Nishan Canagarajah
British Tamil academic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Cedric Nishanthan Canagarajah[1] (born 1966) is a British academic and the current president and vice-chancellor of the University of Leicester.[2][3] He was previously one of the pro-vice-chancellors of the University of Bristol.[4]
1966 (age 59–60)
Nishan Canagarajah | |
|---|---|
நிஷான் கனகராஜா | |
| Vice Chancellor of the University of Leicester | |
| Assumed office November 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Paul Boyle |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Cedric Nishanthan Canagarajah 1966 (age 59–60) |
| Education | Christ's College, Cambridge (BA, MA, PhD) |
Canagarajah was knighted in the 2026 New Year Honours for services to higher education.[5][1]
Early life and family
Canagarajah was born in 1966 in Sri Lanka.[6][7] His mother was a teacher.[8] He was educated at St. John's College, Jaffna.[9] He was the Head Prefect of the college in the year 1985[10] and also excelled in sports such as cricket, football, volleyball, and hockey. After school he joined Christ's College, Cambridge from where he received a BA honours degree in electronics and information sciences in 1989 and a Ph.D. in digital signal processing in 1993.[6][7][11][12]
Canagarajah is married to Thabitha.[8] They have a daughter and two sons.[8]
Career
Canagarajah joined the University of Bristol in 1993 as a research assistant.[6][7] He was promoted to lecturer in 1994, senior lecturer in 1999 and reader in 2001.[7] He became professor of multimedia signal processing in 2004.[6][7] He was promoted to research director at the university's Faculty of Engineering in 2006 and head of Department of Computer Science in 2009.[6] He became head of Merchant Venturers School of Engineering in 2010 before becoming dean of the Faculty of Engineering in 2011.[6] He was appointed pro-vice-chancellor for research and enterprise in August 2014.[6] In August 2019 it was announced that he would become president and vice-chancellor of the University of Leicester in November 2019.[13][14]
Canagarajah's research contributions in image segmentation and texture classification are internationally recognized and his research on audio signal processing led to an interactive exhibit, Virtual Drum, at the London Science Museum.[15] He has led a number of successful international research partnerships and is currently theme leader for the joint £5M EPSRC/DST collaborative programme on next generation telecommunications systems and services, which includes a number of UK and Indian universities and industrial partners.[16]
Canagarajah has served on a number of national and international panels on research funding, governance and postgraduate education. He acted as a technical consultant for several industrial partners including Sony, BT, BBC, Orange, Thales, Toshiba and the Metropolitan Police Service.[17][18][19] He is part of the Universities UK advisory group to tackle racial harassment in higher education.[20]
In January 2021, members of the Leicester University and College Union voted overwhelmingly in support of a motion of no confidence against Canagarajah, in response to a proposed mass lay-off of faculty members.[21] In March 2021, students at Leicester also approved a vote of no confidence against Canagarajah, with 1010 votes for the proposal and only 82 opposed.[22] In December 2025, another motion of no confidence in Canagarajah was passed by the Leicester University and College Union in response to more proposed job cuts, with 96.2% voting in favour and 3.8% opposed.[23]