John Goddard is Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Regional Development Studies at Newcastle University.  As Professor of Regional Development Studies, he founded the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS)  in 1977.  CURDS now has 30 research staff engaged in a range of basic and policy research funded by the UK research councils, government departments, the European Commission and private industry.  As Deputy Vice-Chancellor he is responsible for the implementation of a major restructuring of the University and has led a major information system implementation which underpins it.   This restructuring, designed to enhance the University’s national and international standing and its engagement with business and the community, seeks to put into practice many of the ideas generated by CURDS and now part of national policy.   

Within the North East of England, John has been actively involved in the development of the University’s relations with the local community.   He has served as a member of the Port of Tyne Authority, a Governor of the University of Northumbria, a director of the local business leadership team (the Newcastle Initiative), the Northern Informatics Application Agency and Newcastle Common Purpose.   He is currently  Chairman of the Regional Committee of the Community Fund (National Lottery) and has played a major role in shaping the Regional Economic Strategy which “puts Universities at the heart of the regional economy”.   He is also engaged in this agenda as Deputy Chair of the Executive Committee of the association of North East Universities (Universities for the North East).

Nationally, John has served on various committees of the Economic and Social Research Council and as Director of its Programme on Information and Communications Technology (PICT).  He has acted as an advisor on regional policy to the House of Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee and advised the UK universities association (UUK), the Higher Education Funding Council and the Department of Education and Employment on the regional role of universities.   He has been the Chairman of the Association of Research Centres in the Social Sciences (ARCISS), and a member of the Higher Education Funding Council’s Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) on Electronic Information.

Internationally he has acted as a consultant to OECD and the European Commission on the links between regional policy and technology/telecommunications policy.  He has led a project for OECD’s Institutional Management and Higher Education programme on the Response of Higher Education Institutions to Regional Needs.  John has been a member of an international review team appointed by the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council to assess the effectiveness of three universities in Eastern Finland, particularly with regard to their regional role and subsequently chaired an international panel reviewing the external impact of Turku University. 

John’s academic background is in economic geography, having obtained his first degree from University College London, and his PhD from LSE.  He was a lecturer at LSE from 1968 to 1975 prior to moving to Newcastle.  He was awarded an OBE in 1986 and the Victoria Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1992.