Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Queen Margaret University Edinburgh

Policy Leaders Fellow Alumnus, Centre for Science and Policy

Sir Paul Grice joined Queen Margaret University Edinburgh as Principal and Vice-Chancellor in October 2019.

Previously, as Clerk and Chief Executive of the Scottish Parliament, Sir Paul led the Scottish Parliamentary Service which is responsible for delivering all services to the Parliament and its Members, and was the Parliament's principal adviser on procedural and constitutional matters. It was in this role that he joined the Policy Leaders Fellowship. He had worked in the devolved parliament since its inception in 1999.

Paul graduated in 1984 from Stirling University, and joined the UK Civil Service through the "Fast Stream" in 1985. He worked for the Department of Transport and, subsequently, the Department of the Environment on bus de-regulation, railways policy and local government finance, and then acted as Private Secretary to Virginia Bottomley MP.

Paul joined the Scottish Office in 1992, working on housing and urban regeneration policy, then management of change. He joined the Constitution Group in May 1997, with responsibility for the Referendum on establishing the Scottish Parliament: he subsequently managed the Scotland Act which laid the new constitutional framework. He was then appointed Director of Implementation, setting up parliamentary organisation and associated support systems, before being appointed Clerk and Chief Executive of the Parliament in summer 1999.

Paul was knighted in the New Year Honours List 2016 for services to the Scottish Parliament and voluntary service to Higher Education and the community in Scotland.