Playing the Long Game in UK Academia

Professor David Latchman has just been appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of London. He has prospered mightily, despite a checkered past.

During the 2000s, David Latchman ran a laboratory at University College London (UCL), where investigators subsequently identified manipulated, duplicated or unreliable images and data. Latchman later became Master of Birkbeck College, while retaining his professorship at UCL. After an anonymous whistleblower raised concerns, UCL investigated dozens of publications. The investigations identified serious problems in multiple papers, leading to a mixture of retractions and corrections. There are now more than 70 papers of Latchman’s listed on pubpeer as probably containing doctored images.

There was no finding that Latchman himself fabricated data or knowingly participated in the manipulation. A final UCL disciplinary hearing in 2018 found insufficient grounds for dismissal or formal disciplinary action against him. However, the investigations were highly critical of his oversight of the laboratory and described his failure to properly supervise the research as “reckless”.

The 21 Group would argue that, whatever the conduct of the junior researchers involved, the senior author and head of the laboratory cannot simply disown responsibility for research produced under his supervision. Professor John Hardy, another senior UCL scientist, publicly called for Latchman’s resignation in 2020 as reported here.

Latchman was an author on eight papers that faced retraction, while other problematic papers were corrected rather than retracted. Latchman blamed the falsification on junior members of his team, including researcher Dr Anastasis Stephanou, who acknowledged inappropriate manipulation in at least one case.

There is unusual element to the story. Latchman is the nephew of Maurice Wohl and has served as chairman and trustee of the Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation. The foundation made substantial donations to Birkbeck during Latchman’s tenure, including funding for molecular biology laboratories, a PhD scholarship and the Toddlerlab research facility. There is no claim that these donations were improper, or that Latchman personally benefited from them.

Latchman was also among the highest-paid university heads in Britain. Birkbeck’s own accounts record total remuneration of around £408,000 in 2017–18. More recently, however, the university reported that he voluntarily reduced his salary by £50,000 a year in 2022 because of Birkbeck’s poor financial position.

Rather than ending his career, the research controversy was followed by continued advancement up the academic ladder. Latchman remained at the top of Birkbeck for roughly two decades, subsequently becoming Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of London in 2023.

Then came another episode of turmoil at the University of London. Following bullying allegations, Vice Chancellor Wendy Thomson was suspended in 2025, as reported here. She is currently suing the University of London.

Against that backdrop, the University announced David Latchman’s appointment as Vice Chancellor on 23 July 2026.

So there we have it. A scientist whose laboratory became embroiled in a substantial research integrity controversy, whose oversight was criticised as reckless, who nevertheless remained at the top of British higher education for decades, and who has now reached the very top of the University of London.

Nice to see that strategy, networking and playing the long game win out in the end.