Sir Alastair Muir Russell (born 9 January 1949) is a Scottish retired

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

and former Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

, and Chairman of the

Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland The Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland () is an advisory non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for making recommendations on appointments to certain offices of the judiciary of Scotland. It was established ...

Early life

Russell was born on 9 January 1949 in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and educated at the

High School of Glasgow The High School of Glasgow is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private, co-educational day school, day school in Glasgow, Scotland. The original High School of Glasgow was founded as the Cathedral school, choir school of Glasgow Cathedra ...

, which was then the city's

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

, and at the

, where he took a First in

Natural Philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe, while ignoring any supernatural influence. It was dominant before the develop ...

Career

Civil Service

He joined the

Scottish Office The Scottish Office was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to Scotland under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland. Following the es ...

in 1970 and became Secretary of the Scottish Development Agency on its establishment in Glasgow in 1975. He was Principal Private Secretary to the

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland (; ), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Scotland Office. The incum ...

from 1981 to 1983 and was seconded to the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

in 1990. He was appointed

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

at The Scottish Office in May 1998, and to the

Scottish Executive The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in t ...

since its establishment in 1999.

University of Glasgow

He took office as Principal of the University of Glasgow on 1 October 2003, but attracted much criticism for his handling of the 2006 lecturers' strike, as well as attempts to close the University's

Crichton Campus The Crichton is an institutional campus in Dumfries in southwest Scotland. It serves as a remote campus for the University of Glasgow, the University of the West of Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway College, and the Open University. The site also ...

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

and for receiving pay rises which were much greater than the rate of inflation. He retired in October 2009, and was succeeded by Professor

Anton Muscatelli Sir Vito Antonio Muscatelli (born 1 January 1962) is the Principal of the University of Glasgow. Early life Anton Muscatelli was born on 1 January 1962 in Bari, Italy to Ambrogio and Rosellina Muscatelli. He lived in Mola di Bari in his earl ...

, former Vice-Principal of the University and former Principal of

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. On 7 October 2008, Scottish Justice Secretary

Kenny MacAskill Kenneth Wright MacAskill (born 28 April 1958) is a Scottish politician who was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for East Lothian (UK Parliament constituency), East Lothian from 2019 United Kingdom general elect ...

announced Sir Muir would succeed Sir Neil McIntosh as Chairman of the

for a three year appointment. His was re-appointed for another three years from 2011–2014.

Climatic Research Unit investigation

In December 2009 he was appointed to head an independent investigation into allegations concerning the

Climatic Research Unit email controversy The Climatic Research Unit email controversy (also known as "Climategate") began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) by an external attacker, copying thous ...

. The inquiry reported on 7 July 2010, largely clearing the UEA of the allegations. The "rigour and honesty" of the scientists at the

Climatic Research Unit The Climatic Research Unit (CRU) is a component of the University of East Anglia and is one of the leading institutions concerned with the study of natural and anthropogenic climate change. With a staff of some thirty research scientists and s ...

were found not to be in doubt. However, the panel also concluded the scientists were insufficiently open about their work and unhelpful and defensive in response to freedom of information requests. Notable scholars and experts, including John Beddington and Myles Allen, welcomed the findings of the inquiry and stated that the climate scientists had been cleared of the allegations of misconduct, while

Patrick Michaels Patrick J. Michaels (February 15, 1950 – July 15, 2022) was an American agricultural climatologist. Michaels was a senior fellow in environmental studies at the Cato Institute until 2019. Until 2007, he was research professor of environmenta ...

disagreed.

Personal life

Russell is married to Eileen Mackay, also a former Scottish Office civil servant who left the civil service and became, amongst other interests, a director of the Royal Bank of Scotland. He was elected a fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

in 2000 and holds honorary degrees from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

. He was appointed a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

(KCB) in the 2001 Birthday Honours.United Kingdom

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Muir 1949 births Living people Civil servants from Glasgow 20th-century Scottish civil servants Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Scotland Permanent Secretaries of the Scottish Executive Civil servants in the Cabinet Office Private secretaries in the British Civil Service Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People educated at the High School of Glasgow Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Alumni of the University of Glasgow Principals of the University of Glasgow