Swansea University welcomes new Chancellor

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Swansea University has appointed a new Chancellor.

Professor Dame Jean ThomasProfessor Dame Jean Thomas is an Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, immediate past Master of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and current President of the Royal Society of Biology.  She will present degree awards to graduates on 8 January during Swansea University’s winter degree ceremonies (8 January – 10 January 2018) to be held at the Great Hall at the University’s Bay Campus.

Professor Thomas is an alumna of Swansea University (then known as University College Swansea, University of Wales).  In 1964, she graduated with a First Class BSc in Chemistry, and in 1967, she was awarded a PhD in Chemistry for her thesis titled Hydroxyl-carbonyl interaction in cyclic peptides and depsipeptides

She immediately took up a Beit Memorial Research Fellowship at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge and two years later joined the academic staff of the Biochemistry Department, University of Cambridge, where she has worked ever since and become Professor of Macromolecular Biochemistry in 1991.

In 2007, she was elected as the 38th Master of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and served for 10 years –the first (and still only) female Master since the College was founded in 1473.

She has received numerous awards and honours throughout her career, and has served on many national bodies.  She is a Fellow of the Royal Society, elected in 1986, of the Academy of Medical Sciences and of the Learned Society of Wales; and a Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and of the Academia Europaea. She holds honorary degrees and fellowships from several Universities and Colleges, including an Honorary Fellowship from Swansea University, awarded in 1987.

She served as Biological Secretary and Vice-President of the Royal Society for five years from 2008, as a Governor of the Wellcome Trust for seven years from 2000 and as a Trustee of the British Museum for 10 years from 1994, and has also served, inter alia, on the Councils of SERC and then EPSRC. She is currently President of the Royal Society of Biology (and previously President of the Biochemical Society), a Trustee of the Wolfson Foundation and a member of the Scientific Advisory Council for Wales.

She became a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1993 for services to Science, and in 2005 a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her services to Biochemistry.   

Speaking of Professor Thomas’ appointment, Swansea University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Richard B. Davies said: “We are extremely honoured to welcome Professor Dame Jean Thomas as our new Chancellor.  Professor Thomas’ academic reputation precedes her; her career has been exemplary, and inspiring. 

Swansea University continues to grow and develop, in terms of its high-quality facilities and in terms of its reputation as an internationally-renowned research-led university.

As we approach our centenary, in 2020, and commence the next stage of the University’s development, Professor Thomas is ideally placed to reflect our values of academic excellence innovation, and great ambition.”

On her appointment as Chancellor, Professor Dame Jean Thomas said: “When I first graduated from Swansea University many years ago, I could not have imagined that one day I would have the honour of serving as its Chancellor. The University continues to achieve and expand, and I am very much looking forward to being part of this exciting ambition as we move towards the Centenary in 2020.”

Professor Dame Jean Thomas succeeds the late Rhodri Morgan, First Minister of Wales, who was Chancellor of Swansea University between 2011 and 2017.