Professor Colin Bailey began his career as an apprentice draughtsman after leaving school at 16, before going on to study for a degree in Civil and Structural Engineering at Sheffield University, where he finished first in his year and offered a scholarship to study for a PhD. He joined the University of Manchester in 2002 as Professor of Structural Engineering, and became Head of the School in 2007. He was then appointed Vice-President of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, before becoming Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 2014.

Over his career he has gained significant non-executive experience, including as a non-executive chair, sitting on the Board of a number charities and organisations.  He is currently a member of the Independent Expert Advisory Panel advising government on building safety following the Grenfell fire. Colin is author of more than 130 research papers and practical design guides, and has been awarded nine prizes for his research work. This has included the publication of the ‘Bailey’ fire design method, which has been used in design software and distributed to 2,500 companies in 20 countries.

He is a Chartered Structural, Civil and Fire Engineer and is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He joined Queen Mary as President and Principal in September 2017.