New Institute Board Members

 

Ray Perman (Chair)

Ray has a strong interest in conservation. He is a former Chair of the Scottish Advisory Council of WWF and a member of the board of trustees of WWF UK.

He is a trustee of the Botanics Foundation, which supports the scientific work of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh and also chairs the Access to Finance Expert Group, which advises the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on policy relating to small business finance.

He was a member of the board of Scottish Enterprise from 2004-2009 and, from 2001-2009, chair of Social Investment Scotland, which makes loans to the social economy.

Ray’s early career was spent in journalism working with newspapers including The Times, Financial Times, The Scotsman, and the Sunday Standard in Glasgow.

 

David Boxer (SCRI)

Professor Boxer is Director of the Institute of Food Research on the Norwich Research Park and is Professor of Microbial Biochemistry at the University of East Anglia. He was previously Vice Principal (Research and Enterprise) at Dundee University. He held a number of positions at Dundee University including Dean of Faculty of Science and Engineering and Chairman of the Biochemistry Department and was Professor of Microbial Biochemistry at Dundee University from 1990. He led a reappraisal of Dundee University’s academic and financial priorities to produce a blueprint for the future management of the University. He has been a major player in establishing wide ranging and novel partnerships with other Scottish universities and Institutes.

 

Julia Brown (MLURI)

Dr Julia Brown is the Director of Research and Development at ITI Life Sciences, based in Dundee. A well-known and respected member of the Scottish life sciences community, her role includes commissioning and developing research programmes with the aim of generating intellectual assets which can be commercialised for the benefit of the Scottish economy. She is also a Director of Genomia fund which supports the commercialisation of ideas from Public Sector Research Establishments.

 

Brian Clark (MLURI)

Professor Brian D Clark is Professor of Environmental Management and Planning, at the University of Aberdeen and Co-Director of the MSc in Sustainable Rural Development, a Director of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), and Chairman of both the North Region Board and the Planning & Finance Committee of SEPA. He has forty years’ experience in urban and rural planning and environmental management in Scotland, the UK, Europe and overseas.

 

Laura Meagher (MLURI)

Dr Laura Meagher is a senior partner of Technology Development Group in Fife, a company specialising in strategic organisational change. Originally from the United States, she has been based in Scotland since 1999. Dr Meagher has a background in biotechnology both from a research and a commercialisation perspective. She was a co-founder and first vice president of the North Carolina Biotechnology Centre and was associate dean/director of research for Cook College, Rutgers University from 1994-1999.

 

Sandy Morrison (SCRI)

A native of Aberdeenshire who studied at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow in the 1960s finishing with a BSc Hons in Applied Chemistry. He joined Unilever plc and spent 37 years focussing on the Unilever Foods Business with senior roles in research and development, supply chain, innovation and finishing in general management. He gained considerable experience with managing the transfer of technology from scientist to the customer. He spent 20 years living and working abroad especially Europe, Asia and Africa. Mr Morrison retired from Unilever in 2005. He continues to have active roles at company board level and also mentors small businesses in the old cotton towns of East Lancashire on a voluntary basis. Mr Morrison is particularly interested in the continued challenges of the development and adoption of sustainable agricultural good practices and the need for agriculture to adapt to meet climate change needs. Mr Morrison and his Lancastrian wife split their time between North East Scotland and North West England. He joined the SCRI Governing Board in May 2008.

 

Wilson Sibbett (SCRI)

Professor Wilson Sibbett, CBE, FRS, FRSE is a University of St Andrews physicist who has made groundbreaking developments in the world of laser technology. He was the first person to chair the Scottish Science Advisory Committee which was established under the auspices of the Royal Society of Edinburgh to provide independent advice to Scottish Executive Ministers on strategic scientific issues, including science strategy, science policy and science priorities. He is a graduate of Queen’s University Belfast gaining his PhD degree from Imperial College in 1973. He conducted research and taught as a staff member of the Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College and transferred to St Andrews to take up the post of Professor of Natural Philosophy. At present he is the Director of the Interdisciplinary Medical Research Institute in the University of St Andrews. He is the co-author of more than 300 papers. He is a winner of the prestigious Rank Prize for Optoelectronics (1997) and of the Royal Society’s Rumford medal (2000), awarded biennially in recognition of an outstandingly important recent discovery in science made by a scientist working in Europe.

 

Allan Stevenson (SCRI)

Allan Stevenson is an arable farmer from East Lothian specialising in growing potatoes, principally for all year round supply to Tesco, using principles of integrated farming. He is also a business graduate and Chartered Accountant, with international experience in growing companies and consultancies in several sectors, most recently Group Finance Director of EC Harris Group. Current roles include: Non-Executive Director of DEGW Plc, Cobra Group and RSABI (charity); Chairman of a pension scheme; consulting and advisory work for other international businesses and committee roles with SAC and NFU.

 

Allan Werritty (MLURI)

Alan Werrity is the Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Dundee (1994 - ) He held the post of Head of the Department of Geography from 1997-2001 and has been Chair of the Council of British Geography since 2004. Alan is also the Director of Research at the Dundee UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science a post he has held since 2007. An advisor to the Scottish Government on and flooding, Alan sits on the UN High-Level Expert Panel on Water and Disasters created by the United Nations to develop and promote concrete solutions related to water related catastrophes.