Professor Sir Ian Diamond was the Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council before his appointment as Principle and Vice Chancellor of The University of Aberdeen on 1 April 2010.

He graduated in 1975 with a BSc (Hons) in Economics and in 1976 with a MSc in Statistics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Professor Sir Diamond then received his PhD in Statistics from The University of St Andrews in 1981. He began his academic career at Heriot Watt University in 1979. He then joined the University of Southampton in 1980 where he was a Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Professor. At Southampton, Professor Sir Diamond was appointed Dean of Social Sciences in 1997 and then Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 2001. 

Professor Sir Diamond was elected to the UK Academy of Social Sciences in 1999. He is currently a Fellow of the British Academy (2005), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2009). Professor Sir Diamond also holds honorary degrees from the universities of Cardiff and Glasgow. 

More recently, in 2013, Professor Sir Diamond was Knighted for services to social science and higher education and was commissioned as a Deputy Lieutenant of Aberdeen.