NERC Council member
Gideon Henderson is the Senior Independent Member of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Council.
Gideon is a Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences and Fellow of University College at the University of Oxford. As a geochemist, his research focuses on the carbon cycle, the climate system and on ocean chemistry.
He uses novel information from natural archives to quantify climate processes (including sea level, rainfall patterns, permafrost stability, and ocean circulation). He seeks to understand the processes governing fluxes of carbon from the atmosphere, including the potential for deliberate removal of atmospheric CO2.
Gideon played a key role in initiating the international programme GEOTRACES, which has revolutionised knowledge of the chemical cycling of metals in the ocean and was co-chair of this programme for its first decade.
He recently stepped down from nearly six years working as the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) and Director General for Science and Analysis at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). In that capacity he was responsible for science and innovation, for the quality of advice to ministers, and for the delivery of a research and development portfolio in a government department with a broad environmental remit.
Gideon has significant experience in the NERC system having been funded by NERC throughout his career, serving on the predecessor to the Science Committee (2009 to 2014), as a member of Council (2018 to 2019), as an observer on Council while CSA and by initiating joint NERC-Defra programmes.
Last updated: 1 October 2025