Professor Sarah Sharples, FREng, CErgHF, FIET, FIEHF has stepped down from her role as Chief Scientific Advisor at the Department for Transport and is set to join the University of Manchester as the new Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and a member of our University Executive. She will take up the new position in September.
Sarah has been with DfT since 2021, seconded from the University of Nottingham. At the DfT she led on many of the engineering and science challenges in transport, including decarbonisation, applications of artificial intelligence and cross-modal safety.
She is an international expert in the field of human factors and its application to engineering problems and had previously held the roles of Pro-Vice Chancellor for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and People (2018-2021) and Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange (Engineering) (2015-2018) at the University of Nottingham.
She has recently been appointed as Deputy Chair of Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2029 Unit of Assessment Panel 12 (Engineering), was previously a member of EPSRC Council and Advance HE Athena Swan Governance Board and is currently the CSA member of ESRC Council.
She was President of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors 2015-2016 and her academic research, funded by industry and UKRI, has considered how complex systems bring people and technology together in the domains of transport, healthcare and manufacturing.
Said Professor Sharples of her new position:
“Manchester is looking forward to an exciting future, and I’m very excited to have the opportunity to play my part in helping to achieve these ambitions. The University’s achievements in science and engineering are truly world-changing and I am sure that, working with colleagues and students, we’ll be able to build on this legacy.”
(Pic: WMG)
