How the University is managed

Rod Bristow joined us on 1 October 2024 as the new Chair of Council, succeeding John Hinchcliffe, who served as our interim Chair since May 2023.

In his role as Chair, Rod brings a wealth of experience and expertise from the education sector, having held senior executive roles at FTSE100 global learning company Pearson PLC between 1992 and 2021, including four years as President. He is also a Visiting Professor at University College London Institute of Education. 
 
Rod currently chairs the Academic Advisory Board for Kortext, a UK based e-learning provider. He is an experienced non-executive, having been a member of the Confederation of British Industry President's Committee and a Fellow for the Royal Society for the Arts.

"Shirley’s priority is to engender a vibrant culture for staff and students reinforcing the University’s commitment to excellence in teaching & learning, research, knowledge exchange and equality, diversity and inclusion.

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."

Shirley is responsible for the leadership and management of the University of Bradford, leading the development of its values and strategy.  Shirley is the eighth Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bradford and is the first woman to hold the role.  Shirley has significant experience of working in higher education championing the quality of the student experience, widening participation, engagement with business and communities and advancing the quality of research and innovation.

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 a strong track 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 committed to value led leadership, equality, diversity and inclusion, increasing social inclusion and mobility through widening participation in higher education; opening up opportunities and unlocking potential for people of all backgrounds. 

A tireless ambassador for students, she is committed to ensuring that they get the best possible education and support that leads to a rewarding career after they graduate.  Her number one priority is to place the student experience at the heart of all aspects of University activities.

Shirley is the Executive Board champion for Religion/Belief issues.

(View full profile)

Contact details

Helen Hague
Senior Executive Services Support Manager/Executive Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor (external).

• h.l.hague@bradford.ac.uk
• 01274 23 3012

Michelle Kenyon
Executive Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor (internal) 

• m.kenyon2@bradford.ac.uk
• 01274 23 3007

Sherif is a ‘life’-scientist with over 25 years’ experience in the higher education sector, focusing on research, innovation, translation and commercialisation.

He is trained as a pharmacist followed by a PhD in genomic medicine from the University of Sussex, then post-doctoral training at St Jude Hospital in the US. Working with the Nobel Laureate Zewail in Caltech, Sherif established and directed one of the first medical genomics research centres in the MENA region. In 2018, Sherif co-founded the Healthy Lifespan Institute at the University of Sheffield. Sherif moved to the University of Bradford in 2020 as the Director of the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics, then Associate Dean of Research, and then took up the PVC role in 2024.

Sherif is responsible for the leadership and management of the University of Bradford Research and Innovation ecosystem. Sherif has significant experience of working in higher education here in the UK and in the MENA region, championing the quality of research and innovation, student experience, engagement with the government and private sectors.

Sherif’s core technical background is in genomic medicine with a broader economic focus through working with senior executives and stakeholders. He is a Wellcome Trust Investigator, a Fellow of the Lister Institute of Preventative Medicine and sits on UKRI and Wellcome Trust funding panels. His work in biology and medicine is published in journals such as Nature, Cell and Science. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and his work has been recognised by AstraZeneca (UK), Caltech (USA), Awards of Excellence in Medical Sciences from the Shoman Foundation (Jordon) and the Wellcome Trust (UK).

Sherif is committed to value-led leadership, whereby building trust, equality, diversity and inclusion are the at the cornerstone of strategic developments to unlock the potential of people from all backgrounds.

Paul joined the University in November 2017. He has led the creation of the Directorate of Learning, Teaching & Student Experience which brought together the previously dispersed functions of educational development, academic quality, student support, careers, and learning resources. His team provides support to Faculties in all aspects of course design, delivery, and enhancement including the operation of the Bradford:Fellowships professional development scheme accredited by Advance HE.

Before joining Bradford, Paul was the Associate Dean for Learning & Teaching in the Faculty of Design, Arts and Humanities at Teesside University, and before that Head of their English Studies Department. His research interests focused on the issues of popular culture and the politics of representation and he is widely published in the area of music video, cinema, and gendered identity.

Paul is an Executive Board champion for Gender Equality.

Professor Rob James joined the University of Bradford as Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences in July 2022.

Rob is a muscle physiologist who obtained his BSc and PhD at the University of Leeds. After four years of postdoctoral research at the University of St Andrews he started as a lecturer at Coventry University. His teaching was focused on biomechanics and muscle physiology. He undertook various leadership roles at Coventry including Dean of Faculty, overseeing substantial growth in programmes and student numbers, Deputy Dean and Associate Dean (Research).

Rob is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), a chartered scientist (CSci) and an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB). Rob was the Society for Experimental Biology lead for Biomechanics. His main research focus is to utilise physiological techniques, such as the work loop technique, to better understand the effects of temperature, obesity, ageing or drugs on muscle performance.

Rob is also the Executive Board advocate for Wellbeing and Mental Health.

Register of interests

1. Heads of University Biosciences (HUBS) Executive Committee
2. Royal Society of Biology
3. Royal Society of Biology’s Diversity and Inclusion Network
4. Society for Experimental Biology
5. Physiological Society
6. Chartered Scientist

Executive Board Register of Interests 2024/25 (PDF, 115KB).

Contact details

• r.james8@bradford.ac.uk

Kate Bedford
PA to the Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences

• k.j.bedford@bradford.ac.uk
• +44 (0) 1274 233231

Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE, UK), Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IoM3, UK), Fellow of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE, USA) and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA, UK). Martin is an experienced academic leader and practitioner, and an expert in the multidisciplinary field of tribology (study and application of the principles of friction, lubrication and wear). Prior to joining the University of Bradford in 2015 he held the Jost Chair of Engineering Tribology at the University of Leeds (UK), where he was based from 1987, and before that he worked for British Gas Research and Development (London, UK).

Martin is the Dean of a Faculty comprising the engineering disciplines, computer science and media design and technology (technological aspects of the media industry). To enable and incentivise interdisciplinary working, which is core to the future success all the specialist subjects in the Faculty, he conceived and led a fundamental restructure of the Faculty. Formal schools were removed and replaced with a much more flexible and agile discipline group structure, with leadership and management focussed at the Faculty level.  The Faculty is now committed to deliver the multidisciplinary technology solutions required in the 21^st Century and the people with the skills to lead such innovations. Students develop clear discipline depth but also breadth through extensive collaboration with students in other disciplines, as a formal part of their programme. Research also nurtures core discipline strengths but flexibly reorganises over time into multidisciplinary teams in response to external drivers. Faculty members across the disciplines worked very effectively together to secure the award of an Athena SWAN Bronze Award (Advance HE, UK, framework to support and transform gender equality within higher education) in 2021 at the first attempt.

As an academic practitioner Martin has an established international track record and a long history of successful collaboration with UK and international industry.  He is very proud to have been awarded the 2015 Tribology Silver Medal by the Tribology Trust (IMechE, UK). The award citation read “In recognition of his outstanding contribution to tribology especially in the area of transference of tribology facility research to practical applications”. He is Associate Editor of the academic journals Tribology Transactions (STLE, USA, Taylor & Francis) and the Journal of Engineering Tribology (IMechE, UK, SAGE). Martin highly values interaction with students and still maintains a role as a lecturer, tutor and supervisor for engineering students in the Faculty alongside his duties as Dean.

Martin is the Executive Board champion for Marriage and Civil Partnership issues.

Register of interests

1. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, UK
2. Engineering Council, UK
3. The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, UK
4. The Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers, USA
5. Advance HE
6. Bradford City of Film Ltd

Executive Board Register of Interests 2024/25 (PDF, 115KB).

Dr William Martin has been at the University of Bradford for 15 years. William is an organic chemist who obtained his BSc and PhD at the University of Nottingham. After postdoctoral research at the Technical University of Berlin and Oregon State University, he spent a short period in the pharmaceutical industry synthesing small molecules for drug discovery. He returned to academia in 2009 as a lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Bradford, and quickly became programme lead for the chemistry programme.

One of his biggest successes was launching degree apprenticeships in chemistry, and being part of the Trailblazer group that progressed the chemistry apprenticeship agenda nationally. William was also co-chair of the University’s branch of the University and College Union (UCU) for several years.

He has held various leadership positions in the Faculty of Life Sciences including the roles of Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching, and Deputy Dean before taking up his current post as Dean, Faculty of Health Studies.  William is delighted to call West Yorkshire home and spends weekends running or walking in the hills.

Register of interests

1. Royal Society of Chemistry
2. Higher Education Academy

Executive Board Register of Interests 2024/25 (PDF, 115KB).

Register of interests

1. St Helens and Knowsley Colleges
2. Chartered Management Accountant

Executive Board Register of Interests 2024/25 (PDF, 115KB).

Contact details

Michelle Kenyon
Executive Assistant to the Chief Finance Officer

• m.kenyon2@bradford.ac.uk
• 01274 23 3007

Steve Gilley joined the University as Director of Infrastructure in July 2022.

A Chartered Surveyor, Steve has over thirty years’ experience in property, gained in the public and private sectors. He is joining us from the University of Leeds, where he has worked for the past fifteen years, most recently as Director of Estates and Facilities. In this role, he oversaw two major campus transformation programmes, with capital investment resulting in the construction of over twenty new buildings and extensive refurbishment of the existing Estate. He oversaw the acquisition of new land and property to widen the opportunities for additional commercial and research activity.

Committed to sustainability, Steve most recently led the Estates response to the University of Leeds’s ambition to becoming a Net Zero organisation by 2030 and will oversee the strategy for Bradford to fulfil its own de-carbonisation strategy.

Steve is passionate about placemaking and the impact of landscape and public realm to support a positive sense of wellbeing at work. Whilst at Leeds, he also directed strategic change within the Estates function, developing a programme office to support project delivery, led reviews to improve and develop the services, and introduced significant structural change to modernise the service to harness the benefits of Digital Transformation.

Prior to his time in Higher Education, Steve worked for HBOS Group Property managing the delivery of new retail banking facilities, major office developments and data centre projects in the UK and Europe for over five years. Steve initially trained as a Quantity Surveyor working in a large UK consultancy for over a decade, moving through the organisation and diversifying into project and programme management for a wide range of blue chip companies, property developers and leisure developments.

When he is not working, Steve is a passionate landscape photographer and is often to be found happily snapping away somewhere in the Yorkshire Dales.

Steve is the Executive Board champion for Disability matters.

Register of interests

1. Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
2. Association of Project Management
3. Unipol (Student Housing Charity)

Executive Board Register of Interests 2024/25 (PDF, 115KB).

Contact details

Personal assistant: Sabina Adam, Executive Assistant to the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Learning, Teaching & Student Experience and the Director of Infrastructure.

• s.adam3@bradford.ac.uk
• 01274 23 4371

Dave has 30 years’ experience of working in a range of public sector organisations, with expertise in organisational development and systems working.

He is passionate about putting people and relationships at the centre of everything and sees his role as being to help the University of Bradford be a place where each person can be the best that they can be.

He has an MA (Hons) in Classics and an MSc in Innovation and Improvement Science, is a qualified coach/mentor and mediator, and alongside completing his doctorate, occasionally lectures and speaks at conferences on how we can thrive in a complex, messy world.

Register of interests

1. University of Salford
2. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

Executive Board Register of Interests 2024/25 (PDF, 115KB).

Anne took up her role as Interim Registrar in October 2023. Her academic background is in consumer sciences, after gaining her degrees from the University of Surrey.

After several years as a research officer at Surrey, she taught in Glasgow before moving to lead and co-create a large modular suite of multi-disciplinary programmes at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU).  Supporting subject teams to prepare for external scrutiny and work as a QAA reviewer took her into professional service roles from 1997. Since then, she has worked as a Director of Quality Support at LJMU and Academic Registrar at the University of Bolton, both roles lasting nine years.

Anne has travelled widely to visit collaborative partner organisations and conducted numerous reviews for the QAA, including in China. She is keen to ensure that students and staff have a good experience and like to work creatively with others to secure this outcome. Her personal interests include health and wellbeing, swimming, music, five rhythms dance, food and socialising with friends and family.

In her role as Associate Director Outreach, Recruitment and Admissions, Claire has strategic responsibility for the Directorate of Outreach, Recruitment and Marketing, and for the development, delivery and evaluation of the University’s home and international marketing and recruitment strategies. Operationally, Claire is responsible for leading the University’s Admissions, Outreach and Recruitment and Marketing teams.

Claire has over 20 years’ experience of working in higher and further education marketing, recruitment, and admissions. Her previous roles include Head of UK Recruitment and Admissions, University of Bradford, Marketing and Recruitment Manager, Faculty of Health Studies, University of Bradford, and marketing management positions at both the University of Leeds and Leeds City College. Prior to working in the education sector, Claire gained a wide range of business to business marketing experience in the textiles, waste management and construction sectors.

Claire chairs the UCAS Provider Advisory Group, a national group of higher education providers who provide feedback on the development of UCAS products and services, and is also a member of UCAS Council. Claire is the University’s representative on the Go Higher West Yorkshire Board and Chair of the GHWY Uni Connect Project Assurance Committee. Claire is also the University’s UKVI Authorising Officer, responsible for ensuring compliance to the University’s Student Visa licence conditions.

Claire is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and Chartered Marketer and has postgraduate and professional qualifications in marketing, leadership and management. Claire is also an alumni of the University of Bradford in French and Spanish.

Claire is passionate about supporting applicants from widening participation backgrounds to access and succeed in higher education. Claire is the Executive Board co-champion for gender equality.

Register of interests

1. Chartered Institute of Marketing
2. Go Higher West Yorkshire
3. Go Higher West Yorkshire: Uni Connect Project Assurance Committee
4. UCAS Provider Advisory Group
5. UCAS Council
6. BUILA
7. Higher Education Liaison Officers Association (HELOA)
8. UKVI

Executive Board Register of Interests 2024/25 (PDF, 115KB).

Eleanor has over 20 years’ experience in community engagement, fundraising and events in the public, private and education sector. She has an MA in Public Policy and Management, a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice and more recently a Level 7 Certificate in Mentoring and Coaching.

In her role as Associate Director, Engagement, Development and Communications, Eleanor has strategic responsibility for events and partnerships, alumni relations and development, Theatre in the Mill and the University’s Cultural Plan, and finally, the PR and Communications Team.

Register of interests

1. Bradford Business Improvement District

Executive Board Register of Interests 2024/25 (PDF, 115KB).

As University Secretary, Martin holds executive responsibility for the overall strategic direction and leadership of corporate governance, risk management, internal audit, information governance, regulatory compliance, and legal affairs.

He has worked in higher education for over 20 years and has extensive governance experience gained over roles including Deputy Secretary at the University of Manchester, University Secretary at Sheffield Hallam University, and with Uniac as a Client Lead and consultant for a number of universities. His most recent role, prior to joining Bradford in April 2024, was Head of Governance and Secretariat at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Register of interests

1. Kingsway Athletic

Executive Board Register of Interests 2024/25 (PDF, 115KB).