Donal Bradley from Oxford to join KAUST leadership team

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) announced the appointment of Dr. Donal Bradley as its new vice president for research.

Dr. Bradley will join KAUST in April, coming from the University of Oxford where he serves as the Dean for Science and Engineering.

“Dr. Bradley comes to us with extensive experience in research administration at a number of world-class institutions. I am confident that he will provide strong guidance and mentorship to our research community, and be a staunch advocate for R&D efforts campus wide,” said Dr. Tony Chan, president of KAUST.

Dr. Bradley is a distinguished scientist with a stellar research record. Among his many honors and awards, he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society in 2004, fellow of the Institute of Physics in 2005 and fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology in 2013. He is also a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher for cross-field publications, placing him among the most cited interdisciplinary authors globally over the past decade. He has a Google Scholar h-index of 125 having published over 630 publications with more than 80,000 citations.

In his current role as the dean for science and engineering at the University of Oxford, Dr. Bradley oversees all the science and engineering departments (mathematics, statistics, computer science, engineering science, physics, chemistry, materials, earth sciences, plant sciences and zoology). He has responsibility for over 2,400 staff and 5,500 students and is also a professor of Engineering Science and Physics.

Prior to that, Dr. Bradley spent 15 years of his career at Imperial College London, where he held a number of positions including VP for Research and Founding Director of the Centre for Plastic Electronics. In addition to his exceptional academic record, Dr. Bradley also has considerable experience developing technology, with more than 25 patent families to his name. For example, he is a co-inventor of conjugated polymer electroluminescence and co-founder of Cambridge Display Technology Ltd.

Dr. Bradley succeeds Dr. Jean Fréchet, who served as KAUST’s senior vice president for research, innovation and economic development from May 2010 to the end of 2018.

Dr. Bradley’s leadership and expertise will help to further KAUST’s research mission to leverage the inter-connectedness of science and engineering and develop interdisciplinary approaches to fundamental and goal-oriented problems, said a press release from KAUST.