Biography
In just one sentence
Anthony Forster is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex and is a Professor of Politics and International Relations.
Full details
Anthony has been the Vice-Chancellor since 2012 and is a Professor of Politics and International Relations. He earned his masters degree and doctorate from the University of Oxford. His research focused on European and British foreign and security policy, and for four years Anthony was the Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union. He also chaired the independent government review of the Defence Advisory Notice (D Notice) System, a voluntary system established to limit the inadvertent media disclosure of information where release would pose a risk to life or to national security (2014-15).
Anthony is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Leadership Foundation in Higher Education. Anthony is also a qualified executive coach and mentor.
He has wide experience of non-executive positions within the Higher Education sector, having served as a board member of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, the Higher Education Academy, and the Equality Challenge Unit. He was a founding board member of the Young European Research Universities Network, and the board of the Young Universities for the Future of Europe alliance. Alongside this service to the Higher Education sector, Anthony has longstanding interests in engaging with business and the charity sector. For the last three years he was a board member of the Strategic Board of the South East Local Enterprise Partnership, promoting public and private sector led growth and job creation. For a number of years he served as a board member and Audit Committee Chair of the Blue Cross, an animal charity which provides nationwide support for pet owners who cannot afford private veterinary treatment, helps to find homes for unwanted animals, and educates the public in the responsibilities of animal ownership.
Anthony has 20 years of experience in academic leadership positions in five universities. Under his leadership, the University has re-positioned itself as a values-led organisation, focused on giving equal priority to excellence in education and excellence in research, benefitting individuals and communities. Under his leadership the University has increased student numbers by 50% and doubled the number of research staff. The achievements of the University have been publicly recognised through the highest rating of Gold for teaching excellence, the award of a Regius Professorship in Political Science in 2014, the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for authoritative social and economic research in 2017 and the Times Higher Education ‘University of the Year’ award in 2018 – the latter widely referred to as the Oscars of UK higher education.
