Professor Merfyn Jones is a historian, broadcaster, governor of the BBC and vice-chancellor of the University of Wales, Bangor.

He grew up and still lives in Gwynedd, Wales.

He is a prolific historian specialising in modern and contemporary Welsh history and has made numerous TV documentaries. His special interest is the history of the process of devolution (setting up of the National Assembly for Wales) in Wales. He is also the author of a number of books and articles, including The North Wales Quarrymen for which he was awarded the Welsh Arts Council prize for literature, and he regularly broadcasts on the BBC and S4C.

History

He graduated at the University of Sussex and the University of Warwick. He lectured at the University of Wales, Swansea and was a lecturer, head of department and dean at the University of Liverpool. He then joined the University of Wales, Bangor in 1990 as a senior lecturer in history. He became head of the School of Welsh History there in 1993 and was appointed to the Chair in Welsh History in 1994. He then served as Dean of Arts and Social Sciences for two years before being appointed Pro-Vice Chancellor in 1998.

He received a BAFTA (Cymru) award in 2000 for "outstanding contribution to history on television". On 1 January 2003 he was appointed to the Board of Governors of the BBC with responsibility for Wales. He will hold that position until the end of 2006.

Following his role as acting vice-chancellor in 2003, his appointment as the sixth vice-chancellor of the University of Wales, Bangor was announced on 4 June 2004 and came into effect on 1 August 2004.

He was also a member of the nominations committee established recently to appoint the new Director General of the BBC.

External link

• About the BBC: Professor Merfyn Jones (BBC's biography)