Sue Rigby

Susan Rigby is Professor of palaeontology and Principal and Vice Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University. She was previously Vice-Chancellor of Bath Spa University. She is an HEA Principal Fellow and an Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh.

Education Rigby received her PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1990 for a doctorate on Graptoloid Form and Function. She received a BSc. from the University of Oxford in 1986.

Career Rigby was appointed Vice-Chancellor at Bath Spa University in January 2018, succeeding Professor Christina Slade. She received £209,597.50 per year for her salary. In addition she elected to receive payment in lieu of pension contributions of £39,572 per year. She could also be awarded a bonus of up to £19,200, dependent on performance. Before taking up this post she was Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Student Development at the University of Lincoln.

In July 2024, it was announced that Rigby would leave Bath on 31 December 2024 to take up the role of Principal and Vice-Chancellor at Edinburgh Napier University in January 2025, replacing Professor Andrea Nolan who was retiring.

Before moving in management in higher education, she had worked as a paleontologist at the universities of Cambridge, Leicester and Edinburgh. With C. V. Milson, she co-authored the book Fossils At A Glance (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009) which is the standard textbook for introductory paleontology and has informed the design of the A-level curriculum. It has been translated into four languages.

Rigby's heroine is the paleontologist Gertrude Elles.

Publications Milsom, C. V. and Rigby, S., (2009) Fossils At A Glance. 2nd ed. Wiley-Blackwell.

Harper, E. M. and Rigby, S., (2005) 'Palaeoecology' in Selley, R.C, Cocks, R.M and Plimer, I.R, eds. Encyclopedia of geology (Elsevier), pp. 140–7.