His six years at the top, from 1994 to 2000, spanned the election of the new Labour government and included the Bristol inquiry, the rise of concern about healthcare-acquired infections and pressure for changes in working practices in the NHS.
[3] In September 2000, Sir Alan took up the post Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dundee following the retirement of Ian James Graham-Bryce.
[4][5] During this time, Sir Alan was also appointed Chairman of UK Biobank, a joint venture set up by the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council to oversee one of the world’s largest genetic epidemiology studies, and a Non-Executive Director of the Office for the Strategic Coordination of Health Research and the UK Statistics Authority.
On 1 April 2009, Alan Langlands became Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England,[7] replacing Professor David Eastwood.
On 25 March 2013, it was announced that Sir Alan had been appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds replacing Professor Michael Arthur.