Professor Claire Ozanne is Vice-Chancellor & Rector of Liverpool Hope University.  Prior to joining the University in March 2023, she served as Deputy Director (DVC) and Provost at SOAS, University of London where she provided academic and strategic leadership with specific responsibility for the delivery of an excellent education and student experience, for working with the Student’s Union and leadership of the Colleges.  In this period Claire was a member of the British Academy Strategic Committee for Languages in HE.

Professor Ozanne held the role of Principal of Heythrop College, University of London for two years from 2017.  She also served as Vice Provost at the University of Roehampton where she led a number of significant developments including – transnational partnerships; the online portfolio; research leadership and REF planning and the creation of a nursing school.  She was responsible for the Graduate School for a period and directed the design and implementation of the 5-year Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) strategy.  In her time at Roehampton, Claire also served as Head of Department, Associate Dean Learning & Teaching and a QAA reviewer.  Claire is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

A Professor of Ecology, Claire gained her DPhil from Oxford and is an ecologist whose work focuses on habitats influenced by human activities, particularly temperate and tropcial forests.  She is a founding member of the steering group of the Global Cnaopy Programme and in 2003, led on a seminal paper “Biodiversity meets the atmosphere” published in Science which marked a turning point in the exploration and investigation of the forest canopy.  She was elected chair of the 7th International Canopy Conference in 2016.

Professor Ozanne has published in a wide range of journals and contributed to books for academic, technical and public audience.  She has worked extensively in interdisciplinary teams to address environmental policy and sustainable development goals, leading projects in Africa (Nigeria & Ethiopia) and in Guyana and Australia involving anthropologists and policy makers and has advised on large scale research developments in Asia.  Claire has led work-packages within consortia bids to the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the United Nations Environment Programme – Global Environment Fund (GEF) and reviewed funding bids for Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Canada, UNESCO and recently the Research Council of Finland.  She has chaired the techne AHRC DTP steering group and served as Editor in Chief of Springer Science Reviews.