Deputy Director, Science Museum

Continuing Policy Fellow, Centre for Science and Policy

Julia is Deputy Director of the Science Museum with responsibility for visitor experience, operations, curatorial, exhibitions & galleries towards inspiring 3.3 million visitors annually. Julia also leads on Sustainability & the Net Zero by 2033 strategy across the five museums & National Collections Centre in the Science Museum Group.

Julia joined the museum from the Senior Civil Service as Deputy Director of Energy and Climate Science in BEIS where she played a role in the UK’s Net Zero by 2050 legislation.

A soil and climate scientist, Julia’s career spans over 20 years in biodiversity, conservation, climate change and sustainable agriculture – including 12 years overseas as a British diplomat in the Foreign Office as Director of the science teams in East China, Russia & Latin America. In Brazil, she led a £150 Million fund for UK-Brazil research including for identifying new plant species in the Amazon rainforest. Previously Julia worked in senior policy and delivery roles in nature, conservation & agriculture for Defra.

Julia is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, a Trustee of the Woodland Trust and Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Exhibition Road Cultural Group - a charity promoting London’s home of arts and science, representing 17 cultural institutions including the V&A, Natural History Museum, Imperial College & the Royal Albert Hall. Julia sits on the Advisory Board to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Bees and Pollinators and sits on the Royal Society’s Public Engagement Committee.