The Secretary of State has appointed Sir Mark Walport as the Royal Society’s Trustee for the British Museum.

Sir Mark Walport is the Chairman of the Kennedy Memorial Trust and the recently retired founding Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which is responsible for the public funding of research and innovation.

He was Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA) and Head of the Government Office for Science from April 2013 to September 2017.

His previous career highlights include:

Director of the Wellcome Trust

Professor of Medicine and Head of the Division of Medicine at Imperial College London

Founder Fellow and first Registrar of the Academy of Medical Sciences

member of the advisory board of Infrastructure UK

member of the India-UK CEO Forum and UK-India Round Table

non-executive member of the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research

Mark received a knighthood in the 2009 New Year Honours List for services to medical research and was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society in 2011 and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2017.

This role is not remunerated. This appointment process was not regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments and therefore is not subject to the Government’s Governance Code for Public Appointments. However, in line with the Governance Code, Sir Walport was asked to declare any significant political activity undertaken in the last five years. This is defined as holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Sir Walport has not declared any activity.