Nishan Canagarajah

Professor Sir
Nishan Canagarajah
நிஷான் கனகராஜா
Vice Chancellor of the University of Leicester
Incumbent
Assumed office
November 2019
Preceded byPaul Boyle
Personal details
BornCedric Nishanthan Canagarajah
1966 (age 59–60)
Sri Lanka
EducationChrist's College, Cambridge (BA, MA, PhD)

Sir Cedric Nishanthan Canagarajah[1] (born 1966) is a Sri Lankan-British academic and the current president and vice-chancellor of the University of Leicester.[2][3] He was previously one of the pro-vice-chancellors of the University of Bristol.[4]

Early life

Canagarajah was born in 1966 in Sri Lanka.[5][6] His mother was a teacher.[7] He was educated at St. John's College, Jaffna.[8] He was the Head Prefect of the college in the year 1985[9] and also excelled in sports such as cricket, football, volleyball, and hockey. After school he joined Christ's College, Cambridge from where he received a BA honours degree in electronics and information sciences in 1989 and a Ph.D. in digital signal processing in 1993.[5][6][10][11]

Career

Canagarajah joined the University of Bristol in 1993 as a research assistant.[5][6] He was promoted to lecturer in 1994, senior lecturer in 1999 and reader in 2001.[6] He became professor of multimedia signal processing in 2004.[5][6] He was promoted to research director at the university's Faculty of Engineering in 2006 and head of Department of Computer Science in 2009.[5] He became head of Merchant Venturers School of Engineering in 2010 before becoming dean of the Faculty of Engineering in 2011.[5] He was appointed pro-vice-chancellor for research and enterprise in August 2014.[5] In August 2019 it was announced that he would become president and vice-chancellor of the University of Leicester in November 2019.[12][13]

Canagarajah's research contributions in image segmentation and texture classification are internationally recognized and his research on audio signal processing led to an interactive exhibit, Virtual Drum, at the London Science Museum.[14] He has led a number of successful international research partnerships and is currently theme leader for the joint £5M EPSRC/DST collaborative programme on next generation telecommunications systems and services, which includes a number of UK and Indian universities and industrial partners.[15]

Canagarajah has served on a number of national and international panels on research funding, governance and postgraduate education. He acted as a technical consultant for several industrial partners including Sony, BT, BBC, Orange, Thales, Toshiba and the Metropolitan Police Service.[16][17][18] He is part of the Universities UK advisory group to tackle racial harassment in higher education.[19]

In January 2021, members of the Leicester University and College Union voted overwhelmingly in support of a motion of no confidence against Canagarajah, in response to a proposed mass lay-off of faculty members.[20] In March 2021, students at Leicester also approved a vote of no confidence against Canagarajah, with 1010 votes for the proposal and only 82 opposed.[21] In December 2025, another motion of no confidence in Canagarajah was passed by the Leicester University and College Union in response to more proposed job cuts, with 96.2% voting in favour and 3.8% opposed.[22]

Personal life

Canagarajah is married to Thabitha.[7] They have a daughter and two sons.[7]

Canagarajah was knighted in the 2026 New Year Honours for services to higher education.[23][1] On 7 July 2026, he received the honour from King Charles III at an investiture ceremony held at Windsor Castle.[24]

References

  1. 1 2 "New Year Honours List 2026". GOV.UK. 29 December 2025. Archived from the original on 30 December 2025. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
  2. ↑ "Senior staff". University of Leicester. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "Annual report and accounts 2021-22". University of Leicester. Archived from the original on 19 January 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  4. ↑ "Senior staff". University of Bristol. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nishan Canagarajah". University of Bristol. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Professor Nishan Canagarajah". Faculty of Engineering, University of Bristol. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 "Speaking Personally" (PDF). LynchPin: 19. Spring 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  8. ↑ "Professor Nishan Canagarajah's Appointment as Pro-Vice Chancellor of Bristol University". Tha Lifestyle. 1 (3): 1. March 2014. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "Prefect System – St. John's College | யாழ். பரி யோவான் கல்லூரி". Retrieved 30 April 2025.
  10. ↑ "University of Bristol appoints new Pro Vice-Chancellor". University of Bristol. 11 March 2014. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  11. ↑ "Christ's College Magazine no.245" (PDF). alumni.christs.cam.ac.uk. 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 March 2025. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
  12. ↑ "New Vice-Chancellor named". Leicester, U.K.: University of Leicester. 19 August 2019. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  13. ↑ Martin, Dan (20 August 2019). "University of Leicester appoints Nishan Canagarajah as new vice-chancellor". Leicester Mercury. Leicester, U.K. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  14. ↑ "Professor Nishan Canagarajah - University of Bristol". research-information.bris.ac.uk. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  15. ↑ "UK-India research collaboration deepens - EPSRC website". epsrc.ukri.org. Archived from the original on 30 April 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  16. ↑ "President and Vice-Chancellor | About | University of Leicester". le.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  17. ↑ "Digital institute gets £29m boost". BBC News. 10 July 2019. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  18. ↑ "Thales and Bristol University sign strategic agreement to collaborate in research and education activities". Thales Group. Archived from the original on 25 September 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  19. ↑ "University of Leicester experts appointed to prestigious panel on harassment". le.ac.uk. 10 October 2019. Archived from the original on 5 December 2022. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  20. ↑ Martin, Dan (26 January 2021). "UCU members 'overwhelmingly' back no-confidence motion in Leicester University vice-chancellor". Leicester Mercury. Archived from the original on 3 February 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  21. ↑ "Leicester students pass vote of no confidence in Vice-Chancellor". 22 March 2021. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  22. ↑ "Leicester University Vice Chancellor Loses Vote of No Confidence". Leicester UCU. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  23. ↑ "University of Leicester Vice-Chancellor knighted in King's New Year Honours". University of Leicester. 29 December 2025. Archived from the original on 30 December 2025. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
  24. ↑ "Arise Sir Nishan – King Charles knights University of Leicester Vice-Chancellor". University of Leicester. 8 July 2026. Archived from the original on 8 July 2026. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
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