Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) Dr. Matthew Evans is the university's chief academic, budget, and operating officer.
In these roles, Dr. Evans is responsible for the development of the university’s budget and has oversight of academic affairs at Queen’s. Dr. Evans works closely with the university’s senior leadership team to ensure operational planning is fully integrated across the university, aligns with the university’s strategic vision, and is supported by an appropriate allocation of resources.
Dr. Evans, who began his five-year term on August 1, 2023, has held senior administrator roles at five universities, in various educational systems—Scotland, England, Hong Kong, and most recently in the United Arab Emirates. As Provost at United Arab Emirates University, he oversaw academic operations, the design and delivery of programs, hiring faculty, and he has championed the institution’s ambitions to become more research-intensive and inclusive.
As an agent of change and dynamic administrator, Dr. Evans has led large teams through complex scenarios and has managed substantial budgets, and varied stakeholders across disciplines, politics, and borders, in unexpected and challenging situations.
Dr. Evans completed his Bachelor of Science in Zoology at the University of Bristol in 1987 and earned a PhD at the University of Cambridge in 1991. As an accomplished researcher and admired professor, Dr. Evans’ interests span ecology, evolutionary biology, conservation biology, behavioural ecology, and most recently, how to predict the impact of climate change on the natural world. In 2020, he was identified as being in the top 2% of scientists in the world. He has supervised numerous post-doctoral research assistants and PhD students and has over 80 peer-reviewed papers in international journals. He is a regular reviewer of grant proposals for UK research councils, the USA National Science Foundation, and various international funding agencies.