Tim Blackman

Profile details

 

Lifelong Learning Visiting Fellow, Hilary term 2025

Biography and research

Professor Tim Blackman is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at The Open University (OU). He served as Vice-Chancellor of the OU from 2019 to 2024 and was previously the Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex University.

During his time at the OU, he led work to strengthen the university’s offer of vocational courses and improve student outcomes, research impact, sustainability, and equity and diversity. He was part of the major reform made to tutor contracts and core systems. The university achieved the top Gold award in the national Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) in 2023.

At Middlesex, Tim positioned the university’s diversity and teaching of skills at the centre of the student experience and approach to learning. He introduced the ‘Made in Middlesex’ campaign, showcasing the achievements of its diverse global alumni.

Tim began his academic career at the University of Ulster. He went on to work for several years in local government before returning to higher education. He has worked in senior positions at Oxford Brookes University, Teesside University and Durham University.

A social scientist, his interests have been at the interface of research and practice. His early work includes community development and urban planning in Northern Ireland where he co-founded Community Technical Aid (now Community Places). He has led several new research initiatives, including the Oxford Dementia Centre, where he undertook research using virtual environments to help improve planning and design for people with dementia; ‘MK:Smart’, a multi-sector smart city project in Milton Keynes; the Institute for Local Governance in North East England; and PolicyWISE, a knowledge exchange for policy professionals and academics working in the UK’s four nations.

Tim has served in government advisory roles on skills, higher education, health inequalities, social mobility and neighbourhood renewal. He was a board member of the social housing provider Coast and Country Housing Ltd for ten years and an assessor for Social Policy and Social Work in the 2014 national research assessment exercise. He was also a trustee of the Legal Education Foundation and a board member of the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a member of its Council.

Working with Oxford Continuing Education

Whilst at Oxford, Tim will be giving a series of three talks on ‘UK Higher Education and our Fiscal and Environmental Crises’. The talks will be available to attend in person or online and are open to all. Register your place below.