The Secretary of State has reappointed Robert Noel and Professor Dame Janet Thornton as Trustees of the Natural History Museum.
Robert Noel and Janet Thornton have been reappointed by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as Trustees of the Natural History Museum for four years from 25 April 2020 to 24 April 2024 and 1 April 2020 to 31 March 20204 respectively.
Robert Noel developed his career in commercial property most recently as Chief Executive of Land Securities Group PLC (Landsec), the FTSE100 Real Estate Investment Trust. He stepped down from the role in March 2020 after serving 8 years. He was previously Managing Director of Landsec’s London business having joined Landsec in 2010. Before that he was Property Director at Great Portland Estates PLC from 2002 to 2009. From 1987-2002 he held various posts at property services group Nelson Bakewell. Robert is currently also a Non-executive Director at Taylor Wimpey Plc and has previously served on the Boards of LandAid, the property industry charity, and The British Property Federation and was its President from 2018-2019
Professor Dame Janet Thornton is a world renowned scientific leader whose early career
was rooted in structural biology. Professor Dame Janet is widely credited, alongside others,
with the establishment of a new scientific field of Bioinformatics. She graduated in physics
before completing her PhD in Biophysics at the UK National Institute for Medical Research.
After postdoctoral research at Oxford University, Professor Dame Janet moved to a
fellowship at Birkbeck College, later taking up a joint professorship with University College
London. She was Director of EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute in Hinxton,
Cambridge from 2001 - 2015, was awarded a CBE in 2000 and a DBE for services to
bioinformatics in 2012. Today, as a Senior Scientist at EMBL-EBI, she works on proteins and
the impact of variants and ageing on diseases.
Professor Dame Janet is a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical
Sciences and a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation as well as a
foreign association of the US National Academy of Sciences.
Professor Dame Janet combines her research with many advisory roles, including Vice
President of the European Research Council and Chair of the Board of the Earlham Institute.
These roles are not remunerated. These reappointments have been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments, the process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Government’s Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared. This is defined as holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Neither have declared any activity.