Chairs

Professor James Dignan has joined the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies as chair of comparative criminology and criminal justice. His research interests include comparative penal policy, restorative justice and youth justice. He also has a burgeoning interest in the nascent field of ‘green criminology’, which is concerned with the contribution that criminologists might make in dealing with pressing environmental challenges. Previously he was professor of criminology and restorative justice at the University of Sheffield.

Professor Efrat Tseëlon has been appointed chair in fashion theory in the School of Design, having arrived from University College Dublin. A social psychologist by training and a social theorist by practice, she applies a critical cultural studies approach to the study of fashion and visual identities, which she has been pursuing since her PhD work in Oxford on ‘communicating via clothing’. She is on the editorial board of Fashion Theory, and her work is used in the study of fashion and theatre studies through to sociology, media and gender studies.

Professor John Divers takes up the chair in philosophy in the School of Humanities, having returned to Leeds from the University of Sheffield. His research interests focus on issues of objectivity and subjectivity, particularly in matters of possibility, mathematics, logic and morals. John has been a British Academy Reader, is a fellow of the ARCHÉ Centre at the University of St Andrews, and he is now working on a sequel to his Possible Worlds (Routledge 2002).

Professor Jaafar Elmirghani has joined the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering as chair of communication networks and systems. He previously headed the Institute of Advanced Telecommunications and was chair of optical communications at the University of Wales in Swansea. His research interests include terabit optical transmission systems, optical wireless systems, and evolution of the internet to an optical grid. Professor Elmirghani received the University of Wales Swansea award for ‘outstanding research achievement’ in 2006.

Professor Dagmar Schiek has been appointed as chair in European law at the School of Law and director of the Centre for European Law and Legal Studies (CELLS). She was previously chair of European economic law at the University of Oldenburg in Germany, and director of the Hanse Law School in Germany. Her research interests include international equality law, the emerging European economic and social constitution, and governance by non-state actors at EU level.

Mr Ian Goodall has been appointed by the Faculty of Medicine and Health as the assistant director (research management) at the UK Clincial Research Network (UKCRN), having arrived from the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust. His role involves developing national management systems to help reduce the bureaucracy involved in conducting clinical research.