IoD North East Dining Club with Professor Andrew Wathey

The Dining Club is a small private dinner for no more than 20 IoD members (incl. up to one guest) to meet a significant business leader in the Region.

The evening is held under Chatham House Rules, so that the guest can speak openly and honestly with the understanding they will not be quoted outside the room. It is structured as if it was a dinner party at one’s home with conversation and debate around the guest speakers topic.

Previously the Dining Club has welcomed guests ranging from Sir John Hall when owner of Newcastle United, through to Paul Polman when head of Proctor and Gamble. Held twice a year, the dinner in Newcastle is this time welcoming the Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Northumbria University, Prof Andrew Wathey.

Attendance is on a first come first served basis.

Speaker Details

Professor Andrew Wathey CBE MA DPhil FRHistS FRSA FSA

Professor Andrew Wathey became Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Northumbria University in September 2008. He is the University's fourth Vice-Chancellor. Previously, he was Senior Vice-Principal at Royal Holloway, University of London, from 2006, and Vice-Principal from 2003.

He was appointed Professor of Music History at Royal Holloway, University of London in 1999, where he was also Head of Department and Dean of the Faculty of Arts. He was a Junior Research Fellow at Merton College Oxford, and then a Research Fellow at Downing College, Cambridge, moving to Royal Holloway in 1989. He was a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford in 1998. Since 1989 he has been a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society; he is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and of the Royal Society of the Arts, and was a Vice-President of the Royal Musical Association from 2001 to 2009.

Professor Wathey’s published research focuses on the social and cultural history of music in late-medieval England and France. He is a co-founder of the Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM), and a member of the British Academy's Early English Church Music Committee, which he chaired 2002-2007. He also chaired the Music subject panel in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.

Professor Wathey has served on a number of national bodies and committees.  He chairs the UK-Wide Standing Committee for Quality Assessment and is a Non-Executive Director of the Student Loans Company. He was appointed Interim Chair of the Student Loans Company from 1 February 2020 – 1 April 2020. He is a Board member of the Quality Assurance Agency, and is a member of the Council of the All Party Parliamentary Universities Group. He has chaired the North East regional higher education association Universities for the North East, and was Deputy Chair of the University Alliance 2009-12.

Regionally, he has been an elected Member of the CBI Regional Council and a Governor of Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.