Reader (academic rank)

The title of reader in universities in the United Kingdom and some countries in the Commonwealth of Nations such as India, Australia and New Zealand denotes an appointment for a senior academic with a distinguished international reputation for research or scholarship. In the traditional hierarchy of British and other Commonwealth universities, reader (and principal lecturer in the new universities) is an academic rank above senior lecturer and below Chaired Professor. Comparatively speaking, a reader can be thought of as a professor but without a chair, similar to the distinction which can be found in universities in the United States, China (Hong Kong) and some parts of Europe. The promotion criteria applied to a readership in the United Kingdom are similar to those applied to a professorship: advancing from senior lecturer to reader generally requires evidence of a distinguished record of original research. Several UK universities have dispensed with the reader grade, such as the University of Oxford, and the University of Leeds in 2012; those currently holding readerships retain the title, but no new readers will be appointed. In the few UK universities, including the University of Cambridge, that have adopted North American academic titles (i.e. lecturer is equivalent to assistant professor; senior lecturer equivalent to associate professor; professor equivalent to professor), readerships have become assimilated to professorships.