New Vice-President and Dean appointed

04 Jun 2025

Professor Sarah Sharples will be Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering

Professor Sarah Sharples, FREng, CErgHF, FIET, FIEHF, is set to join the University as the new Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and a member of our University Executive.

Sarah joins the University from the Department for Transport where she has been Chief Scientific Adviser since 2021, seconded from the University of Nottingham. At the DfT she leads 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. Human factors is a scientific discipline which uses an understanding of human capabilities and limitations to design systems to support human performance, wellbeing and safety.

Sarah has previously held the roles the 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 to the role of 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.

Sarah and her husband Craig are parents to two grown up children, and in her spare time, Sarah applies her passion for human-centred complex systems design to the hobbies of cooking and gardening.

Sarah said: “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.”

Professor Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor, said: “As we develop our 2035 strategy, having Sarah join our leadership team is going to be a great asset to the University. The Faculty of Science and Engineering is critical to our ambition to be one of the world’s great universities by 2035, through research impact, innovation and modern, flexible teaching. I’m very much looking forward to working with her.”

Sarah will join the Faculty in mid-September. Professor Peter Green will be interim Vice-President and Dean in the intervening period.