Vice-Chancellor

Dr David Grant CBE, FREng, FLSW, CEng, FIET

Dr Grant was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University in October 2001.

Previously he had performed leadership roles in a number of international businesses.

David Grant was educated at the King’s School, Tynemouth, and commenced his career as an engineering student apprentice with the Reyrolle Parsons Group of companies in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. After qualifying in Electronics Engineering, he won a company scholarship to the University of Durham where, in 1974, he gained his PhD in Engineering Science. Following a period with Reyrolle Parsons Automation designing power station control and instrumentation systems, Dr Grant was appointed Technical Director of a European subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation. In this role he was responsible for the development of production-line and automated test systems for the automotive industry. In 1984 Dr Grant took up an appointment as Managing Director of London-based Dowty Electronics Ltd., and in 1988 he became Technical Director of the Dowty Group with aerospace, hydraulics, electronics and polymer materials businesses. His last industrial appointment commenced in 1991, as Technical Director of GEC plc., with responsibility for engineering, research and technology development in an £11B turnover international company employing 25,000 engineers and spending £1.2B per annum on product development and technology. Business sectors included power engineering, rail transportation, aerospace and defence, telecommunications, consumer products, industrial products and professional electronics.

Dr Grant is actively involved in engineering professional development and has been a Council member and Vice President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE, now IET). He was awarded the IEE's Mensforth Gold Medal in 1996. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1997, and in the same year was made a CBE for his contribution to the UK’s Foresight Programme. Dr Grant was a Council member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, EPSRC, from 2001 until 2006 and in 2007 he became a governing board member of the Technology Strategy Board. Dr Grant is a Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and is Chair of the Academy’s Standing Committee for Education and Training. Dr Grant is a board member of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.