Dr Liqun Chen from Hewlett Packard Laboratories to join the University of Surrey

Society is delighted to have supported the University of Surrey with a key professorial appointment to their Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences. The Faculty at Surrey covers the core engineering disciplines of aeronautical engineering, civil engineering, chemical engineering, electronic engineering and mechanical engineering, alongside the specific disciplines of chemistry, computing, mathematics and physics. It enjoys an outstanding reputation for excellence in research and teaching, a strong enterprise culture and an excellent record of graduate employment.

Society worked with the Department of Computer Science on the appointment of a Professor in Secure Systems. Following a global search, the University appointed Dr Liqun Chen to the position. Dr Chen is currently a Principal Research Scientist at the Hewlett Packard Laboratories (HP Labs) in Bristol, leading the Cryptography Research Programme. She holds a PhD from Southeast University, China.

Speaking of her appointment, Dr Chen commented:

“Although I was happy and comfortable with my current position in Hewlett Packard Laboratories, when Rachael from Society approached me and encouraged me to apply for the position of Professor in Secure Systems at the University of Surrey, I welcomed the new challenge. While working in HP Labs, for almost 20 years, I have maintained and developed my collaborations with academia. Rachael’s approach made me realise that I was keen to return to teaching and working with students as I found this work very rewarding. In addition, having worked on information security research for over 25 years, I looked forward to working in, what GCHQ regards, as an academic centre of excellence in cyber security research. I would like to thank Society and the University of Surrey for giving me this wonderful opportunity.”