Professor Dame Janet Beer has previously been the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool. Prior to that she was the Vice-Chancellor at Oxford Brookes University and Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Humanities, Law and Social Sciences at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is a graduate of Reading and Warwick Universities and held a fellowship at Yale University.
An outstanding researcher in the field of late 19th and early 20th century American literature and culture, Professor Dame Janet Beer is also extremely well-known and respected in the higher education sector for the national leadership roles she has undertaken.