Professor Padgett holds the Kelvin Chair of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow with research interests spanning optics and quantum enhanced imaging and sensing.
Current EPSRC Executive Chair Professor Dame Lynn Gladden is stepping down following five years in the role.
UKRI Chief Executive Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser said:
Lynn has provided exceptional leadership to EPSRC and on the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Senior Leadership Team over the past five years.
She has been pivotal in establishing UKRI and our first five-year strategy, including our transformative technologies programmes which are an integral part of the Government’s Science and Technology Framework.
I am deeply grateful for all her work for UKRI and I wish her many more successes in the future.
Professor Padgett takes up the post on 3 July and will serve as Interim Executive Chair until the appointment of a permanent replacement. An open recruitment campaign is underway.
Professor Padgett is a Fellow both of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Society and is an EPSRC council member.
He has won various national and international prizes including the 2021 Quantum Electronics and Optics Prize of the European Physical Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Quantum Electronics Award.
During his term as Vice-Principal for Research at the University of Glasgow Miles championed improved research culture and he is a member of the UK Committee on Research Integrity.
Dame Ottoline said:
I am delighted that UKRI will benefit from Professor Padgett’s experience and expertise and I look forward to working with him at this exciting time for research and innovation in the UK.
Top image: Professor Miles Padgett.