Professor Joyce Tait appointed to UK Government DSIT College of Experts
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Professor Joyce Tait has joined the UK Government Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s (DSIT) new College of Experts, a network of independent specialists who will provide fast, flexible access to leading scientific and technical expertise.
Professor Tait is one of 71 experts from UK universities, industry and research institutes to join the College, following a competitive membership process with around 1,200 applications.
The College’s government support work will range from short advisory conversations to workshops and peer review.
Professor Tait is an expert in the regulation of scientific innovation. She has worked on innovation-governance-stakeholder interactions in areas including cell therapies and regenerative medicine; synthetic biology and gene editing; pesticides and GM technologies; drug development; stratified and translational medicine; biofuels; and, most recently, quantum technologies and in silico models.
She is Director of the Innogen Institute at the University of Edinburgh.
Professor Tait said: “Setting up colleges of experts across several UK Government departments is an exciting new initiative providing, among other things, support for the development of transformatively innovative technologies, and I’m looking forward to being part of it.”
The DSIT College of Experts launched at an event at the Royal Society of London on 18 June.
Professor Chris Johnson, DSIT Chief Scientific Adviser and Head of the College of Experts, said: “The launch of the College of Experts at the Royal Society brought together an extraordinary group of independent specialists from across the UK, spanning AI, quantum, life sciences, cyber security, and far beyond. The experts volunteer their time to support us, reflecting a real commitment from the UK’s research and innovation community to contribute to government policymaking. Seeing DSIT colleagues and world-leading academics and practitioners in the same room was a powerful reminder of what this department can achieve when it draws on the best available expertise.”