Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre: CEO Steve Foxley leaving top Sheffield University role - with uncertainty over replacement
The chief executive of Sheffield University's acclaimed Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre is leaving the organisation – with uncertainty over whether he will be directly replaced as the university faces a £50m financial shortfall.
Steve Foxley is departing his role at the AMRC to take up a new post as chief executive of Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult from early next year. The organisation is one of several Catapults set up by the Government to support innovation and development in high-growth industries.
He is staying with the AMRC as the organisations work to agree a mutually convenient leaving date and his departure is said to be unconnected to ongoing financial challenges facing Sheffield University.
But the university is understood to still be considering how its future management structure will work after Mr Foxley leaves and whether a new CEO for the AMRC will be recruited.
The university said the AMRC will be led “in the interim” by Professor Geraint Jewell, Vice-President of the Advanced Manufacturing Group at the University of Sheffield. The group already oversees the work of the AMRC.
Professor Koen Lamberts, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, said: "I would like to thank Steve for his outstanding leadership of the AMRC over the last five years. In that time, the AMRC has gone from strength to strength, growing its impact in the region, nationally and internationally.
“The AMRC is an important part of our University, and we will put in place leadership arrangements that allow us to build on Steve's remarkable work and ensure its continued success and impact in the years to come."
Mr Foxley’s departure comes against the backdrop of the University of Sheffield facing a £50m financial shortfall for this academic year due to drops in student numbers, with all departments told to make savings.
Earlier this year, the university made dozens of redundancies at the AMRC’s sister organisation, the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. The latter’s remaining staff were absorbed into the AMRC’s operations.
Mr Foxley said he was “incredibly sad” to leave the AMRC.
He said: “It has been a privilege and pleasure to be part of the team here. I am extremely proud of what we have achieved together, delivering impact for the manufacturing sector with benefits for businesses, families and communities across the UK.. The team at the AMRC is exceptional and I have no doubt it will continue to deliver brilliantly for the country and our global community of businesses.”
Mr Foxley joined the AMRC, which is part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, in January 2020 and described it as his dream job in an interview with the Sheffield Star. That followed the shock departure of AMRC co-founder Keith Ridgway CBE in October 2019 following a reported clash over the university having more control over the centre’s activities.
His wife Christine also left, as did three other founders – Adrian Allen, John Baragwanath and Richard Caborn.
Professor Ridgway subsequently called for the AMRC to be run by a network of universities across the North.
He said that having it solely controlled by the University of Sheffield “severely restricts” access to expertise and called for the ownership model to be widened.