The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Board is our primary governing body. It has general oversight of UKRI’s activities and is responsible for achieving UKRI’s strategic objective and vision.
The board is made up of UKRI’s Chair, Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer, as well as between nine and 12 independent members drawn from:
- higher education
- industry and commerce
- policy
- charities
- other non-governmental organisations
Board members are appointed by the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Members initially serve for three to five years. The board is required to give updates and advice to the Secretary of State, including an annual report and strategic priorities.
The board is supported by the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee, the Nominations and Renumerations Committee, the Organisation Change Committee and a Board Investment Committee that provides independent scrutiny of major business cases, that exceed UKRI’s delegations.
Board members
Current members of the board include:
- Professor Sir Ian Boyd, Professor at the University of St Andrews
- Dr John Fingleton, Chief Executive Officer, Fingleton
- Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein, President of City, University of London
- Priya Guha, Venture Partner at Merian Ventures and BIC Chair
- Professor Nola Hewitt-Dundas, Professor of Innovation Management and Policy and Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast
- Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, Chief Executive, UKRI
- Sir Andrew Mackenzie, Chair of UKRI
- Siobhan Peters, Chief Finance Officer, UKRI
- Nigel Toon, Co-founder, Chair and CEO at Graphcore
- Ruwan Weerasekera, Non-executive Director on the Board of UKRI and Chair of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee
- Alexandra Jones, Director General for Science, Innovation and Growth at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
See our declaration of interests.
Board meeting minutes
UKRI Board meetings are held up to eight times a year and we publish minutes to ensure transparency and accountability:
- 2023 meeting minutes
- 2022 meeting minutes
- 2021 meeting minutes
- 11 November 2020 meeting minutes (PDF, 129KB)
- 16 September 2020 meeting minutes (PDF, 118KB)
- 15 July 2020 meeting minutes (PDF, 119KB)
- 13 May 2020 meeting minutes (PDF, 154KB)
- 18 March 2020 meeting minutes (PDF, 165KB)
- 15 and 16 January 2020 meeting minutes (PDF, 192KB)
- 13 November 2019 meeting minutes (PDF, 190KB)
- 11 September 2019 meeting minutes (PDF, 180KB)
- 29 July 2019 meeting minutes (PDF, 60KB)
- 2 July 2019 meeting minutes (PDF, 80KB)
- 29 May 2019 meeting minutes (PDF, 80KB)
- 27 March 2019 meeting minutes (PDF, 80KB)
- 26 February 2019 meeting minutes (PDF, 80KB)
- 22 January 2019 meeting minutes (PDF, 440KB)
- 21 November 2018 meeting minutes (PDF, 240KB)
- 16 October 2018 meeting minutes (PDF, 285KB)
- 19 September 2018 meeting minutes (PDF, 315KB)
- 3 July 2018 meeting minutes (PDF, 340KB)
- 15 May 2018 meeting minutes (PDF, 325KB)
Terms of reference
Last updated: 6 November 2023