JISC

Professor David Baker, Deputy Chair, JISC

David Baker was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in 1952. His first love was the church organ, which he began playing from the age of 12. By the time that he was 16, he was an Associate of the Royal College of Organists. He gained his Fellowship the following year. In 1970 he was elected Organ Scholar of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, graduating with a First Class Honours degree in Music three years’ later. He took an MMus degree from King’s College, London in 1974. He then moved into Library and Information Services, taking a Master of Library Studies degree in 1976 and a PhD in 1988. Both of these degrees were from Loughborough University. In recent years, his particular professional interest has been in the strategic management of technology. He gained an MBA degree from the Open University in this subject area in 2002. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

After a number of library posts at Nottingham, Leicester and Hull Universities and a lecturing role at Loughborough, he became Chief Librarian of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, in 1985. He was promoted to Director of Information Strategy and Services in 1995, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor in 1997. He became Principal of University College Plymouth St Mark and St John (UCP Marjon) in July 2003 and, in addition, was appointed Professor of Strategic Information Management there in July 2006. He retired as Principal of UCP Marjon in August 2009. During his time as Principal he led the College through the process of gaining its own degree awarding powers and the awarding of university college status. He was also Chair of Universities South West, comprising the 13 higher education institutions in the region, and also of GuildHE, the representative body for smaller and more specialist universities. 

David Baker has published widely in the field of Library and Information Studies, with fourteen monographs and some 100 articles to his credit and also in musicology and music criticism, with a further three monographs and over 100 articles and 200 reviews on his publications list. He has recently completed Digital Library Economics: an Academic Perspective, and Eve on Top: women and the experience of success in the public sector. A further book, Libraries and Society, is due to be published in May, 2011. Within the field of information management, he has spoken at numerous conferences, led workshops and seminars and has undertaken consultancy work in most countries in the European Union, along with work in Ethiopia, Kuwait, Nigeria, South Africa and the Sudan. has led a number of large technology-based projects in the LIS sector, both in relation to digital and hybrid library development and content creation for teaching and learning. His other key professional interest and expertise has been in the field of human resources, where he has been active in major national projects. When not working he enjoys watching cricket, walking, archaeology, history, creative writing and music – both as listener and performer.

Professor Eric Thomas, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol

Professor Eric Thomas has been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol since September 2001.

He graduated in Medicine from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1976 and proceeded to obtain his MD by thesis in research into endometriosis in 1987. He trained as an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and worked at both the universities of Sheffield and Newcastle. In 1991 he was appointed Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Southampton and then became Head of the School of Medicine there in 1995 and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Biological Sciences in 1998. He was a Consultant Gynaecologist from 1987 to 2001.

Professor Thomas is Vice President of Universities UK, Chair of its England and Northern Ireland Council and Chair of the Research Policy Committee. He is also a member of the Universities UK Board. Professor Thomas is Chair of the Board of CASE Europe and a Member of the Board of CASE and has recently been appointed to serve as a Commissioner of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission.  He chaired the government Taskforce into Increasing Voluntary Giving in Higher Education which reported in 2004. He was Chair of the Worldwide Universities Network from 2003 – 2007. He was a member of the Board of the South-West Regional Development Agency from 2002–8.