News

Director appointed to cutting edge research base

(4 November 2003)

Professor Ray Hudson has taken up the post of Director of the Wolfson Research Institute at the University of Durham’s Queen’s Campus in Stockton.

The £10m cutting edge research facility now houses over 90 researchers and a growing number of postgraduate students working on projects ranging from health to regional regeneration.

Formally opened in June 2002 by Baroness Susan Greenfield, Director of the Royal Institution, the facility provides an opportunity for internationally recognised researchers to work in collaboration with health, environmental and urban and regional regeneration agencies, integrating the university, industry and the community in close partnership.

After 30 years at Durham University, Professor Hudson said he is looking forward to the challenge of driving the Wolfson forward.

He said: ”The bringing together of a range of academic disciplines in a new environment provides a unique opportunity to deliver high quality research, unlock the potential for interdisciplinary collaboration and engage with a broad range of external partners. There's a lot of excellent work already being done at the institute, but I want to see it become a real world class centre, globally recognised”.

The 55-year-old father-of-two, was born in Alnwick and now lives in Durham. He graduated from the University of Bristol in 1969 with a first class honours degree in Geography, and also holds PhD and DSc degrees from Bristol.

He joined Durham University in 1972 as a lecturer in geography and has held the posts of senior lecturer and reader. In 1990 he was promoted through to Professor in Geography and ran the department for five years. He has been academic advisor to many universities and is also a current member of the ESRC Training Board, a member of the Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences and is a vice-president of the Royal Geographical Society.

For more information contact:

Jan Cawood, Public Relations Officer Tel: 0191-334-0018

Notes to Editors

The Wolfson Research Institute provides first-class research facilities to the previously teaching-orientated Queen's Campus, bringing substantial benefits both to the university and the region.

Current research in the Institute is centred on issues relating to health, medicine and the environment with 90 research staff and a growing number of research students.

Each of the units and centres has a nationally or internationally recognised leader and several research groups have undergone rapid expansion and new research tools and techniques have been introduced.

Areas of research currently include:

• Centre for Clinical Management Development
• Centre for Infectious Diseases
• Centre for Integrated Health Care Research & Development
• Centre for the History of Medicine & Disease
• Child Development Research Unit
• Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit
• Health Development Agency
• Health Development Group
• Health Protection Agency North East
• International Centre for Regional Regeneration & Development Studies
• North East Public Health Observatory
• Public Policy & Health