University of Birmingham welcomes Head of College of Engineering & Physical Sciences

The University of Birmingham has announced that Professor Marika Taylor has been appointed as Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Engineering & Physical Sciences.

Professor Taylor, who is currently Head of School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Southampton, will be joining the University of Birmingham in September.

Announcing the appointment, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham Professor Adam Tickell said: “Marika has an impressive array of intellectual interests across the physical sciences, as well as significant senior academic leadership and management experience, which will serve her well as she leads our College of Engineering & Physical Sciences into an exciting future. We look forward to welcoming her to the University of Birmingham.”

Professor Taylor holds an MA in Natural Sciences, Physics and Theoretical Physics, an MMath in Mathematics and a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge, which was supervised by Professor Stephen Hawking.

“I am delighted to be joining the University of Birmingham. The College of Engineering and Physical Sciences is known for its excellent research and education as well as for its state-of-the-art facilities. I look forward to working with the College and the rest of the University on the ambitious and exciting 2030 strategy.

Professor Marika Taylor
She started her career as a Research Fellow at St John’s College in Cambridge, spending a year at both Harvard and Princeton Universities. Appointed as a Postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University in 2001, Professor Taylor moved to the University of Amsterdam in 2005 as Assistant, and later, Associate Professor in the Institute for Physics.

Professor Taylor joined the University of Southampton in 2012 and held several leadership roles before being appointed as Head of the School of Mathematical Sciences in 2019. She was also a Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute for three years from 2019.

Accepting the post, Professor Taylor said: “I am delighted to be joining the University of Birmingham. The College of Engineering and Physical Sciences is known for its excellent research and education as well as for its state-of-the-art facilities. I look forward to working with the College and the rest of the University on the ambitious and exciting 2030 strategy.”