Professor Roderick Watkins has been Vice Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) since 2019. Since that time the university has grown strongly and now has over 40,000 students studying at its campuses in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Peterborough, Writtle and London as well as overseas. ARU has recently won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its research and a Gold TEF rating for its education. In 2023 ARU was named the Times Higher Education University of the Year and University of the Year at the UK Social Mobility Awards, in recognition of the role played by ARU Peterborough in advancing social mobility across the city and the wider region.