David Harrison (chemical engineer)


Sir David Harrison FRSCM was a British chemical engineer and academic. He was vice-chancellor of the University of Keele from 1979 to 1984, vice-chancellor of the University of Exeter from 1984 to 1994, master of Selwyn College, Cambridge, from 1994 to 2000, and pro-vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge in 1997.

Education and career

Harrison was educated at Bede School, Sunderland, Clacton County High School and Selwyn College, Cambridge, reading natural sciences, before receiving a PhD in physical chemistry. He joined the newly formed Chemical Engineering Department doing extensive research into Fluidisation which resulted in three books, all written with his close friend Prof John Davidson. He taught at Cambridge University until 1979, becoming a fellow of Selwyn in 1957 and its Senior Tutor.
Harrison left Selwyn in 1979 to take up the post of Vice-chancellor at Keele University. In 1984, he took up his second vice-chancellor post at University of Exeter, where he remained until 1994.
Harrison returned to Selwyn in 1994, this time as Master of the college, a role he held until 2000.
Harrison was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1987.
Outside academia, he was chairman of the Government's Advisory Committee on the safety of nuclear installations. He chaired the Councils of both Exeter and Ely Cathedrals. Harrison was a governor of numerous schools and Director of the Salters' Institute of Industrial Chemistry from 1993 to 2015, where his focus was the chemistry curriculum and school outreach activities. Between 1996 and 2005 he was Chairman of the Council of the Royal School of Church Music.

Personal life

In 1962 he married Sheila Rachel Debes and they had a daughter and two sons.
Harrison died on 27 March 2023, at the age of 92.

Honours and recognitions

Harrison received a CBE in 1990 and was knighted in the 1997 New Year Honours for services to education and nuclear safety.
In his lifetime, Harrison received honorary doctorates from the following institutions:
Harrison House and Harrison Drive in Homerton College, University of Cambridge are named after Harrison, marking his service as chair of the Trustees of Homerton College until 2010 when it received its Royal Charter and became self-governing. The Harrison Building is named after him at Exeter University. The Senior Common Room at Selwyn College is named the Harrison Room after him.