Council for Science and Technology

Lord Willetts Excerpts

Wednesday 29th June 2011 Written Statements

[The Minister for Universities and Science (Mr David Willetts)]

The Prime Minister has appointed 11 new members to the CST. This process was made in accordance with the rules of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

The CST is the UK Government’s top-level advisory body on science and technology policy issues. It reports directly to the Prime Minister. CST’s remit is to advise the Prime Minister on strategic science and technology policy issues that cut across the responsibilities of individual Government Departments.

The newly appointed members are:

Professor Keith Burnett FRS—Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield University;

Professor Steven Cowley —CEO of the UKAEA;

Professor Dame Sandra Dawson—Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University;

Mr Rowan Douglas—CEO of Willis Re Global Analytics and Chairman of Willis Research Network;

Dr Paul Golby FREng—Chairman and CEO of E.ON UK and Pro-Chancellor of Aston University;

Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow FMed Sci—Vice-Chancellor University of Kent;

Dr Michael Lynch—CEO of Autonomy Corporation plc;

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell FRS FMedSci—President and Vice-Chancellor of Manchester University;

Mr Colin Smith FREng—Director of Engineering and Technology at Rolls-Royce;

Professor Christopher Snowden FRS FREng—Vice-Chancellor and CEO of Surrey University;

Dr Graham Spittle—Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer Europe at IBM and Chair of the Technology Strategy Board.

Earlier this year the Prime Minister reappointed five CST members:

Professor Dame Janet Finch CBE—Professor of Sociology Manchester University and ex-Vice-Chancellor of Keele University;

Dr Hermann Hauser Hon CBE, FREng—Venture capitalist and co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners;

Professor Alan Hughes—Director of the Centre for Business Research at Cambridge University;

Professor Michael Sterling FREng—Chairman of the Science and Technology Facilities Council and ex-Vice-Chancellor of Birmingham University;

Sir Mark Walport FMedSci FRS—Director of the Wellcome Trust;

together with four ex officio members:

The President of the Royal Society—Sir Paul Nurse FRS;

The President of the Royal Academy of Engineering—Lord Browne FRS FREng;

The President of the Academy of Medical Sciences—Sir John Bell PMedSci FRS Hon FREng;

The President of the British Academy—Sir Adam Roberts FBA.

The Prime Minister also reappointed Professor Dame Janet Finch as independent co-chair of CST for one year, alongside the Government’s chief scientific adviser, currently Professor Sir John Beddington.

Full details of CST’s terms of reference and organisation can be found at http://www.bis.gov.uk/cst.