Professor Richard Reece is the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Education and Student Experience and Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Kent. He read biochemistry at The University of Leeds and did his PhD work, studying the mechanism of action of a class of bacterial enzymes called DNA topoisomerases, at the University of Leicester. Upon completion of his PhD, he spent five years undertaking post-doctoral work at Harvard University, before returning to the UK as a lecturer, senior lecturer and then professor at The University of Manchester. He moved to the University of Kent in 2020 to take up the role of Deputy Vice Chancellor.

Richard oversees the Education and Student Experience Strategy at Kent, which underpins one of the three key strategic objectives in the University Plan and looks after two large directorates - Education and Student Services. He joined the University Council as a member in August 2020 and serves as the Chair of the Board of KMTV. He chairs the University’s Sustainability Steering Group who are responsible for implementation of sustainability across the university. 

Richard’s research interests focus on the molecular mechanisms by which cells are able to alter their patterns of gene expression in response to metabolic changes in the environment. This work has involved a mixture of molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics and structural biology. He is deeply committed to raising the standards of teaching quality across higher education - both in the UK and across the world - and to promoting the public understanding of science. 

Nigel received his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Leeds in 1987. He was then awarded a Mr and Mrs John Jaffé Donation Research Fellowship from the Royal Society to work on the proteolysis and membrane anchorage of mammalian cell surface peptidases. In 1989 he was appointed as lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry at Leeds, followed by promotions to senior lecturer, reader and in 2001 to Professor of Biochemistry. He served as Director of the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology (2007-2011), Pro-Dean for Research (2011) and Dean (2012-2014) of the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of Leeds.

In 2014 he was appointed to the Chair in Cell Biology in the Institute of Brain, Behaviour and Mental Health, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences at the University of Manchester. He has held roles as Vice Dean for Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health (2016-2020) and Director of Dementia Research for the University (2015-2020). Since 2020 he has been Associate Vice-President for Research

Frank is the Dean of the Biosciences Institute (NUBI) and holds a Personal Chair in Microbial Biotechnology at Newcastle University. He joined the University in August 2018, first as a Professor in the Faculty of Science, Agriculture & Engineering and from 2022 as a Professor in the Faculty of Medical Sciences. He studied biochemistry at the University of Edinburgh, followed by a PhD in the then Department of Biochemistry at the University of Dundee before moving to Norwich as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant. In 2000 Frank was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship to lead his own research group in the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia. In 2007 Frank returned to the University of Dundee to take up a Personal Chair in Bacterial Physiology in the then College of Life Sciences. Frank was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2011.