A Professor of Art History, Shearer West has significant leadership experience in universities and higher education including her previous role as Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Nottingham. There, she also oversaw operations for the University’s campuses in China and Malaysia.
Shearer’s academic career also spanned the University of Leicester and the University of Birmingham.
In 2008, Shearer was appointed Director of Research at the Arts and Humanities Research Council where she also chaired the Research Directors Group for Research Councils UK. She was appointed Head of the Humanities Division at Oxford in 2011 and Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Sheffield in 2015.
Shearer’s international roles include panel chair for the national research assessment exercise for Humanities in Norway and steering group member to introduce impact into the Excellence in Research (ERA) exercise in Australia.
Shearer received a CBE in the 2021 Queen’s New Year Honours List.