Graeme Davies

He is the son of Harry John Davies and Gladys Edna Davies (née Pratt). He was born in New Zealand and attended Mount Albert Grammar School in Auckland. He later attended the University of Auckland when he obtained a BE in Aeronautical Engineering and PhD in Materials Science.[2]

In 1962 he moved to the University of Cambridge, and subsequently became a Fellow and Dean of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, obtaining an MA and ScD.

Davies has taught metallurgy at the University of Auckland (1964–66), the University of Cambridge (1966-77) and the University of Sheffield (1978–86) where he was Professor of Metallurgy.

He has served as Chief Executive of the Universities Funding Council (UFC), and also of the Polytechnic and Colleges Funding Council (PCFC), and then of their successor, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

He is also a Fellow[1] of the Royal Academy of Engineering[1] and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, the Royal Veterinary College, the UCL School of Pharmacy, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, St George's, University of London, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply. He has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by thirteen universities.

He became an Honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge in 1989.[2] Davies also served as the Chairman of Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), Ltd.

He is currently the Emeritus Vice Chancellor of the University of London. He is also the Chairman of the British University Vietnam, the Foundation for Liver Research, Governor of the University of Lincoln, of Taylor's University, of the British Institute of Technology and E-commerce, and a Trustee of Regent's University London.

He is Member of the Council of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers, and was Master in 2005–2006.

He was formerly the Chairman of the NZ-UK Link Foundation and the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils, and a Governor of the University of Hertfordshire, of the University of Seychelles, and of Shrewsbury School. For five years he served as a Member of the Public Interest Body of Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

In 1959, he married Florence Isabelle Martin of Whangarei, New Zealand, who was a Professor of Linguistics. She died in June 2014.

They had one son, Michael Allan Martin Davies of Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States who is married to Cynthia Ann Webb, and who has four daughters: Charlotte, Annabelle, Georgia and Josephine. He has one daughter, Helena Anne Davies of Wortley, near Sheffield, in the United Kingdom who is married to Ian Nerurkar, with whom she has two sons: Louis and Max.

He was knighted in 1996 for services to higher education.[2]

In 2015 he married Svava Lee Bjarnason, of Foam Lake, Saskatchewan, in Canada who was a Principal Education Specialist at the World Bank Group.

• UK Centre for Materials Education: Interview with Professor Sir Graeme Davies
• List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of London

• Profile of Sir Graeme Davies at the University of London
• Profile of Sir Graeme Davies at St Catharine's College, Cambridge