Senior Vice Provost for Research

Northeastern University—renowned for its innovative and revolutionary model of education and research—welcomes applications and nominations for the position of Senior Vice Provost for Research (SVPR). The new SVPR will join an incredibly ambitious, entrepreneurial, and global university, whose leadership team and culture eschews incremental change and traditional measures of success. Working with a new provost and research leaders across the institution, the SVPR will accelerate Northeastern’s research impact and productivity on a global scale.

Northeastern’s unique value proposition is grounded in several key tenets: a global network of campuses and partners for students and faculty to leverage for research and learning; an experiential education that prepares undergraduate and graduate students to thrive in a technology-driven world; a deep investment in lifelong and experiential learning; a premium placed on pedagogical innovation; and a highly collaborative, partner-fueled research enterprise focused on high-impact solutions and use-inspired initiatives.

Northeastern has experienced unprecedented growth over the last 20 years. Annual external research funding has increased dramatically, fueled by its highly collaborative, interdisciplinary institutes and centers and a 56% increase in faculty hires since 2006. Northeastern’s inimitable experiential model, with its signature co-op program, has expanded to include a vast array of real-world projects and experiences that attract top students and employer partners from around the world.

Over the past decade, Northeastern has also established 12 campuses beyond its founding Boston campus, across North America and in the United Kingdom, that offer diverse opportunities in undergraduate and graduate learning, research, and entrepreneurship. This global network provides faculty and students myriad ways to learn and discover in new contexts, enriching education, leveraging global research opportunities, and maximizing the ability to make an impact. Northeastern is deeply committed to expanding international education, partnerships, and research, enabling learners and faculty to become leaders equipped to navigate and influence an interconnected world.

The Senior Vice Provost for Research will be tasked with advancing Northeastern’s leadership in high-impact research globally. The SVPR will oversee the university’s nearly $300 million research enterprise, which has grown fivefold in the past decade. Despite current challenges in the federal research landscape, Northeastern remains on an impressive, upward trajectory, looking to continue its ambitious growth in both scale and impact of research through increased productivity, strategic faculty hiring, mergers and acquisitions, industry partnerships, and diversifying funding sources.

The SVPR will lead this charge and shepherd a strategic plan for research that leverages Northeastern’s global network, strengthens its infrastructure for research, and expands collaborations with industry and other external partners. The university has successfully placed strategic bets in key, highly interdisciplinary areas of research through the establishment of empowered research institutes. The SVPR must continue to develop and grow these powerful mechanisms while creating new pathways for advancement in fields such as security, health, and sustainability, among others.

All applications, inquiries, and nominations, which will remain confidential, should be directed electronically below. 

Andy Lee and Vijay Saraswat are leading this search with Elizabeth Weithman, Damla Williams, and Madeline Fitzpatrick.