Professor George Marston to leave the University of Reading

Wednesday, 07 May 2014

Professor George Marston is to leave the University of Reading after 19 years - to become the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Research and Innovation at Northumbria University in August.

Professor Marston, the Dean of the Faculty of Science, joined the University in 1995 as Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and to pursue his research - applying laboratory studies and theoretical calculations to problems in atmospheric chemistry, particularly the reactions of ozone in the lower atmosphere as a source of radical species and particles.

Previously, he was educated at the University of Oxford; spent two years at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center before returning to Oxford in 1989 as a Post-doctoral Research Associate; and in 1994 he took up a lectureship in Chemistry and Earth Observation Science at the University of Leicester.

At Reading, he was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Atmospheric Chemistry in 2002; Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry in 2009; and then School Director of Teaching and Learning in the School of Chemistry from 2002 to 2006; and inaugural Head of the School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy from 2006 to 2011. He was elected Dean in 2011.

Professor Marston also sits on the Natural Environment Research Council's Peer Review College and the Royal Society of Chemistry's Gas Kinetics Discussion Group.

Vice-Chancellor Sir David Bell said: "George has made an excellent contribution to the life of the University. He has helped build our reputation for world-leading research and has been an outstanding advocate for science at Reading. We wish him all the very best for the future."

Professor Marston said: "I have been very proud to be a member of the University of Reading for almost 20 years and leave as it is going through an exciting period of change.  I now look forward to the new challenges I will meet at Northumbria, but will maintain links with Reading. I wish friends and colleagues here well for the future."