Brigid R. Heywood, born 1956 or 1957,https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/crime/university-of-new-england-vicechancellor-brigid-heywood-charged-with-teen-assault/news-story/11efca6fb8c8040fd8c01127a017c53d is a British/Australian academic and biological scientist. She was Vice-Chancellor of the University of New England (UNE) in Australia from 2019 until she resigned after criminal charges were laid against her in 2022.

Early life and education

Heywood is a native of Hull in Northern England. Her father gave her a microscope at age 10. Early scholarly inspiration came from chemist Robert Williams, an Emeritus Professor at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. In 1979, Heywood earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

(

Hons Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, or ...

) in Biological Sciences from the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

and a PhD focused on

Biomineralisation Biomineralization, also written biomineralisation, is the process by which living organisms produce minerals, often to harden or stiffen existing tissues. Such tissues are called mineralized tissues. It is an extremely widespread phenomenon ...

from the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

in 1984.

Academic career

Although she did not have a chemistry degree, Heywood was appointed a professor of chemistry on the strength of her research credentials in 1996 to a personal Chair in Inorganic Materials Chemistry at

Keele University Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

while in her early thirties. She held academic leadership positions as Head of the Chemistry Department (1997–99), Head of the School of Chemistry and Physics (1999-02) and Director of the Office of Research and Enterprise at

from 2003–2005. She was then appointed Professor of Chemistry at

The Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

from 2005-2011. Heywood served as Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Research) at

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 2011, and later Assistant Vice-Chancellor Research, Academic and Enterprise from 2013–2015. She was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College, one of the university's residential colleges, first pro ...

prior to her appointment in 2019 as the 14th Vice-Chancellor of the University of New England (UNE), Australia. The third woman in this role, following

Ingrid Moses Ingrid Moses (born 15 July 1941 in Aurich, Germany), an Australian academic and former university administrator, is an Emeritus Professor, emeritus professor at the University of Canberra. After a long academic career in Australia, Moses served ...

(1997–2005) and

Annabelle Duncan Annabelle Duncan (born in Nelson, New Zealand in 1953), is a microbiologist who held the post of Vice-Chancellor at the University of New England (UNE) from 2014-2019. Early life and education Duncan was born the youngest of two girls to parent ...

(2014–2019), However, UNE accepted her resignation in August 2022 after she was formally charged with allegedly assaulting a teenage schoolgirl at a club in

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 24,504 as of June 2018. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands region. It ...

on 8 March 2022.

Scholarly contribution

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

newspaper summarises her substantive scholarly focus and contribution as follows: "her research career developed out of the discipline transition from applied biological sciences to materials chemistry fostered by an initial interest in the controlled growth of inorganic crystals in

biological system A biological system is a complex network which connects several biologically relevant entities. Biological organization spans several scales and are determined based different structures depending on what the system is. Examples of biological syst ...

biomineralisation Biomineralization, also written biomineralisation, is the process by which living organisms produce minerals, often to harden or stiffen existing tissues. Such tissues are called mineralized tissues. It is an extremely widespread phenomenon ...

. Subsequently, the application of crystal science to issues ranging from normal and dystrophic mineralisation processes, structure-function relationships in inorganic materials, the development of novel strategies to control crystal formation and the formation of novel, functional inorganic-organic hybrids for drug delivery have evolved as key research topics within her multidisciplinary research programme". In March 2021, Heywood had 72 documents listed in

Scopus Scopus is Elsevier's abstract and citation database launched in 2004. Scopus covers nearly 36,377 titles (22,794 active titles and 13,583 inactive titles) from approximately 11,678 publishers, of which 34,346 are peer-reviewed journals in top-l ...

, with an

h index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as winn ...

of 33 and 5273 citations.

Selected publications

* * * * * *

Statutory and board appointments

In 2020, Heywood was appointed to the New South Wales (NSW) Innovation and Productivity Council of the NSW Treasury This appointment was made by the Governor of NSW for a three-year term. On 28 September 2021, she was appointed as a member of the Risk & Audit Committee of the

Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) is a statutory body of the Australian government, formed in 1987 to replace the Australian Atomic Energy Commission. Its head office and main facilities are in southern outs ...

(ANSTO), the home of Australia’s most significant landmark and national infrastructure for research. Heywood's term is scheduled to conclude on 27 September 2025.

Personal life

In 2020, it was reported that Heywood "and her husband enjoy living in New Zealand (where they still own a house) and Australia"; they are often visited by extended family members. At Armidale Local Court on 26 September 2022, a not guilty plea was entered on behalf of Heywood to charges relating to "common assault and offensive behaviour near a public place or school". In New South Wales, two years' imprisonment and/or a $5,500 fine is the maximum penalty for common assault. The next scheduled court date was 14 November. Heywood did not appear, so the hearing was adjourned until 2023.https://www.armidaleexpress.com.au/story/7980512/former-university-vice-chancellor-not-in-court-as-assault-case-adjourned/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heywood, Brigid Living people Alumni of the University of Manchester Alumni of the University of Liverpool Academics of Keele University Massey University faculty University of Tasmania faculty University of New England (Australia) faculty Year of birth missing (living people)