Management Shake Up at Highest Level

Nick Whelan

Vice-Principals of education and research announce departure, with a new advisory team made up of experienced professionals in related fields to help lead the university through its current crisis.

DJCAD (Image: Eva Milne)

In an email sent to staff by interim principal Shane O’Neill, it was announced that Professor Blair Grubb, Vice principal (Education), and Professor Lisanne Gibson, Vice Principal (Research) will depart their roles. Grubb is set to retire, whilst Gibson has taken a new role with Northumbria University.

In the email, interim principal Shane O’Neill spoke highly of the departing management staff and announced the bringing together of ‘a group of eminent current and former vice Chancellors’ to provide personal advice in his role as Interim Principal and Vice-Chancellor. These include:

Sir Paul Grice, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Queen Margaret University and Interim Convenor of Universities Scotland. Sir Paul was also the chief executive of the Scottish parliament from the establishment of devolution (1999) until 2019. Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Glasgow and Professor Andrea Nolan, former Principal and Vice-Chancellor at Edinburgh Napier University.

O’Neill also stated there is to be other colleagues seconded from across the sector to support the pathway to recovery. He stated his ‘belief that our university will survive the crisis we face’, and that changes announced today ‘allow us to face these challenges with the best expertise available to us’.

It was also announced that deputy first minister, Kate Forbes, would be ‘spearheading’ the government’s crisis response. This comes after the government faced criticism for a lack of leadership during the crisis and moving forward.