Names and titles

Names

Give the person's title, forename and surname on the first mention. Then use either their surname or their title and surname throughout:

Dr Malcolm Strong has published some new research into how to make llamas move faster. Dr Strong is certain he can build on this work in future.

If the tone of the communication is more informal, refer to them by their first name rather than surname after the first mention:

Professor Jennifer King is in charge of the research project. If you're interested and want to find out more, you'll find Jennifer in the library.

Only capitalise job titles when there is a single person in that role:

Today I met the Dean of Medicine.

Professor Andy Long is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nottingham.

If there is more than one person with that job title, use lower case:

I'm an assistant professor.

I had a productive meeting with the marketing assistant.

These are titles or letters placed after the name of a person to show they have certain qualifications, accreditations or honours.

Before you reel off such a list, ask yourself: is including them really relevant to what you're writing, or does it just look like you're bragging?

If you absolutely have to include them, here's the order they should go in:

Civil honours
Military honours
Appointments (eg QC, MP)
Higher education awards (in the order: bachelor's, master's, doctorate, postdoctorate)
Membership of academic or professional bodies

Jennifer King OBE QC BSc, MSc, PhD

You should always capitalise our campuses when using their official names: