Professor Julie Lydon

Professor Dame Julie Lydon DBE was born in Mid Wales. She was the first in her family to enter higher education, successfully studying Economics at Wolverhampton University. It was here that Dame Lydon also achieved her MBA and began her academic career. Before this and following the completion of her first degree she worked for the Tube Investments group for ten years in a variety of management roles. Her professional experience also included a period working in the retail financial services sector.

As well as being a mother and grandmother, Dame Lydon has a strong reputation of academic leadership, having been Assistant Vice-Chancellor at UWE Bristol and Associate Dean of the Business School at the University of Wolverhampton before joining the University of Glamorgan’s executive team in 2006.

Dame Lydon is a key figure in the history of University of South Wales, she served as Vice-Chancellor and led the merger of two universities which resulted in the formation of the University of South Wales in 2013. She was also the first female Vice Chancellor in Wales and was elected by her fellow Vice Chancellors as UUK Vice President Wales and Chair of Universities (2017-2021).

Following a successful executive career, she is continuing to support higher education through her non executive positions on the Southampton Solent University Board of Governors and on the University of West of England Board of Governors. She is also Trustee and Deputy Chair of the Board of the Nelson Trust. In January 2023 she was appointed by the Minister of Education and Welsh Language as the first Chair of the new Commission for Tertiary Education and Research; this groundbreaking development sees Wales being only the second country in the world to bring together the funding, regulation and oversight of all post 16 education through a single arm’s length body.