Sir (Eric) Brian Smith (10 October 1933 – 17 May 2023) was an English physical chemist who was

Master Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...

St Catherine's College, Oxford St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. In 1974, it was also one of the first men's colleges to admit women. It has 528 un ...

, and

vice-chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

.HEFCW Council member biography: Professor Sir Brian Smith
,

HEFCW The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) was the Welsh Government Sponsored Body responsible for funding the higher education sector. It was replaced by Medr, the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research from August 2024. ...

, UK.

Life and career

Smith was Master of St Catherine's College, one of the colleges of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

(1988–94). In 1993, he was appointed vice-chancellor of Cardiff University, a post he held until his retirement in 2001. From October 1998, Smith held an administrative role at the

Welsh Development Agency Welsh Development Agency (WDA; ) was an executive agency (or QUANGO) and later designated an Assembly Sponsored Public Body (ASPB). Established in 1976, it was tasked with rescuing the ailing Welsh economy by encouraging business development and ...

, where he assisted in opening up

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n commercial markets for Wales. He was awarded a knighthood in 1999 in recognition of his efforts in building university links with industry and commerce. Smith was international ambassador for Cardiff UniversitySir Brian Smith
The Role of Universities in the Innovation Process

NASSCOM
India, 16 February 2006. and served on the

Higher Education Funding Council for Wales The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) was the Welsh Government Sponsored Body responsible for funding the higher education sector. It was replaced by Medr, the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research from August 2024. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Brian 1933 births 2023 deaths Alumni of the University of Liverpool Knights Bachelor Masters of St Catherine's College, Oxford People associated with Cardiff University People educated at Wirral Grammar School for Boys English physical chemists