Richard Williams (academic)
| Richard Williams | |
|---|---|
| Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University | |
|
Assumed office 13 March 2015 |
|
| Preceded by | Steve Chapman (chemist) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Richard Andrew Williams 1960 Worcester, England, UK |
| Spouse(s) | Jane M Taylor |
| Children | Two |
| Alma mater | Imperial College London |
| Profession | Engineer |
Richard A. Williams OBE FREng FTSE, FRSE is a British academic and engineer. He is the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University. He took up this position on 1 September 2015.
He is Vice President and a Trustee of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
He was born in Worcester in 1960 and attended The Kings School, Worcester (1967–1978). His father and grandfather were national and international motor sportsmen including Isle of Man TT race champions. He studied at Imperial College London for BSc(Eng) Hons in Mineral Technology (1983) and PhD in photoelectro chemistry applied to industrial diamond separation processes (awarded 1998).
Following a period in Johannesburg and Welkom, working as a trainee graduate metallurgist working in gold and uranium in processing for Anglo American Corporation (1979/80), he later joined De Beers Industrial Diamonds Research Laboratory undertaking a PhD based in South Africa and Imperial College London (Royal School of Mines) (1982–1986). He was appointed lecturer in Chemical Engineering at University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (now University of Manchester) in 1986. He specialised in the area of surface and colloid engineering. In 1993 he was appointed Royal Academy of Engineering-Rio Tinto Professor of Minerals Engineering at the University of Exeter (based at the Camborne School of Mines). Aged 33 he was one of the youngest engineering professors in the UK. He further developed a large research activity based on engineering of mineral and particulate systems.
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