Professor James Miller FRSE was appointed as Principal and Vice-Chancellor of University of the West of Scotland (UWS) in November 2022.

Beginning his career as a clinical nurse in Edinburgh, Professor Miller is the first nurse to be appointed as a University Principal and Vice-Chancellor in Scotland. He holds an MBA from Edinburgh Napier University, a PhD from the University of Edinburgh and is an alumnus of Harvard University’s Institute of Education Management.

Professor Miller was Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University and previously held a range of other senior roles, including Director of the Open University in Scotland and Chief Executive of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow as well as senior leadership roles in the NHS.

In 2023, James was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine for almost 2 decades. He holds board positions with a range of respected institutions, including the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, and the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and Universities UK (UUK). He is a member of the International Advisory Board for the Amity University Group in India, and was a founder member of the British Council’s Digital Advisory Board. A former Convener of Universities Scotland’s International Committee, he was elected as the overall Convener of Universities Scotland in August 2025. James previously sang with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus and the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union, where he held a number of positions on its main committee.