Professor Nigel Seaton

Professor Nigel Seaton joined the University of Dundee in May 2025 as Interim Provost and became Interim Principal and Vice-Chancellor on 20 June 2025. 

Professor Seaton graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982 with a first-class BSc (Hons) in Chemical Engineering. 

He completed his PhD studies at the University of Pennsylvania before moving to the University of Cambridge in 1989 to become lecturer in Chemical Engineering and a Fellow of Clare College. He was a Visiting Professor at Cornell University in the mid-90s, and moved to the University of Edinburgh in 1997, ultimately becoming a Vice-Principal at his alma mater. 

In 2008, Professor Seaton moved to the University of Surrey, firstly as Deputy Vice-Chancellor, and then as Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, responsible for the delivery of the University's teaching and research activities, and for internationalisation.

In 2012, he was appointed Principal and Vice-Chancellor at Abertay University, Dundee – a position he held until 2022. During his successful tenure at Abertay, the University was named The Times/Sunday Times UK University of the Year for Teaching Quality, ranked in the UK top ten universities for student satisfaction, became the first Scottish institution to receive the Race Equality Charter Mark and was shortlisted for The Times Higher Education University of the Year Award.

Since his retiral from Abertay in 2022, Professor Seaton has been a Governor of Robert Gordon University (a position from which he is currently on leave) and has been an occasional mentor, coach and consultant.

Professor Seaton is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and of the Royal Academy of Engineering.