UCL welcomes new President & Provost Dr Michael Spence

Dr Michael Spence AC has become the new President and Provost of UCL. He takes up the position today after moving to London from his home in Australia, where he had been the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney since July 2008. Dr Spence is recognised internationally as a leader in the field of intellectual property theory and holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford, where he previously headed Oxford’s Law faculty and Social Sciences division. An alumnus of the University of Sydney, he has a BA with first-class honours in English, Italian and Law. His other languages include Chinese and Korean.

The new President and Provost says his first mission will be to listen to the aspirations of students and staff, to understand what they value about UCL and also what they perceive as its challenges.

Under Dr Spence’s leadership, the University of Sydney rose to first in Australia and fourth in the world for graduate employability. As its Vice-Chancellor, he embedded diversity and inclusion in the university’s culture, transformed the undergraduate experience and created strategic partnerships with leading industry, government and community organisations across the globe. In 2017 he was awarded one of Australia’s highest honours, the Companion of Order (AC), for his services to education.