academic and academic administrator
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Mark Edmund Smith, CBE, FInstP (born March 1963) is a British physicist, academic, and academic administrator. He specialises in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and materials physics. Since October 2019, he has been the President and Vice-Chancellor of University of Southampton, having previously held the office of Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University, and Professor of Solid State NMR in its Department of Chemistry since 2012.[1] He has previously lectured at the University of Kent and the University of Warwick.[2]
Mark Smith | |
|---|---|
| President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Southampton | |
| Assumed office 1 October 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Christopher Snowden |
| Vice Chancellor of the Lancaster University | |
| In office 1 January 2012 – 30 September 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Paul Wellings |
| Succeeded by | Andy Schofield |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mark Edmund Smith |
| Education | Churchill College, Cambridge (BSc) University of Warwick (MSc, PhD) |
| Awards | Fellow of the Institute of Physics |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Materials physics |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | A High Resolution Multinuclear Magnetic Resonance Study of Ceramic Phases (1987) |
Early life and education
Smith was born and brought up in Suffolk, England.[3] He studied natural sciences at Churchill College, Cambridge, and graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.[4] He undertook postgraduate research in physics at the University of Warwick, graduating with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree.[5]
Smith began his career as an application scientist and worked for Bruker Analytische Messtechnik (part of the Bruker Corporation) in Germany.[5] He then worked as a research scientist in the Division of Materials Science at Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia.[3]
Academic career
Smith's research specialises in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and materials physics.[6][4]
In 1992, Smith returned to England and began his academic career, having been appointed a lecturer at the University of Kent.[4] He was later promoted to reader in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance.[3]
In 1998, Smith moved to the University of Warwick where he had been appointed a reader in its Department of Physics.[6][7] He was later promoted to Professor of Physics.[3] He was appointed Chair of the Faculty of Science in 2005 and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research in 2007.[4] On 1 May 2010, he was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC), making him the second most senior academic at the University of Warwick.[8] As DVC, he deputised for the Vice-Chancellor of the university when needed, and was in charge of all academic resourcing issues (with a budget of £240 million), of human resources and of the university's capital program.[7][8]
Lancaster University
On 5 August 2011, Smith was announced as the next Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University.[9] He took up the post on 1 January 2012, becoming the university's sixth Vice Chancellor since it was established.[9][7][3] He was also appointed Professor of Solid State NMR in the Department of Chemistry.[7] He was paid £271,000 in 2012/13 academic year and £281,000 in 2013/14 academic year.[10]
University of Southampton
In April 2019, it was announced that Smith would be moving to the University of Southampton as its next President and Vice-Chancellor. He took up the appointments on 1 October 2019.[11]
External appointments
Outside of his university work, Smith has held a number of appointments. In 2012 and 2013, he chaired a review into the content of A-Levels.[12] From 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2015, he was a member of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.[5] In December 2014, he became a trustee of Jisc (previously called the Joint Information Systems Committee).[13] As of March 2015[update], he is the chair of the Board of the Higher Education Careers Service Unit.[14] He is also currently Chair of Advance HE's Board of Directors.[15]
Honours
Smith is an elected Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP).[4] He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to research and higher education.[16]
