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Royal Society honour for Loughborough’s Vice-Chancellor

Loughborough University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nick Jennings, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

The life-long honour is bestowed upon the most eminent scientists, engineers and technologists from across the UK and the Commonwealth, acknowledging their excellence in the field of science.

He is the fifth Loughborough Vice-Chancellor to be made a Fellow.

Professor Jennings was nominated for the honour in recognition of his national security science leadership and his pioneering contributions to the field of artificial intelligence (AI).

He transformed the use of science for national security purposes by developing disruptive new capabilities and overseeing their widespread deployment in investigations and the protection of critical national infrastructure. His personal research devised novel multi-agent models for efficient interactions and applied them to save lives in the aftermath of disasters, monitor the natural environment and win Olympic medals.

Speaking about the Fellowship, Professor Jennings said: “It is true honour to be a made a Fellow of the Royal Society. I am a strong believer in team science, and I would like to thank the 100+ PhD Students and Research Fellows who I’ve had the pleasure of working with in my career and the 400 co-authors that I’ve published with. This recognition would not have happened without their inspiration and collaboration.”

There are approximately 1,700 Fellows and Foreign Members in the Royal Society, including around 85 Nobel Laureates. Each year up to 52 Fellows and up to 10 Foreign Members are elected from a group of around 800 candidates, who are proposed by the existing Fellowship.

Speaking about this year’s Fellows, Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society said: “It is an honour to welcome so many outstanding researchers from around the world into the Fellowship of the Royal Society.

“Through their careers so far, these researchers have helped further our understanding of human disease, biodiversity loss and the origins of the universe. I am also pleased to see so many new Fellows working in areas likely to have a transformative impact on our society over this century, from new materials and energy technologies to synthetic biology and artificial intelligence. I look forward to seeing what great things they will achieve in the years ahead.”

Notes for editors

Press release reference number: PR 22/83

Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.

It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2022 QS World University Rankings and University of the Year for Sport by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2022.

Loughborough is in the top 10 of every national league table, being ranked 7th in The UK Complete University Guide 2022, and 10th in both the Guardian University League Table 2022 and the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022.

Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and is in the top 10 in England for research intensity. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.

The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.

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