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New Chairman for NERC's Science & Innovation Strategy Board

15 June 2007

Professor Duncan Wingham has today been announced as the next Chairman of the Science & Innovation Strategy Board of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). He will succeed Mr Edwin Jenner on 1 September 2007.

Making the announcement, NERC Chairman Ed Wallis said, "We are delighted to welcome Professor Wingham as the new Chair of the Board. His depth of scientific expertise and considerable experience of science funding, both practice and policy, make him well qualified to advise on NERC's important strategic scientific issues. As head of one of our collaborative centres and having contributed to many of our committees in the past, he has a thorough knowledge of NERC's work."

Duncan Wingham is Professor of Climate Physics and Head of the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London. His particular expertise is in studying the flow and mass exchange of the Earth's ice sheets through the use of ultra-precise measurements from Earth-orbiting satellites.

Professor Wingham said, "I am delighted to be appointed Chair of the Science & Innovation Strategy Board. The Board is a key source of advice to Council on science and innovation matters and is extremely important to the development of NERC's science strategy. NERC science is world class and I am looking forward to contributing to the delivery of our new strategic priorities."

Further information

Marion O'Sullivan has left NERC.
Please contact the NERC web team to update this page.

Julia Short
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557 215

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Notes

1. The Natural Environment Research Council funds world-class science, in universities and its own research centres, that increases knowledge and understanding of the natural world. NERC is tackling the 21st century's major environmental issues such as climate change, biodiversity and natural hazards. It leads in providing independent research and training in the environmental sciences.

2. Duncan Wingham is Professor of Climate Physics and Head of the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London. He is also Principal Scientist of the European Space Agency (ESA) CryoSat-2 Satellite Mission, the first ESA Earth Sciences satellite selected through open, scientific competition.

Professor Wingham's particular expertise is in studying the flow and mass exchange of the Earth's ice sheets through the use of ultra-precise measurements from Earth orbiting satellites.

He was educated at Leeds and Bath Universities where he gained BSc and PhD degrees. From 1986 he has been at University College London, where he held lecturing posts at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory and the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering. He was appointed to a Chair in the Department of Space & Climate Physics in 1996, and to Head of the Department of Earth Sciences in October 2005. He is the outgoing Director of the NERC Centre for Polar Observation & Modelling.

3. The Science & Innovation Board supports NERC Council by providing advice on science and innovation matters and is responsible, amongst other things, for:

• Developing NERC's science strategy
• Advising on the balance of the science portfolio
• Advising on the strategic priority of funding new programmes and initiatives
• Assessing and advising on what is going on in UK environmental science, including research and training opportunities, challenges, monitoring and survey, managing scientific data and making the most of NERC research and training investments.

Press release: 21/07

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