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Welcome to Professor Phillip Wright, our Senior Vice-President (Academic)

Published: 4 May 2021
Professor Phillip Wright
Professor Phillip Wright, Senior Vice-President (Academic)

Professor Phillip Wright, the new Senior Vice-President (Academic) at the University of Southampton, begins work in his post today.

The Senior Vice-President (Academic) will play a vital role in promoting and maintaining the University’s academic mission.

Professor Wright will Chair a new Deans’ Council, have oversight of all academic planning across faculties, and ensure the alignment of resources with the University’s strategic goals. This will provide a key focus for ensuring a 'One Southampton' approach to a range of strategic activities including championing the development of a Digital Strategy for the University.

The appointment of Professor Wright, who previously worked as Pro Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering at Newcastle University, was announced at the end of last year.

Commenting on his move to our University, he said: “I am really thrilled and honoured to be joining Southampton. It is truly a world-class university, anchored in its region, but finding solutions to problems that make a real global impact. I am excited to see how my new role can help shape Southampton’s future, by supporting our staff, students and alumni to continue to play a leading role in transforming the world for the better.”

On what he plans to achieve in the role, Professor Wright added: “Throughout my career, I have been very keen to learn from other disciplines and bring diverse people together to achieve more collectively, than what would happen individually. I’m very outward looking and I always try to get a sense of what the best in the world looks like, to learn from that and bring the best elements together. At Southampton, I want to support people to help foster even greater collaboration within the University, with our external partners and community, so that we can make a positive and distinctive contribution that is greater than the sum of our parts.”

Professor Wright will provide academic leadership on people-related issues, enable closer engagement on major academic initiatives as well as championing the University’s portfolio of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary activity. He will also be the deputy for the Vice-Chancellor.

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