Transparency data

Defra’s Science Advisory Council: register of interests 2020

Updated 26 February 2024

This register records declarations made by members in respect of interests they have that are relevant to the remit of Defra’s Science Advisory Council (SAC).

There is also an opportunity for SAC members to declare, at the beginning of a meeting, any conflict of interests relating to meeting agenda items. Members will withdraw from discussion of matters in which they feel that they cannot act impartially. Where this occurs, it will be reflected in the official record of the meeting.

The guidance by which SAC members have provided information on their interests is included below. The SAC Secretariat will review and maintain the register on a regular basis, publishing revised details on the SAC website as they occur.

1. Professor Sir Charles Godfray (Chair)

• Oxford University (main employment)

• Other remunerated activities:

  • Chair, Defra’s Science Advisory Council
  • Member of the General Prize Committee of the International Balzan Foundation
  • Member of the Prize Committee of the Heineken Foundation
  • Chair of Judges, Arrell Global Food Innovation Awards, University of Guelph

• Other non-remunerated activities:

  • 2012 - Trustee Director, Rothamsted Research
  • 2013 - Science & Engineering Fellowship Committee, Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851
  • 2014 - Natural History Museum (London), Science Advisory Council
  • 2014 - Trustee, Food Foundation
  • 2015 - Visitor, Oxford University Natural History Museum
  • 2016 - Trustee, Lawes Agricultural Trust
  • 2017 - Strategic Advisor. Plants, People, Planet (New Phytologist Trust journal)
  • 2017 - Management Board, ANTI-VeC (Application of Novel Transgenic technology & Inherited symbionts to Vector Control) Network (BBSRC, GCRF)
  • 2018 - Member, Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Transforming Food Production Advisory Group
• Membership of Societies etc: Royal Society, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Academia Europaea, British Ecological Society, Royal Entomological Society, Linnean Society, Royal Society of Biology
• Research group funding, Wellcome Trust, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Open Philanthropy Foundation, Natural Environment Research Council
• No family conflicts to declare

2. Professor Peter Cox

• University of Exeter (current employer)
• NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (previous employer)
• Met Office (previous employer)
• Holder of grants from NERC, EU, ERC
• Current and recent committee service for NERC Science Board, MPI Meteorology, REF2014 panel for UoA7, former co-chair of AIMES project of Future Earth
• Lead-author on IPCC 4th, 5th and 6th Assessment Reports (Working Group 1)

3. Professor Lin Field

• Rothamsted Research (Current employer)
• University of Nottingham (Honorary Professorship, School of Life Sciences)
• Royal Entomological Society (Fellow and Honorary Publications Officer/Council member)
• Society of Biology (Fellow)
• Current research projects funded by BBSRC, ISCF, Bayer and Syngenta

4. Professor Rosemary Hails

• National Trust (current employer)
• University of Exeter Visiting Chair
• Member of the TB Eradication Advisory Group, Defra (remunerated)
• Trustee John Innes Foundation (remunerated)
• Senior Editor for ‘People and Nature’ (remunerated)
• Trustee Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (unremunerated)
• Research / co-ordination currently funded by NERC, BBSRC, AHRC, Defra, ESRC.
• Recent Committee work for Defra: Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (chair until 2019); for NERC: Science Board; for UKRI: Global Challenge Research Fund; for the British Ecological Society (Vice President, Chair of grants committee)
• NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (past employer)
• Imperial College (past employer)
• Membership of Societies: British Ecological Society; Royal Entomological Society; Royal Society of Biology

5. Professor Rowland Kao

• University of Edinburgh (current employer)
• University of Glasgow (past employer & Associate Academic)
• Research funded by BBSRC, NERC, DFID, Defra, Scottish Government
• Leading a bid to become part of the Defra Animal Health Modelling services framework
• Currently leading a project to develop operational models for bovine Tuberculosis in Great Britain, and a project which is primarily funded by BBSRC but has Defra contributions “Phylodynamic analyses of the epidemiology of M. Bovis in Britain and Ireland

6. Professor Paul Monks

• University of Leicester (current employer)
• Pro-vice Chancellor and Member of University Executive Board
• Royal Society of Chemistry (Fellow)
• Royal Meteorological Society (Fellow)
• Chair, NERC/Met Office Clean Air SPF
• Satellite Applications Catapult Advisory Group (member)
• WMO Environmental Pollution and Atmospheric Chemistry Steering Group (member)
• Research grants: from NERC, UKSA, EU, EPSRC, MRC
• Consultancy – Innovate UK

7. Professor Dame Henrietta Moore

• University College London (current employer)
• Co-founder and chair, SHM Productions Ltd (strategy and insight consultancy)
• Co-President and Founding trustee, SHM Foundation
• President and Trustee at British Institute in Eastern Africa
• Director of Birmore Ltd
• PI of ESRC RELIEF Centre on prosperity in the Age of Mass Displacement
• Trustee, Barbican Centre Trust
• Co-Investigator ETHICOBOTS (bovine TB in Ethiopia, part of ZELS programme, funded by BBSRC, Dstl, DfID, ESRC, MRC and NERC)
• Research funding applications currently under review: AHRC, ESRC, BBSRC, NERC
• GCRF Panel Chair
• Fellow of Royal Society of Arts; Academician of the Learned Societies for the Social Sciences; Member of the Institute of Directors
• Former member European Scientific Research Council (2009-13)

8. Professor Wayne Powell

• Principal and Chief Executive, Scotland’s Rural College (current employer)
• Aberystwyth University, former Director IBERS (past employer & Honorary Professor)
• Research in laboratory (IBERS-BBSRC funded ISPG and responsive mode)
• Current and recent committee service to Welsh Government, TEAGASC, World Food Security (CFS) Council (FAO), Chair KBBE, Secretary State Wales, Business Advisory Group, Waitrose Corporate Social Responsibility Board
• Current Chair of RKEC Committee, Universities Scotland
• Appointed to Scottish Science Advisory Council, January 2019 (3 year term)
• Former Trustee, John Inness Institute, James Hutton Institute, National Botanic Garden Wales.
• Spouse, Dr Tina Barsby - Director, CEO NIAB, Cambridge.

9. Professor Dame Sarah Whatmore

• Head of the Social Sciences Division (2018 -2022), University of Oxford (current employer)
• Professor of Environment and Public Policy, University of Oxford (current employer)
• Chair Defra SAC Social Science Expert Group (SSEG)
• POST Board member (2017 - 2021)
• Fellow, British Academy; Academy of Social Sciences; Royal Geographical Society
• Appointed as a Director of Oxford University Innovation Limited 2019
• Current and recent committee service – Science Advisory Group, National Flood Resilience Review; Research Advisory Group, RSA Food, Farming and Countryside Commission

10. Professor James Wood

• University of Cambridge (current employer)
• Defra TBEAG member
• APHA – Science Advisory board member
• Roslin Institute - Science Advisory board member
• RCVS – council member
• Veterinary Schools Council member
• Zoological Society of London (Honorary Research Fellow)
• British Equine Veterinary Association Ltd – Director and Charity trustee
• Equine Veterinary Journal Ltd – Director
• Survival International – Charity Trustee (chair)

Research currently (or recently) funded by:

• Defra – directly and through BBSRC, all on bovine TB
• The Alborada Trust, The Wellcome Trust, BBSRC, NERC, ESRC, DfID, MRC
• European Food Safety Agency (registered expert)

11. Annex A - Guidance for SAC members

It is your responsibility to ensure that your entry in the SACs register of members’ interests is accurate and up-to-date.

You should declare any financial or other interests, or any personal connections that arise during your term of appointment including those that could be seen as providing a conflict of interest – real or perceived – between your public duties and private interests.

When considering what interests should be declared, you should ask yourself whether a member of the public, acting reasonably, would consider that the interest in question might influence your words, actions, or decisions. The examples given below are not exhaustive.

SAC member interests may relate to:

11.1 Financial interests

These can include:

• directorships
• shares or share options
• consultancies
• research grants and fee-paid work. In particular, the following should be declared
• current research commissioned directly by Defra for which you are Principal or co-investigators
• current applications for research commissioned directly by Defra for which you are Principle or co-investigators

11.2 Non-financial interests

These can include non-financial private links with outside organisations or a high level of political activity.

Additional examples include:

• current positions in your institution that could benefit from information gained through the SAC
• current positions in the wider research community that could benefit from information gained through the SAC
• research interests of close family or colleagues who may benefit from information gained in SAC discussion
• board positions with other organisations that might be influenced or influence information gathered from / shared with the SAC