Professor Dame Sally Mapstone DBE, FRSE

Professor Dame Sally Mapstone FRSE is Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews, a medievalist, and a leading figure in Scottish and UK higher education policy development and reform. Dame Sally assumed the role of President of Universities UK in August 2023.

Sally read English Language and Literature as an undergraduate at Wadham College, Oxford, before working as an editor at the Weidenfeld and Nicolson publishing house in London. She later returned to Oxford to attain her DPhil for a thesis on the advice to princes tradition in Older Scots literature. She spent her subsequent academic career at Oxford, where she became Professor of Older Scots Literature in 2013. She is an emeritus Fellow of St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and an honorary Fellow of Wadham and St Cross Colleges.

At Oxford, Sally also took on several senior leadership roles including Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Personnel and Equality (2009–2011) and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education (2011–16). In the latter role, she assumed responsibility for Oxford's strategy and policies for teaching, learning, student support, and admissions.

In 2016, Sally was appointed as Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews. During her tenure, she has safeguarded and enhanced St Andrews' international excellence in teaching and research through the creation and implementation of the University Strategy (2022–27), which positions social responsibility at the heart of university life, through a commitment to becoming net zero by 2035, and a prioritisation of diversity and inclusivity across the community.

At a national level, Professor Mapstone is also Chair of the Higher Education Policy Institute board and has previously served as the Convener of Universities Scotland and as Vice-Chair of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland.