Professor George Constantinides was appointed to the role of Academic Dean (Academic Workload) on 1 January 2021.

George is a Professor of Digital Computation in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. His new role has the responsibility of developing a strategy enabling our academic staff have more ‘quality thinking time’.

Imperial’s Engineering academic staff are world-leading, and their time is our most valuable resource. Yet staff often report that they do not have sufficient time to think deeply, leaving them less strategic in their research and teaching than they would desire. Constraints on staff time arise from many sources: an inner drive, comparison with peers, teaching and administrative demands and alignment of teaching and research, amongst others.

George’s role will initially seek to improve understanding over how academic staff time is allocated and spent in the Faculty and how that compares both across departments and with our national and international peer institutions.

“I’m really excited to be taking up this new role. This is a topic that will be a familiar discussion point for all our academic staff, I’m sure. I’m pleased to be able to get the chance to make a difference to my fellow academic staff in the Faculty.”

George will then lead the development of a strategy to more effectively align academic staff activity with Engineering strategic objectives, focusing on how the Faculty can add value to departments' activities.

Professor Nigel Brandon, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering said, 'Given the different pressures that we all feel as academics at a world class University, further exacerbated by the current pandemic, it is particularly timely for George to take on this important role. I am very keen to see how we can all find the necessary high quality ‘thinking time’ that is the essential underpinning of academic excellence.  George brings a wealth of experience from across a wide range of academic roles and is ideally placed to help the Faculty develop our strategy in this area.'

George would be delighted to hear from academic staff if they have initial thoughts to share on this topic - please contact him by email.