Former Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Exeter awarded CBE for Services to Higher Education

Professor Webley, who is now Director of SOAS, University of London, received the award in recognition for his work as the leader of a renowned specialist institution, an eminent economic psychologist, a member and chair of many influential bodies in higher education and as an unstinting champion of specialised research and of freedom of speech.

Professor Webley said: “This is a great honour. I have been privileged to work in higher education throughout my career, largely in the UK but also collaborating with many colleagues and institutions around the world. To me, research and teaching are the foundation of society and I cannot imagine a more fulfilling profession. Through my work at SOAS especially I am glad to have been able to support powerful scholarship and to ensure that specialist knowledge and understanding remains accessible to generations of students around the world.” 

Sir Steve Smith, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Exeter, said:  “Paul has had an enormously distinguished academic career. He was an outstanding Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Exeter and since 2006 has led SOAS with distinction and integrity. In the views of everyone I know in the sector this award will be celebrated because it is so richly deserved.”

Professor Webley was appointed Director and Principal of SOAS in 2006, after 26 years at the University of Exeter, where he was latterly Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor. Since 2010 he has also served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of London. He has been Chair of the Trustees of the UK Council for International Student Affairs, Chair of the Bloomsbury Group of Colleges, University of London, and board member for UCEA and many other higher education organisations.

In his own academic field of Economic Psychology he has been recognised for his significant contribution to research and teaching. A former President of the discipline’s leading international body, the International Association for Research in Economic Psychology, Professor Webley was made an Honorary Fellow of the Association in 2014. In 2010 he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.