Overview

The imperative to secure world-leading research academics has become one of the top strategic priorities for Global Research Universities.

The world’s best research-led universities are what they are for a reason. Their success in securing large-scale research funding, developing international, multi-partner research alliances, and leading the research endeavour to meet the Global Challenges of this and future generations rests crucially upon their ability to identify, engage and secure research leaders of the highest calibre wherever they may be located. As the university sector grows globally and as international faculty mobility increases, the demand for this world-leading research capability intensifies and the critical advantage rests with those institutions which have the edge in the professionally executed recruitment of the world’s best academic leaders.

Perrett Laver has provided senior level executive search services to many of the world’s leading universities. Working on around 200 full Professorial appointments annually, our Global Chairs & Professors practice has a depth of experience and has developed specialist expertise in identifying, engaging, and securing outstanding academic leaders from around the world for these critically important roles. Given the increasing competitive challenge for international universities as they seek to identify and attract world class academic staff, and the huge importance of third party advocacy to and relationship building with candidates, we have been able to have a transformative effect on the hiring outcomes and success rates for our clients.

Our full Professorial searches cover the entire range of academic disciplines and include numerous high-profile named and sponsored Chairs as well as fully tenured Professorial positions. These searches have been provided for new-build world-stage universities, for universities which have long been counted in the global elite, and for universities seeking rapidly and effectively to increase the volume and improve the quality of their research activity across the institution.

There is an increasingly widespread recognition that a campaign of multiple research leadership professorial appointments (and, on occasion, a single decisive appointment) can have a profound impact upon the strategic trajectory of an institution as well as upon its ability to attract other outstanding faculty, to appeal to the very best students, to win funding, and to develop international research collaborations. This involves us in some fascinating and deeply rewarding assignments:

• Working with MIT on multiple full Professorial and research group leadership appointments for two of its world-stage collaborations in Moscow and Singapore;
• Endowed and named Chairs for the University of Cape Town, Queen’s University Belfast, the University of Warwick and the University of New South Wales, among others;
• Multiple full Professorial appointments for Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China to secure a range of international world-leading faculty following its establishment;
• Major transformative programmes of Professorial appointments (20-50 full Professors) for a variety of universities, including the University of Leeds, the University of Manchester, Queen’s University Belfast, and City University London;
• Full Professorial appointments in leading universities in ME and Asia Pacific, such as Khalifa University, RMIT University, the Singapore University of Technology and Design, the University of New South Wales, the University of Sydney, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.