Professor Sally Wheeler, OBE, MRIA, FAcSS, FAAL

Professor Wheeler joined Birkbeck as Vice-Chancellor on 1 January 2024.

She is responsible for Birkbeck’s overall leadership and is the university’s chief academic and administrative officer.

As Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wheeler has responsibility to Birkbeck’s Governors for the university’s finances and for promoting and maintaining its efficiency, effectiveness, and development.

Professor Wheeler has extensive experience in Higher Education encompassing leadership of both education and research at the highest levels in the UK and abroad.

She was awarded an OBE for Services to Higher Education in Northern Ireland in 2017.

Prior to taking up her role at Birkbeck, she was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Corporate) at the Australian National University.

She read Law at Oxford and received a Doctorate of Philosophy at Pembroke College and the Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies.

Appointed as a Professor of Law in 1994, she is an international expert on corporate governance and contract law.

She has written extensively on corporate governance, including as the sole or co-author of six books, the most recent of which, ‘Scenes From Corporate Life’ is scheduled for publication in 2024.

She was elected to Membership of the Royal Irish Academy in 2013, as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2014 and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law in 2018.

The following video was filmed prior to Sally's official start date of January 1 2024.