Professor Helen Driscoll is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) with Executive responsibility for the University’s academic portfolio, including the student experience, student outcomes, academic quality and research and innovation. This encompasses the University’s diverse education portfolio, including our home campuses in Sunderland and London, our campus in Hong Kong, our extensive online provision, our UK partnerships, and our extensive transnational education portfolio with partners across the globe.
Professor Driscoll is the Executive Lead for the University’s Student Success Plan, the Teaching Excellence framework, the Research Excellence Framework, degree apprenticeships, skills and Sunderland Online. She chairs Academic Board, Research and Innovation Committee and the Education Committee.
Before she was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Driscoll held senior leadership roles at the University of Sunderland as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) and as Academic Director for Educational Partnerships. She is also a Professor of Global Education.
Professor Driscoll grew up in County Durham and was a first-generation university student. She holds a BSc in Psychology from Newcastle University and a PhD in Psychology from Durham University. She held academic roles in Psychology at Durham University and Northumbria University before spending many years in the School of Psychology at the University of Sunderland, where she served as a Senior Lecturer, Principal Lecturer, and Acting Head of School.
Professor Driscoll specialises in evolutionary psychology, male psychology and personality. She is a Chartered Psychologist, an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is a member of the British Psychological Society’s Male Psychology Section Committee and a governor at East Durham College.
Internally, Professor Driscoll supports leadership development as Executive sponsor for the INSPIRE leadership programme. She is also an Aurora ‘Champion’ and an experienced mentor.
View Professor Driscoll's academic profile.
Contact details
Professor Helen Driscoll
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)
helen.driscoll@sunderland.ac.uk
Louise Snowdon
Executive Support Assistant to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)
0191 515 2715
louise.snowdon@sunderland.ac.uk