Clerk of Senate and Vice Principal

Professor John Briggs

John Briggs became Clerk of Senate and Vice Principal of the University on 1 August 2012. He is also Professor of Geography and Chair of the interdisciplinary Glasgow Centre for International Development (GCID) which co-ordinates and promotes the University of Glasgow's research activities in the area of international development, mainly with partners in African countries.  In addition, he is the University of Glasgow's International Dean (Africa), with responsibility for overseeing the University's partnerships with African universities.  His research interests are in poverty reduction in the poorer parts of the world, mainly Africa, and his most recent work is on understanding how local environmental knowledges are constructed and then used by small-scale farmers, primarily in rural Africa, to inform their livelihood strategies.  He is a government advisor on international development and is a member of the UK’s Department for International Development's Research Advisory Group.