Sir Eric, who is one of the longest-serving UK Vice-Chancellors and President of Universities UK (UUK), said: "Universities have a significantly transformational impact on society and on the economy and I feel privileged to work in such a vibrant and important sector.

“I am personally pleased and proud to have been awarded this distinction. I hope too that it reflects well upon the University of Bristol, our sector in general and the many amazing and dedicated individuals that work within it, as well as within clinical medicine, which has also formed part of my career."

Sir Eric has been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol since September 2001. He is also Chair of the Board of CASE Europe and a Member of the Board of CASE and has been appointed to serve as a Commissioner of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission.

His chairing of the government Taskforce into Increasing Voluntary Giving in Higher Education, and subsequent report in 2004, played a major role in shaping voluntary giving across the sector.

In August 2011, Sir Eric became President of Universities UK. He was previously Vice-President of UUK, Chair of its England and Northern Ireland Council and Chair of the Research Policy Committee. He was also Chair of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) from 2003 to 2007. 

Sir Eric graduated in Medicine from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1976 and obtained his MD by thesis in research into endometriosis in 1987. He trained as an obstetrician and gynaecologist and worked at both the universities of Sheffield and Newcastle.

In 1991 he was appointed Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Southampton and then became Head of the School of Medicine there in 1995 and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Biological Sciences in 1998. He was a Consultant Gynaecologist from 1987 to 2001.