Malcolm Colin Press CBE DL (born 18 September 1958) is a British ecologist, professor and Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University, in the United Kingdom. Press is also President of Universities UK.

Press is the President of Universities UK and a trustee of British Council and English National Opera. Press is a commander of the British Empire as of 2022.

Press was educated at Kingsbury High School. He studied environmental science at Westfield College, part of the University of London gaining a Bachelor of Science degree in 1980 followed by a PhD from the University of Manchester in 1984 supervised by John A. Lee. In 2008, he was awarded a Diploma in Spanish and Latin American studies from the University of Sheffield.

Following his PhD, Press was a postdoctoral research associate at University College London (UCL) from 1985 to 1989. He was appointed a lecturer in 1989 at the University of Manchester and promoted to senior lecturer in 1992.

Press moved to the University of Sheffield in 1994, where he served as a reader until 1998, then professor of physiological ecology, where he also served as head of the department of animal and plant sciences from 2002.

He was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor and head of the college of life and environmental sciences at the University of Birmingham in 2008. Press faced pushback from the University and College Union, which held a successful strike ballot following introduction of performance management measures to support university staff. Following constructive negotiations, the strike was later called off after negotiations and Press noted that his statements in a public strategy document "could have been more clearly and sensitively articulated"..

From 2013 he served as Birmingham's Pro-Vice-Chancellor for research and knowledge transfer.

Press was appointed Vice-Chancellor at Manchester Metropolitan University in June 2015 where he took over from John Brooks who held the post from 2005 to 2015.