Climate & Environment Day
 | Ambassador Markus Leitner was born in 1966 in Zurich and is a citizen of the City of Zurich. He completed his studies with a degree in Economics at the Zurich University of Applied Science and the University of Fribourg. After various positions in the private sector, he joined the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in 1996 and undertook his diplomatic training in Berne (1996/97) and Madrid (1997/98). On his return to Berne, he dealt with Swiss financial center issues (e.g. banking secrecy, politically exposed persons, blood diamonds) in the Economics and Finance Division. From 2002 to 2006 Mr Leitner was responsible for economic and scientific affairs at the Embassy of Switzerland in Pretoria. From 2006 to 2008, he was posted in Santiago de Chile as Deputy Head of Mission. From 2009 to 2010, Mr Leitner headed the Peace Policy Section in Berne and was appointed Deputy Head of the Human Security Division at the beginning of 2011 until mid-2013. In June 2013, Mr Leitner became the Ambassador of Switzerland in Egypt. He was subsequently appointed Ambassador of Switzerland to the Islamic Republic of Iran and assumed the position in August 2017. Since August 2021, Markus Leitner serves as the Swiss Ambassador to the United Kingdom. He is married and has two children. |
 | Prof Dame Angela McLean DBE FRS is the Government Chief Scientific Adviser having taken up the role in April 2023. She is also Head of the Government Science and Engineering Profession. Prior to this Angela was the Chief Scientific Adviser for the Ministry of Defence. Until April 2023, Angela McLean was a Professor of Mathematical Biology in the Department of Zoology at Oxford University and a Fellow of All Souls College. Angela’s research interests lie in the use of mathematical models to aid our understanding of the evolution and spread of infectious agents. Angela is interested in the use of natural science evidence in formulating public policy and has co-developed the Oxford Martin School Restatements: an activity which restructures and presents the evidence underlying an issue of policy concern or controversy in a short, uncharged, intelligible form for non-technical audiences. Angela established Mathematical Biology at the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council’s Institute for Animal Health in 1994. Before this, Angela was a Royal Society Research Fellow at Oxford University and a Research Fellow at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. In 2009 Angela was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. She was awarded the Gabor Medal in 2011 and the Weldon Memorial Prize in 2018. She received her damehood in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours List. |
Dr Mariluz Bagnoud
(Agroscope)
Steve Bates OBE
(BIA)
Prof Lionel Clarke OBE
(BionerG Ltd)
Prof Frederic Coulon
(Cranfield University)
Neil Goldsmith
(Baselaunch)
Dr Thomas Gorochowski
(University of Bristol)
Dr Edward Green
(NCIMB)
Dr Ramdane Haddouche
(Croda)
Dr Ian Hu
(Phycobloom Ltd)
Tony Kinsella
(Lucideon)
Dr Stefan Krawielitzki
(AVA Biochem)
Dr Harris Luk
(Sulzer Chemtech)
Dr James MacDonald
(Solena Materials Limited)
Dr Rowan McKibbin
(Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council)
Dr Holly Reeve
(HydRegen)
Dr Serina Robinson
(Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology)
Paul Shortland
(Advanced Bacterial Sciences)
Yiea Wey Te
(Member of the Parliament of Canton Zurich, Switzerland)
Dr Isabel Webb
(Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Dr Meng Zhang
(Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment)