Professor George Boyne

Biography

Professor George Boyne became Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen on 1 August 2018.

Professor Boyne led the creation of the University’s Aberdeen 2040 strategy which was launched in February 2020 to mark the 525th anniversary of the foundation of Kings College in Old Aberdeen. Aberdeen 2040, which builds directly on the university’s foundational purpose to be open to all and dedicated to the pursuit of truth in the service of others, won the Higher Education Strategic Planners Association award for University strategy of the year in 2021.

Professor Boyne is Chair of the University Senate, a member of the University Court and a member of the Board of the University’s Development Trust. His external roles include Chair of Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), Convenor of Universities Scotland Funding Policy Group, member of the Board of Opportunity North East, and member of the Aberdeen City Deal Joint Committee.

Professor Boyne has published extensively on the performance of public sector organisations and has been a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences since 2010.

• Register of interest

Funding and Grants

Housing Grant Policies: An Evaluation (1988-89, £21,000 Welsh Office, with A.Millington).

Local Government in Wales: Its Role and Functions (1990-91, £15,500, Joseph Rowntree Foundation).

Local Government Reform in Scotland and Wales (1993-94, £45,000, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, with Grant Jordan, University of Aberdeen).

Spatial Equity and Local Government Finance: Who Gets What Where? (1995-97, £26,500, Leverhulme Trust, with Martin Powell, University of Bath).

Best Value in Welsh Local Government (1998-2000, £153,333, Welsh Office, with Richard Walker, Cardiff University, and Jennifer Law, University of Glamorgan).

Devolution and Regulation: Political Control of Public Bodies in Scotland and Wales (1999-2000, £44,000, ESRC, with Arthur Midwinter, University of Strathclyde, and Richard Walker, Cardiff University).

Strategy and Performance in Local Government (2001-2004, £163,893, ESRC, with Richard Walker, Cardiff University, and Jennifer Law, University of Glamorgan).

Long Term Evaluation of the Impact of Best Value (2001-2005, £1.1 million, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, with Steve Martin and Richard Walker, Cardiff University).

AIM Public Services Research Fellowship on Organizational Turnaround (2003-4 ESRC, £127k.)

Evaluation of Local Public Service Agreements (2003-7, £1.2 million, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; with the Office of Public Management).

Designing Outcome Measures For The Second Generation of Local Public Service Agreements (2004-6, £97k, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, with J.Law, University of Glamorgan).

Leadership Change and Public Services: Reinvigorating Performance or Reinforcing Decline? (2006-2008, £253k, ESRC, with P. John, Manchester, and O. James, Exeter)

Local Authority Size and Performance (2006-7, £56k, Department for Communities and Local Government, with R. Andrews, Cardiff University).

How Public Management Matters: Strategy, Networking and Local Service Performance (2006-2010, £750k, ESRC, with R. Walker, Hong Kong University, K. Meier, Texas A&M University, and L. O’Toole, University of Georgia).

Local Authority Form and Function: An Evaluation of the Impact of Structural Change (2008-2013, £820k, Department for Communities and Local Government; with the Office of Public Management and Price Waterhouse Coopers).

Chief Executive Succession and the Performance of Central Government Agencies (2010-2014, £216k, ESRC, with Oliver James, Exeter, and Nico Petrovsky, Kentucky).