Professor Dame Joan Kathleen Stringer, DBE,

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(born 12 May 1948) is a British

political scientist Political science is the science, scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of politics, political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated c ...

and former Principal and

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...

Edinburgh Napier University , mottoeng = Without knowledge, everything is in vain , established = 1992 – granted University status 1964 – Napier Technical College , type = Public , academic_staff = 802 , administrative_staff = 562 , chancellor = Will Whitehorn , ...

and

Queen Margaret University Queen Margaret University is a university, founded in 1875 and located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Scottish Queen Saint Margaret. History The university was founded in 1875, as ''The Edinburgh School of Cookery and Domestic ...

, Edinburgh.

Biography

Education

Stringer attended Portland House High School,

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

, and

Stoke-on-Trent College of Art The Stoke-on-Trent Regional College of Art was one of three colleges that were merged in 1971 to form North Staffordshire Polytechnic (later renamed as Staffordshire Polytechnic and now Staffordshire University). The College of Art achieved Regio ...

. She then went to

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 ...

, where she took a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree with joint honours in History and Politics and completed a

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

degree in Politics in 1986.

Career

From 1980-88, she worked at Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology, Aberdeen as a lecturer in Public Administration, becoming in 1988 the Head of the School of Public Administration and Law, and served as Vice-Principal from 1991-96. In 1996, she was named Principal and Vice-Patron of Queen Margaret College (QMUC) in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. Her time at the College saw much expansion, and in 1998, the College was awarded full degree-awarding powers, changing its name in 1999 to Queen Margaret University College (QMUC). Dame Joan laid the foundations for the University College to become Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. Stringer left Queen Margaret University College in 2003 to become Principal/Vice-Chancellor of

Napier University , mottoeng = Without knowledge, everything is in vain , established = 1992 – granted University status 1964 – Napier Technical College , type = Public , academic_staff = 802 , administrative_staff = 562 , chancellor = Will Whitehorn , ...

. In 2009, Stringer oversaw Napier University's change of name to Edinburgh Napier University in a bid to raise the institution's profile. In 2010-11, Professor Stringer oversaw a programme of redundancies at Edinburgh Napier University which resulted in 89 staff taking voluntary severance and a further anticipated 100 staff being dismissed on the grounds of compulsory redundancy. Stringer has held a number of appointments outside of academia, including Chair of the Northern Ireland Equality Commission Working Group from 1998–1999, Lay Member of the

Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland The Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland is an advisory non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for making recommendations on appointments to certain offices of the judiciary of Scotland. It was established in J ...

from 2002–07, Senior Independent Director of the

Institute of Directors The Institute of Directors (IoD) is a British professional organisation for company directors, senior business leaders and entrepreneurs. It is the UK's longest running organisation for professional leaders, having been founded in 1903 and incor ...

, Member of the Executive Committee for the

Scottish Council for Development and Industry The Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI), founded in 1931, is a non-governmental, membership organisation which aims to strengthen Scotland's economic competitiveness through influencing government and key stakeholders to creat ...

, Chair of Education UK Scotland, Chair of Community Integrated Care, Convenor of the

Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is the national membership body for Scotland’s charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. SCVO works to support people to take voluntary action to help themselves and other ...

, and trustee of th
David Hume Institute.
She is currently Chair of Capital Theatres in Edinburgh and a board member o
Entrepreneurial Scotland

Honours

Stringer was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in 2001, and promoted to

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(DBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours. In 2001, she was elected a Fellow of

The Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. She is also a Companion of the Chartered Institute of Management and a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

References

External links

British Council website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stringer, Joan 1948 births Academics of Edinburgh Napier University Alumni of Keele University British political scientists Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire People associated with Queen Margaret University People from Stoke-on-Trent Living people Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Academics of Robert Gordon University Women political scientists