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Professor Ian Blair

Pro Vice-Chancellor Pro Vice-Chancellor Academic and Sustainability

Professor Ian Blair joined ̽»¨Ö±²¥ (BCU) in 2007 and is currently the Pro Vice-Chancellor Academic and Sustainability.

As Pro Vice-Chancellor Academic and Sustainability, Ian will oversee the transition to, and subsequent leadership of, the University’s new academic structure of six Schools (taking effect in August 2025) and the Royal ̽»¨Ö±²¥ Conservatoire. Ian will provide academic and strategic leadership, ensuring the University achieves the highest possible standards in teaching and learning. Ian is the institutional lead for sustainability, being responsible for reducing BCU’s adverse environmental impact and supporting an environmentally-sustainable future for the region.

Ian led the BCU Research Excellence Framework (REF) submission in 2014 and again in 2021 ensuring the return to the University from these national audit exercises were optimised.

Prior to joining BCU, he was Head of the School of Health Sciences at the University of Ulster. Ian worked at the University of Ulster for almost 25 years as a lecturer, senior lecturer and reader, and was awarded his personal professorial chair in 2004.

Ian graduated with a BSc in Environmental Health from the Ulster Polytechnic.  After working as an Environmental Health Officer for a year in the London Borough of Hillingdon, he returned to Higher Education to undertake Doctoral Level study in microbiology at the University of Ulster.  Ian’s research interests remain in microbiology. He has an established researcher profile having secured funding from industry, the public sector, and the EU, supervised 27 PhDs to completion, and published over 120 peer-reviewed academic papers.

Ian serves on several regional Boards and Committees, the majority of which are within the Local Health Economy, and he was previously part of the National Executive of the Council of Deans of Health for 6 years. He has served for maximum terms on the Boards of Governors in three West Midlands based NHS Foundation Trusts.