Category: Delegate

Professor Coaldrake AO is Vice-Chancellor and President of Queensland University of Technology, a position he took up in April 2003. Peter is a dual Fulbright Scholar, and author or editor of a number of books and monographs, including most recently as co-author (with Dr Lawrence Stedman), of Raising the Stakes: Gambling with the Future of Universities (UQP, April 2013). A second edition has been published in 2016.

Peter Coaldrake served a two year term as Chair of the Board of Universities Australia until May 2011. He returned as a member of the Board in May 2014. He has been Chair of the Queensland Heritage Council since 2010 and is a trustee of the Queensland Museum Foundation. Peter is the current Chair of the National Fulbright Selection Committee.

Harriet is responsible for providing operational and strategic leadership in the enhancement and evaluation of the student experience. She will be ensuring that the student voice is heard, and will facilitate partnership working, ensuring that student engagement is central to all of the University’s activities. After completing her DPhil via the universities of Sussex and Toulouse, and following a postdoc in Psycholinguistics, Harriet returned from France to join first the Oxford Learning Institute, and then Wolfson College and Oxford’s Department of Education as a Research Fellow. Post-Oxford, Harriet worked at UCAS, the 1994 Group, and the University of Bath in senior research and policy positions. Harriet’s most recent position was at the University of Bradford where she was a Director and the Strategic Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor.

Having lived and worked in the Bradford City Region for ten years she is committed to positioning the University at the centre of the region’s social and economic regeneration by harnessing the University’s strengths in research, innovation, teaching and partnerships and creating a values-led culture that is inclusive and effective in enriching lives and benefitting society. As Vice-Chancellor, Professor Shirley Congdon is responsible for the University of Bradford’s leadership and management, including the development and delivery of its values and strategic ambitions. She is the University’s eighth Vice-Chancellor and the first women to hold the role. Originally qualifying as a Registered Nurse, Shirley’s professional and academic expertise lies within the area of health and social care, service modernisation and cultural change, research methods and evidence-based practice. She has an outstanding record in all aspects of university leadership, having worked within the field of higher education for 25 years and held senior roles in three different universities. Shirley is a passionate advocate for equality and diversity, social inclusion and widening participation in higher education – opening opportunities and unlocking potential for people of all backgrounds. She is a tireless ambassador for students and is committed to ensuring they receive the education, experience, and support they need to reach their potential and move into their chosen career or further study after graduating.

For 2024-25 Professor Congdon sits as WTUN Chair of the General Board until 31 July 2025.

Professor Julia Buckingham read Zoology at the University of Sheffield and, after a short spell in the pharmaceutical industry, moved to London to study for a PhD in Pharmacology at the University of London and to pursue an academic career. She was awarded a DSc and appointed to the Chair of Pharmacology at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School in 1987 where she became Pre-clinical Dean in 1992. She joined Imperial College London in 1997, contributing to the establishment of the new Faculty of Medicine and held the roles of College Dean for non-clinical Medicine, Head of the Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Head of the Centre for Integrative Mammalian Physiology and Pharmacology and Pro-Rector (Education and Academic Affairs). In 2012 she was appointed Vice-Chancellor and President of Brunel University London. Throughout her career Julia has combined research and education with supporting the broader aspects of academic life through work with the research councils, medical charities and learned societies. She has published widely in her field, served on numerous national and international review panels and received a number of prestigious awards and honours for her work. Former roles include President of the British Pharmacological Society, President of the Society for Endocrinology, member of the Sykes Commission, Editor of the Journal of Neuroendocrinology, Chairman of BioScientifca Ltd, Trustee of the Royal Institution and a Governor of St Mary’s Calne. She is currently a Trustee and Member of the Board of the Royal Society of Biology, a Trustee, Treasurer and Member of the Board of Universities UK, a Director of Imperial College Health Partners and of the National Centre for Universities and Business and a member of the All-Party Parliamentary University Group Council.

As Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Learning, Teaching and Quality), Professor Bradshaw oversees the strategic development of learning and teaching to ensure we provide an outstanding, high quality experience for all our students.

Gwendolen has previously worked as Director of Quality Enhancement and Standards and Dean of the Faculty of Health Studies at the University of Bradford. Her contribution to teaching and scholarship has focused on the involvement of service users in all aspects of student learning. She also collaborated in a Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning, which enabled the Faculty to participate in pioneering work associated with the use of technology in curriculum delivery. Gwendolen has also published on risk management within the curriculum and co-authored a book for NHS students concerning health service policy.

Gwendolen takes a keen interest in quality assurance participating in the Northern Universities Consortium for Credit Accumulation and Transfer (NUCCAT) and SEEC networks. She has undertaken the role of Visitor for the Nursing and Midwifery Council, Subject Reviewer and Institutional Auditor for the QAA and more recently has been appointed as a Higher Education and ECREO Reviewer for the QAA whilst also being deputy chair of the University’s Learning and Teaching Committee. In addition she has fulfilled the role of external examiner and professional expert to a range of professional programmes both in the UK and abroad.
Being a member of the Yorkshire and the Humber Health Innovation and Education Cluster (HIEC) Advisory Group afforded Gwendolen the opportunity, at regional level, to influence the Maternal and Infant Health & Care aspect of the Cluster’s work.

Appointed as a Supervisor of Midwifes in 1995, Gwendolen continues in this statutory role and maintains a modest case load. She is a member of the Royal College of Midwives and the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s Lead Midwife Educator Strategic Reference Group. Gwendolen has played a significant role a number of national and UK initiatives including the Modernising Midwifery Careers initiative commissioned by the UK health departments when she led the Education and Career Progression work stream on behalf of the four countries.

Brian Cantor is Professor of Materials at Oxford and Brunel Universities. He is also Founding Chair of the World Technology Universities Network, a Trustee of the Science Museums Group and an Editor of Elsevier’s premier review journal, Progress in Materials Science. He has published over 300 books and papers. He invented the field of High Entropy Alloys and discovered “Cantor alloys”. In the recent past, he has been Vice-Chancellor of the Universities of Bradford and York, Head of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at Oxford, a research scientist at GE Labs in the USA, a consultant for Alcan, NASA and Rolls-Royce, and a Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He has worked at other universities such as Sussex, Northeastern, Banaras, Washington State and IISc Bangalore, and chaired or been on boards such as the Marshall Aid Commission, the UK Universities Pensions Forum, and Bradford, Leeds and York Local Economic Partnerships (LEPs). He founded and built up the Begbroke Science Park, the Heslington East Campus, the Hull-York Medical School, the National Science Learning Centre, and the World Technology Universities Network. He has received academic prizes, honorary professorships and fellowships in the UK, USA, China and India. He was awarded a CBE for services to higher education in 2013.