A former Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University took his place alongside some of the institution's most illustrious names and faces last week.

Lord Broers, Vice-Chancellor at Cambridge between 1996 and 2003, was the guest of honour last Tuesday as his official portrait was unveiled by current Vice-Chancellor Professor Alison Richard.

The striking work, by celebrated portrait artist Sergei Pavlenko, is expected to hang in the Combination Room at the Old Schools, home to many other portraits of past University dignitaries.

Pavlenko, who counts HM The Queen, HRH Prince William and other members of the Royal Family among his client list, began work on the portrait last spring.

He completed the painting during the summer after four two-hour sittings with Lord Broers in the Vice-Chancellor's office.

In his speech, Lord Broers quipped: “Thank you to Sergei who painted me, but that's not the guy I shave every morning.

“He has done a fine job and it was a wonderful experience to have a portrait painted. We discussed a lot of things: tennis, engineering, all sorts of things. Although I would have been more comfortable sitting down!”

“I'd also like to say thank you to Alison who has done superbly well as Vice-Chancellor; she has been a joy to watch.”

Paying tribute to Lord Broers, Professor Richard said: “He carried the university forward in the most memorable way.”

Lord Broers was a key player in the rise of Cambridge University as an economic force and centre of excellence for technology.

President of the Royal Academy of Engineering between 2001 and 2006, he played a pioneering role in the development of nanotechnology, setting up the Centre for Nanoscience at Cambridge.

A Fellow and former Master of Churchill College, he was knighted for his services to education in 1998 and granted a Life Peerage in 2004, the same year he became Chairman of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee.

Lord Broers holds an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University and is an Honorary Fellow of Gonville and Caius, Trinity and St Edmund's Colleges.

Sergei Pavlenko graduated from St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts in 1988 before moving to the West in 1989.

Now an established portrait painter in Europe and the USA, Sergei's work is in constant demand. His portrait of HM The Queen, completed in 2000, was said to be her favourite portrait since the Coronation.

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