Secretary and Registrar
Professor William Stephens PhD CEnv FIAgrE FHEA
Professor William Stephens became Secretary and Registrar of Cranfield University in April 2010.
Professor Stephens graduated from Edinburgh University with a BSc (Hons) in Ecological Science. He was awarded an MSc in Soil and Water Engineering from Cranfield Institute of Technology in 1978 and later, a PhD on the effects of climate on the yield of tea in East Africa in 1992.
Professor Stephens began his career in environmental consultancy before working as a Research Irrigation Agronomist for the Malawi Government until 1984. He then joined Cranfield as a Research Officer working the agro-climatology of tea before joining the academic staff in 1990 as Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer.
In 1999, Professor Stephens was appointed Head of the newly founded Institute of Water and Environment at Cranfield’s Silsoe campus and was awarded the Chair of Water and the Environment in 2001.
From 2005, Professor Stephens became Change Programme Director, reporting to the Vice-Chancellor on the major developments on the Cranfield campus to accommodate the move of academic activities from Silsoe and the formation of the School of Applied Sciences and Cranfield Health. He is directly involved with the development of University strategy, including Cranfield’s Carbon Management Plan, which aims to reduce the University’s carbon footprint by 50% over five years.
Professor Stephens is the Cranfield University Nominated Trustee on the Bedford Charity and is Chair of the Grants Committee disbursing over £1 million annually. He was also a Commonwealth Scholarships Commissioner from 2004 to 2010.
