Sir Peter John Gregson, FREng (3 November 1957 – 23 February 2024) was a British research engineer and chair of the Henry Royce Institute. He was previously the vice-chancellor of Cranfield University from 2013 to 2021 and president and vice-chancellor of Queen's University Belfast
Early life
Gregson joined GKN Rolled and Bright Steel Ltd. as an industrial scholar in 1976. He studied metallurgy and materials science at Imperial College London and graduated with a BSc(Eng) (first class) in materials science in 1980, and was awarded the Bessemer Prize. He obtained a PhD from Imperial in 1983, and was awarded the Matthey Prize.
Professional experience
Gregson was non-executive director of Rolls-Royce Group plc (2007–12), and a consultant to Alcan International and Johnson & Johnson Orthopaedics (1986–2004). He served EPSRC in many capacities including as chair of Postgraduate Training Packages (2000) and the academic representative on the User Panel (2004–06). He was a member of the DTI/OST Materials Foresight Panel (1997–99) and Council of CCLRC (2004–06). He has served the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in many roles including as chair of the Alloy Design Committee (1991–92), chair of the Metal Science Committee (1992–93), member of Materials Strategy Commission (1997–99) and Light Metals Division (2000 -2002);
He served on the Council of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Honours and awards
Gregson received the Donald Julius Groen Prize of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (1994) and the Rosenhain Medal and Prize of the Institute of Materials (1996) for his research on the development of advanced aerospace aluminium alloys.
He was elected to Fellowship