THE University of Southampton has appointed a new head to oversee its physical sciences and engineering department.

Prof Bashir M Al-Hashimi, the current associate dean of research for the faculty, has been named as the new dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering.

He will take up the post on August 1, taking over from Prof Dame Wendy Hall, who will take on a leading role in the university’s new Web Science Institute.

Prof Al-Hashimi founded and is the director of the university’s Pervasive Systems Research Centre.

He leads the £5.6m EPSRC programme called PRiME – Power-efficient, Reliable, Many-core Embedded systems – a project which brings together four world-leading universities and five industrial partners to address major research challenges in future high performance and low-energy embedded computing systems.

He said: “It is a great privilege to be appointed as dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering.

“This is an exciting time to lead the faculty, which I fully expect to contribute strongly towards achieving the university’s ambitious plans for distinction, globalisation and growth.

“I look forward to building on the world-leading reputation of the faculty in providing an environment that supports and rewards excellence in all its endeavours, inspiring both staff and students to achieve their full potential, and enabling all of its academic units and institutes to succeed and prosper.”