Keynote Speakers

Neil Robinson is Joint Head of Research Infrastructure at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Based in Swindon, he leads a team that invests c. £100m annually in capital and digital research infrastructures and the people who design, build, operate and maintain these. He is the Project Director for three major research infrastructure projects, including the 11.7 T Human MRI scanner at the University of Nottingham and the upgrade and expansion of the National Wind Tunnels Facility across the UK.

Ottoline Leyser is the Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on multiscale distributed regulatory systems in plant development. From 2020-2025 she served as CEO of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the UK’s main public funder of research and innovation. She has a long-term interest in research culture and its effects on the quality and effectiveness of the research system. She has worked extensively in science policy, chairing the Royal Society’s Science Policy Expert Advisory Group (2014-2020), and serving on the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology (2017-2025). In 2012 she was appointed DBE for services to plant science, science in society and equality and diversity in science in 2017.