Prof Martin Stringer's Profile
Professor Martin Stringer is Pro-Vice-Chancellor Academic of Social Science, Arts and Humanities at Swansea University. As a key member of the Swansea University senior management team, he has won the Times Higher Education Outstanding Leadership and Management Team award for 2016. Before joining the Swansea University, he had been at the University of Birmingham for twenty-three years as the Head of Theology and Religion, Head of the College of Arts and Law in addition to being the Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor. An internationally renowned scholar on the anthropology of religion, Professor Stringer is widely recognized as a leading expert in sociological studies of religious discourses and practices.
A Citation for Honorary Fellow Prof Martin Stringer
Professor Martin Stringer is Pro-Vice-Chancellor Academic of Social Science, Arts and Humanities at Swansea University. Before joining the Swansea University in 2015, he had been at the University of Birmingham for twentythree years as the Head of Theology and Religion, Head of the College of Arts and Law and Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor. An internationally renowned scholar on the anthropology of religion, Professor Stringer has authored books and articles in such notable academic presses, including the University of Cambridge, the University of Birmingham, and the University of Oxford, among others. He is widely recognized as a leading expert in sociological studies of religious discourses and practices.
In addition, Professor Stringer has served in a variety of administrative as well as professional capacities in higher education. As a key member of the Swansea University senior management team, he has won the Times Higher Education Outstanding Leadership and Management Team award for 2016. He has led Swansea to achieving the national WhatUni award for learning and teaching and to attaining fourth overall in the Best University category for 2016. Further, he is a member of the UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) Council, thus placing him in a collective leadership position in the UK higher education community.
At Swansea University, Professor Stringer has initiated and led the STEP4Excellence programme aimed at engaging students as partners in an innovative mentoring scheme and student life network. This shift towards proactive student participation in achieving learning outcomes as well as student empowerment through Academic Society has been a critical aspect of Professional Stringer's vision. His progressive leadership has likewise informed the increased focus on internationalisation as a primary mission of the University.
In these two aspects, namely Teaching and Learning and Internationalisation, Swansea University and United International College share a common ground. At UIC, we seek to enhance lifelong learning abilities of students as a prime objective of our liberal arts education. Global engagement has been recognized as both integral to whole person education and as a core vision and mission of our college. The rapidly growing collaboration between Swansea University and UIC bears witness to the initial fruition of the values shared by the two schools: we both aim to nurture graduates with lifelong learning abilities and a global outlook. Since the signing of the MoU in 2014, Swansea University and UIC have embarked on an exchange student programme. In the fall of 2016, President Ng Ching-Fai led a delegation to Swansea, a visit enabling the two institutions to concretize areas of mutual interest. In 2017, a further strengthening of ties has materialized in a student and staff exchange: two UIC students have been awarded Erasmus+ Scholarship; a UIC faculty member is on sabbatical leave at Swansea collaborating on a research project with his Swansea counterpart. Further, this coming fall, a Swansea professor will come to our new campus as UIC's first Writer-in-Residence. Today, the presence of Professor Martin Stringer on this happy occasion to receive a UIC Honorary Fellowship heralds a new page in the partnership between the two institutions. We are certain that under his leadership and with his firm commitment to internationalisation of higher education at Swansea University, the two institutions shall forge a sustainable partnership for the future.
Mr Chairman, in recognition of Professor Martin Stringer's outstanding academic achievements as well as in appreciation of his support for furthering the partnership between Swansea University and UIC, it is my privilege to present him to you for the award of an Honorary Fellowship.
