13 Facts About Janet Finch

Dame Janet Valerie Finch DBE, DL, FAcSS was born on 13 February 1946 and is a British sociologist and academic administrator.

Janet Finch was Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Social Relations at Keele University, and has held a number of other public appointments in the UK.

Janet Finch currently holds an honorary position at the Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life, based in the School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester.

Janet Finch obtained a PhD in sociology from the University of Bradford in 1975.

Janet Finch was made an Honorary Fellow of RHC in 1999.

Janet Finch has published extensively on family relationships, her research interests focusing especially on inter-generational family relationships.

In September 1995, Janet Finch was appointed Vice-Chancellor at Keele University, having previously been a Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Lancaster University.

Janet Finch retired from her position in 2010, having served fifteen years as Keele's Vice-Chancellor.

Janet Finch returned the following year to be made a Doctor of Letters.

Janet Finch is one of four main panel chairs in the Research Excellence Framework, based at the University of Manchester, a non-executive director of the Identity and Passport Service and the chair of the Council of Ombudsman Service Ltd.

In 2011 the government selected Janet Finch to be the chair of the UK Statistics Authority, but during a pre-appointment hearing with MPs on the Public Administration Select Committee differences became apparent on how the independence of the chair should be exercised, and Janet Finch decided to withdraw from the application process.

Janet Finch was independent co-chair of the Council for Science and Technology.

Janet Finch was named a CBE in the 1999 New Year's Honours List for services to social science, and a DBE in the 2008 Birthday Honours List, for services to social science and higher education.