As Pro Vice-Chancellor International, John works closely with the University Executive shaping and delivering the University’s Vision, Strategy and supporting plans. He is also Executive Lead for the North East Space Skills and Technology Centre (NESST).
John provides strategic leadership, vision and ambition in the development of the University’s International Strategy and profile. This includes:
In 2022 John began work with Lockheed Martin Space UK and the UK Space Agency to develop NESST, a collaborative £50 million pound research and development facility that will transform the space economy of the northeast and the wider UK. His work in the space sector was acknowledged when he was awarded Business Person of the Year for Northumberland and Tyneside in 2024.
John was born and raised in the colliery villages of County Durham, attending Durham Johnston Comprehensive School. He obtained a BSc (Hons) in Geography at the University of Leeds and University of Liege, Belgium, an MSc at the University of Alberta, Canada and a PhD at the University of Leeds, graduating in 2000. After undertaking postdoctoral research at the University of Leeds, a Lectureship at Brunel University and a research post with the British Antarctic Survey, he joined Northumbria in 2003 as a lecturer. He was awarded a Professorship in 2012 and became Faculty Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation) in 2013. In 2018 he became Faculty Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Engineering and Environment, before moving to his current role in 2024.
Having completed a Teaching & Learning PCAPL qualification in 2004 John is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). He is also a Member of the International Glaciological Society (IGS) and a Core Panel Member of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Peer Review College.
John is a glaciologist with expertise in near-surface geophysics and has attracted £36 million of research and capital funding through his career. His interest in ice/sediment/water interactions in glacial environments has led to NERC funded projects to study Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, Antarctica, the history and dynamics of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and his current project on ice sheet instability as part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, funded by NERC and the National Science Foundation (NSF). He has conducted cryospheric research projects in Arctic Canada, Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard and Scandinavia and has spent over a year in Antarctica during seven successful science expeditions.
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