Professor Sir Ian Boyd is a marine and polar scientist who was Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2012 to 2019, and he is currently a professor of Biology at the University of St Andrews.
Sir Ian previously served as the first Director of the Scottish Oceans Institute and as Director of the Sea Mammal Research Unit, and was also responsible for creating the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland. He spent 14 years leading a research programme in Antarctica studying the structure and dynamics of energy flow in the Southern Ocean, and subsequently received the Scientific Medal of the Zoological Society of London, the Bruce Medal for Polar Science and the Polar Medal.
Sir Ian is Chair of the UK Research Integrity Office, a Trustee of the National Oceanography Centre and is a recent past Board member of UK Research and Innovation and the Campaign for Science and Engineering. He is also Co-chair of Scotland’s First Minister’s Environment Council.
His business experience comes from establishing and running a consultancy company and also as a non-executive director of Fera Science Limited. He participated in the COVID-19 Science Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).
Sir Ian originally graduated from the University of Aberdeen with a degree in Zoology and gained his PhD from Cambridge University. He has also been awarded several honorary degrees. He was knighted in 2019 for services to science and economics in government. He is President of the Royal Society of Biology, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Society.
