Dean of the School of Design and Creative Arts

Loughborough is a place for innovators – those with curiosity, creativity, and the drive to make a meaningful impact. It’s a community that thrives on collaboration, embraces new ideas, and works together to overcome challenges. Here, progress is built step by step, through dedication, learning, and a shared commitment to excellence.

This spirit sets us apart. It’s why we are consistently ranked among the UK’s top universities, recognised for our outstanding student experience, cutting-edge facilities, and global influence in research and innovation. It’s also why our graduates go on to shape industries, advance knowledge, and create positive change worldwide.

Creating Better Futures. Together is our ambitious strategy for the next decade. It defines our purpose, values, and aspirations, while recognising our responsibility to the world around us. It reflects both the opportunities ahead and the challenges we face as a global community.

Our School of Design & Creative Arts (SDCA) is a vibrant community bringing together expertise from across Design and Creative Arts disciplines; the School is committed to facilitating societal change and providing viable solutions to contemporary challenges at national and international levels. We pride ourselves on the real-world context behind our teaching, enterprise, and research initiatives. Our blend of creativity, ethics and rigour for real-world benefit is at the heart of who we are – a hands-on, creative, and industrious community of staff and students who are passionate about using design and arts for universal benefit. We are proud to be ranked 1^st in the UK for Fashion and Textiles, and 2^nd for Graphic Design (The Guardian University Guide 2025).

We are seeking an exceptional Dean of SDCA to provide visionary leadership, driving the School’s research excellence, innovation, and student experience to new heights. As Dean, you will join our University’s leadership team and play a pivotal role as a member of the University Executive Board, contributing to the strategic direction and leadership of the University at the highest level. You will lead a school with impactful, world-leading high-quality research, experts who teach, guide and inspire students and utilise close collaboration with industry as well as dedicated teams of professional and technical staff.

This is an exciting opportunity for a strategic and dynamic leader with a strong academic or professional track record in a relevant discipline, a strong commitment to research and teaching excellence, and the ability to inspire and lead a diverse and high-performing community. If you are ambitious, collaborative, and share our passion for Creating Better Futures. Together, we encourage you to apply.

If you would like to discuss this opportunity further or have any questions about the role, please contact Senior Research Associate, Xavier Thomason at Xavier.Thomason@perrettlaver.com or +44 (0)20 3928 7387.

Loughborough University would particularly welcome applications from women and individuals from global ethnic majority backgrounds, who are currently underrepresented on the University leadership group. 

For further information and instructions on how to apply on-line, please click the above “Apply” button.

Closing date for receipt of applications is midnight (BST) on Monday 2^nd June 2025.

Protecting your personal data is of the utmost importance to Perrett Laver and we take this responsibility very seriously. Any information obtained by our trading divisions is held and processed in accordance with the relevant data protection legislation. The data you provide us with is securely stored on our computerised database and transferred to our clients for the purposes of presenting you as a candidate and/or considering your suitability for a role you have registered interest in.

Perrett Laver is a Data Controller and a Data Processor, and our legal basis for processing your personal data is ‘Legitimate Interests’. You have the right to object to us processing your data in this way. For more information about this, your rights, and our approach to Data Protection and Privacy, please visit our website https://perrettlaver.com/privacy-statement/.

Please visit the following link in order to find more information about the use of personal information provided by candidates to the University:  https://www.lboro.ac.uk/data-privacy/iwantto/gdpr/.