- Alan Wilson
Sir Alan Geoffrey Wilson is a British scientist and social scientist currently teaching at
University College London .He was born in
Bradford in 1939, and educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School,Darlington andCorpus Christi College, Cambridge where he readMathematics .He converted in the 1960s from theoretical
physics to the social sciences through research on the mathematical modelling of cities (working in Oxford and London). From 1961-64, he was a Scientific Officer in the Theoretical Physics Group at the Rutherford Laboratory; from 1964-66, a Research Officer at the Institute of Economics and Statistics in theUniversity of Oxford ; from 1966-68, Head of the Mathematical Advisory Group, Ministry of Transport; and from 1968-70, Assistant Director of theCentre for Environment Studies in London. He was appointed Professor of Urban and Regional Geography at theUniversity of Leeds in 1970, Pro-Vice-Chancellor in 1989 and was Vice Chancellor from 1991. He was elected a Fellow of theBritish Academy in 1994, and was knighted in 2001.Sir Alan retired in May 2004 after 13 years as Vice-Chancellor. During his time the University underwent unprecedented growth and transformation. Student numbers increased from 12,000 to 31,500, turnover increased from £100m to £320m and research income increased by more than 400% to £71m. Nearly 1,000 of the University’s researchers now work in 5 or 5* rated departments.
His knowledge of the university sector led to his appointment as first Director General for Higher Education by the UK Government, a post which he took up part-time in February 2004 and full-time on
June 1 2004 . In this role, he was a key adviser toCharles Clarke ,Ruth Kelly and nowAlan Johnson , and plays a critical role in the government’s drive to widen participation inhigher education and maintain a world-class education system. Sir Alan was awarded theLaureat d’Honneur by theInternational Geographical Union and the 2004 Prize in Regional Science by theEuropean Regional Science Association .In May 2006, Sir Alan became a Fellow of the
Royal Society . In the same month, he was elected Master of his old Cambridge college, [cite web|url=http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/oldmembers/news.php?newid=100|title=New Master announced for College|publisher= Corpus Christi College, Cambridge|accessmonthday=24 October |accessyear=2006] Corpus Christi, and took up the post in October.He resigned from the post of Master of Corpus Christi on May 1, 2007, after only seven months in post.
In September, 2007, he joined
University College London to serve as Professor of Urban and Regional Systems at theCentre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA). [ [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0709/07091203 Professor Sir Alan Wilson joins UCL CASA ] ]References
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