The Queen has awarded a Regius Professorship to the Department of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London. The department is one of only a handful of universities to receive the royal award, which recognises outstanding research and teaching. The Queen is bestowing 12 new awards in 2013 to mark her Diamond Jubilee last year, in fields including engineering and psychiatry. Royal Holloway’s is the only 2013 chair for music.

‘This is an incredible achievement and I am delighted that our outstanding research and teaching has been given world-class recognition by the Queen, ministers and leading academics,’ said Royal Holloway principal professor Paul Layzell. ‘It is an honour that our Department of Music richly deserves and reflects the talents of the entire staff.’
 
Professor Julian Johnson, head of the Department of Music at Royal Holloway, continued: ‘We know that our students rate our teaching very highly and indeed our research placed us as the top music department in the UK in the last Research Assessment Exercise. It means a great deal to receive such a mark of public esteem.’