Professor Les Ebdon CBE - Chair

Vice-Chancellor – University of Bedfordshire

Professor Les Ebdon CBE took up his appointment as Vice-Chancellor of the, now, University of Bedfordshire in 2003. Since then he has led the University through a successful development programme with growth in student numbers to over 17,000 and a merger in August 2006 with the Bedford faculty of De Montfort University to form the new University of Bedfordshire.

He is active regionally as the Chair of the Association of Universities in the East of England and as Director of the Bedfordshire and Luton Economic Development Partnership. Nationally, he is the Chair of the University think-tank – million+, a Board member of the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association, a member of the Universities UK Board, Chair of the Universities UK Student Experience Policy Committee and a member of the Universities UK Health and Social Policy Committee. He serves as a member of the National Council for Educational Excellence, is a member of the Parliamentary University Group Council, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts. He also serves on the Editorial Board of the Times Higher Education Supplement and two international learned society editorial boards. He was recently awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Plymouth and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year’s Honours List, 2009.

His research interests are in environmental analytical chemistry and his various contributions to sensor development and our understanding of the behaviour and importance of trace elements in the environment have led to some 270 learned publications and to several awards.