His area of special responsibility will be education - a role currently undertaken by Professor Avril Waterman-Pearson, who will retire in the summer of 2011.

Professor Lieven obtained his first degree in Acoustics and Vibration from the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research in Southampton and then completed a Rolls-Royce/EPSRC funded PhD from Imperial College in Structural Dynamics.

After completing his doctoral studies he stayed at Imperial College as a Lecturer for two years before joining Bristol University in 1991 as Lecturer in Dynamics.

He was promoted to Reader in 1999 and became Professor of Aerospace Dynamics in 2002.  He was made Dean of Engineering in 2007.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor David Clarke, said: “Nick's achievements, both in his academic discipline, and as a Dean, have been outstanding and I am delighted by his appointment."

Professor Lieven said: "I am honoured to have been selected to serve as a Pro Vice-Chancellor at Bristol.  I am keen to build on the University’s excellent reputation as providing an outstanding student experience, with the ambition to educate students to be the leaders of their generation.”