Colin Bryan Riordan CBE FLSW (born 27 July 1959 in Paderborn, Germany) is a British academic who was formerly President and Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University from September 2012 to August 2023.^[1]

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Colin Riordan CBE FLSW
Professor Riordan in 2019
Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University
In office September 2012 – August 2023
Preceded by	Sir David Grant
Succeeded by	Wendy Larner
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex
In office October 2007 – 2012
Preceded by	Sir Ivor Crewe
Succeeded by	Anthony Forster
Personal details
Born	(1959-07-27) 27 July 1959 (age 64) Paderborn, Germany
Nationality	British
Alma mater	University of Manchester

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Riordan obtained his PhD from the University of Manchester in 1986.^[2]

Riordan taught English as a foreign language at Julius-Maximilians-Universitat Wurzburg in Germany (1982–84). He was Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer in German at Swansea University from 1986 to 1998.

He became Professor of German at Newcastle University in 1998, later being appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor and Provost of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in August 2005.^[3]

In October 2007, he took up the post of Vice-Chancellor at the University of Essex.^[4] On 1 September 2012, he became Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University.^[5]

In 2013, he was elected a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.^[6]

In 2015, under his purview as Vice-Chancellor, Riordan announced that Cardiff University would launch five new flagship research centres, each focusing on a world issue. These include resolving chronic diseases; the scarcity of water; the prevention of crime; studying big data; and creating smarter energy systems.^[7]

Riordan was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to higher education.^[8]

He has published on post-war German literature and culture,^[9] including editing books on the writers Jurek Becker, Uwe Johnson and Peter Schneider.^[10]

In November 2017, shortly after missing Bisexual Visibility Day, Riordan came out as bisexual in a monthly email to staff.^[11] The BBC quoted him as saying, "Only a few vice chancellors have spoken out about being gay or lesbian and none about being bi, as far as I'm aware."^[12] He has two daughters from a former marriage.^[13]

• Vice-president and board member of Universities UK^[14]
• Board member of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education^[15]
• Trustee, the Edge Foundation^[16]
• Member of UK NARIC Advisory Council^[17]
• Member of UCAS board of trustees^[18]
• Board member of the Equality Challenge Unit^[19]
• Chair, Universities UK International (UUKi)^[20]
• Member of the International Education Council sponsored by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills^[21]
• Chair of the International Policy Network of Universities UK^[22]

In 2013 he became chair of Higher Education Wales, the body which represents the interests of Higher Education Institutions in Wales.