All ministers and senior officials on GOV.UK

Malcolm Joyce was appointed to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) in June 2023. Malcolm is currently Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Cross-faculty Associate Dean for Research at Lancaster University. …

Martin Cave (appointed in January 2012) is an economist specialising in competition issues and the regulation of network industries. He was BP Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics in 2010/11 and Professor a…

Mary Ryan is the Vice Provost for Research and Enterprise and the Armourers and Brasiers’ Chair in Materials Science at Imperial College London. Mary completed her undergraduate studies, earning Joint Honors in Mathematics a…

Professor Mary Stiasny OBE is a Commonwealth Scholarship Commissioner. She is also Pro-Vice Chancellor (International) University of London and Chief Executive University of London International Programmes.

Matthew Campbell-Hill was a non-executive director at the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency from 2019 to 2026, and chair of the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee from 2023 to 2026.

Professor Meghana Pandit took up the post of Interim Medical Director, initially at NHS England, on 1 April 2025. Previously, she has served as Chief Executive Officer at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Chi…

Prof Mel Austen is Professor of Ocean and Society at the University of Plymouth where she is also Director of its Centre for Systems Thinking: Ocean, Land and Society. She leads and undertakes collaborative transdisciplinary…

Melanie Jones is Professor of Economics at Cardiff University. Her research interest is in applied labour economics and focuses on labour market inequality. Melanie is currently an editor at the British Journal of Industrial…

Melissa Denecke is Scientific Director of the Dalton Nuclear Institute at The University of Manchester and holds a Chair in the University’s School of Chemistry. Previously she was department head for ‘Actinide Speciation’, …

Professor Michael Thomas was appointed Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department for Education in January 2026. He is a cognitive neuroscientist and developmental psychologist, a professor at Birkbeck University of London …

Professor Winter OBE is a rural policy specialist and social scientist with expertise covering a wide range of environmental and agro-food issues with particular interests in applying inter-disciplinary approaches to policy-…

Mona Siddiqui is Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies at the University of Edinburgh, a member of the Commission on Scottish Devolution and a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. She is also a regular cont…

Professor Morag McDonald is a Commonwealth Scholarship Commissioner. Morag is Dean of the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at Bangor University.

Professor Muffy Calder took up her post as Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland in March 2012. Professor Calder came to the Scottish government from the University of Glasgow where she continues to hold chair of Professor o…

Natalie Armstrong is Professor of Healthcare Improvement Research at the University of Leicester, where she is also Implementation Lead for the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration – East Midlands (ARC-EM). Natalie is experie…

Neil Hyatt was appointed to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management in November 2019. Neil is a Professor of Nuclear Materials Chemistry at the University of Sheffield and Head of Department of Materials Science & …

Neil was appointed Deputy Director for Health Workforce for the north of England at PHE in 2014. Career highlights: Head of profession for health at the Department for International Development ( DFiD ) long career working i…

Nick Hardwick became Chair of the Parole Board in March 2016. He also has a part-time role as Professor in Criminal Justice at the School of Law, Royal Holloway University of London. From 2010 to 2016 he was HM Chief Inspect…

Professor Nick Jennings was Chief Scientific Adviser for National Security from 2010 to 2015. Nick is an internationally-recognised authority in the areas of agent-based computing and intelligent systems. He is currently Reg…

Professor Nuala McGrath was a Commonwealth Scholarship Commissioner from January 2017 to January 2023. She is also Professor of Epidemiology and Sexual Health at the University of Southampton.

Professor Parmjit Jat is a Commonwealth Scholarship Commissioner. Parmjit is also a Professor of Molecular Cellular Biology at University College London (UCL) and Medical Research Council (MRC) Investigator within the MRC Pr…

Professor Patricia Thornley was appointed Chief Scientific Advisor for the Department for Transport in February 2026. Patricia is a research leader in sustainable fuels. She has led the national research programme in bioener…

Paul Cosford joined PHE on 12 October 2012. Prior to this, Paul led the national and local delivery of health protection services within the Health Protection Agency ( HPA ) from September 2010, and was acting Chief Executiv…

Professor Paul Cullinan qualified in medicine from Guy’s Hospital (University of London) in 1982. He trained in respiratory medicine in England, and in epidemiology and biostatistics at McGill University in Montreal. He work…

Paul Jackson was a Commonwealth Scholarship Commissioner from 2021 to 2024. He is Professor of African Politics and Director of Research for the College of Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham.

Professor Paul Johnstone joined Public Health England ( PHE ) in December 2012. Career highlights: Director of Public Health for the NHS in the North of England, and Regional Director of Public Health for Yorkshire and the H…

Professor Paul Monks CB was the Chief Scientific Adviser ( CSA ) for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero ( DESNZ ) from February 2023 to October 2025. Paul delivered independent and impartial science and engineer…

Paul has worked in a variety of public health roles in government, the NHS and academia before joining PHE in 2013. Before taking up the interim London regional director role, Paul split his time between being Deputy Directo…

Professor Wiles has spent much of his career as an academic criminologist at a number of UK universities and is currently a governor at Sheffield Hallam University and a trustee of the National Centre for Social Research. Un…

Penny Harvey is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (UK), and an elected member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Penny has an ex…

Professor Peter Bryant is Chief Executive Officer of the World Nuclear Transport Institute ( WNTI ), a not-for-profit that represents the global industry on the safe, secure and sustainable transport of radioactive materials…

Professor Peter Cooke was appointed as Vice Chairperson of the Independent Living Fund’s board of trustees in March 2006. Peter is Emeritus Professor of Automotive Management at the University of Buckingham Business School, …

Peter Dolton is a Professor of Economics at Sussex University and Senior Research Fellow at the London School of Economics. His research interests are in the labour economics, applied econometrics and the economics of educat…

Professor Peter Freer-Smith was appointed Chief Scientist at the Forestry Commission in 2009 Peter studied for his first degree at Stirling University gaining a first class degree in Biological Sciences. His PhD was on the i…

Professor Peter Halligan was Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales (CSAW) from March 2018 until February 2022. Professor Halligan is a distinguished psychologist and neuroscientist. Since moving to Wales from his native Ireland…

Professor Peter Liss is a Professorial Fellow in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia. His research interests are in ocean-atmosphere interaction particularly involving trace gases. He served…

Peter White OBE MD FRCP FRCPsych is Emeritus Professor of Psychological Medicine at Queen Mary University of London. He was a consultant liaison psychiatrist at St Bartholomew’s hospital and co-led the chronic fatigue syndro…

Professor Phil Blythe is Professor of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) at Newcastle University. Prior to joining the Department for Transport he was Director of the Transport Operations Research Group for 13 years. Phil’s…

Philip Marsden (appointed in April 2014) is a competition lawyer with a particular interest in abuse of dominance, innovation incentives, consumer welfare, and international competition issues. He is Professor of Law and Eco…

Professor Piran White was appointed chair of Defra’s Science Advisory Council Exotic and Emerging Animal Disease Subgroup (SAC‑ED) in February 2025 for a 2‑year term. He is a Professor of Environmental Management in the envi…

Professor Rachel Mills is the Senior Vice President (Academic) at King’s College London, leading on academic strategy and delivery in the Vice Chancellor’s senior team. She is responsible for shaping the academic vision and …

Richard Dickens became a Low Pay Commissioner on 1 May 2014. He is Professor of Economics and Head of the Department of Economics at the University of Sussex. He is a leading academic on labour markets and the minimum wage a…

Richard Disney is a Visiting Professor of Economics at University College, London and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He was previously a member of the NHS Pay Review Body (2003-09). His fields of inte…

Professor Richard Prager is the Chief Scientific Adviser at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Before joining MHCLG, Richard was Head of the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University and Acade…

Ricky Burdett is Professor of Urban Studies, and director of LSE Cities and the Urban Age Programme a Visiting Professor in Urban Planning and Design at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University a member of council o…

Professor Robin Mason is Chair of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the United Kingdom. Robin is also Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) and Professor of Economics at the University of Birmingham; and a decision-ma…

As Chief Scientific Officer, Robin is responsible for UKHSA’s 2,000 science professionals and for all of the science outputs they produce: from measuring radiation levels on the space station to developing diagnostic tests f…

Professor Roderick Smith was DfT’s Chief Scientific Adviser from January 2012 to May 2014. The Chief Scientific Adviser makes sure that the department’s policies and operations, and its contributions to wider government issu…

Roger Brownsword has been a member of the UK NSC since 2010. He is an expert in law, regulation and technology, biolaw and bioethics, and commercial and contract law. He holds professorial positions in law at King’s College …

Roger Cashmore was appointed Chairman of the UK Atomic Energy Authority on 30 July 2010 and reappointed on 30 July 2013. Career highlights: he is a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 2010 led the Royal Society working group …