Peter Stuart Excell (June 1948 – 13 August 2020) was a British engineer, scientist, researcher and former Deputy Vice-chancellor at

Wrexham Glyndŵr University , mottoeng = Confidence through Education , logo = Wrexham Glyndŵr University Logo.svg , image = Coat of arms of Wrexham Glyndŵr.svg , image_size = 180px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , established = 1887, as Wrexham School of Scien ...

Early life, education, and career

Excell was born in June 1948. He earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

in Engineering Science (electrical option) in 1970 from the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

. From 1970 to 1971, he was a research student in electronics at the Department of Physics, University of Ife, now

Obafemi Awolowo University Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is a federal government-owned university that is located in the ancient city of Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1961 and classes commenced in October 1962 as the University of Ife ...

, Ile-

Ifẹ Ifẹ̀ ( yo, Ifẹ̀, also ''Ilé-Ifẹ̀'') is an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria. The city is located in present-day Osun State. Ife is about 218 kilometers northeast of Lagos with a population of over 500,000 people, which is t ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

, on a

Government of the United Kingdom ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal coat of arms of t ...

funded scheme called 'Study and Serve'. He later returned to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and he earned a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, bu ...

in 1980. He worked at

from 1971 to 2007, where he was, progressively, an Experimental Officer, Research Fellow, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer,

Reader (academic rank) The title of reader in the United Kingdom and some universities in the Commonwealth of Nations, for example India, Australia and New Zealand, denotes an appointment for a senior academic with a distinguished international reputation in research or ...

and ultimately a full

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

of applied electromagnetics. In 2007, he joined the North-East Wales Institute of Higher Education in Wrexham (which rapidly became

). Here he held various roles including the Head of the School of Computing and Communications Technology, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Science, and Technology, and Deputy Vice-chancellor until 2015, when he retired. Prior to his roles at

, he was Associate Dean for Research in the School of Informatics at

. In 2019, he became the first recipient of the higher doctorate degree of

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

from the collaboration between

and

University of Chester , mottoeng = "He that teacheth, on teaching" , former_names = , established = (gained university status in 2005) , type = Public , endowment = £395,000 (2018) , budget = £118.3 million , chancellor = Gyles Brandreth , vice_chancell ...

. He also became a Fellow of the

Learned Society of Wales The Learned Society of Wales (Welsh: Cymdeithas Ddysgedig Cymru) is a learned society and charity that exists to "celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines", and to serve the Welsh natio ...

in 2020.

Death

Excell died on 13 August 2020. He is survived by his wife, Dianne, and children, Matthew and Charlotte.

Legacy and research

He jointly filed for several patents on broadband antenna, directional antenna, movement detection system and multi-band antenna designs at various times during his long academic career. He published over 160 peer-reviewed articles in leading international journals on diverse topics in science and engineering. He was a Fellow of the

Institution of Engineering and Technology The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is a multidisciplinary professional engineering institution. The IET was formed in 2006 from two separate institutions: the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), dating back to 1871, and ...

and of the

British Computer Society Sir Maurice Wilkes served as the first President of BCS in 1957 BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, known as the British Computer Society until 2009, is a professional body and a learned society that represents those working in infor ...

, and the

Higher Education Academy Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) is a British charity and professional membership scheme promoting excellence in higher education. It advocates evidence-based teaching methods and awards fellowships as professional recogniti ...

, a Life Senior Member of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operat ...

, a

Chartered Engineer (UK) In the United Kingdom, a Chartered Engineer (CEng) is an engineer registered with the UK's regulatory body for the engineering profession, the Engineering Council. Chartered Engineers are degree-qualified or can demonstrate equivalent work-based le ...

and a

Chartered IT Professional Chartered IT Professional (in full, Chartered Information Technology Professional) denoted by CITP is a professional qualification awarded under Royal Charter to IT professionals who satisfy strict criteria set by the British Computer Society (B ...

. Excell's publications included several scholarly journal articles, magazine articles and conference proceedings available on the

IEEE Xplore IEEE Xplore digital library is a research database for discovery and access to journal articles, conference proceedings, technical standards, and related materials on computer science, electrical engineering and electronics, and allied fields. I ...

digital library.

Early life, education, and career

Death

Legacy and research

References

See also