Professor Paul Curran (born 17 May, 1955) is Vice-Chancellor of City University London. He took up his post in August 2010 having previously served as Vice-Chancellor of Bournemouth University (2005-10) and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Southampton (2004-05) where he is currently a Visiting Professor. As a leading member of the senior management team at Southampton, progressing from Head of Geography to Dean of Science, Curran was credited with high-profile leadership as Head of the Winchester School of Art, part of the University of Southampton.
A former NASA research scientist and advisor to the European Space Agency,[1] Curran's research interests include investigations into global environmental change, in particular the movement of carbon between the atmosphere and forests. His award-winning work in Earth observation, involving the use of satellite sensors to monitor the environment at local to global scales, is widely published and he is the youngest recipient of the Remote Sensing Society’s Gold Medal.
In 2007, Queen Elizabeth II approved the award of the Patron’s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society to Paul for his ‘international development of geographical science through remote sensing and Earth observation’.[2]
He is a Member of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Chair of its Audit Committee; the Chair of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) Board; a Member of Universities UK and its Research Policy and Employability, Business & Industry Policy Committees and President of the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society. He was the Chair of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Higher Education Workforce Steering Group and a Member of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Board and its Audit Committee.
Curran received a BSc from the University of Sheffield in 1976, an MBA from the University of Southampton in 1998 and PhD and DSc degrees from the University of Bristol in 1979 and 1991 respectively. He is a Chartered Geographer and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society and Chartered Management Institute. His PhD was followed by academic appointments at the Universities of Reading and Sheffield before moving to NASA Ames Research Center in 1988. He held established Chairs in Physical Geography at the University of Wales, Swansea from 1990 and the University of Southampton from 1993.
Curran is married, with one daughter. His leisure interests include middle distance running.[3]
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||