Senior Research Investigator, Imperial College London

David is the past chairman of the Steering Board of the UK Space Agency. After an academic career as a space scientist, he joined European Space Agency in 1997 to draw up a new Earth Observation programme, essentially that in use now. In 2001 he became ESA Science Director, retiring in 2011. He was president of the Royal Astronomical Society 2012-2014 and is currently a senior research investigator at Imperial College. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal and won the 2011 Sir Arthur C. Clarke award for space achievement. He received a CBE in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to space science and industry in the United Kingdom and Europe.