Professor Charlie Jeffery became Vice-Chancellor and President at the University of York in September 2019. He joined York from the University of Edinburgh where he had been Senior Vice-Principal since 2014. Prior to that, he was Vice-Principal (Public Policy) having been Professor of Politics at Edinburgh since 2004.

Professor Jeffery's portfolio at Edinburgh spanned the development of strategy and policy, including roles in strategic and financial planning, student experience, and internal engagement and communications. He also had overarching responsibility in external relations, including economic development, widening participation, public affairs and international strategy.

His key achievements include driving interdisciplinary collaborations; like the positioning of Edinburgh's expertise in data science to underpin a regional economic vision. He also played a pivotal role in the development of the £1.3bn Edinburgh City Deal that included a £237m Government investment in Edinburgh's Data Science programme.