Lisa O. Roberts is vice chancellor and President of the University of Exeter. She took over from Professor Steve Smith on his retirement on 1 September 2020. She received a vote of no confidence from the university's branch of the University and College Union in 2026 over proposed staff redundancies.
Early life In 1990, Roberts graduated with a Bachelor of Science in medical microbiology and general microbiology from the University of Birmingham.
Career After graduation, Roberts joined Procter and Gamble as a product development manager in the UK and Belgium. In 1995, she moved to the BBSRC Institute for Animal Health (now the Pirbright Institute) and the University of Kent, where she studied for a PhD in molecular virology. In 1998, she joined the University of Surrey academic staff, where she became lecturer, senior lecturer, and Professor of Virology. By 2012, she was executive dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Surrey, where she launched a new school of veterinary medicine In 2016, she moved to the University of Leeds. In 2019, it was announced that she would succeed Sir Steve Smith on his retirement as vice-chancellor and chief executive at the University of Exeter as of 1 September 2020. In 2022, Roberts was made Chair of the Department for Education Spiking Working Group to lead a group of academics, practitioners and student victims to improve the prevention of and responses to spiking. In 2023, students criticised the university for extending its research partnership with the oil company Shell for a further five years, following a media investigation into the company's use of carbon credits. Roberts defended the 15-year partnership, saying it was intended to help Shell decarbonise and that the university's climate scientists supported working with the company on its transition. In June 2026, Roberts announced proposals placing around 500 staff at risk of redundancy, with approximately 150 academic roles expected to go. The cuts were concentrated in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, including the Cornwall campus where the proposals were an existential threat to the Institute of Cornish Studies. The University and College Union described the proposals as a "stunning failure of leadership" and announced it would ballot for industrial action and move a vote of no confidence in Roberts. In June 2026, the Exeter branch of the University and College Union passed a vote of no confidence in Roberts at what it described as the largest meeting in the branch's history, and said it would begin preparing for a strike ballot if management did not change course. A petition against the cuts gathered more than 37,000 signatures. The university said the proposals amounted to a reduction of around 150 full-time roles, which it hoped to achieve through voluntary redundancies, and that no departments or disciplines would be closed. Roberts's remuneration attracted media attention during the university's cost-cutting programme. In the 2023–24 academic year she received one of the larger pay rises among Russell Group vice-chancellors, with her salary rising from £290,000 to £305,000. Her total remuneration rose by £3,000 to £392,000 in 2024–25, a year in which the university paid around £10 million in compensation to 427 departing staff. The university said the figure represented total remuneration rather than salary, including pension contributions and taxable benefits, and that her pay was determined by a remuneration committee of independent council members in her absence.
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