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Appointments to the Natural Environment Research Council

3 August 2007

Ian Pearson MP, Minister for Science & Innovation, has announced a new appointment to the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

NERC funds world-class science, in universities and its own research centres, that increases knowledge and understanding of the natural world. It 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.

Council members have corporate responsibility for all NERC's actions and those of its staff. They decide issues such as corporate strategy, key strategic objectives and targets, and major decisions involving the use of financial and other resources.

Professor Thomas Meagher is Professor and Chair of Plant Biology at the University of St Andrews. He has served on NERC's Environmental Genomics Steering Committee and is currently a member of Defra's Science Advisory Council.

He studied botany at the University of South Florida, Florida, and gained a PhD in Botany and Genetics at Duke University, North Carolina. His research interests include plant evolutionary biology, conservation biology and biodiversity, and public understanding of science.

Professor Meagher has maintained a strategic perspective on science throughout his career. He will bring extensive experience to NERC, having served on funding panels for the US National Science Foundation, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and the Academy of Finland. He has also been actively engaged in science policy as chair of various workshops and task forces funded by the US NSF. He welcomes the opportunity to contribute this perspective whilst serving with NERC. His appointment as a Council member is for 3 years from 1 August 2007 to 31 July 2010.

The Minister also announced that Professor Anne Glover will continue to serve on the NERC Council for a further three years, as a member from Government. Professor Glover had served on the Council from August 2001 - July 2007 as an independent academic member.

Professor Glover was appointed Chief Scientific Advisor for Scotland in August 2006. She continues her work at the University of Aberdeen, where she is a Professor in the Institute of Medical Sciences. She graduated from Edinburgh University with a degree in Biochemistry, and from the University of Cambridge with a PhD in Microbial Biochemistry. Her main research areas are molecular microbial ecology, microbial signalling and biosensor technology.

Professor Glover has served on a number of NERC committees including the Freshwater Sciences Peer Review Committee (1998-2001) and Science & Innovation Strategy Board. She is currently a member of the NERC Environmental Genomics Steering Committee, the DTI/BBSRC LINK Bioremediation Programme Steering Committee and is a trustee of CL:AIRE. She is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (1995), a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2005) and has served as an editor for a number of European and American scientific journals.

Ed Wallis, Chairman of NERC, said, "I am delighted that Thomas Meagher has agreed to become a member of the Council. His exceptional knowledge in the area of plant biology and his strategic perspective on science will be a great asset to NERC. I am also very pleased that Anne Glover, who has made a highly valued contribution to the Council during her time with us, is able to continue for a further three years."

Further information

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

Notes

1. Appointments to NERC are made in accordance with the requirements of the Code of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for the appointees' political activity (if any declared) to be made public.

Apart from his membership of Defra's Science Advisory Council, Professor Meagher has not held any other public appointments or undertaken any political activities within the past five years.

Apart from those mentioned, Professor Glover has not held any other public appointments or undertaken any political activities within the past five years.

2. An honorarium of £6410 per year is currently offered to all non-government members of NERC's Council (£8540 per annum for those members who chair NERC research boards).

3. NERC funds independent, impartial science in universities and in its own research centres, using an allocation of around £370m per year from the Government's science budget.

Press release: 28/07

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