Professor Sir David Eastwood became Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham in April 2009.
Former posts include Chief Executive at the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Vice-Chancellor at the University of East Anglia, and Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Board. His early career was spent at the University of Oxford, where he was Fellow and Senior Tutor of Pembroke College. He later held a Chair in Modern History and was Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Swansea University.
He is currently Chair of the Russell Group of Universities, Universitas 21, and also Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). He is also a Board Member of Universities UK (UUK), a member of the Advisory Board of the Higher Education Policy Institute, and a member of the Arts & Humanities Research Council. He also serves as an international member of the Hong Kong University Grants Committee.
In January 2012 he was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant for the county of West Midlands, and was awarded a Knighthood in 2014 for services to education.