Chris will begin his five-year term of appointment on 1 November 2016. He will have responsibility for maintaining and enhancing excellent standards of teaching and learning across the broad spectrum of the University’s foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate provision. He will lead our commitment to widening participation, to employability and to continuing to improve student satisfaction.

Commenting on his appointment, Chris said:

I am really excited to take on the PVC Education portfolio. We face a rapidly developing environment for teaching and learning, and I am confident Warwick can continue to deliver successfully for our staff and students. I look forward to working with academic, administrative and service departments, and of course our students, to ensuring an excellent education strategy.”

Stuart Croft said:

Chris has secured a huge amount of respect and good-will from students and staff across the University and externally through his departmental and faculty leadership roles. He is a great colleague with a first-class teaching and research record, and I am delighted that he is joining our executive team to lead the continuing enhancement of Warwick’s teaching and learning.”

Chris is Professor of International Politics and Japanese Studies in the department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS). He served as Chair of the Faculty of Social Sciences from 2012 to 2016, and as Head of Department in PAIS from 2010 to 2015.

His teaching and research is in Japanese politics and international relations and East Asian security. He teaches on Asia-Pacific international relations and supervises PhDs on Japanese foreign and security policy, North Korea’s external relations, and East Asian security and international political economy. He has taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Japan and the USA.

Chris holds degrees from the University of Oxford (BA), University of Rochester (MA), and University of Sheffield (MA and PhD). He held the Asahi Shimbun Visiting Chair of Mass Media and Politics, at the Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo, in 2006, and the Edwin O Reischauer Visiting Professor of Japanese Studies at the Department of Government, Harvard University from 2009 to 2010. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. He has held research associate positions at the University of Hiroshima, Waseda University, Free University of Berlin, and Harvard University. He has won research and international exchange awards from the Japanese Ministry of Education, the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee, the European Union, the British Council, and the British Academy.