Brian Lang
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Brian Lang, FRSE, is Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews.
Lang was born on 2 December 1945 in Edinburgh and educated at the Royal High School of Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh where he studied Social Anthropology, graduating MA in 1968, and PhD in 1974. Following a period in Kenya studying and living among the Kamba people, he lectured in social anthropology for some years at Aarhus University, Denmark. Returning to the United Kingdom, he joined the scientific staff of the Social Science Research Council, where he was latterly Principal Scientific Officer.
In 1979 and 1980 he was head of the Historic Buildings Branch of the Scottish Development Department, and from 1980 to 1987, was Director of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, based in London.
After this, he spent four years as Director of Public Affairs for the National Trust, before his appointment as Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman of the British Library serving from 1991 until 2000. He oversaw the successful move, after years of controversy, of the British Library into its large new building at St Pancras.
In 2000, Lang was a Visiting Scholar at the Getty Institute, Los Angeles, and is also a Visiting Professor at the Department of Communication and Media, Napier University, Edinburgh. He is, in addition, a Trustee of the Heritage Lottery Fund and a member of the Cultural Commission.
Dr Lang succeeded Professor Struther Arnott as Principal and Vice Chancellor of St Andrews in January 2001, and his contract to serve the University was extended until 31 December 2008 by the University Court. On 9th March 2006 it was announced that he was to be inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
