Saul Becker

Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Birmingham

Professor Saul Becker is Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Birmingham, Head of the College of Social Sciences, and a member of the University Executive Board. In his PVC role he is responsible for the leadership and management of all portfolios in a College with nearly 900 staff and 11,000 students spread across four Schools (Government and Society, Social Policy, Education, and Birmingham Business School), with 20 Departments and a dozen Institutes and centres. Saul has University-wide thematic responsibilities that include leading on Civic Engagement; supporting the University of Birmingham Secondary (Training) School; Brexit Planning; and 'Engagement for Impact' (E4I).

Saul has previously held Chairs at the universities of Loughborough, Birmingham and Nottingham before returning to Birmingham in 2014. At Nottingham (2006-14) he was Assistant Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Internationalisation; Faculty Director of Research for the Social Sciences; and Head of the School of Sociology and Social Policy.

Saul is an active researcher and passionate advocate for public and civic engagement, with over 50 externally funded research projects as Principal Investigator; 330 publications (including 18 books); and over 200 conference papers most as invited keynote speaker. He is regarded as the world leader for research on 'young carers' – children who provide (unpaid) care to ill, disabled and other family members. He is invited around the world to talk about his research, policy, and he currently advises Governments, policy makers and professionals/service providers in a number of countries.

Saul is an Academician of the UK's Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He was a member of the REF 2014 Sub-panel 22 for Social Work and Social Policy, and is a former Chair of the UK Social Policy Association. Saul is also a qualified and Registered Social Worker.