Rowan Williams became a patron of the VHI in 2014. He is the Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and was previously the 104th Bishop of the See of Canterbury (2002-13). Before this he has been Dean of Clare College, Cambridge, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford, Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales. He was awarded the Oxford higher degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1989, and an honorary DCL degree in 2005; Cambridge followed in 2006 with an honorary DD. He holds honorary doctorates from considerably more than a dozen other universities, from Durham to KU Leuven, Toronto to Bonn. In 1990 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.

Professor Williams is acknowledged internationally as an outstanding and prolific theological writer, scholar and teacher. He has been involved in many theological, ecumenical and educational commissions. He has a keen attention for matters of contemporary interfaith issues and moral, ethical and social topics.