FCO Chief Scientific Advisor in South Africa
Professor Robin Grimes, the FCO Chief Scientific Advisor (CSA) is discussing scientific collaborations between the UK and South Africa
Naledi Pandor, the minister for Science and Technology and Professor Robin Grimes, the FCO Chief Scientific Advisor (CSA)
Professor Robin Grimes, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) Chief Scientific Advisor (CSA) is visiting South Africa this week. He will be discussing scientific collaborations between the UK and South Africa with a number of government officials, members of tertiary and research institutions and business representatives in Gauteng and the Western Cape, including roundtable discussions on Big Data and ICT, research and innovation. Grimes will give a talk at the annual South Africa Institute of Physics Conference and the keynote address to the British Chamber in Johannesburg; and give an interactive public talk at the Cape Town Science Centre.
Professor Robin Grimes is a nuclear energy specialist, currently Professor of Materials Physics at Imperial College. He has been Director of the Imperial Centre for Nuclear Engineering at Imperial College, London, since 2008 and became Director of the Imperial College Rolls Royce University Technology Centre in Nuclear Engineering in 2010. He is also Principal Investigator of the Research Council’s UK Nuclear Fission Champion consortium Project.
As the FCO’s Chief Scientific advisor, he is responsible for providing advice to the Foreign Secretary, Ministers and officials on science, technology and innovation. His role is to ensure that the FCO’s work on key issues undergoes proper scientific challenge, and to strengthen the scientific and engineering capacity within the Foreign Office. The CSA works closely with the cross-government community of Chief Scientific Advisers and the wider UK and international academic science.