1It’s almost the end of my first semester as Head of School. In many ways I feel that I am a student all over again with so many new things to learn and people to get to know.

My actual student life was in Birmingham where I studied biochemistry. My current research focuses on proteins involved in human diseases. We have investigated the molecular basis of galactosemia and characterised unusual proteins from parasitic worms.Before coming to Brighton I worked at Queen’s University, Belfast (and before that, Manchester and Oxford Universities).

I hope that you don’t see this as just a place to come and “do classes”: I want PaBS to be a community that everyone can feel part of. There’s lots going on here which you can get involved in: research seminars, journal clubs, vibrant student societies and outreach projects.

Hopefully, I will get to teach most of you over the next few years and, in the meantime, please feel free to chat to me if you see me on the corridors around Huxley and Cockroft. I’ll always be interested to hear how things are going on your courses and happy to learn about what’s working and what we could do better.

Professor David Timson