Professor Deborah Prentice became the University of Cambridge’s 347th Vice-Chancellor on July 1, 2023.

An eminent psychologist, Professor Prentice carried out her academic and administrative career at Princeton University, which she first joined in 1988. She rose through the academic ranks and took on administrative responsibilities of increasing scope, chairing the Department of Psychology for 12 years, serving as Dean of Faculty for three years, and then serving six years as Provost, with primary responsibility for all academic, budgetary, and long-term planning issues.

Her academic expertise is in the study of social norms that govern human behaviour – particularly the impact and development of unwritten rules and conventions, and how people respond to breaches of those rules. She has edited three academic volumes and published more than 50 articles and chapters, and she has specialised in the study of domestic violence, alcohol abuse and gender stereotypes.

The University Council nominated Professor Prentice for appointment as Vice-Chancellor in September 2022. Her appointment was subsequently approved by the Regent House.

Professor Bhaskar Vira serves as Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Environmental Sustainability, a position he has held since October 2022. He is also Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Geography, Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, an Honorary Fellow of St John's College, and Head of Program for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program.  

Professor Vira is responsible for shaping and advancing the University’s educational and environmental sustainability mission. He leads the development and implementation of strategy and policy aimed at fostering educational excellence and enhancing the student experience. He works closely with Cambridge Zero and Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) to find solutions to critical sustainability challenges. In this senior leadership role, he provides academic leadership to the University, supports the Vice-Chancellor, and works as part of a team with the Heads of Schools to drive strategy and policy development across the institution.  

Trained as an economist, Professor Vira’s research explores the political economy of environment and development, with a particular focus on South Asia. His work addresses land-use change, forests, water management, biodiversity conservation, and the social and political context for sustainability. He has led major interdisciplinary projects and contributes actively to global science-policy dialogues. 

Professor Vira was the Founding Director of the Cambridge Conservation Research Institute and previously served as Head of the Department of Geography. His leadership and scholarship have earned him prestigious honours, including the Royal Geographical Society’s Busk Medal (2018) and election as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (2021). 

Professor Gishan Dissanaike is a financial economist and holds the Adam Smith Professorship of Corporate Governance and Finance at the University of Cambridge. He was appointed Dean of Cambridge Judge Business School effective 1 December 2024, having been a faculty member for over 25 years.
 
Gishan’s research spans the efficiency of stock markets, corporate finance, and governance. He has held visiting positions at leading institutions, including Cornell University, and has served as a consultant to global corporations, investment banks, and regulatory bodies. Before entering academia, he worked at Banque Indosuez—now part of the Crédit Agricole Group, one of Europe’s largest banking institutions.
 
Professor Dissanaike has received numerous accolades for his research, including the Iddo Sarnat Prize awarded by the Journal of Banking & Finance and the European Finance Association, an ESRC Research Fellowship, and an Academic Fellowship from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. He was also a finalist in the JFE/ECGI Clinical Paper Competition, with finalists invited to attend the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm. He earned his BA from the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka, and subsequently completed his MPhil and PhD in Economics at Trinity College, Cambridge.
 

Akshay Rao is Professor of Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. His research group focuses on developing advanced materials and tools to accelerate the global energy transition. Their work includes creating technologies that push the efficiency of silicon solar cells beyond current physical limits and designing innovative tools that provide unprecedented insights into battery materials, significantly reducing the development time for next-generation battery technologies. 

Akshay obtained his BSc from St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi (2006), and his MSc from the University of Sheffield (2007). He completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2011, followed by a Junior Research Fellowship at Corpus Christi College. He established his independent research group in 2015. His accolades include the Henry Moseley Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics for “exceptional early career contributions to experimental physics,” as well as an EPSRC Early Career Fellowship and multiple ERC grants. 

He is the co-founder of Cambridge Photon Technology, which aims to enhance silicon solar cell efficiency, and Illumion, which develops cutting-edge tools for battery researchers in academia and industry.  

Alice Spencer leads Education at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), where she oversees CISL’s portfolio of Postgraduate, Digital, Executive Education and Leadership Programmes. The portfolios engage over 10,000 leaders annually to equip organisations with the tools and insights needed to innovate and lead in a rapidly changing world.

Alice brings extensive experience working with businesses globally to understand their leadership challenges and foster the knowledge and enabling conditions that allow them to build compelling strategies that harness opportunity and deliver real value. Prior to working with CISL, Alice has worked across sustainability and education, advising corporate and government initiatives to deliver social and environmental impact across Europe and in Australia and New Zealand.

CISL is a globally recognised institute within the University of Cambridge dedicated to shaping economies that are fit for the future. For more than 35 years, CISL has collaborated with leaders in business, finance, government and civil society to align markets and institutions with long-term prosperity, resilience and the conditions for societies to thrive.

With hubs in Cambridge, Cape Town, and Brussels, and a network of over 50,000 alumni in 150 countries, CISL integrates world-leading research with practical action to accelerate system-wide transformation. Its work centres on building leadership capability, advancing strategies for economic transition, catalysing innovation, and driving change in key sectors such as energy, food, finance, and industry.
 

Uday Khemka is a Managing Trustee of The Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation, the first, and still one of the only, foundations in India to focus centrally on climate change mitigation and the green energy revolution for over 30 years. Uday is on the Board of Governors of the Indian School of Business and the Public Health Foundation of India, the Board of Directors of the Synergos Institute in New York and the Board of Advisors of the Climate Group in India and has been elected a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Uday has recently been appointed on the Advisory Board of the Smith School of Enterprise & the Environment at Oxford University. Uday was also a member of His Majesty King Charles III’s Sustainable Markets Council which established the Sustainable Markets Initiative. 

Uday is Vice-Chairman of the SUN Group of Companies, a diversified family-owned, investment and industrial group headquartered in India with activities in varied emerging and developed markets in electric mobility, new and renewable energy, natural resources, real estate, electronics/aerospace and private equity. Prior to the SUN Group, Uday worked at Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley in London and New York and then established and headed up Morgan Stanley's activities in India. Uday has been on the boards of all SUN Group companies and has been responsible for the establishment of the investment management activities of the group.