Warwick and Monash have announced that respected researcher and cardiologist Professor Andrew Coats will serve as the first joint Academic Vice-President (Monash-Warwick Alliance) and Director of the Monash-Warwick Alliance strategy.

Professor Coats will engage in a number of pre-arrival activities from October before taking up his new role on 4 February 2013. Warwick and Monash also announced that the Alliance’s first senior research posts will be advertised before the end of the month. The announcements follow the agreement signed earlier this year by Warwick and Monash to create an Alliance between the two universities that will clearly establish both as 'globally connected universities'.

Professor Andrew Coats said:

"I am delighted to be working with two of the most dynamic and ambitious universities in what I believe will be a ground-breaking initiative, that of a global alliance in research and teaching excellence. Higher education has changed with the formation of the Alliance.”

Professor Coats’ background matches the Alliance's international reach with high-profile academic roles spanning three continents. Most recently he served as Chief Executive Officer of Norwich Research Park and Professor-at-Large at the University of East Anglia, both in the UK. Concurrently, he was Visiting Professor of Medicine at The University of Sydney in Australia, Consulting Professor for Research Strategy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Guest Scientist at the Charité Medical School of Humboldt University in Berlin. Previously he worked at The University of Sydney, as Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, the Imperial College London, as Viscount Royston Professor of Cardiology, the University of Oxford and the UK's National Heart and Lung Institute.

A fully accredited physician and cardiologist in both the United Kingdom and Australia, Professor Coats has extensive experience in applied health. He has served as Chairman of the Australian Health Informatics Council and Clinical Director of Cardiology and Deputy Medical Director (Research and Development) of the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust in the UK.

Professor Coats has an MBA from the London Business School and has more than 30 years of boardroom experience. He is a both a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Member of the UK's Institute of Directors.

Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Nigel Thrift said:

"This is a prestigious appointment to this high-potential alliance between our two universities. Professor Coats is an experienced academic leader with three decades of international experience in six of the world’s leading Universities.”

Monash University’s Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Ed Byrne said:

"I am delighted that such an accomplished researcher, teacher and administrator is the first joint Monash-Warwick appointment. Having distinguished himself, in a number of capacities on both sides of the globe, Professor Coats is quintessentially suited to harness the many exciting opportunities our Alliance will present."

The Monash-Warwick Alliance

Since the establishment of the new Alliance, key initiatives already underway include:

• £500,000 has been awarded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under its 'Building Global Engagements' programme to build connections in the physical sciences in the year to end-March 2013.
• £66,000 has been received from the Australian Government to support student mobility.
• £200,000 Australian Research Council grant to build collaborations in engineering.
• Green Steps, Monash University’s award-winning sustainability education programme has run its first international course for students at Warwick in July with a larger programme planned for 2013.
• Students from both universities will co-produce Reinvention, Warwick’s on-line peer-reviewed journal, dedicated to the publication of high-quality undergraduate student research from all disciplinary areas.
• Joint PhD agreement – joint course applications and regulations are being finalised to enable recruitment from late 2012.