Professor Cara Aitchison
Vice Chancellor Designate
University of St Mark & St John
Framework (REF) Sub-Panel 26 for Sport and
Exercise Sciences, Leisure and Tourism. With a
background in geography and sociology her
research has focussed on policies that develop
social responsibility and sustainability in and
through education, leisure, sport and tourism.
Born in Falkirk in Scotland, Professor Aitchison
attended Stirling High School and the
University of Edinburgh where she received
degrees in Geography and in Recreation and
Leisure Practice. On commencing her career in
London she undertook part-time study,
obtaining a Certificate in Education (University
of Greenwich), Masters in Gender Studies
(Middlesex University) and PhD in Social
Science (University of Bristol).
Professor Cara Aitchison has been appointed as
the new Principal, Vice Chancellor and Chief
Executive of the University of St Mark & St
John.
Currently at the University of Edinburgh, where
she is Head of Moray House School of Education
and Chair in Social and Environmental Justice,
Professor Aitchison has an established
reputation in university management, research
and advocacy of social inclusion and
sustainable development.
Prior to her post at Edinburgh, Professor
Aitchison (47) was Dean of the Faculty of
Education and Sport at the University of
Bedfordshire. She was previously Professor in
Human Geography and Director of the Centre
for Leisure, Tourism and Society at the
University of the West of England and has held
posts at the University of Gloucestershire,
London
Metropolitan
University,
Open
University and Croydon College.
Professor Aitchison is the HEFCE-appointed
Chair of the UK Research Excellence
Professor Aitchison has over 200 research
outputs and has presented invited keynotes to
national and international conferences in sport,
leisure, tourism and gender studies in countries
as diverse as Australia, Brazil, Croatia, Latvia,
Iran and the USA. Her best known books are
Gender and Leisure: Social and Cultural
Perspectives (Routledge, 2003), Sport and
Gender Identities: Masculinities, Femininities
and Sexualities (Routledge, 2007), Leisure and
Tourism Landscapes: Social and Cultural
Geographies, co-authored with Nicola Macleod
and Stephen Shaw (Routledge, 2001) and
Geographies of Muslim Identities: Diaspora,
Gender and Belonging, co-edited with Peter
Hopkins and Mei-Po Kwan (Ashgate, 2007).
More recently, Professor Aitchison has worked
with renewable energy companies and tourism
organisations in England, Scotland and Wales to
integrate tourism, renewable energy and food
production in rural areas including in Devon
and Cornwall.
Professor Aitchison is a Member of the
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Peer Review College, Academician of the
Academy of Social Sciences, Fellow of the
Higher Education Academy, Distinguished
Scholar of the World Leisure Academy, Chair of
the Scottish National Reference Group for
Career-Long Professional Learning in Teacher
Education, Member of the joint Scottish
Government and Convention of Scottish Local
Authorities (COSLA) Commission for Rural
Education, Associate Editor (Recreation and
Leisure) for Annals of Tourism Research,
Editorial Board Member of Contemporary Social
Science, Leisure Studies and Journal of
Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise. She
was previously a Member of the AHRC Peer
Review College, Chair of World Leisure's
Women and Gender Commission and Chair of
the Leisure Studies Association.
Professor Aitchison will take up the post of
Vice Chancellor in May and said of her new role
and University: “I consider it a great privilege
to be appointed as the first Vice Chancellor of
the University of St Mark & St John. With the
Government’s recent announcement of its
support for small universities the future is
bright for Marjon. It has a 170 year history and
an established reputation, supported by its
Church Foundation, in providing innovative
education and sport programmes, developing a
proactive approach to widening participation
and delivering an outstanding student
experience. I look forward to leading further
developments
that
strengthen
Marjon’s
regional responsiveness and global reach and
I’m delighted to be able to return to the south
west at this pivotal moment in the history of
the University of St Mark & St John”.
As one of the world’s most prominent scholars
of leisure, Professor Aitchison enjoys taking her
work on holiday and saw in the arrival of 2013
travelling around the coast of Patagonia with
her partner. She is also looking forward to
pursuing her passions for art, landscape
gardening, sea kayaking and swimming in and
around Devon and Cornwall.