ward worked at the university of maryland in college park, the ohio state university, and the university of east anglia. in 2012 he moved to durham university as pro-vice-chancellor for education, and in 2016 to the university of leeds as deputy vice-chancellor for student education. he served in editorial roles for the london mathematical society from 2002 to 2012 and was a managing editor of ergodic theory and dynamical systems from 2012 to 2014. he served on the hefce advisory committees for widening participation and student opportunity (2013-15) and teaching excellence and student opportunity (2015-17)