THE new chancellor of the University of Bradford will officially take up her role at a ceremony next week.

Kate Swann, an alumnus of the university and former chief executive officer of WH Smith and managing director for Argos, was announced as the new chancellor last year.

She was appointed after Imran Khan stood down in 2014.

Her installation ceremony takes place at the university on Thursday, February 25,

Mrs Swann (pictured) was a student at the university's Faculty of Management and Law, and was given a further honorary degree in 2007.

As a chancellor her official duties are to confer degrees on graduating students, chair the University’s Court and play a key role as an ambassador for the institution in the UK and internationally.

At the ceremony, held in the university's Great Hall, Mrs Swann will oversee the Bradford Global Achievement Awards which recognise individuals in society who have achieved excellence in fields of relevance to the university.

The four people being recognised by the awards are Sir Paul Nurse, Nobel Prize winner and President of the Royal Society, round-the-world yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur, Indian economist and philosopher Amartya Sen and Dame Athene Donald, distinguished physicist and incoming president of the British Science Association.