Mary Archer

The Chancellor is the ceremonial head of the university. At the University of Buckingham, we have been fortunate to have many distinguished Chancellors who represent us on the public stage and provide invaluable guidance and advice.

Dame Mary started her career as a physical chemist and taught chemistry at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, where her research interests centred on sustainable energy production and solar energy conversion. She has written and contributed to various volumes of work concerning solar energy. She is a Companion of the Energy Institute and was awarded the Institute’s Melchett Medal in 2002 and the Eva Philbin Award of the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland in 2007.

Chair of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for ten years from 2002 to 2012, Dame Mary was appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) for her services to the National Health Service. From 2005 to 2008 she led a pioneer NHS-funded initiative to create patient decision aids for patients with prostate conditions, and later she introduced an information and advice service for bladder cancer patients in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, and across the Anglia Cancer Network. She was a founder director of Cambridge University Health Partners and chaired Imperial College Health Partners External Advisory Board from 2013 to 2017. She currently chairs the Centre for Personalised Medicine at Oxford.

Dame Mary is a very distinguished Chair of the Science Museum Group and its allied museums. As well as being a Companion of the Energy Institute, she is the Patron of the National Energy Foundation and President of the UK Solar Energy Society. She is also an Honorary Liveryman of the Fuellers’ Company and an Honorary Member of the Salters’ Company and she holds honorary DSc degrees from Imperial College London and the Universities of Hertfordshire and Bradford.