Professor GQ Max Lu to step down as President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Surrey

The University Council has appointed Professor Tim Dunne, currently Provost and Senior Vice-President, to the role of Interim President and Vice-Chancellor with effect from Professor Lu’s departure. There will be an open and formal process to appoint Professor Lu’s permanent successor.

Professor Lu is one of the most distinguished university leaders in the UK and has led the transformation of the University of Surrey into a global leader in Higher Education. Under Professor Lu’s leadership:

• The University is one of only a handful to be ranked in the top 20 nationally for all three of research quality, teaching excellence and student satisfaction.
• The Complete University Guide ranked Surrey 12th in the UK and the National Student Survey placed it 11th for overall positivity. In the Shanghai Subject Rankings 2024 five subjects were rated in the top 50 globally, with nine in the top 100.
• In REF 2021 the University was ranked 19th for output quality. Last year £52m of new grant awards were secured – an historic high – representing a research intensity of 20%. In the prestigious Leiden Index the University of Surrey is listed in the top 100 globally for its share of top 1% publications. 
• The University also ranked in the top 100 in the world for its impact in terms of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals. A UN-affiliated CIFAL Surrey Centre was recently launched as one of only 35 centres around the world supporting sustainability training and research.
• The University’s revenues grew from £240m to £330m, with student numbers increasing from 14,400 to 16,500. It is budgeting an operating surplus for the current financial year.
• The new Medical School opened in September this year, while the School of Veterinary Medicine grew from an inaugural intake of around 50 to a steady population of some 800. 
• The Institutes for People-Centred Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability successfully opened, the first two of five planned pan-University institutes.
• The University’s first ever international philanthropic campaign launched, and achieved its ambitious target of £60m a full year early.

Professor Lu has also contributed significantly in wider Higher Education and research policy, including as a member of both the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology for 8 years and of the Boards of UUK and UKRI. He has also consistently been a prominent advocate for collaboration in the local community. 

He is a leading chemical engineer and advanced materials scientist. His academic output has earned him recognition as a highly cited researcher in both Materials Science and Chemistry for many years. He has more than 500 peer reviewed articles in top academic journals, with an h-index of 160 and total citations of over 106,000, making him one of the world’s most highly-rated academics.

The Surrey community extends its heartfelt gratitude to Professor Lu for his remarkable contributions and wishes him every success in his new role as Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Wollongong.