Dr Jennifer Barnes, BA, MA, MMus, PhD, FRSA is President of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, formerly New Hall, a college of the University of Cambridge.

Dr Barnes was born in Massachusettes, USA, and earned a BA in literature from Smith College. She went on to undertake postgraduate study in opera at the Royal College of Music, and then earned her doctorate in music from the University of London. She was a professional opera singer from 1986 to 1991 and a founding member of Mecklenburgh Opera.

In 1989 she was appointed to the position of Associate Professor at the Royal Academy of Music and then moved to the Royal College of Music. During this time she developed a neuroscience research partnership between the Royal College of Music, Imperial College and Manchester University to address the effects of performance pressure on musicians and dancers. In 1999 she took up the post of Dean and Associate-Principle of Trinity College of Music.

In 2005, she was appointed to be the first Director of Global Education for BP. She advised colleagues in over 25 countries on how to establish partnerships between business, governments and the university sector to support university programmes.

She was elected President of Murray Edwards College in 2008 and continues to advise on governance, organisational culture, international policy and strategy issues in higher education.

Dr Barnes is the author of several publications, including The Fall of Opera Commissioned for Television (2005), and her writings have been translated into several languages. She is a contributor to radio and television and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2004.

She is also a Director of St Bart’s Medical Hospital Trust, a Director of Trinity College London, a member of the Society of Authors.

Jennifer Barnes is married to the tenor Richard Edgar-Wilson, a Cambridge alumnus, and they have a son and a daughter.

External links · University of Cambridge: “New President for Murray Edwards College” (http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/2008070403) · Murray Edwards College, Cambridge: “A new President for New Hall” (http://www.newhall.cam.ac.uk/news/2008.html#president)