Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) has announced the appointment of Professor Sue Rigby as its new Principal and Vice Chancellor.
Professor Rigby has been Vice Chancellor of Bath Spa University since 2018 and will join ENU in January 2025, succeeding Professor Andrea Nolan who is retiring after more than 11 years at the helm.
Rigby, a palaeontologist by background, has a proven track record of academic leadership. Under her stewardship, Bath Spa has grown its student numbers, doubled its turnover and become financially sustainable with diversified income streams. Recent years have seen its best ever Research Excellence Framework (REF) return and a steady improvement in its National Student Survey (NSS) results.
She was previously Deputy Vice Chancellor for Student Development at the University of Lincoln, and earlier roles included lecturer in the Universities of Cambridge, Leicester and Edinburgh, where she moved into senior management, first as Assistant Principal and then Vice Principal. She is also an HEA Principal Fellow and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Professor Rigby is Chair of Student Minds (a student mental health charity), and a board member for the QAA (Quality Assurance Agency) and AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council). She leads on culture for the West of England Combined Authority and is chair of two significant arts venues, one in Bristol and one on the Isle of Mull.
She was Chair of the Natural Sciences TEF Pilot Panel and Chair of the Learning Gain Steering Group for the Office for Students. She was lead editor for the Credit Framework for England second edition, and has chaired the Advance HE surveys panel and previously led the work undertaken by the Higher Education Funding Council for England to design a postgraduate NSS.
Professor Rigby joins ENU shortly after it was named Higher Educational Institution of the Year at the Herald Higher Education Awards, was confirmed as the top university in Edinburgh for student satisfaction for the fifth year in a row in the NSS, and is the top modern university in Scotland according to the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
June Boyle, Chair of Edinburgh Napier University Court, said: “Professor Rigby is an outstanding appointment. Her breadth of experience, her values, and her commitment to quality higher education, widening access, inclusion and to an excellent student experience mean that she is the ideal person to take forward the ENU vision as a home of difference makers. We look forward to welcoming Sue at the beginning of the new year and I am confident that all at the University will enjoy working with her as we write the next chapter of the Edinburgh Napier story.”
Professor Rigby said: “'I am delighted to be joining Edinburgh Napier University. I have watched its progress with interest and huge respect over the past 10 years. It is a community of learners and leaders that I will be very proud to join, and I will do my best to make sure that it can continue to thrive and grow in all aspects of university life.”