Kathryn Mitchell (academic)

Professor Kathryn Mitchell is the vice-chancellor of the University of Derby. She succeeded Professor John Coyne, who retired in July 2015. She is the first female to hold the position at the University.

Professor Mitchell was previously Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of West London with special responsibility for academic provision and quality across the University. She also held the positions of Pro Vice-Chancellor Academic and Student Support Services and Dean of Students at the University.

Prior to joining UWL, Professor Mitchell – a chartered psychologist — was a Wellcome fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry in London and had also worked at the University of Chicago, the Rockefeller Institute in New York and the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel.

Born and brought up in St Helen’s in Lancashire, she attended Notre Dame High School before going on to the University of York to read psychology.