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Cedric Nishan Canagarajah (born 1966) is a British Tamil academic and the current president and vice-chancellor of the University of Leicester.[2] He was previously one of the pro-vice-chancellors of the University of Bristol.[3]
Professor Nishan Canagarajah | |
|---|---|
| Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester | |
| Assumed office November 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Paul Boyle |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Cedric Nishan Canagarajah 1966 (age 57–58) Sri Lanka |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Salary | £254,000 (2021–22)[1] |
Canagarajah was born in 1966 in Sri Lanka.[4][5] His mother was a teacher.[6] He was educated at St. John's College, Jaffna.[7] After school he joined the University of Cambridge from where he received a BA honours degree in electronics and information sciences in 1989 and a Ph.D. in digital signal processing in 1993.[4][5][8]
Canagarajah is married to Thabitha.[6] They have a daughter and two sons.[6]
Canagarajah joined the University of Bristol in 1993 as a research assistant.[4][5] He was promoted to lecturer in 1994, senior lecturer in 1999 and reader in 2001.[5] He became professor of multimedia signal processing in 2004.[4][5] He was promoted to research director at the university's Faculty of Engineering in 2006 and head of Department of Computer Science in 2009.[4] He became head of Merchant Venturers School of Engineering in 2010 before becoming dean of the Faculty of Engineering in 2011.[4] He was appointed pro-vice-chancellor for research and enterprise in August 2014.[4] In August 2019 it was announced that he would become president and vice-chancellor of the University of Leicester in November 2019.[9][10]
Canagarajah's research contributions in image segmentation and texture classification are internationally recognized and his research on audio signal processing led to an interactive exhibit, Virtual Drum, at the London Science Museum.[11] He has led a number of successful international research partnerships and is currently theme leader for the joint £5M EPSRC/DST collaborative programme on next generation telecommunications systems and services, which includes a number of UK and Indian universities and industrial partners.[12]
Canagarajah has served on a number of national and international panels on research funding, governance and postgraduate education. He acted as a technical consultant for several industrial partners including Sony, BT, BBC, Orange, Thales, Toshiba and the Metropolitan Police Service.[13][14][15] He is part of the Universities UK advisory group to tackle racial harassment in higher education.[16]
In January 2021, members of the Leicester University and College Union voted overwhelmingly in support of a motion of no confidence against Canagarajah, in response to a proposed mass lay-off of faculty members.[17] In March 2021, students at Leicester also approved a vote of no confidence against Canagarajah, with 1010 votes for the proposal and only 82 opposed.[18]
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