As acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Van de Noort has general responsibility to the University governing body – the Council – for maintaining and promoting the effectiveness, efficiency and good order of the University.
Robert chairs the Senate and the University Executive Board and is an ex-officio member of all major committees in the University, some of which he chairs.
Ann Morgan
Robert Van de Noort studied History at the University of Utrecht and Archaeology at the University of Amsterdam. Before joining the University of Reading in 2014, he worked at the British School in Rome (1988-89), the Rotterdam Archaeology Unit (1989-1991), the University of Hull (1992-2000) and the University of Exeter (2000-14), where latterly he was Dean of the College of Social Sciences and International Studies.
Robert is best known for his research into the archaeology of marine, intertidal and terrestrial wetlands, especially around the North Sea Basin. He directed multi-organisational fieldwork projects in the Humber Wetlands and at Sutton Common in South Yorkshire (both funded by English Heritage), and he was the PI of the AHRC-funded experimental reconstruction of a Bronze Age sewn-plank boat at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. During the last two decades, he has won major research grants totalling £2.65 million from external organisations.
His most recent monographs are North Sea Archaeologies: A maritime biography 10,000 BC-AD 1500 (OUP, 2011) and Climate Change Archaeology: Building Resilience from Research in the World's Coastal Wetlands (OUP, 2014). Robert is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Outside the University of Reading, Robert chairs the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (RFCC), which helps to provide governance for the Environment Agency Flood and Coastal Erosion risk management functions and cover all flood risks that are not the responsibility of the water companies. Robert has previous experience of chairing the committee and headed the South West RFCC until June 2017.
