Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea is currently Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh. He obtained a BSc in Mathematics and Experimental Psychology from Sussex and a PhD in Computer Based Learning from Leeds University. He then worked as a researcher in the Computer Science Department of the University of Texas at Austin, the Bionics Research Lab, Edinburgh and the Systems Concepts Lab, Xerox PARC. He held an Open University personal chair in Information Technology and Education and was later appointed as Pro-Vice-Chancellor. In 1997 he was elected Master of Birkbeck and subsequently appointed Provost of Gresham College and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of London, holding the three posts concurrently before returning to Edinburgh as Principal in 2002. Sir Timothy is currently serving as Chair of: the Scottish Institute for Enterprise; the Board of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society; the Coursera University Advisory Board; and Chair of the Newbattle Abbey College Trust. He is Convener of the Scottish Government’s Further and Higher Education Sector Oversight Board for Information and Communications Technology, and is a member of: Universities Scotland; the University Council for the All-Party Parliamentary University Group; the Scottish Government’s Financial Services Advisory Board; the Scottish Government’s digital Services Sponsor Board; the Universities Longer Term Strategy Group; the Advisory Board of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy; and the Governing Council of the Chinese Government’s Confucius Institute Headquarters.