Shirley Congdon

Congdon was born in Blackhall Colliery, County Durham, England, in 1961.[2] She worked at Hartlepool General Hospital during secondary school, and became a nurse in 1982.[2] She studied at Teesside University in the late 1990s, while still working as a nurse.[3] She was the first person in her family to attend university, and later received a master's degree and teaching certificate from Durham University and the University of Bath.[2] After completing her studies, she worked in higher education at several institutions, becoming a department head at Teesside and director of academic delivery at Liverpool John Moores University.[4]

Congdon became the dean of health studies at the University of Bradford in 2009.[2] She was named pro vice chancellor for learning and teaching in 2011, and deputy vice chancellor (academic) in 2015.[4] In March 2019, the university announced that Congdon was appointed as vice chancellor, and she began her tenure on 1 August, succeeding Brian Cantor.[5][6] She is the eighth person, and first woman, to hold the role of vice chancellor at the University of Bradford.[5]

She was appointed to the Leeds City Region enterprise partnership board in March 2020.[7] Congdon has chaired Yorkshire Universities, a consortium of twelve universities in the Yorkshire region, since August 2020. She succeeded Chris Husbands, and is the first woman in the position.[8]

• Congdon, Graham John; Congdon, Shirley (2011). "Engaging students in a simulated collaborative action research project: an evaluation of a participatory approach to learning". Journal of Further and Higher Education. 35 (2): 221–231. doi:10.1080/0309877X.2010.548597.
• Carter, Lynne; Hedges, Lesley; Congdon, Shirley (2012). "Using Diversity Interventions to Increase Cervical Screening of Lesbian and Bisexual Women". Journal of Psychological Issues in Organizational Culture. 3 (2): 59–71. doi:10.1002/jpoc.20098.