Glynis Breakwell

Dame Glynis Marie Breakwell DBE DL FRSA FAcSS (born West Bromwich, 26 July 1952) is a British social psychologist, researcher and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath. In January 2014 she was listed in the Science Council's list of '100 leading UK practising scientists'.^[1] Her tenure as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath was marred by controversy over her remuneration, culminating in her dismissal.^[2]

Breakwell has been a Fellow of the British Psychological Society since 1987 and an Honorary Fellow since 2006. She is a chartered health psychologist and in 2002 was elected an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences.^[3]

Breakwell was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to higher education.^[4] She is also a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Somerset.^[5]

Breakwell was born on 26 July 1952 in West Bromwich, England. She graduated from the University of Leicester with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1973, the University of Strathclyde with a Master of Science (MSc) degree in 1974, the University of Bristol with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1976.^[6] Her doctoral thesis was titled "The mechanisms of social identity".^[7] Later, in 1995, she was awarded a Doctor of Science (DSc) degree, a higher doctorate, by Nuffield College, Oxford.^[6]

In 2002, she lived in a five-bedroom house at Lansdown Crescent. After her dismissal from the Vice-Chancellorship, the house was then up for sale for £3,000,000.^[8]

• 1976–1978 Lecturer in social psychology, University of Bradford
• 1978–1982 Prize Fellow in social psychology, Nuffield College, Oxford
• 1978 BPS Young Social Psychologist Award
• 1984 Associate Fellow
• 1987 Fellow
• 1993 Myers Award
• 1995–1999 Member Social Psychology Section Committee (Chair 1997–1999)
• 1978 MA (by special resolution) University of Oxford
• 2006 Honorary Fellow of the British Psychological Society
• 2014 Science Council list of 100 leading UK practising Scientists

University of Surrey

• 1981–1987 Lecturer in social psychology
• 1987–1988 Reader
• 1991–2001 Professor of Psychology
• 1990–1995 Head of Department of Psychology
• 1994–1995 Pro Vice-Chancellor (Staff Development and Continuing Education)
• 1995–2001 Head of School of Human Sciences

University of Bath

• 2001–2019 Vice-Chancellor, University of Bath

Shandong University, China

• Honorary Professor

• Non executive director, NHS Improvement^[9]
• Member of the Science & Technology Honours Committee^[10]

In 2016, former education minister Lord Adonis called for an inquiry in the House of Lords as he criticised the "serious controversy" of salary increases awarded to Breakwell as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath. A pay rise of 11%, well above the 1.1% cap on pay for non-managerial staff across the higher education sector, took her yearly earnings to £451,000. "Put all that together, and Glynis Breakwell is paid almost exactly half a million pounds, more than three times the prime minister's salary" said Lord Adonis.^[11]

It was also reported around the same time by a freedom of information request submitted by Bath councillor Joe Rayment that Breakwell claimed an extra £20,000 in domestic expenses despite living in a grace-and-favour property owned by the university.^[12][13][14]

In protest against Breakwell's pay package, four MPs resigned from the university court (advisory board) for the University of Bath: Darren Jones, Kerry McCarthy, David Drew, and Andrew Murrison.^[15] Critics speculated that the controversy surrounding Breakwell's salary had led to a decline in applications; the university suffered an 18.5% drop in applications from non-EU applicants for the 2018 entry, and an overall 6% drop against an 11.5% jump in applications for Bath's six closest competitors.^[16]

A freedom of information request by the Bath Chronicle revealed Breakwell secured a further 3.9% pay rise in the 2016–2017 academic year, raising her total wages and benefits to more than £468,000.^[17] This led Adonis to refer to her pay rise – awarded whilst she herself was a member of the remuneration committee that set her salary – as a "disgrace" and to call for her to resign. In response, Breakwell issued a statement saying "The university is committed to the highest standards of governance and treats very seriously any complaint made."^[17] Breakwell stepped down from the remuneration committee in October 2017 during a series of reforms described as "largely worthless" in a joint statement from unions.^[18] One month later, University of Bath students overwhelmingly passed a motion of no confidence in the university's governance in relation to Council and Remuneration committee.^[19][20]

Addressing the issue of her salary in a 2015 interview, Breakwell stated: "I'm worth it...I've been in the job a long time and you do tend to get increases over time in most jobs. Frankly, I don't think that there is anything I could say that would stop people saying that I earn too much and vice-chancellors earn too much, so I cannot engage in a conversation because I don't think there is a way through."^[21]

On 28 November 2017 Breakwell announced that she would step down as vice-chancellor on 31 August 2018, at the end of the 2017–18 academic year, and take a fully paid sabbatical semester before formally retiring on 28 February 2019.^[22][23] As part of the terms of her resignation, the university wrote off the interest-free loan for her £31,000 car which she kept.^[24]

Andrew Adonis called the terms of her resignation "outrageous" and that she was the worst case of "fat-cat pay", saying the sabbatical meant that she would be paid £700,000 to go.^[25] A joint statement from trade unions representing staff at the University of Bath urged for Breakwell's resignation to be effective immediately, citing concerns over Breakwell continuing to exercise authority which generated a "climate of fear" on campus.^[26] On 16 January 2018, the university court voted in favour for the immediate dismissal of Breakwell.^[27]

• Breakwell, Glynis; Rowett, Colin (1982). Social Work: The Social Psychological Approach. Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 0442305192.
• Breakwell, Glynis (1985). The Quiet Rebel. Century. ISBN 071260717X.
• Breakwell, Glynis (1986). Coping with Threatened Identities. Sydney: Law Book Co of Australasia. ISBN 0416371205.
• Breakwell, Glynis (1989). Facing Physical Violence. Routledge. ISBN 0901715956.
• Breakwell, Glynis (1990). Interviewing (Problems in Practice). BPS Blackwell. ISBN 978-1854330000.
• Banks, Michael; Bates, Inge; Breakwell, Glynis; Bynner, John M.; Emler, Nicholas; Jamieson, Lynn; Roberts, Kenneth B. (1991). Careers and Identities. Open University Press. ISBN 978-0335097142.
• Breakwell, Glynis (1991). Social Psychology of Political and Economic Cognition. Academic Press Inc. ISBN 978-0121286804.
• Rowett, Colin; Breakwell, Glynis (1992). Managing Violence at Work. NFER-Nelson. ASIN B0018LSXWM.
• Breakwell, Glynis (1992). Social Psychology of Identity and the Self Concept. Academic Press Inc. ISBN 978-0121286859.
• Breakwell, Glynis; Canter, David (1993). Empirical Approaches to Social Representations. Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0198521815.
• Breakwell, Glynis; Millard, L. (1995). Basic Evaluation Methods: Analysing Performance, Practice and Procedure. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1854331618.
• Breakwell, Glynis; Lyons, Evanthia (1996). Changing European Identities: Social Psychological Analyses of Social Change. Garland Science. ISBN 978-0750630085.
• Breakwell, Glynis (1997). Coping with Aggressive Behaviour (Personal and Professional Development). John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1854332059.
• Breakwell, Glynis (2003). Doing Social Psychology Research. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1405108126.
• Breakwell, Glynis (2003). Doing Social Psychology Research. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1405108126.
• Breakwell, Glynis; Smith, Jonathan A.; Wright, Daniel B. (2012). Research Methods in Psychology (4 ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd. ISBN 978-0857022646.
• Breakwell, Glynis (2014). The Psychology of Risk (2 ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107602700.
• Jaspal, Rusi; Breakwell, Glynis (2014). Identity Process Theory: Identity, Social Action and Social Change. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107022706.

• University of Bath profile: Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell Archived 8 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine
• Full list of publications by Breakwell Archived 23 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine (University of Bath website)
• Debrett's profile