Sir Peter John Gregson,

FREng Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK and from arou ...

(3 November 1957 – 23 February 2024) was a British research engineer and chair of the

Henry Royce Institute The Henry Royce Institute (often referred to as ‘Royce’) is the UK’s national institute for advanced materials research and innovation. Vision Royce's vision is to identify challenges and stimulate innovation in advanced materials researc ...

. He was previously the vice-chancellor of

Cranfield University Cranfield University is a postgraduate-only public research university in the United Kingdom that specialises in science, engineering, design, technology and management. Cranfield was founded as the College of Aeronautics (CoA) in 1946. Throug ...

from 2013 to 2021 and president and vice-chancellor of

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

from 2004. Prior to that he was deputy vice-chancellor at the

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

from 2000 to 2004.Gregson, Sir Peter (John), Who's Who 2016, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2015; online edn, Nov 2015, accessed 15 Feb 2016
/ref>

Early life

Gregson joined GKN Rolled and Bright Steel Ltd. as an industrial scholar in 1976. He studied

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

and

materials science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

and graduated with a BSc(Eng) (first class) in materials science in 1980, and was awarded the Bessemer Prize. He obtained a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from Imperial in 1983, and was awarded the Matthey Prize.

Academic career

Gregson was appointed to a lectureship at the

in 1983 and became professor of

Aerospace Materials Aerospace materials are materials, frequently alloy, metal alloys, that have either been developed for, or have come to prominence through their use for aerospace purposes. These uses often require exceptional performance, strength or heat resist ...

in 1995. During his research career, he published over 160 papers, books and patents with over 80 being in premier academic journals. He was academic director of the Luxfer Advanced Technology Centre (1998–2004), the DePuy University Technology Partnership (2000–04) and the Defence and Aerospace Research Partnership (DARP) in Advanced Metallic Airframes. He was a member of the International Committee for the biennial International Conference on Aluminium Alloys (International Conference on Aluminium Alloys (ICAA), 1998–04) and chair of ICAA 2002. As head of the department and director of Research for Faculty of Engineering & Applied Science (1995–99), he created a new Transport Systems Research Laboratory and founded an Engineering Graduate School. As deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Southampton (2000–04), he led the development and implementation of an ambitious vision for Enterprise and Innovation, including the partnership with IP2IPO and

SETsquared The SETsquared Partnership, usually known simply as SETsquared, is a business incubation network run by five universities in Southern England. SETsquared stands for Southern England Technology Triangle. The partnership was formed in 2002, betwe ...

together with the universities of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

University leadership roles

Gregson became president and vice-chancellor of

on 1 August 2004. He repositioned the university academically, gaining accession to the

Russell Group The Russell Group is a self-selected association of twenty-four public research universities in the United Kingdom. The group is headquartered in Cambridge and was established in 1994 to represent its members' interests, principally to governme ...

in 2006. External recognition has included Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Green Chemistry and the Comprehensive Cancer Centre (2006 & 2012), Times Higher Education Awards for Innovation in Culture and the Arts (2008), Entrepreneurial University of the Year (2009), Engineering Research Team of the Year (2010), Innovative Teacher of the Year (2011) and Outstanding Fundraising Team (2012), and an

Athena Swan Athena SWAN (Scientific Women's Academic Network) is an equality charter mark framework and accreditation scheme established and managed by the UK Equality Challenge Unit (now part of Advance HE) in 2005 that recognises and celebrates good pra ...

Institutional Silver Award (2012). He served as director of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (2008–2013) and director of

Association of Commonwealth Universities The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) is a charitable organization that was established in 1913, and has over 400 member institutions in over 40 countries across the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth.Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

and Seagate Technology (USA), University Malaya and Petronas (Malaysia), National Institute of Immunology and Videocon (India) and

Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) is a public university in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 98 ...

and China Medical University (China). Gregson was appointed chief executive and vice-chancellor of

in August 2013.

Professional experience

Gregson was non-executive director of Rolls-Royce Group plc (2007–12), and a consultant to Alcan International and

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...

Orthopaedics (1986–2004). He served EPSRC in many capacities including as chair of Postgraduate Training Packages (2000) and the academic representative on the User Panel (2004–06). He was a member of the DTI/OST Materials Foresight Panel (1997–99) and Council of CCLRC (2004–06). He has served the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in many roles including as chair of the Alloy Design Committee (1991–92), chair of the Metal Science Committee (1992–93), member of Materials Strategy Commission (1997–99) and Light Metals Division (2000 -2002); He served on the Council of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

(2005–08) and as chair of Membership Panel 4 (2006–09); He contributed to the Strategic Leadership Consultations of the Windsor Leadership Trust, the Harvard University Programme for University presidents and the American Council on Education Fellows Programme. He served on the Steering Committee of the US/Ireland R&D Partnership (2005–10), the Northern Ireland Economic Development Forum (2006–10) and Council of CBI Northern Ireland (2008–13). Gregson was appointed chair of the

in December 2021.

Personal life and death

Gregson married Rachael Kathleen McClaughry in 1983, and they have three daughters. He was Churchwarden of

Romsey Abbey Romsey Abbey is the name currently given to a parish church of the Church of England in Romsey, a market town in Hampshire, England. Until the Dissolution of the Monasteries it was the church of a Benedictine Order, Benedictine nunnery. The surv ...

(1991–95) and their charity support included Wooden Spoon, Naomi House, l’Arche Belfast, Arthritis Care (NI) Association, Lyric Theatre and Camerata Ireland. His hobbies included gardening, sailing, tennis and classical music. Sir Peter Gregson died suddenly on 23 February 2024, at the age of 66.

Honours and awards

Gregson received the Donald Julius Groen Prize of the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 110,000 member ...

(1994) and the Rosenhain Medal and Prize of the Institute of Materials (1996) for his research on the development of advanced aerospace aluminium alloys. He was elected to

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

ship of the

(2001), Irish Academy of Engineering (2007) and

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

(2007). He received Honorary Degrees from the Bengal Engineering and Science University (2008),

National University of Ireland The National University of Ireland (NUI) () is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called '' constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under the Irish Universities Act 1908, and signifi ...

(2008) and University of Southampton (2009). He served as Deputy Lieutenant of Belfast (2007–13) and received the Flax Trust Award for service to the community in 2010. * Bessemer Prize, Imperial College London, 1980. * Matthey Prize, Imperial College London, 1983. * Donald Julius Groen Prize of the

, 1993. * Rosenhain Medal and Prize of the

Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) is a British engineering institution with activities including promotion of the development of materials science. It has been a registered charity governed by a royal charter and a member ...

, 1996. *

of the

, 1998. *

of the

, 2001. *

of the

Institution of Engineers of Ireland The Institution of Engineers of Ireland () or the IEI, is an engineering society primarily representing members based in Ireland. The institution is Ireland’s recognised organisation for accreditation of professional engineering qualificat ...

* Member of the Windsor Leadership Trust, 2002. * Member of the

, 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregson, Peter 1957 births 2024 deaths People from Dunfermline Alumni of Imperial College London Academics of the University of Southampton Academics of Queen's University Belfast Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Vice-chancellors of Queen's University Belfast Knights Bachelor Members of the Royal Irish Academy People associated with Cranfield University Fellows of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining