Scottish poet and critic Douglas Dunn has announced he is not interested in the vacant role of Oxford Professor of Poetry.

The Oxford Professor of Poetry contest began last week, aiming to find a replacement for 2009’s controversial winner Ruth Padel.

Mr Dunn told The Journal: “While the award has a lot of prestige and has been held by many leading poets and fine people, I don’t have the time to dedicate to the post.”

Dunn, previously tipped to be in the running for the position, was professor of English at St Andrew’s university for 20 years and was awarded an OBE in 2003.

The poet, now based in Fife, said he feels that while the post is a great honour, it is not in his best interests.

Commenting on the contest, Anne Stevenson, named as a strong contender for the position said: "The whole notion of campaigning like a politician seems to me only to cheapen the post, as recent events have sadly shown."

Past winners have included WH Auden, Seamus Heaney, Matthew Arnold and James Fenton.

This year a new voting system has been introduced after controversy following the election of Ruth Padel last year.

The old system allowed any of Oxford convocation’s 300,000 members to vote in person in Oxford on an appointed day.

The system was criticised after Padel won with 297 out of only 500 votes.

Padel later had to step down from the post after she was implicated in a smear campaign against her rival, Derek Walcott.

The new system will not allow anyone in the convocation to vote online.

While some fear online voting will only encourage fraud, others believe it will level the playing field for candidates who live further a field, such as last year’s runner up Arvind Mehotra.

Candidates must be nominated by at least 12 Oxford graduates.

Other names tipped to be contenders this year are Geoffrey Hill and the Guardian's Stephen Moss.