Professor Robert Mair has been appointed Chair of the Department for Transport's Science Advisory Council

CSIC’s Head, Prof Robert Mair, appointed to chair the Department for Transport’s (DfT’s) Science Advisory Council.

Professor Mair comments: “I am delighted to have been appointed to chair the DfT’s Science Advisory Council. There is clearly a wide variety of important and challenging issues being addressed by the DfT for which the science and engineering evidence base needs to evolve in the next few years.” 

The DfT recognises that safe and dependable transport is essential to UK society and the economy. It is working to make rail, road, air and water transport more efficient and effective and plans to invest in transport infrastructure to ensure this. 

The Science Advisory Council provides independent, scientific and strategic level advice to make sure the DfT’s work is of the highest standard. 

The Council’s specific activities cover a wide range of issues, including how emerging trends and developments might potentially affect current government policy and practice.  It reviews departmental strategic evidence plans and advises on requests from officials as well as on the quality of evidence processes, capacity and capability within the department.  It also aims to strengthen links with the academic community. 

The council’s members come from a mix of transport and non-transport areas: 

Chair:

Professor Robert Mair, CBE FREng FRS, Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Cambridge 

Members:

Paul Stein FREng, Chief Scientific Officer, Rolls Royce

Peter Jones, Professor of Transport and Sustainable Development, University College London

Paul Newman, BP Professor of Information Engineering, University of Oxford

Sue Duncan, Visiting Professor of Policy Studies, University of Lincoln

Barry Clarke, Professor of Geotechnical Engineering, Leeds University

Ricardo Martinez-Botas, Professor of Turbo-machinery, Imperial College London