Professor Cara Aitchison has significant experience in strategic leadership, governance and research in higher education, including over a decade as a University Principal and Vice-Chancellor. She was appointed to the Board of the Scottish Funding Council in 2024 and to the role of Chair in 2025; the SFC is a Non-Departmental Public Body responsible for Scottish Government’s £2 billion annual funding of Scotland’s 19 universities and 24 colleges.

Cara is Professor Emerita at Cardiff Metropolitan University where, until 2024, she was President and Vice-Chancellor and she is an Honorary Professor in the University of Edinburgh’s Moray House School of Education where she was previously Head of School. She was Chair of the REF 2014 Sub-Panel for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Leisure and Tourism and, more recently, a member of: the Council of CBI Wales; the Economic Growth Board of Cardiff Capital Region; the Council of the UK All-Party Parliamentary (Universities) Group; and the Council of the UK Academy of Social Sciences.

Prior to her senior leadership roles, Cara was Professor in Human Geography at the University of the West of England, Bristol and has undertaken extensive research and published widely on sustainable development in rural, coastal and remote areas, and on identity, inclusion and cultural diplomacy in sport, tourism, and education.