UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH Gordon Murray, founding director of the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics and personal chair in medical statistics at Glasgow University, Cambridge, professor of medical statistics.

UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN Ian Alexander, head of the department of plant and soil science, has been appointed Regius professor of botany.

University of Manchester John Murphy, chief executive of the Irish Quality Association, has been appointed Abbey National visiting chair of service quality in the business school.

UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS Inge Bates, senior lecturer and director of the centre for the study of post-16 developments, developmental chair in education and work; Peter Mackie, senior lecturer, director of the institute for transport studies and member of the Government's standing advisory committee on trunk road assessment, professor of transport; Katie Wales, former head of department at the University of London, professor of modern English language; Andrew Davies, senior lecturer at Leeds General Infirmary, and Peter Howdle, senior lecturer at St James University Hospital, have been appointed professors in clinical education; Stephen Morley, senior lecturer, professor in clinical psychology; John Dyson, former professor at the University of Manchester, chair of astronomy.

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UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM James Rafferty, senior health economist at the University of Southampton, chair of health economics in the school of public policy; Andrew Stevens, senior lecturer at the University of Southampton, chair of public health in the school of medicine; Glyn Thomas, senior lecturer, chair of psychology.

The honorary title of professor has been conferred upon: Frank Close, head of the particle physics theory group at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory; Peter Farndon, consultant clinical geneticist at Birmingham Women's Hospital; John Hopewell, director of the research institute, Churchill Hospital, University of Oxford.

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The title of professor has been conferred on the following readers: David Lyddiatt, process engineering and Colin Thomas, biochemical school school of chemical engineering; David Luesley, gynaecological oncology, school of medicine.