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Defra’s Science Advisory Council: register of interests 2025 to 2026

Updated 19 March 2026

© Crown copyright 2026

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sac-register-of-members-interests/defras-science-advisory-council-register-of-interests-2025-to-2026

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.

Professor Rowland Kao (chair)

  • University of Edinburgh (current employer)
  • Research funded by BBSRC, ESRC, NERC, DFID, Defra, Scottish Government
  • Contributor to the Defra Animal Health Modelling Services framework
  • Member of SPI-M (the Scientific Pandemic Infections Modelling Group, currently advising UKHSA)
  • Member of the scientific advisory board for the APHA led Genomics for Animal and Plant Disease Centre
  • Member of the Bovine TB Partnership
  • Associate of Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS)
  • Previous employers: University of Glasgow (Associate Academic)

Professor Richard Bardgett

  • Lancaster University (current employer)
  • President of British Ecological Society (2017-2019)
  • Member Academia Europaea 2015 (elected)
  • Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand 2006 (elected)
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology 2011 (invited)
  • Journal of Ecology, Senior Editor (2006-2020) and Executive Editor (2020-2026)
  • Member Royal Society’s Newton International Fellowships Committee since 2019
  • Chair, BBSRC Biological Diversity Expert Working Group (2023-2024)
  • Former Chair BBSRC Committee E (2013-2018) and member BBSRC Research Advisory Panel (2013-2018)
  • Former member UK Status, Change and Projections of the Environment Programme Advisory Group (2021-2023) and Board of Directors Rothamsted Research (2009-2019)
  • Holder of grants from NERC, BBSRC and ERC
  • Previous employers: The University of Manchester

Professor Nicola Beaumont

  • National Oceanography Centre, Mission Network Lead for Sustainable Marine Economy
  • Honorary Fellow of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory
  • Honorary Professor in the College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter
  • Honorary Professor in the School of Environmental Science, University of East Anglia
  • Member of Scientific Steering Committee of H2020 BESIDE (Institutional, BEhavioural, critical and adaptive economics towards SustaInable Development, management of natural capital and circular Economy) project
  • Current funding from NERC, Agenda Vestlandet
  • Lead of Society and Regulation pillar for the North Atlantic Microplastic Centre (NAMC) Funded by Agenda Vestlandet
  • Associate Journal Editor for Coastal Futures
  • Associate Journal Editor for Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy
  • Membership (personal): Green Party

Professor Camille Bonneaud

  • University of Exeter (current employer)
  • Director, Environment and Sustainability Institute (University of Exeter) since 2023
  • Academic co-lead on the partnership between the University of Exeter and Natural England
  • Former member of the Pool of Experts UKRI BBSRC (2017-2022) and Royal Society International Exchange funding panel (2017-2019)
  • Current and recent committee service for NERC, BBSRC, Irish Research Council, Agence Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique, Lithuanian Research Council
  • Grants held from NERC, GCRF/Newton Fund, Darwin Initiative, Royal Society, Agence Nationale de la Recherche Scientific, EU Marie Curie, NSF/NIH
  • Previous employers: France’s National Centre for Scientific Research, Harvard University, University of California Los Angeles, University Pierre and Marie Curie
  • Member of British Ecological Society
  • Member of the Science Advisory Council Exotic and Emerging Animal Disease Subgroup (SAC-ED)
  • Memberships (personal): Cornwall Wildlife Trust; Greenpeace

Professor Lisa Collins

  • University of Surrey (current employer)
  • Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, University of Surrey (since 2023)
  • Director of the University of Surrey’s Seed Fund (since 2023)
  • Director of Innovate Surrey Ltd (since 2024)
  • Non-Executive Director and Trustee of the National Oceanography Centre (since mid-2025)
  • Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society (invited in 2016)
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (invited in 2016)
  • Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (elected in 2020)
  • Chair of the BBSRC Strategic Advisory Panel on Biosciences for Integrated Understanding of Health (since 2024)
  • Member of the Finance Committee, Learned Society of Wales (since 2021)
  • Member of the BBSRC Committee E (since 2018)
  • Member of The Conversation Editorial Board (since 2024)
  • Current funding from BBSRC and Defra
  • Previous employers: University of Oxford, Compassion in World Farming, Queen’s University Belfast, University of Lincoln (UK), and University of Leeds

Professor Felix Eigenbrod

  • University of Southampton (current employer)
  • Member of the Defra Ecology and Ecosystem Services Expert Panel
  • Member of the XR Scientists, the Extinction Rebellion science community
  • Holder of grants from NERC and ESRC. Previously held grants from ERC, EPSRC, and UKRI
  • Associate Editor for Landscape Ecology

Professor Nick Hanley

  • University of Glasgow (current employer)
  • Holder of research grants from the Wellcome Trust, Leverhulme Trust, European Commission, ESRC, MRC, NERC, UKRI and BBSRC
  • Working with Eftec on projects for Defra and the Forestry Commission on economic benefits of biodiversity conservation, value of coastal wildlife, and participation in ELMs;and with EFTEC on water quality values (funded by Environment Agency)
  • Member of advisory group, Scottish Biodiversity Programme Board, Nature Scot.
  • Editor, Ecological Economics
  • Assistant editor, Resource and Energy Economics; Q Open
  • Memberships (work): European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Agricultural Economics Society
  • Memberships (personal): John Muir Trust, National Trust for Scotland
  • Previous employers: Universities of St Andrews, Stirling, and Edinburgh

Professor Chris Hauton

  • University of Southampton (current employer)
  • Head of the School of Ocean and Earth Science
  • Fellow of the Marine Biological Association 2019 (nominated)
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology 2016 (nominated)
  • Editor in Chief of the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK
  • Member of BBSRC Panel of Experts (Panel A) 2022-
  • Member of NERC Peer Review College 2013-
  • Member of the UN International Seabed Authority Intersessional Expert Group on Toxic Threshold Limits 2024-
  • Member of the Shellfish Association of Great Britain, International Society of Developmental and Comparative Immunology
  • Holder of current grants from the BBSRC and NERC
  • Previous employers: University of St Andrews, University of London

Professor Jane Hill

  • University of York (current employer)
  • Member Academia Europaea 2021 (elected)
  • Honorary Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society 2016 (elected)
  • Member NERC Science Committee (2021-present)
  • Member of Defra’s Biodiversity Expert Committee (2024-25)
  • Member of the North Yorkshire and York Local Nature Partnership Board (2024-present)
  • Chair of the Independent Science Advisory Board for the Institute of Zoology/Zoological Society of London (2021-)
  • Trustee of the SE Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (2016-present)
  • Member of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Nature Recovery Committee (2021-)
  • Fellow of the Royal Society (elected 2025)

Professor Susan Owens

  • Professor of Environment and Policy (Emerita), University of Cambridge, Department of Geography
  • Fellow Emerita of Newnham College, Cambridge
  • Fellow of the British Academy (FBA)
  • Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS)
  • Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS)
  • Chair of the Social Science Expert Group (SAC sub-group) (since 2021) and member (since 2015)
  • Independent member of the Board of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) (since 2023)
  • Chair of the Programme Advisory Board, ESRC ACCESS project (Advancing Capacity for Climate and Environmental Social Science) (since 2022)
  • Member of the Advisory Committee, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge (since 2014)
  • Member of the Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee (2013 to 2022)
  • Member of the independent review panel on Highly Protected Marine Areas (2019 to 2022)

Professor Marian Scott

  • University of Glasgow (current employer)
  • Research funded by EPSRC, NERC
  • Fellow of Royal Society of Edinburgh (elected)
  • Chartered statistician and member of the Royal Statistical Society
  • Chair of the EU Scientific Committee on Health, Environment and Emerging risks (SCHEER) (renumerated)
  • Member of the NatureScot Science Advisory Committee (renumerated)
  • Former member of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee
  • Former non-executive director James Hutton Institute
  • Former member of the UKRI UK-SCAPE advisory board
  • Former board member of the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences
  • Former member UKRI NERC Net zero Digital Research Infrastructure steering group
  • Member of the NERC Science committee
  • Co-chair of the UKRI-NERC digital research infrastructure group
  • Former Vice chair of the UKRI-NERC EDR-UK project board

Glossary of acronyms:

  • ACCESS: Advancing Capacity for Climate and Environmental Social Science
  • APHA: Animal and Plant Health Agency
  • BBSRC: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
  • BESIDE: Institutional, Behavioural, critical and adaptive economics towards
  • SustaInable Development, management of natural capital and circular Economy
  • BioSS: Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland
  • DFID: Department for International Development
  • EDR-UK: Environmental Data Re-use
  • ELM: Environmental Land Management
  • EPSRC: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
  • ERC: European Research Council
  • ESRC: Economic and Social Research Council
  • FAcSS: Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
  • FBA: Fellow of the British Academy
  • FRGS: Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
  • GCRF: Global Challenges Research Fund
  • MRC: Medical Research Council
  • NAMC: North Atlantic Microplastic Centre
  • NERC: Natural Environment Research Council
  • NIH: National Institutes of Health
  • NSF: National Science Foundation
  • POST: Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
  • SAC-ED: Science Advisory Council Exotic and Emerging Diseases subgroup
  • SCHEER: Scientific Committee on Health, Environment and Emerging risks
  • SPI-M: Scientific Pandemic Infections Modelling Group
  • UKHSA: UK Health Security Agency
  • UKRI: UK Research and Innovation
  • UK-SCAPE: Status, Change and Projections of the Environment
  • XR: Extinction Rebellion

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:

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; and
  • current applications for research commissioned directly by Defra for which you are Principle or co-investigators

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; and
  • board positions with other organisations that might be influenced, or influence information gathered from / shared with the SAC
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