The Institute was set up as a legal entity in Spring 2018, later becoming a registered charity. The board for the Institute, also acting as its trustees, will be made up of members nominated by member organisations, plus representation from industry and affiliated organisations.

There are several layers of governance which control the finances and decision making at the Institute.

The Board of Directors – the board are the trustees for the charity, with legal responsibilities to ensure the safe and effective management of the Institute.

Member representatives – this group represent the interests of the member organisations, and their role is to ensure that the institute is delivering strong partnerships with its members.

The Value for Money Panel – this panel consider all major funding decisions, and assess their viability and value for money. Only proposals with the support of the Executive Team and relevant Theme Advisory Panels will be submitted to the Value for Money panel.

The Executive Team – the executive is made up of the senior leadership team for the Institute, plus the theme leaders. They consider developments across the themes and form part of the decision making in advancing proposals to the Value for Money Panel.

Strategic Advisory Board – has been established to advise the Franklin, via its Board on the development and implementation of the research and development strategy of the institute. Members are independent experts from academia and industry, both national and international. The SAB met for the first time in February 2020 and reviewed the current direction and future plans for each theme.

Theme Advisory Panels – each theme has a panel of international experts from across academia and industry who contribute to the development and review of the road-maps and technology proposals for each theme.

Board of Directors

Professor Ben Davis

Interim Director

University of Oxford

Ben Davis got his B.A. (1993) and D.Phil. (1996) from the University of Oxford. During this time he learnt the […]

Dr Vivienne Cox

Chair

Dr Vivienne Cox was appointed as Chair of the Rosalind Franklin Institute in 2018. A chemistry graduate with a passion […]

Dr David Rees

Board Member, Astex Pharmaceuticals

David is Chief Scientific Officer at Astex Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge UK. He is associated with the discovery of three launched drugs, […]

Professor Mathias Gautel

Board Member, King’s College London

Mathias is the BHF Professor of Molecular Cardiology at King’s College London, whose research is focused the contractile structures of […]

Professor Helen Cooper

Board member, University of Birmingham

Helen is Professor of Mass Spectrometry and EPSRC Fellow in the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham. Her […]

Professor Nora de Leeuw

Board Member, University of Leeds

Nora is Professor of Computational Chemistry, whose research is focused on the atomic-level understanding of composite materials for biomedical applications […]

Dr Gillian Burgess

Board Member, Grünenthal

Gillian Burgess joined Grünenthal as Head of Research in April 2020. Prior to this she was the Vice President, Site Head […]

Professor Stephen Caddick

Board Member, Wellcome Trust

Stephen joined Wellcome as Director of Innovation in June 2015. Previously, he was Vice Provost (Enterprise & London) and Vernon Professor of […]

Stephen Dauncey

Board Member, Manchester University

Stephen is Director of Finance at The University of Manchester. He was previously Chief Finance Officer and Board member of […]

Dr Barbara Ghinelli

Board Member - UKRI-STFC

Barbara is Harwell Campus Business Development Director at UKRI-STFC, where she oversees the development and management of clusters on the […]

Professor Ewan McKendrick

Board Member, University of Oxford

Ewan is Professor of English Private Law and a Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall at the University of Oxford. He holds […]

Professor Nigel Titchener-Hooker

Board Member, UCL

Professor Nigel Titchener-Hooker, CENg, FIChemE, FREng is Dean of UCL Engineering and was for the past 7 years head of […]

Rosalind Franklin Institute