Wessex AHSN Chair appointed to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Board

The Chair of Wessex Academic Health Science Network (AHSN), Fiona Driscoll (pictured), has been appointed as a Non-Executive Board Member for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

 The 12 Non-Executive Members of the UKRI Board were announced today (28 September 2017) by Science Minister, Jo Johnson.

Over the coming months the Board will work with the UKRI Chair, Chief Executive and the executive team, to ensure the successful formation and launch of UKRI, as well as the strategic direction of the organisation. This will include advising the Secretary of State on the allocation of research and innovation budgets, including the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

Science Minister, Jo Johnson, said: “UKRI has a pivotal role in our future as a knowledge economy. This is an exceptionally strong Board that will ensure the UK’s world leading research system stays at the frontier of science and innovation for decades to come.”

Sir John Kingman, interim UKRI Chair said: “UKRI's Board brings together an extraordinary array of brilliant scientific and business leaders. Together with the emerging executive team led by Mark Walport, we will be superbly equipped to ensure the new organisation delivers on the great opportunities it has.”

A key task for the Board will be to ensure the strengths of the Research Councils, Innovate UK and Research England are preserved and built upon, and maximise the value and benefits from the government’s investment of over £6 billion per annum in research and innovation. 

Appointments in full:

UKRI Chair

Sir John Kingman– Chair of Legal and General Group Chairman and Former Second Permanent Secretary to the HM Treasury

List of UKRI Non-Executive Board Members:

• Sir Peter Bazalgette – founder of a successful independent TV production company and now Executive Chairman of ITV;
  
• Professor Julia Black – Interim Director of the London School of Economics, and Pro Director for Research since 2014
  
• Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz –Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge (stepping down later this year), and Chair of Cancer Research UK
  
• Lord (John) Browne of Madingley – the Executive Chairman of L1 Energy, and former Chief Executive of BP plc
  
• Professor Sir Ian Diamond-   Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen
  
• Fiona Driscoll (UKRI Audit Committee Chair) – currently Chair of the Audit Committee of Nuffield Health
  
• Professor Alice Gast – currently President of Imperial College London
  
• Sir Harpal Kumar – CEO of Cancer Research UK
  
• Max Lu – President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Surrey
  
• Vivienne Parry – Head of Engagement for Genomics England
• Mustafa Suleyman – Co-founder and Head of Applied AI at DeepMind
• Lord (David) Willetts – Former Minister of State for Universities and Science, attending Cabinet, from 2010-14.
• Professor Dame Sally Davies - As Chief Medical Officer and a serving civil servant, Dame Sally will not be formally a member of the board but will join board meetings in a personal capacity

More about Fiona:
Fiona Driscoll had a wide-ranging executive career, latterly as Director, Marketing, Corporate Strategy and Business Development for QinetiQ, and as Strategy Director for Hedra, the management consultancy.  As a non-executive, she has held a varied portfolio which has spanned the private, public and third sectors.

She is currently Chair of the Audit Committee of Nuffield Health, the UK’s largest charity, as well as being Chair of Wessex Academic Health Science Network, a lay member of Council of the University of Bradford and a Non-Executive Director of BotOptions (UK) plc.

Fiona has sat on a number of public-sector boards, including the Treasury’s Public Services Productivity Panel, the Efficiency Programme Board and The Tote. She has carried out some 100 reviews for No 10, the Treasury and the Cabinet Office.