People
Professor CHRIS BRINK
Chair of the N8 Board of Directors
Vice Chancellor, NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY
Professor Brink is Chair of the N8 Research Partnership N8 Board – the 8 Vice Chancellors from the N8 Universities. The N8 Board is responsible for the strategic direction of the partnership and the approval of strategy and business plans.
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His responsibilities as Chair include the development of new strategic research collaborations with business and research users to support innovation, economic growth and job creation in the North of England as well as the rest of the UK. He provides strategic political engagement with Government officials, industry, Research Councils, the Technology Strategy Board and other stakeholders, as well as providing leadership to the N8 Research Partnership Board and Pro Vice Chancellors Group.
Professor Brink is a logician with a Cambridge PhD, an interdisciplinary DPhil, Master’s degree in philosophy and mathematics and a Bachelor’s degree in computer science. He took up the position of Vice-Chancellor of Newcastle University in August 2007 and is the Academic and Executive Head of the University, servings on several boards in Newcastle and the North East of England, including the North Eastern Local Enterprise Partnership. Previous to this he worked at some of the leading universities in South Africa including Stellenbosch University.
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Professor Trevor McMillan
Chair of the N8 Executive Management Group
Pro-Vice-Chancellor - Research, University of Lancaster
Professor McMillan’s role is to Chair the N8 Pro Vice Chancellors (PVC) Group - the Pro Vice Chancellors for Research from the 8 universities.
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The PVC Group is responsible for developing N8 strategy and new ideas for research themes and collaboration. Trevor's role is to chair this group and to work closely with the Director on day to day issues for N8. He has overseen the development of new areas for collaboration, including an initiative to develop research collaborations through the development of new capital assets.
In his PVC role Trevor oversees the promotion and facilitation of research at all levels and in all areas of Lancaster University. Core areas are research development, relationships with major funding sources, performance indicators and RAE policy.
Trevor McMillan is Peel Professor of Cancer Biology and a member of the Biomedical and Life Science Department.
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Sarah Jackson
Director of the N8 Research Partnership
Sarah Jackson is Director of the N8 Research Partnership. Her role is to develop new collaborative research partnerships and create and build teams of N8 academics and industry partners. She is also responsible for the management of the portfolio of N8 Research Centres and the financial and operational management of N8. Current research programmes include Regenerative Medicine (Regener8) and Molecular Engineering (METRC), where N8 has worked with over 200 businesses on new innovation products and processes, generating over £37m income and creating over 60 jobs.
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Prior to this role, Sarah was Head of Innovation for The Northern Way, where she developed and implemented the Northern Way Innovation Programme - a £15m investment in 4 key areas of market opportunity for the North of England. This Programme was highlighted by Government as an example of best practice in cross-regional collaboration, mobilising resources to invest in economic opportunities across regional boundaries.
Sarah has also worked in a number of project management roles at the Northwest Development Agency and at the University of Manchester. She spent two years at Deloitte as a graduate trainee. She has a first class honours in Sociology and an MSc in Innovation Management, both from the University of Manchester.
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