Professor Alison Halstead

Professor Alison Halstead

Professor Alison Halstead is currently a Trustee at City and Guilds. She succeeds Dr. Alan Begg, who steered the Trust for the last five years, overseeing our growth, during the challenging times of the pandemic.

Her early career was with Tube Investments before returning to Higher Education. She held academic posts at Brunel University, Coventry University, the Open University and the University of Wolverhampton, before joining Aston University as the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Learning and Teaching Innovation in 2007.  At Aston, she oversaw a successful quality audit and was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship. Alison led the development of the Aston University Engineering Academy for 14–19 year olds and was seconded to support the initiative as the Director for University Partnerships, at the Baker Dearing Trust.

In 2011 she chaired a parliamentary Skills Commission Inquiry into Higher Level Technical Skills and City and Guilds awarded her an Honorary Fellowship for her national work on Apprenticeships, University Technical Colleges and High Level Technical Skills. Returning to Aston University as the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Strategic Academic Developments, she spent time working on the creation of the Aston-led Vietnam UK University in Danang. She has been a Board Member of EU Skills, Trustee and Chair of the Aston University Engineering Academy and a patron for Birmingham Children’s University.

Alison gained a Physics degree and Materials Engineering PhD at Imperial College