Professor Pole, a career sociologist, joins the university from Nottingham Trent University where he has worked for the past seven years, firstly as Dean of the School of Social Sciences and latterly as its Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
Previously, he held the post of Sub-Dean responsible for postgraduate recruitment in the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Leicester. He spent nine years at Leicester which included spells as Head of Department of Sociology and Director of Research in the School of Education. Prior to this, he spent 10 years at the University of Warwick where he held a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology and the Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research (CEDAR). Earlier posts were at the Institute for Employment Studies at the University of Sussex and the National Foundation for Educational Research.
Professor Pole's interests in the sociology of education and of childhood have led to project-directorships under the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) Children 5-16: Growing into the 21st Century programme and the ESRC/Arts & Humanities Research Council Cultures of Consumption programme. He has lectured and published widely in these areas and also in qualitative methodology, especially ethnography.
Professor Julian Crampton, the 91¶¶Òõ's Vice-Chancellor, said: "Professor Pole has an outstanding track record both in his academic discipline and as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs. I have no doubt he will build on Professor Laing's tremendous success in the role of Deputy Vice-Chancellor."