Professor Sir Jim McDonald is Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde. He was elected President of the Royal Academy of Engineering in September 2019 and continues to serve in that role through which he is a member of the UK Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology.

He joined Strathclyde in 1984 as a New Blood Lecturer following seven years in the electricity supply industry as a transmission system protection engineer. He was appointed to the Rolls-Royce Chair in Electrical Power Systems in 1993 and subsequently became Director of the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre in Electrical Systems.

He has authored / co-authored over 650 publications including 2 books and 150+ journal papers. His research group grew to be the largest of its type in power and energy systems research in Europe and he has attracted over £100M in research and innovation funding. He Co-chairs, with the First Minister, the Scottish Government’s Energy Advisory Board. He is also Chair of the Independent Glasgow Economic Leadership Board.

He currently holds several senior non-executive business appointments with organisations including the Weir Group plc (FTSE100), Scottish Power plc and the UK National Physical Laboratory. Additionally, he Chairs or participates in several national and international committees related to research, economic development and education. He was a founding Non-Exec Director of the UK’s Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult and held a Non-Exec Director position on the Board of Axeda Systems (US NASDAQ).

In the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours List 2012, Professor McDonald was awarded a Knighthood for services to education, engineering and the economy. In December 2023 he was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in the King’s New Year’s Honours list. The award is for his services to engineering, to education and to energy. He was President of CESAER 2017-19, the association of European Universities of Science and Technology. He was Chair of the Glasgow Science Centre Board, 2011-16 and Chancellor of the Children’s University Scotland 2015-22.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Institute of Physics, the Energy Institute and the Royal Society of Arts. He is an: International Member of the National Academy of Engineering (US); International Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Honorary Fellow of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering; Honorary Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering; and, Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow. He is a Presidential Fellow at NYU, USA and holds Honorary Professorships at Peking University and Tsinghua University, China.