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Paul Layzell

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Paul John Layzell
CBE DL CEng FBCS FHEA
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Principal, Royal Holloway, University of London (2010-2022)
AwardsDeputy Lieutenant of Surrey
Academic background
Education
Academic work
DisciplineEngineering
Sub-disciplineSoftware Engineering
Institutions

Paul John Layzell, CBE, DL, CEng, FBCS, FHEA (born 23 July 1957) is a British academic, academic administrator, and software engineer. From August 2010 until July 2022, he served as Principal of Royal Holloway, University of London. [1] He is also Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of London[2] and Treasurer of Universities UK.[3]

He previously worked at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), rising to become Professor of Computer Science (1995–2004) and its Pro-Vice-Chancellor (2000–2004). He then joined its successor, the University of Manchester, where he was Vice-President (University Development) from 2004 to 2006. Before joining Royal Holloway, he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex (2006–2010).[4][5][6][7]

Layzell was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to higher education and technology.[8]

Controversies

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Layzell has been criticised in the past for statements made regarding women and BAME groups. Royal Holloway's student magazine Orbital quoted him as claiming in an open staff meeting of 29 November 2017[9] that “there are certain protected groups where there is a natural tendency to not have a go and put themselves in for promotion – sometimes that’s gender, sometimes it’s the BAME group”.[10] The magazine also states that Layzell hinted during the meeting that "women were better suited to teaching than research".[10] This was after gender pay gap statistics were released showing that the pay gap for full-time professors at Royal Holloway had increased from 8.1% in 2015/16 to 10.01% in 2016/17, making it the 7th worst university in the UK for the gender pay gap for full-time professors.[11]

He was also the centre of criticism regarding Royal Holloway's treatment of academics who underwent industrial action in 2018. During the University and College Union (UCU) pension strikes, a group of students spent almost 120 hours occupying the corridor outside of Layzell's office in solidarity with the striking staff.[12] The occupation ended when Layzell released an apology[13] for the College's treatment of striking staff, which had caused the Royal Holloway branch of the UCU to refer to it as "the UK's most hard-line university employer".[14]

Selected works

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  • Spurr, Kathy; Layzell, Paul, eds. (1990). CASE on Trial. Chichester: Wiley. ISBN 978-0471928935.
  • Spurr, Kathy; Layzell, Paul, eds. (1992). CASE: current practice, future prospects. Chichester: J. Wiley. ISBN 978-0471933045.
  • Davies, C. G.; Layzell, P. J. (1993). The Jackson Approach to System Development: An Introduction. Bromley: Chartwell Bratt. ISBN 978-0862383213.
  • Spurr, Kathy; Layzell, Paul; Jennison, Leslie; Richards, Neil, eds. (1994). Business objects: software solutions. Chichester: Wiley. ISBN 978-0471951872.

References

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  1. ^ "Update for all colleagues from Professor Paul Layzell". Royal Holloway University. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  2. ^ "New Deputy Vice-Chancellor announced". University of London. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  3. ^ "Universities UK Board Election Results". Universities UK. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  4. ^ 'LAYZELL, Prof. Paul John', Who's Who 2017, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 2016 accessed 1 Nov 2017
  5. ^ "Professor Paul Layzell". University of London. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  6. ^ "The Principal - Paul Layzell". Royal Holloway, University of London. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  7. ^ "Paul Layzell named new principal of Royal Holloway". Times Higher Education (THE). 20 March 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  8. ^ "No. 63714". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 2022. p. B10.
  9. ^ Demony, Catarina (29 January 2018). "Royal Holloway principal criticised for 'less than constructive' gender pay gap comments". Surrey Live. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  10. ^ a b "Sexism Storm Surrounds Royal Holloway Principal". Orbital Magazine. 23 January 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  11. ^ "Times Higher Education Pay Survey 2017". Times Higher Education. 4 May 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  12. ^ Demony, Catarina (26 March 2018). "University strikes: Royal Holloway principal apologises to striking lecturers' after students camped outside his office for 120 hours". Surrey Live. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  13. ^ "Achieving a resolution". Royal Holloway, University of London: Staff Intranet. 20 March 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  14. ^ Cheeseman, Abbie (21 February 2018). "Royal Holloway Slammed as "Most Hardline University Employer in UK" Over Strikes". Orbital Magazine. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
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