Professor Duncan Maskell

Emeritus Professor Duncan Maskell has had a long and senior career in the Higher Education sector.

From a very ordinary family he received an excellent education at a state school in North London, giving him the life-changing opportunity to become an undergraduate at Cambridge in 1979, graduating in 1982.  He stayed on to do his PhD in infectious diseases, and after post-docs at the Wellcome Laboratories and Oxford, he became a Lecturer at Imperial College.  He returned to Cambridge as a Professor in 1996, staying until 2018.  During this time he was the Head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine, Head of the School of the Biological Sciences and Senior Pro-Vice Chancellor (Planning and Resources).  He was also a Fellow of Wolfson College, a member of the College Council and Chair of the College’s Finance Committee.  He became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne in 2018, stepping down at the end of 2024.  This was an extraordinary opportunity to lead an outstanding Australian university.

Professor Maskell would have been unable to go to university if there had not been financial support in place for less advantaged students.  He has thus always been a staunch supporter of scholarships and bursaries as necessary tools required to give people the chance to fulfil their intellectual potential, regardless of their background or circumstances.  He is also a strong advocate for the international nature of universities, and of the benefits to all of students studying overseas, for part or all of their time in Higher Education.