Pro-Chancellor Christopher F. Higgins

(Pro-Chancellor, Durham University)

Biography

Mr. Christopher Higgins is Pro-Chancellor of Durham University, following a period of seven years as Vice-Chancellor and Warden.

Academic Career

Mr. Higgins was a Junior Exhibitioner at the Royal College of Music, London, and then entered Durham University where he obtained a first class degree (1976) and a Ph.D (1979) in botany. He won an SERC Postdoctoral Fellowship to work at the University of California, Berkeley, following which he returned to the UK as lecturer in biochemistry at the University of Dundee and was promoted to an ad hominum Professorship. Mr. Higgins moved to Oxford in 1989 as Principal Scientist with the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now CR-UK) and in 1993 he was appointed Nuffield Professor and Head of Department of Clinical Biochemistry at the University of Oxford. In 1998 Mr. Higgins moved to Imperial College London as Director of the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre and Professor and Head of Division of Clinical Sciences.

Achievements

Christopher Higgins chaired SEAC (Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee), was a Board Member of the Regional Development Agency (One NorthEast) and  is a Deputy Lieutenant for County Durham. Mr. Higgins also Chairs the Trustees of the National Youth Choirs.

Publications

Christopher Higgins has published over 200 research papers in the field of cell biology and genetics and awards for his research include the CIBA Medal of the Biochemical Society, Fleming Prize of the Microbiology Society, and a Howard Hughes International Scholarship. He is an elected Fellow of EMBO, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Society of Arts, and the Academy of Medical Sciences. He has served on the Councils of BBSRC and the Academy of Medical Sciences, specialist scientific advisor to the House of Lords Select Committee on Stem Cell Research, and the Human Genetics Commission.  

"Higher Education and Cultural Diplomacy"

The Annual Conference on Cultural Diplomacy (Berlin; November 7th, 2014)