Professor Anjali Goswami
Biography
Professor Anjali Goswami was appointed Chief Scientific Adviser and Director General Science and Analysis at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 1 July 2025.
Anjali is a research leader in evolutionary biology and former Dean of Postgraduate Education at the Natural History Museum, London, an Honorary Professor in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London, and Past President of the Linnean Society of London.
She received her B.Sc. from the University of Michigan in 1998 and her PhD from the University of Chicago 2005, followed by a US National Science Foundation fellowship held at the Natural History Museum and a JRF at King’s College and lectureship in Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge. Her expertise is in vertebrate evolution and development, particularly in the emerging area of evolutionary phenomics. She and her group develop and apply new approaches to capturing the complex three-dimensional shapes of organisms in order to reconstruct the evolution of biodiversity. Her work spans insects to dinosaurs, but her main interest is in the evolution of mammals. To fill key gaps in the palaeontological record, she has searched for fossils from Svalbard to Madagascar, with her primary fieldwork being based in South India.
She is the recipient of the Linnean Society Bicentenary Medal, the Zoological Society of London Scientific Medal, the Hind Rattan Award, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Robert L. Carroll award, the Palaeontological Association President’s Medal, and the Humanists UK Darwin Day Medal. She was elected to the fellowship of the Royal Society of London in 2024
Defra Chief Scientific Adviser
The Chief Scientific Advisor for Defra:
- provides Ministerial advice on evidence base to support policy decisions
- ensures quality and fit-for-purpose science
- raises the profile of Defra science and manage interface with the public