Professor Harris Beider is the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Engagement at the University of Bradford.  He is  responsible for leading the work of the University in these thematic areas as well as working with colleagues on the University Executive Board to shape the future direction of the institution.

He is Professor of Communities and Public Policy at Birmingham City University where he has held leadership roles including Dean for Research in the Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences and Head of the School of Social Sciences.  Previously he had been Director of Research Development and Professor of Community Cohesion at The Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations: Coventry University and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies at the University of Birmingham. In 2014 and 2016, Prof Beider was awarded a Visiting Professorship in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in the City of New York and was nominated for the Columbia University Presidential Teaching Prize in 2017.

Prior to working in higher education, he held a number of leadership positions including Executive Director of the Federation of Black Housing Organisations and National Director of People for Action.  Prof Beider has published widely with his last book – The Other America: White Working-Class Perspectives on Race, Identity and Change (2020: University of Chicago Press) –   nominated for the 2021 Komarovsky Book Prize.   His work has been featured in The Guardian, The Huffington Post and BBC TV. Prof Beider’ s passion for his work  on issues of inclusion, identity and change is shaped in part by being born in Karachi, Pakistan but growing up inner city Birmingham and then attending secondary school in one of the poorest parts of the city.