Robert Kirby-Harris

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Robert Kirby-Harris (born 12 June 1952) is a British physicist and science administrator. He was Chief Executive of the Institute of Physics from 2005 to 2012 and has served as Secretary General of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics since 2008.

Education and early life
He attended Ashford Grammar School (now The Norton Knatchbull School). He earned a first-class BSc in Theoretical Physics from the University of Kent in 1973, an MA in Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics from Clare College, Cambridge in 1974, and a PGCE for secondary schools from the University of Sussex in 1975. He later completed a Diploma in Management Studies at Plymouth Polytechnic in 1985 and a PhD in Higher Education Policy at Lancaster University in 2003.

Career
Kirby-Harris began as a school teacher at Wakeford School (now Havant Academy) from 1975 to 1977. He joined the Royal Navy in 1977 as an instructor and became a Lieutenant Commander in 1982. He lectured in maths and electronics at the Royal Navy Weapons Engineering School (HMS Collingwood) from 1977 to 1979, and was a Senior Maths Lecturer at the Royal Naval Engineering College in Manadon, Plymouth from 1983 to 1985. He has also held university management roles at Middlesex University and the University of Namibia.

Personal life
In 1979 he married Abigail Mee, and they have two sons.