Strathclyde Principal Honored with Knight Grand Cross by King Charles
Sir Jim was awarded the title in the King’s New Year’s Honours list earlier this year for his Services to Engineering, to Education and to Energy.
Created in 1917, Knight and Dame Grand Cross is the most senior rank of the Order of the British Empire. Fewer than 115 have been award in the past 60 years, with only 27 awarded this century.
Huge privilege
On being appointed a Knight Grand Cross in January, Sir Jim said: “I am deeply honoured to have been recognised by His Majesty in this way. It is a huge privilege to be Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde and to hold the Presidency of the Royal Academy of Engineering, one of the UK’s National Academies.
“The discipline of engineering – particularly in the field of energy – and the institution of Strathclyde are both very close to my heart and to receive such recognition for my work in these areas is incredibly humbling.
I lead a fantastic team at Strathclyde and this award also recognises the help I’ve received from a huge number of people who have contributed to my personal development, provided professional opportunities and supported me in my career over many years in academia, industry and public service.
“Of course, none of this would have been possible without the support and encouragement of my wife Eileen and that of my children, family and friends.”
Services to education
Sir Jim was knighted in the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours List in June 2012 for services to education, engineering and the economy and was elected President of the Royal Academy of Engineering in October 2019, becoming the first Scot to hold the post.
A three-time graduate of Strathclyde, having taken his BSc, MSc and PhD degrees in the areas of electronic and electrical engineering, power systems and energy economics, Sir Jim worked in the electricity utility sector for seven years before returning to Strathclyde in 1984 as a University Grants Commission New Blood Lecturer in Electrical Engineering.
He was appointed to the Rolls-Royce Chair in Electrical Power Systems in 1993 and became Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Strathclyde in March 2009.
Sir Jim is a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology; he co-chairs, with the First Minister, the Scottish Government’s Energy Advisory Board; and he is chair of the Independent Glasgow Economic Leadership Board. He co-Chairs the Sino-UK Engineering and Technology Steering Committee with the President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and is also a Trustee of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.
He is a Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Institute of Physics, the Energy Institute, the Royal Society of Arts, an Honorary Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering, a Foreign Fellow of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow. He has been inducted as an International Member of the US National Academy of Engineering and as a Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Sir Jim currently also holds several senior non-executive business appointments on the Boards of ScottishPower, the UK National Physical Laboratory, Supernode and – until recently – the Weir Group. He chairs two of the pan-Scotland University Research Partnerships in Energy and Engineering. He also sits on the Court of Regents of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh.