Sheila Rowan, Chair
Professor Sheila Rowan holds the Chair of Natural Philosophy and since 2009, she is the Director of the Institute for Gravitational Research in the University of Glasgow. She received her PhD in the field of gravitational wave instrumentation from the University of Glasgow, and subsequently held research positions split between Stanford University and Glasgow before returning full time to a Faculty position in Glasgow in 2003. Her research is focused on optical and mechanical systems for use in detectors such as the Advanced LIGO observatories, responsible for picking up the first gravitational wave signals from colliding black holes in 2015. She received the Hoyle Medal and Prize of the UK Institute of Physics in 2016 in recognition of her pioneering research on aspects of the technology of gravitational wave observatories, was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society of London in 2018 and received a CBE for services to science in the Queen’s New Year Honours list in 2021. In 2023, she was awarded the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award of the Philip Leverhulme Trust.
From 2016 – 2021, she was seconded (part-time) to serve as Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government and served as President of the Institute of Physics from 2021 – 2023.
From 30th November 2023, she will take up the role of Physical Secretary and Vice-President of the Royal Society of London.
Sir Peter Knight
Sir Peter Knight is Emeritus Professor at Imperial College London, and is a past President of both the Institute of Physics and the Optical Society of America. Sir Peter chairs the National Quantum Technology Programme Strategy Advisory Board and the Quantum Metrology Institute at the National Physical Laboratory.
Tom Rodden
Professor Tom Rodden is Chief Scientific Advisor for the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport, and a Professor of Computing at the University of Nottingham. His research is highly interdisciplinary, bringing together different areas of expertise as computing becomes a ubiquitous feature of our world and we increasingly use personal data and AI technologies.
Roger McKinlay
Roger McKinlay is the Challenge Director–Quantum Technologies for UK Research and Innovation. He has been involved in the National Quantum Technologies Programme since 2015 was a panel member of the 2016 Quantum Technologies Blackett Review. Roger is a Chartered Engineer and a past president of the Royal Institute of Navigation.
Michael Groves
Michael Groves is Head of the Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research. He has worked as a security researcher at GCHQ for more than 25 years and served as vice chair of ETSI’s quantum-safe cryptography working group from 2015 to 2019.
