The University鈥檚 Vice-Chancellor鈥� Professor Bill Wakeham鈥� has been knighted in the Queen鈥檚 Birthday Honours鈥� for services to chemical engineering and higher education.
Bill Wakeham has been Vice鈥揅hancellor since 2001鈥� and overseen a period in which Southampton has firmly established itself as one of the UK鈥檚 leading research universities and among the top 100 in the world.
Under his leadership鈥� the University has further enhanced its strong reputation for excellence in both teaching and research鈥� and invested significantly in world鈥揷lass facilities and learning resources.
Professor Wakeham has shown outstanding commitment to developing the knowledge economy in the region鈥� with research activity at Southampton providing the impetus.
Southampton has also become one of the foremost entrepreneurial universities in the UK, launching numerous successful spin-out companies in such fields as oil and gas exploration, drug development, materials science, nanotechnology, optoelectronics, microelectronics and silicon fabrication.
鈥淚鈥檓 delighted and very honoured by this award,鈥� comments Sir William. 鈥淚t has been made possible, though, by the colleagues with whom I have worked over the years and by the support of my family. I would like to share this honour with them.鈥�
Other roles include membership of the board of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA); chair of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA); membership of the EPSRC Council and chairing its Resource Audit Committee. Professor Wakeham recently also chaired the 2008 Review of Physics in the UK at the request of the then Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
As Vice-Chancellor at Southampton, Bill Wakeham has played a leading role in regional affairs, chairing SEEDA鈥檚 South East Science, Engineering and Technology Advisory Committee (SESETAC), and being an active member of the board of the Southampton Strategic Partnership. Among other professional activities, he has had roles as a non-executive director of COGENT, the sector skills council for chemicals, nuclear, oil and gas, petroleum and polymers; a non-executive director of Meridian TV; and an executive member of the Worldwide Universities Network.