University Leadership Team

The University Leadership Team (ULT) is the senior management decision-making body of the University.

Collectively, members are responsible for developing and implementing the vision and strategy of the University, providing academic and operational leadership, and acting as ambassadors to promote the University’s mission, activities and values.

Vice-Chancellor

The Vice-Chancellor is the chief executive officer and senior academic officer of the University, and is responsible to the University Council for maintaining and promoting the efficiency and good order of the University. The Vice-Chancellor chairs the University Leadership Team and Senate.

The Vice-Chancellor is a member of the Board of the Hull and East Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), a Director of Yorkshire Universities, a member of the Hull Business Engagement Board, and contributes through Universities UK (UUK) and other national bodies to higher education policy and practice.

Professor Dave Petley

vc@hull.ac.uk

Professor Dave Petley began his tenure as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull in September 2022. As Vice-Chancellor, his role includes delivering on the aims and objectives of the University’s Strategy 2030, at the heart of which are the themes of Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice.

Prior to his appointment at Hull, Professor Petley was Vice President for Innovation at the University of Sheffield, a role which saw him establish innovation as a key strategic focus for the institution. He began his academic career in roles at the universities of Sunderland and Portsmouth before moving to the University of Durham in 2000. His research focuses on natural and environmental hazards, and he was appointed the inaugural Wilson Professor of Hazard and Risk at Durham in 2006. He is widely recognised as a world leader in the study and management of landslides and, alongside advising national and international organisations on the management of slopes, has for over a decade maintained a popular blog on landslides which receives over 500,000 individual visits per year. While at Durham, Professor Petley held leadership roles including Executive Director of the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience, Dean of Research and Dean of Global Engagement. In 2014, he joined the University of East Anglia as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise before moving in 2016 to become Vice-President for Research and Innovation at the University of Sheffield, where he led the development of a new research strategy, the formation of four new research institutes and a transformation of the University’s approach to commercialisation.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor leads on all core academic activity and contributes to the development of, and shares responsibility for, University wide strategic initiatives and policy.

As a key member of the University Leadership Team, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor directly manages the Deans of our four faculties and works closely with other senior Academic and Professional Service colleagues, the University Council, the Senate, other University committees and the Students’ Union, deputising for the Vice-Chancellor as required and personally leading a number of senior committees, strategic agendas and work streams.

Professor Kevin Kerrigan

Professor Kevin Kerrigan joined the University of Hull in October 2023 as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC). As part of the University Leadership team, he will be instrumental in implementing our ambitious Strategy 2030. He will also work with our Deans and Heads of School, and with other members of the University Leadership Team, to deliver our ambitious academic mission.

Before joining the University of Hull, Professor Kerrigan was Pro Vice-Chancellor for Business and Enterprise at Sheffield Hallam University. Prior to this he was Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise and Sheffield Business School, Executive Dean for the Faculty of Business and Law at Northumbria University and also held roles as Dean of Newcastle Business School and Northumbria Law School. He has wide experience leading large academic units and cross-institutional strategies. These include an Applied Curriculum Design framework; London campus academic offer; Online strategies (at Northumbria and Hallam); a Highly Skilled Employment project; Health Innovation Campus; Apprenticeships and Skills; the South Yorkshire Institute of Technology; and the South Yorkshire Investment Zone. Kevin’s teaching and research interests are in legal education, human rights and leadership. He practised as a human rights lawyer alongside his academic career, with a strong reputation in social justice education, editing the International Journal of Clinical Legal Education and organising numerous global conferences. He was appointed a Higher Education Academy National Teaching Fellow for his work on experiential education, whereby students learn by serving real clients, and he has developed this model across many other discipline areas. Kevin has acted as a strategic advisor to several UK universities, was a consultant for the Sentencing Advisory Panel, sat on the Attorney General’s Pro Bono Committee and the Lord Chancellor’s Department Human Rights Act Committee.He also serves on the International Advisory Board of Amity University, India. Kevin has co-authored eight books and eight book chapters, numerous articles and conference papers. He significantly increased REF performance across four Units of Assessment in 2014 and 2021. He has secured several awards, including Times Higher Education Business School of the Year, and Outstanding Entrepreneurial University and the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education.

Pro-Vice-Chancellors

The University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellors support the Vice-Chancellor in the strategic leadership, management, planning and coordination of the University’s academic endeavours.

The Pro-Vice-Chancellors work closely with the Deans and Professional Service Directors to support the attainment of each area’s vision and performance objectives and coordinate their contribution to the University strategy. The Pro-Vice-Chancellors have responsibilities with regard to their specific portfolios, but also share in institutional management and lead and participate in pan-University projects.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education)

Professor John Craig

pvc-edu@hull.ac.uk

With over 20 years’ experience in academia and a wealth of expertise in leading national teaching and learning initiatives, John joined us from Kingston University in 2025. During his time at Kingston John led the submission team that secured a TEF Gold rating, developed promotional routes around teaching and learning, and modernised quality assurance and enhancement processes. In addition, he was co-lead for Kingston University’s Future Skills curriculum transformation project.

Prior to his role at Kingston University much of John’s working life has been spent in universities in the north of England, most recently at Leeds Beckett, where he served as Dean of Social Sciences for seven years. Having earned his doctorate at the University of Leeds, he went on to enjoy leadership roles at the University of Huddersfield and Teesside University, as well as serving as an Open University tutor for 15 years. John was a member of the TEF Main and Referral Panels in 2022, chaired the review of the QAA Subject Benchmark for Politics and International Relations in 2021/22 and is currently contributing to the re-drafting of the QAA Quality Code. He has also held key roles at the Higher Education Academy, leading national initiatives to enhance teaching and learning. A politics academic, John has been actively involved in the Political Studies Association for more than 20 years, leading its Teaching and Learning Specialist Group and Network, before being appointed as a trustee and Vice-Chair of the association.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise)

Professor Fiona Matthews

pvc-re@hull.ac.uk

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) is responsible for the development and implementation of the University’s strategies for research and knowledge exchange. They also oversee the Doctoral College and the University’s interdisciplinary research Institutes.

Professor Fiona Matthews joined the University of Hull in October 2023. Prior to her role as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise), Fiona was the Dean of Research and Innovation (and Professor of Epidemiology) in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University. A statistician by training, prior to Newcastle she was a Programme Leader at the MRC Biostatistics Unit at Cambridge University (where she obtained her PhD). In 2018 she became Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University and was responsible for their REF2021 submission. Fiona is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. Externally, Fiona has been chair of an ESRC Grant Assessment Panel and a panel member for the MRC Centre of Research Excellence and is currently on the panels for the ESRC Centre call and the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships. Fiona’s research interests include utilising and developing state of the art analysis methods to investigate ageing, healthy life expectancy and autism using population based epidemiological studies and routine data. Fiona’s particular research focus involves interdisciplinary research to understand the influence of inequalities in population health.

Chief Operating Officer

The Chief Operating Officer provides strategic leadership and management of University professional services including Advancement and External Relations; Marketing and Student Recruitment; Global Strategy; Infrastructure Services; Research Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation; Strategic Planning, Projects & Faculty Services; and People and Organisational Development.

Sarah Wilson

sarah.wilson@hull.ac.uk

University Secretary, Registrar and Chief Compliance Officer

The University Secretary, Registrar and Chief Compliance Officer is responsible for the good governance of the University and for assuring its compliance with all relevant legal and regulatory requirements. The role provides strategic leadership to Academic Services; the University Library; Apprenticeships Funding and Compliance; Governance; Health and Safety and Information Compliance.

Dr Christopher Ince

c.ince@hull.ac.uk

Chief Finance Officer

The Chief Finance Officer is responsible for group finance, financial operations, business partnering, research and enterprise accounting, and procurement. Responsibilities also include the preparation of annual financial statements, financial plans and the timely reporting of financial control information.

The Chief Finance Officer also oversees the University’s commercial services.

Jeremy Hartley

jeremy.hartley@hull.ac.uk

Executive Deans of Faculties

The Executive Deans provide academic and strategic leadership and vision for their Faculty. They are the senior executive of their Faculty, and are accountable to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for its effective, efficient and transparent leadership, management and administration.

Executive Deans have overall accountability for their Faculty’s contribution to the delivery and promotion of the University’s vision, mission, strategic plans, objectives and key performance indicators.

Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Cultures and Education

Professor Darren Mundy

d.mundy@hull.ac.uk

The Faculty of Arts, Cultures and Education comprises:

School of The Arts
School of Criminology, Sociology and Policing
School of Education
School of Humanities

Executive Dean of the Faculty of Business, Law and Politics (interim)

Professor Robert Dover

r.m.dover@hull.ac.uk

The Faculty of Business, Law and Politics comprises:

Hull University Business School
The Law School
School of Politics and International Studies

Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences

Professor Laura Treadgold

dean-fhs@hull.ac.uk

The Faculty of Health Sciences comprises:

Hull York Medical School
School of Nursing and Midwifery
School of Paramedical, Perioperative and Advanced Practice
School of Psychology and Social Work
School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences

Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering

Professor Dirk Schaefer

dean.sci@hull.ac.uk

The Faculty of Science and Engineering comprises:

School of Computer Science
School of Engineering
School of Environmental Sciences
School of Natural Sciences

Registration of Interests

University employees and lay members of Council have a responsibility to respect and promote the financial and other interests of the University, with due regard to academic freedom.

There is a general duty on all members of staff and lay members of the University to disclose at the earliest possible stage any financial or other interest they may have in any transaction, or proposed transaction, between the University and a third party.

A Register of Interests is maintained and updated annually. If you wish to inspect the Register, please contact governance@hull.ac.uk.

Code of Conduct for Council Members

Code of Practice on the Registration of Interests

Contact us

University Leadership Team

University of Hull
Hull, UK
HU6 7RX

01482 346311