Joint Nature Conservation Committee Chair reappointed
The Government has reappointed Professor Chris Gilligan as Chair of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee for a second term
Professor Chris Gilligan will join the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) from 1 June 2017 for three years.
All appointments to the JNCC are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. The appointment complies with the Governance Code on Public Appointments. There is a requirement for appointees’ political activity, if significant, to be declared. Prof Gilligan has not declared any significant political activity during the past five years.
The JNCC was established in the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act (2006) as a non-departmental public body. The JNCC advises the UK Government and Devolved Administrations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales on UK-wide and international nature conservation. Remuneration is £40,000 per annum based on a time commitment of 104 days.
Professor Gilligan is Professor of Mathematical Biology at the University of Cambridge, where he has previously held the post of Head of the School of Biological Sciences. He has chaired a number of complex bodies, including the Science Advisory Council for Defra and the UK Treehealth and Plant Security Taskforce, in addition to scientific reviews of crop science and animal health while a member of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, and crop protection for the Institute Nationale de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA). He is currently a Trustee of the Natural History Museum.
Professor Gilligan’s current research is focused on the development and testing of an epidemiological framework that identifies the mechanisms that control invasion, persistence, scaling and variability of epidemics within changing agricultural and natural landscapes. His work is used to inform practical disease control in the UK, US, Brazil, India and a number of African countries.
He was awarded the CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2015 for services to plant health in the field of epidemiology.