Professor David Weir, in his current capacity of chief patron of Academy of Policy and Research (APR), also looks after APR journal titled ‘Academy of Policy and Research Review’ as its chief editor. He mentors the academic delivery, policy think tank and publication of APR apart from presiding over all the board meetings.

Professor Emeritus at Northumbria University, has had an extraordinarily successful academic career which has included leading four university Business Schools as the Head of the School of Business, Leadership and Enterprise at University Campus Suffolk, Director of the Bradford Management School, Head of the Glasgow University Business School, Dean and Director of the Newcastle Business School, and Dean of the Scottish Business School. He was also Chair of the Association of Business Schools (UK) and is a Visiting Professor for numerous universities including Liverpool Hope University, Lincoln University and Lancaster University. During his 25 years as a Business School Professor and Dean, David has presented and led tracks at high profile conferences at the American, British, European and Irish Academies of Management, the Academy of International Business. He has held Chairs at a number of Universities including Glasgow, Bradford, Northumbria and CERAM and Rennes in France and been a member and chair of both social science and science and engineering research council committees. He was a founding member and long-time Council Member of the British Academy of Management (BAM).

Having personally supervised over fifty successful PhD students, David has acted as doctoral examiner for such Universities as Oxford, London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, St Andrews, Durham, Newcastle, Lancaster, Mauritius and many others in the U.K. and the world. Among his former doctoral students are several Professors and Deans of Business Schools.

David initiated the very first part-time executive MBA in a University business school at Glasgow in Britain, and in each of his business schools has created strong suites of programs in the international market and developed entrepreneurship and small business support programmes, while building a doctoral and staff publication tradition.

David is an author of several books including the best-selling “Modern Britain” series and has wide ranging research interests in areas spanning from strategic management and enterprise development to risk and crisis management and management in the Arab Middle East. He writes poetry and was for several years the Poet in Residence at the Edinburgh pub in Liverpool. He won first prize for raspberry jam at the Sedbergh show in 1974. His secret sorrow is that he is a lifelong Leeds United supporter.