The Chancellor is the leading ambassador and formal head of the University. The day-to-day running of the University is managed by the Vice-Chancellor and the University Executive.
Read more about how the University is governed and run.
Chancellor: Ruby Wax, OBE
Best known for her extensive comedy and documentary work on television, Ruby Wax is also well-known as a major advocate for mental health, bringing issues to the foreground in Parliament, and other fora, through her role as Patron for the British Neuroscience Association and as an ambassador for the charities MIND and SANE. It is through her services to mental health that Ms Wax was awarded an OBE in 2015.
Following her own experience of clinical depression, which she has made public through her writing and performing in an effort to help others, Ms Wax studied for a Master’s degree in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy at the University of Oxford. As Visiting Professor in Mental Health Nursing at the University of Surrey, she contributes to research, curriculum development, teaching and public engagement.
Ms Wax has now written three books including the number one bestseller Sane New World: Taming the Mind. Her latest UK tour is based on her newest best-selling book, How to be Human: The Manual.
Originally from the United States, Ms Wax first gained public attention in the UK during the 1980s as a comedian, presenting documentaries for television including Ruby Wax Meets . . . and serving as script editor on the popular series Absolutely Fabulous.
Ms Wax succeeds Dame Helen Alexander who served the University as Chancellor from 2011 until her death from cancer in 2017.