Professor Brian Collins
Chair of Engineering Policy, Faculty of Engineering Science, University College London (UCL)
Former Chief Scientific Adviser in BIS and DfT
Associate Fellow of the Centre for Science and Policy
Professor Brian Collins joined the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), now Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in May 2008 as its Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA). His role was to provide scientific advice to the Secretary of State, Ministers and the Management Board, ensuring the use of sound scientific, engineering and technological evidence across the Department. He also acted as Head of Profession for the Department’s scientists, engineers and technologists.
Professor Collins was also CSA at the Department for Transport and advised the Home Office and other agencies on Intelligence and Counter Terrorism matters. He is a Professor of Information Systems at Cranfield University. Previously he has held senior positions at Clifford Chance, the Wellcome Trust, and was Chief Scientist and Technical Director at GCHQ and Deputy Director at Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE).
Professor Collins is a graduate of Oxford University, where he read Physics and also obtained his doctorate in astrophysics. He was made a Companion of the Bath in the 2011 New Year’s Honours List.