8 | STEPS 2023 Leading a World Class University In his career as a theoretical physicist, Andy Schofield has always had very precise goals, and as Vice-Chancellor his aim is just as clear - to increase Lancaster University’s ‘footprint’ at home and internationally - to turn it into a globally significant presence for teaching, research and engagement on the world university stage. Since taking up his post in May 2020 at the height of the Covid pandemic - after more than 20 years at Birmingham University, latterly as Pro Vice-Chancellor - Andy has overseen Lancaster’s £19m commitment to becoming the UK’s go-to research and teaching institution in cyber security. It has launched three new undergraduate degrees specifically focusing on cyber security, and this will create almost 60 jobs. This capitalises on the Government’s £5bn 10-year investment in establishing Cyber Force in Samlesbury, Lancashire. Over the next few months, he is also excited about Lancaster’s plans to increase its international ‘footprint’ to include Indonesia as well as the overseas campuses it already has in Malaysia, China, Germany and Ghana. “We’re a fantastic world class university and my vision is for us to be even better and to be known to be even better,” states the VC enthusiastically. “We’re a hidden gem from the point of view of the wonderful research that is going on here, and particularly around the quality of the student experience. I will have succeeded when everyone else knows that too.” His own student years were spent at Cambridge - where he completed both his undergraduate degree in Physics and his PhD - before specialising in non-Fermi liquids, quantum criticality and high-temperature superconductivity. Perhaps taking up his post as VC in Lancaster in May 2020, at the height of the lockdown, accounts for the strong commitment he feels towards it. For a year he worked in the building completely alone.
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