Cambridge's Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor to head Australian university.
I congratulate Duncan on his fully deserved appointment as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. I have no doubt that he will play a key role in developing Melbourne as a university of global importance.
Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge
Professor Duncan Maskell, the University’s Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor, has today been appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.
Melbourne is Australia’s leading university and is considered to be one of the world’s top 40 higher education institutions.
Professor Maskell’s appointment is tribute to his many outstanding achievements at Cambridge – as an academic and as a member of the University’s senior leadership team. Professor Maskell will stay in post as Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor until the end of his three-year tenure in August 2018.
After studying Natural Sciences and Pathology at Cambridge from 1979 to 1985, Professor Maskell embarked on an academic career that took in Wellcome Biotech, the Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford, and Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. He returned to Cambridge in 1996 as the first Marks and Spencer Professor of Farm Animal Health, Food Science and Food Safety in the Department of Veterinary Medicine. During his research career he has published more than 250 research papers, leading to his election as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
He became Head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine in 2004, leading it with distinction over the following nine years. In 2013, he was appointed Head of the School of the Biological Sciences, and he became Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning and Resources) in August 2015. He has overall responsibility for a turnover of approximately £2bn per annum and the University’s major building programme, including the North West Cambridge Development and Cavendish III, the new home for the Department of Physics.
In addition to these achievements he has had an active entrepreneurial career, being a co-founder of four biotech companies, a member of the Cambridge Enterprise Seed Fund investment committee, a Board member of Genus plc (a FTSE250 company), and a Board member of Cambridge Innovation Capital.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Stephen Toope said: “I have only recently got to know Duncan on a personal level, but I am well aware of his many outstanding achievements at Cambridge. I am sure that I speak for his many friends and colleagues in offering Duncan my warm congratulations and best wishes for the future.”
Former Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz said: “It was a pleasure to work with Duncan during my time as Vice-Chancellor, and I greatly appreciated his leadership and advice as Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor, and as Head of the School of Biological Sciences. He was tireless and outstanding in his role as Head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine, and his intellect, hard work and passion for all things Cambridge have benefited the University greatly over many years.
“I know many at the University will be sad to see him leave, but I would also like to congratulate Duncan on his fully deserved appointment as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. I have no doubt that he will play a key role in developing Melbourne as a university of global importance.”