Head of School Life Sciences

**Location**:

- Brighton, UK**Hours**:

- Part time of 0.6 FTE / 22.5 hours per week.**Salary**:

- Responsibility Allowance of £10,000 per annum.**Contract Type**:

- Fixed Term ContractAbout the role

The University seeks to appoint a Head of School for the School of Life Sciences. The School of Life Sciences covers the disciplines of Biochemistry and Biomedicine, Chemistry, Drug Discovery, Ecology and Evolution, Genome Damage and Stability, and Neuroscience. The School plays an important role within the Faculty, contributing to the University Strategy and wider academic mission.

The Head of School will report to the Executive Dean and be part of the Faculty Executive Team. The role requires close engagement with academic and professional services colleagues across the School and the wider University and plays a key part in ensuring alignment with both Faculty and University goals.

This is a significant leadership role, offering an opportunity to shape the School’s direction during an important period of development. The Head of School will provide academic leadership and effective management, fostering an environment in which teaching, research, and student experience can flourish. Working in close partnership with the Executive Dean, Associate Deans and Faculty colleagues, and in alignment with University strategy, the Head of School will ensure the continued strength and relevance of the School’s programmes, research activity, and engagement with students and external partners.

About you

An understanding of the strategic environment facing higher education, and the ability to respond creatively and constructively, will also be important.

About our School

The School comprises five Departments: Biochemistry & Biomedicine, Genome Damage and Stability Centre, Neuroscience, Ecology & Evolution and Chemistry. We also house the Sussex Drug Discovery Centre which works to deliver the bench-to-bedside translation of our discoveries. The breadth and depth of our cutting-edge research and innovative teaching practice is delivered by a diverse community who work across boundaries to deliver excellence, engage with real world problems and produce impact.

We pride ourselves on our world-leading research and have a strong research economy, with approximately 50% of our income stemming from research and an active grant portfolio of over £50 million. We host or form part of three University Centres of Excellence: the Genome Damage and Stability Centre, Sussex Neuroscience and Sussex Sustainability Research Programme. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, 90.6 % of our Biological Sciences outputs and 84.8% of our Chemistry outputs were rated as world-leading or internationally excellent. We are proud that in both areas, 100% of our Impact cases were rated as world-leading or internationally excellent.

The School is committed to the University’s core values of kindness, integrity, inclusion, collaboration and courage. We believe that equality, diversity and inclusion is everyone’s responsibility and aim to provide a friendly and supportive environment for all who work, study and visit the School of Life Sciences.

The School of Life Sciences is proud to hold a Silver Athena Swann Award.

Why work here

Our university is situated off the A27, next to the beautiful South Downs where you will enjoy everything that our 150-acre campus has to offer. We are accessible by public transport; Falmer train station is a five-minute walk to campus and several bus stops are located within campus. We also have dedicated cycling paths and encourage our staff to use these with our offering of a cycle to work scheme.

Sussex is a renowned, multi-accredited, research-led International University and this is only possible because of the people that work here. Whether you are a member of Faculty, part of a Professional Services team or a Student, it’s our people that make us great and we want you to be part of that.

Find out about our equality, diversity and inclusion

Further Key Information

The University of Sussex values the diversity of its staff and students, and we welcome applicants from all backgrounds.

The University requires that work undertaken for the University is performed in the UK.

***:

- November 6, 2025 5:59 PM

**Expected Interview Date**:

- 28 October 2025

**Expected Start Date**:

- To Be Confirmed

**Fixed Term Contract Duration**:

- Officership for 5 years.