
Dame Shirley Anne Pearce (born February 1954) is a British academic and psychologist. She is Chair of Court and Council at the
London School of Economics and Political Science and a member of the Higher Education Quality Assurance Panel for the
Ministry of Education (Singapore)
The Ministry of Education (MOE; ms, Kementerian Pendidikan; zh, 教育部; ta, கல்வி அமைச்சு) is a ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of Singapore responsible for the formulation and impleme ...
.
She is the former Vice-Chancellor of
Loughborough University
Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...
, a position she held from January 2006, leaving at the end of the 2011–12 academic year. She still holds an Emeritus Chair at Loughborough. Before becoming Loughborough University's 7th Vice-Chancellor, Pearce was a Professor of
Health Psychology at the
University of East Anglia and Dean of the Institute of Health. She had also served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the
University of East Anglia from 2001 to 2004, responsible for health and the professional schools.
Early life and education
Born on 19 February 1954, Shirley Pearce was educated at
Norwich High School for Girls, before studying psychology, physiology, and philosophy at
St Anne's College,
Oxford University, gaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975.
She then trained in
Clinical Psychology
Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and persona ...
and at the
Institute of Psychiatry,
University of London, now part of
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...
. While working at
University College London, she studied part-time as a postgraduate student, obtaining her PhD degree in
Psychology in 1986.
Career
She joined the
National Health Service as a clinical psychologist at
St Mary's Hospital, London
St Mary's Hospital is an NHS hospital in Paddington, in the City of Westminster, London, founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it has been operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, wh ...
in 1977, and remained there until her appointment as lecturer then senior lecturer in Psychology at
University College London. Her move to the
University of East Anglia (UEA) in 1994 was to become the Chair of Health Psychology and the inaugural director of the School of Health Policy and Practice, becoming Dean of the Schools of Health in 1997 and leading the bid for a new medical school at UEA during this period.
Pearce was made Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the health and professional schools in 2000, before becoming Dean of the Institute of Health and Director of the Centre for Interprofessional Practice at UEA. During this time she was also a Non-executive director of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire
Strategic Health Authority
Strategic health authorities (SHA) were part of the structure of the National Health Service in England between 2002 and 2013. Each SHA was responsible for managing performance, enacting directives and implementing health policy as required by the ...
and deputy chair of the
Healthcare Commission.
[Shirley Pearce profile](_blank)
lboro.ac.uk, January 2006. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
She became Vice-Chancellor of Loughborough University in 2006.
She has held positions at the Department of Health, BIS and the Home Office. Prior to moving to LSE, she was appointed Independent Chair of the
College of Policing, the first professional body for policing.
She was appointed as LSE's chair of court and council
[Dame Shirley Pearce appointed as new Chair of LSE](_blank)
London School of Economics, 9 November 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2017. in November 2016 and took up the post in January 2017.
Chair of Court and Council
Her appointment as Chair of Court and Council at LSE was announced in November 2016 and she arrived in January 2017.
Honours
She was appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2005 Birthday Honours for services to the National Health Service and elevated to
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(DBE) in the
2014 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...
for services to higher education.
Personal life
In 2012, she married Sir John Gains, the Chief Executive from 1995 to 2004 of
Mowlem.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Shirley
1954 births
Living people
Academics of the University of East Anglia
Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford
Alumni of the University of London
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Date of birth missing (living people)
People associated with the University of East Anglia
People educated at Norwich High School for Girls
Place of birth missing (living people)
Vice-Chancellors of Loughborough University
Member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life