Head of the Department of Life Sciences

Job Description

Aberystwyth University was established in 1872 is home to a community of 6,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students and 2,379 academic and professional services staff.  Aberystwyth’s research has had an impact nationally and internationally throughout its history.  The University has over 1,709 hectares of land which according to HESA (2018) makes Aberystwyth the biggest university in the United Kingdom. This land houses, amongst other things, 1,500 sheep, 400 dairy cows, 20 horses, 16 goats and 10 alpacas. Aberystwyth was voted the Best University in the UK for Teaching Quality and Student Experience (Good University Guide, The Times and Sunday Times 2021) and is rated one of the Top 10 universities in the UK for Student Satisfaction (NSS 2021). 

The Department of Life Sciences is a new academic Department and its creation in August 2022 will transfer across the majority of teaching provision and some of the research that was previously delivered by Aberystwyth’s Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS). IBERS is an internationally recognised research centre that hitherto had been host to a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate education.  The creation of the Department of Life Sciences means that IBERS will now return to focussing primarily on its research portfolio. The new Department of Life Sciences will deliver teaching but will also have its own additional and complementary research profile. 

The role of the Head of Department is to provide academic leadership, encourage and develop excellence in teaching and research and manage and develop it efficiently.  The Head of the Department of Life Science will report to Professor Neil Glasser, the Pro Vice Chancellor of the Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences and will manage all of the staff within the Department, delegating appropriately and promulgating a culture of collegiality.  Candidates will have an appropriate academic background with a strong track record of research, grant capture and teaching and learning.  They will be able to demonstrate experience of management and resource allocation, as well as strong people leadership skills and the ability to translate University strategy into meaningful outputs at a Departmental level. 

Applications should consist of a CV accompanied by a covering letter addressing the criteria in the person specification.

For an informal discussion, please contact Liz James on

E: elizabeth.james@berwickpartners.co.uk  

T: 0121 654 5924

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