STFC Council - new member appointed

5 Apr 2012 02:18 PM

Professor G David Price has been appointed by David Willetts MP, Minister for Universities and Science as a new member of STFC Council with effect from 1 April 2012. He will serve until 31 March 2015 and his appointment takes the total membership of Council to 11.

Professor James Stirling and Professor Martin Barstow have been reappointed as members of STFC Council for a second term.  They will also serve until 2015.

Chair of Council, Professor Michael Sterling said: "The addition of Professor Price will strengthen the scientific input to Council.  His involvement in both the school and higher education sectors will be invaluable as we continue to demonstrate the real economic and societal benefits that STFC’s research and training deliver to the UK."

Professor Sir Peter Knight has stepped down as a member of Council having completed his term of office. "Professor Knight has made a considerable contribution to STFC during his time as a Council member and previously as Chair of Science Board.  He led STFC’s first programmatic review and his willingness to engage directly with the research community to explain the difficult decisions taken during the review has undoubtedly resulted in a stronger relationship between STFC and our research community.” said Professor Sterling.

Appointments are made by the Minister based on merit and with independent assessment, taking account of the need to balance the Council in terms of range of experience.

The new Council member with effect from 1 April 2012 is:
Professor G David Price

Professor Price is Vice-Provost (Research) at UCL and Professor of Mineral Physics.

Professor Price has an undergraduate degree and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. He was a Fulbright-Hayes Scholar and Research Associate at the University of Chicago, and a Research Fellow at Clare College Cambridge, before coming to UCL in 1983 as a Royal Society University Research Fellow. At UCL, he was appointed Professor at the age of 33, and later served as Head of the Department Earth Sciences, and as Dean of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, before being appointed to his current position of Vice Provost in 2007.

He was one of the first to establish the now major interdisciplinary field of computational mineral physics, and has published over 230 research papers. He was awarded the Schlumberger Medal of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain in 1999; the Murchison Medal of the Geological Society of London in 2002; and in 2006 he was awarded the Louis Néel Medal of the European Geosciences Union for “establishing the importance of computational mineral physics in Earth sciences and for outstanding contributions to the physics of the Earth's core". He is a Member of the Academia Europaea and an Elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and of the Mineralogical Society of America. He has been an editor of Elsevier’s “Earth and Planetary Science Letters” (2005-8), and was President of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland (2004-6). He was a member of the UK’s HEFCE RAE2008 sub-panel on Earth and Environmental Sciences, and is now chair of the REF2014 sub-Panel in this area. He is Chair of Governors of the UCL Academy School, Camden, and a non-executive Director of the North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust.

Notes to Editors

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. None of the appointees have declared any political activity or holds any other public appointment. An honorarium of £6850 per year is currently paid to all members.

Contacts:
  • Stephanie Hills
    STFC Media Manager
    Tel: +44 (0)1235 445 398 
  • Sally Catmull
    Press Officer
    Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)
    Tel: +44 (0)20 7215 6577
    Mob: +44 (0)7775 007120