New Appointments to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

EPSRC has announced its latest appointments to Council, the senior decision making body responsible for determining its policy, priorities and strategy.

Two new appointments have been made: Dr Malcolm Roberts and Professor Robert Winston. Dr Roberts has been appointed to the EPSRC Council for a period of 3 years from 1st March 2007 to 28th February 2010 and Professor Winston has been appointed for a period of 4 years from 1st March 2007 to 28th February 2011.

Professor Martin Taylor has been reappointed to Council for a period of 2 years until 31st March 2009.


Notes for Editors

Members are appointed by the Minister for Science and Innovation and are drawn from both the academic and industrial communities. Membership is reviewed each year.

These appointments have been made in accordance with the requirements of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments Code of Practice. 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 appointees’ political activity (if any declared) to be made public. Professor Lord Winston is a member of the House of Lords and sits on the Labour Party benches. He is a member of the Labour Party and contributes a small annual donation (less than £1000) to it. Dr Roberts and Professor Taylor have declared that they have no political activities. The appointees hold no other ministerial public appointments.

An honorarium of £6,410 per year is currently paid to all members. Professor Winston will receive an honorarium of £8,540 to include his fees as Chair of the EPSRC Societal Issues Panel.

Council is the senior decision making body responsible for determining the policy, priorities and strategy of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, taking advice from the Technical Opportunities Panel, the User Panel and the Societal Issues Panel. It is also accountable for the stewardship of EPSRC’s budget and the extent to which performance objectives and targets have been met.


Appointees’ details

Dr Malcolm Roberts is the managing director of Guidance Ltd, a group developed from Guidance Control Systems which was founded by him in 1991. Guidance incorporates Guidance Monitoring and Guidance Navigation Ltd. The latter company supply sensor systems for marine and land-based autonomous vehicles throughout the world and was awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise (International Trade category) in 2006. Guidance Monitoring provide object and person tracking systems with emphasis in offender monitoring. Malcolm’s academic qualifications are in Physics (B.Sc, Imperial College) and Control Engineering (Ph.D. Nottingham University). He has published papers on various control systems and holds patents in navigation and data association techniques for autonomous vehicles. Malcolm is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Professor Robert Winston, Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College London, has an international reputation for his research into human reproduction and has pioneered advances widely used in fertility and IVF treatment. Professor Winston was previously Director of NHS Research and Development at the Hammersmith Hospitals Trust until 2005. He has published around 300 scientific publications in peer-review journals on reproduction and embryology. His current research involves exploring innovative ways of introducing new genes into cells, particularly stem cells. He is a trustee of the UK Stem Cell Foundation and Chairman of the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Trust Fund. Professor Winston believes that public engagement with science is vital. Amongst the public, he is perhaps best known for his work in popularising science. Broadcasting regularly, he has made many highly successful television series on science and medicine, written a number of popular science books for both adults and children, and is a sought-after speaker to adult audiences, and to children in schools. He was awarded the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize in 1999 for raising awareness of problems in human reproduction. As a member of the House of Lords he regularly speaks in parliament on science, medicine, education and the arts. As well as his research at Imperial College London, he is the Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University. Professor Winston is Chair of EPSRC’s Societal Issues Panel and is also a Member of the Wellcome Trust’s Strategic Advisory Committee on Public Engagement.

Professor Martin Taylor has been a professor of pure mathematics at The University of Manchester since he moved from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1986. His early research concerned various properties and structures of algebraic numbers. In 1981 he proved the Fröhlich Conjecture relating the symmetries of algebraic integers to the behaviour of certain analytic functions called Artin L-functions. In recent years his research has led him to study various aspects of arithmetic geometry: in particular, he and his collaborators have demonstrated how geometric properties of zeros of integral polynomials in many variables can be determined by the behaviour associated L-functions. He has published five books and over seventy papers on these and related topics. Martin was awarded the London Mathematical Society’s Whitehead Prize in 1982 and the Adams prize (shared) in 1983. He was awarded a Royal Society Leverhulme Fellowship in 1992, and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1996. He has been Vice President and Physical Secretary of the Royal Society since 2004. He became President of the London Mathematical Society in 1998, and in the same year was awarded an EPSRC Senior Fellowship. In 2003 he received a Royal Society Wolfson Merit award and he became Chairman of the International Review of Mathematics (Steering group). He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Leicester in 2006.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the UK’s main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences. The EPSRC is investing £650 million this year in research and postgraduate training, to help the nation handle the next generation of technological change. The areas covered range from information technology to structural engineering, and mathematics to materials science. This research forms the basis for future economic development in the UK and improvements for everyone’s health, lifestyle and culture. EPSRC also actively promotes public awareness of science and engineering. EPSRC works alongside other Research Councils with responsibility for other areas of research. The Research Councils work collectively on issues of common concern via Research Councils UK.