The Prime Minister has reappointed Professor Brian Cantor CBE and Lopa Patel MBE as Trustees of the Science Museum Group
Professor Cantor CBE and Lopa Patel MBE have been reappointed by the Prime Minister as Trustees of the Science Museum Group for a four year period from 1 December 2020 to 30 November 2024.
Brian Cantor is Professor of Materials at Oxford and Brunel Universities and an Editor of the journal Progress in Materials Science. He has published over 300 books and papers. He invented the field of High Entropy Alloys and discovered “Cantor alloys”.
In the recent past, he has been Vice-Chancellor of the Universities of Bradford and York, Head of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at Oxford, a research scientist at GE Labs in the USA, a consultant for Alcan, NASA and Rolls-Royce, and Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He has worked at other universities such as Sussex, Northeastern, Banaras, Washington State, IISc Bangalore and the Kobe Institute, and chaired or been on boards such as the Marshall Aid Commission, the UK Universities Pensions Forum, and Bradford, Leeds and York Local Economic Partnerships (LEPs). He founded, chaired and built up the Begbroke Science Park, the Heslington East Campus, the Hull-York Medical School, the Institute for Effective Education, the Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research, the National Science Learning Centre, and the World Technology Universities Network.
He was awarded a CBE for services to higher education in 2013.
Lopa Patel MBE is a Digital Entrepreneur, Non-Executive Chair, NED and Trustee with strengths in governance and risk oversight. The founder of two ventures in online media and a data-driven marketing consultancy, she is also the Chair of equality and inclusion charity, Diversity UK; a Non-Executive Director of the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and a Council Member of The Open University (OU).
She is an ambassador for entrepreneurship, innovation and technology and has been recognised with many accolades including an MBE for services to the creative industries; the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion and an Honorary Doctorate by The Open University, in recognition of her efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in science and technology.
These roles are not remunerated. These reappointments have been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Professor Cantor CBE and Lopa Patel MBE have not declared any activity.