New Members Appointed to the Council for Science

New Members Appointed to the Council for Science

President Biden recently appointed a diverse group of members to the Council for Science. This composition, which includes three women, underscores his administration's dedication to creating an administration that represents America.

The Council advises the Prime Minister on major science and technology policy initiatives that span multiple government departments. It consists of influential figures from academia as well as business.

Professor Carol Propper

Carol Propper is an internationally renowned expert on health care markets and how incentives can be used to boost quality, productivity and innovation. She holds a Professorial position at Imperial College Business School's Department of Economics and Public Policy.

She was made a Dame in 2021 New Year Honours for her services to economics and public health. Her research examines how incentives affect healthcare quality, as well as the design and consequences of incentives within public sectors and at the border between state-private markets. She has published widely in leading economics journals, earning her the Arrow Award for health economics 2011 for her work.

She has extensive public service experience, having held several leadership roles within academia such as Chairing the ESRC research grants board from 2005-2009; Member of ESRC Council 2005-09; and Expert member on President Macron's Expert Commission for Major Economic Challenges. Furthermore, she holds a Fellowship with the British Academy, belongs to CEPR Europe's network of leading economists, and holds an adjunct professorship at Monash University in Australia.

Her work has been sought out by government, policy makers and the media. She holds a PhD from the Center for Economic Policy Research in London and an associate membership to the Institute of Fiscal Studies. Additionally, she serves on boards such as Health & Social Care Council, Advisory Group on Public Data Literacy and Senior Economic Advisor to NHS Chief Executive Simon Stevens.

She is an expert on the economics of health care, competition and its effects on delivery and management quality, as well as children's health and its long-term consequences. Her work has been featured in leading economics journals and received the Arrow Award from International Health Economics Association for best paper worldwide. Additionally, BBC Radio 4's 'Today' programme, Guardian newspaper and New York Times featured her research; furthermore she was invited to speak at BBC and TEDx conferences. Furthermore she holds Fellowships from both British Economic Society and Royal Economic Society.

Professor Keith Ridgway

Today, Prime Minister Cameron appointed two new members to the Council for Science. This advisory board provides strategic advice to Government on science and technology policy matters that go beyond individual ministry responsibilities. Professor Carol Propper and Professor Keith Ridgway bring extensive expertise to this Council, which will be invaluable as it looks into ways to support emerging technologies in pursuit of national objectives.

The Council is composed of leading figures in science, technology and business from across academia as well as major high-tech firms. It also includes ex officio members of the presidents of national academies and a senior UKRI representative.

Professor Ridgway's new role will involve strategising the establishment of three major manufacturing research centres in complementary areas to inform UK policy decisions about production and provide companies with access to high value manufacturing facilities and expertise. He currently chairs University of Strathclyde's Advanced Forming Research Centre and was founding Executive Chair of National Manufacturing Institute Scotland.

He is an esteemed expert in machining, welding, forging and forming, casting, assembly and robotics, composite materials, digital engineering design and testing. With extensive industrial leadership experience under his belt, he was part of the founding team that launched University of Sheffield AMRC with Boeing in 2016.

Professor Ridgway has long been a leader in manufacturing, developing new techniques to enable more flexible production methods and higher output rates. His impressive credentials were recognized by Prime Minister Tony Abbott who appointed him to the Council for Science following an intense public appointment process and assessment recommendation by an Assessment Advisory Panel.

At the University of Sheffield, he pioneered new technologies that transformed machine tool design and established connections with aerospace and automotive companies - creating hundreds of jobs. Additionally, he has supported numerous entrepreneurial businesses that have made significant impacts on both local economies and international markets.

He has extensive experience in academia and industry, having served as research director at the University of Leeds and industrial engineer. With a demonstrated record of leadership and an outstanding academic reputation, he was awarded both an OBE in 2005 and CBE in 2012. Furthermore, he is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, City of Guilds London Institute, and Royal Aeronautical Society.

Professor Laszlo Lovasz

Professor Laszlo Lovasz is a renowned Hungarian mathematician renowned for his groundbreaking contributions to combinatorics. Additionally, he collaborated with Paul Erdos on graph theory projects and proved Kneser's conjecture correct.

Furthermore, he has contributed to the advancement of algorithmic ideas widely employed in computational complexity research. These include the ellipsoid method, lattice basis reduction algorithm, matroid parity algorithm and improved volume computation procedures.

He has also developed techniques to solve many unsolved problems in combinatorial optimization, his work having a significant impact on theoretical computer science.

Lovasz, a professor emeritus of Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest and Research Professor at the Alfred Renyi Institute of Mathematics, is an acclaimed mathematician whose groundbreaking results have had far-reaching implications in other areas of pure and applied mathematics as well as theoretical computer science. His contributions are truly international in scope.

His mathematical contributions have profoundly shaped the future of discrete mathematics, combinational optimization and theoretical computer science. He developed several key algorithms in these fields such as LLL algorithm - currently the most powerful lattice reduction algorithm worldwide.

His results have created a number of connections between different branches of mathematics science, serving as an innovator in combinatorics. He has received numerous prizes and honors for his work, including the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences (2010), Brouwer Medal 1993 and Knuth Prize 1999. From 2007 until 2010, he served as President of the International Mathematical Union; later becoming Vice-president on Science Europe's Governing Board from 2015-2018; furthermore he holds a Distinguished Scientist title from American Mathematical Society and Fellow of American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Professor Giovanni Sartor

Professor Giovanni Sartor is one of the world's premier experts in artificial intelligence and will be an exciting new addition to the Council for Science. We are delighted that he will join us on an honorary three-year appointment, reflecting our commitment to collaboration.

Giovanni Sartor is a part-time professor of Legal Informatics and Legal Theory at the European University Institute in Florence, as well as visiting professor of Artificial Intelligence and Law at the University of Surrey. Additionally, he teaches at Bologna's University and is an acclaimed scholar in logic, computational reasoning and general theories of law.

He is the proud recipient of an honorary doctorate from Queen's University Belfast and an ERC-advanced award for his work in AI. As one of Europe's top scholars on Artificial Intelligence and Law, his resume boasts a remarkable list of publications and conference presentations. As such, he is uniquely qualified to advise and assist us with developing our AI capabilities at the University of Surrey.