Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor

Professor Neil Armstrong PhD, DSc

Neil Armstrong graduated from Loughborough University with BEd and MSc degrees, he received his PhD and higher doctorate (DSc) from the University of Exeter, and he has accepted the offer of an honorary doctorate from the University of Coimbra. Following periods of teaching and lecturing in Loughborough and Liverpool, he was appointed to a lectureship in the University of Exeter in 1984 and became Professor of Paediatric Physiology in 1992. He initiated the study of sport and exercise sciences in Exeter and set-up the Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences in 1998. He became Head of the School of Postgraduate Medicine and Health Sciences in 2000 before establishing the School of Sport and Health Sciences in 2002.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor since 2005, Professor Armstrong holds the university portfolios for Internationalisation and Sport and he has line management responsibility for the University of Exeter Business School and the College of Social Sciences and International Studies. He also chairs the University Planning Review Group.

Neil established the Children's Health and Exercise Research Centre in 1987 and, in 1998, the Centre won the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher Education for its research in paediatric physiology. The implications of the Centre’s research for children’s health and well-being have attracted both royal and ministerial interest and resulted in invited private briefing meetings with Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace and with Ministers at Westminster; the presentation of invited seminars to MPs in the House of Commons; and hosting visits to the Centre by HM Queen and Government Ministers. The research programme has generated questions in both Houses of Parliament, influenced Government policy in the UK and elsewhere on the promotion of children’s health and well-being, and been featured internationally in over 300 television and radio programmes. Neil has authored/edited 13 books, contributed 75 book chapters, and in total, authored over 600 publications on paediatric physiology. He has been invited to make keynote presentations on his research in 41 countries and he has co-authored over 550 presentations to international and national conferences.

Professor Armstrong has twice Chaired RAE Panels, he is a former Chair of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences and a past President of the Physical Education Association of the UK. As the Minister of Sport’s nominee, he served two terms as Chair of South West Sport. Neil led the physiology team which developed the International Olympic Committee’s policy on training the elite young athlete and he is one of three international expert consultants to the IOC on the fitness and health of children through sport. He has served on numerous international and national expert committees reporting on children’s health, physical activity and/or sports participation. He currently chairs the European Group of Paediatric Work Physiology and the Regional Educational Legacy in Arts and Youth Sport (the South West Olympics 2012 Project) and he is President of the regional branch of the United Nations Association.

An active sportsman in his youth, Neil represented England at U15, U18 and University level and played professional football for ten years. He remains a dedicated supporter of Newcastle United despite the fact that they have not won a domestic trophy for 56 years.

Contact: Abi Wooding (Executive PA)