Composition and Membership

Independent Members

Vindi Banga (Chair)

Vindi joined Clayton Dubilier & Rice's (CD&R) London office in 2010 as Partner after a 33-year career at Unilever. At CD&R, Vindi is the Chair of the firm’s global ESG initiative.

Vindi was previously Chairman of CD&R portfolio companies Kalle GmbH, Mauser GmbH and Diversey, Inc. He served on the Board of CD&R portfolio companies, High Ridge Brands and Diversey, Inc. Mr. Banga helped establish the Firm's joint venture in India, Kedaara Capital Advisers.

Vindi assumed the role as Chair of the UK Government Investments (UKGI) in September 2021. He was appointed Chair of Marie Curie in January 2018, and was the Senior Independent NED on the Board of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) plc until July 2022 when he joined GSK spin-off, Haleon plc’s, board as Senior Independent NED. He is also a NED on The Economist Group board.

He holds a B.Tech. Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and a M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad).

Dr Tim Littlewood

Dr Tim Littlewood is Executive Director of Science at the Natural History Museum (NHM). He joined the Museum in the early 1990s, becoming Head of Life Sciences in 2013 and Director of Science in 2019. As a member of NHM’s Executive Board he contributes to the strategic direction and overall management of the Museum, and provides leadership to its 350 scientists, who use the latest molecular, analytical and digital technologies to advance understanding of some of the biggest issues facing humanity and the planet. Tim also oversees the Museum’s unique collection of 80 million specimens, seeking to improve access for both the public and visiting researchers. He is currently leading NHM’s creation of a science and digitisation centre at the Harwell Campus for Science and Innovation, which will house significant parts of the collection when it opens in 2026/2027. He is an Associate Director of the London Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases, and his research interests include the evolution of parasitism, molecular tools for systematics and animal evolution, and using collections data to inform research.

Dr Tristram Hunt

Dr Tristram Hunt was appointed Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum in February 2017. He was previously Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent Central, and also served as Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Education.
He has a first class degree in history from Trinity College, Cambridge (1995), and served as an Exchange Fellow at the University of Chicago (1996). He has a PhD from the University of Cambridge, on ‘Civic Thought in Britain, 1820-1860’ (2000). In 1997, he became a Special Adviser to Science Minister Lord Sainsbury (1997-2000), Associate Fellow at the Centre for History and Economics, King’s College, Cambridge and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research.
Between 2001-2010, he combined his post as Senior Lecturer in History at Queen Mary, University of London, with work as a history broadcaster, presenting a range of radio and television programmes for the BBC and Channel 4. He is the author of The English Civil War: At First Hand (2002), Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City (2004), the award-winning biography, The Frock-coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels (2009), and most recently Ten Cities That Made an Empire (2014). Dr Hunt has served as a Trustee of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the History of Parliament Trust. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Mr Ian McCulloch

Ian is the President of the Royal Albert Hall. He is a consultant for the law firm BDB Pitmans and has been a trustee of the hall, and a member of its Council since 2014. His specialisms include Parliamentary procedure, statutory consents, planning for transport infrastructure, compulsory purchase and compensation, wills, tax and trusts for private clients, public body constitutions and charity law. He chairs the Royal Albert Hall’s Council meetings, and its Governance and Ethics Committee, the HR and Remuneration Committee and the Hall’s legal working group. He is also a member of the Marketing and PR Committee. As President, Ian also chairs the separate charity, the Royal Albert Hall Trust, which receives and raises funds for the Hall.

Kevin Porter is Deputy Director of the Royal College of Music, where he has worked since 1994, leading the administration of the College, with a particular focus on international initiatives, governance and strategy. His early career was in quality assurance, first at the University of East London and then for the Council for National Academic Awards. He then moved to London Guildhall University (now part of London Metropolitan University) where he worked in governance and academic policy, as well as Quality Assurance. Kevin was Chairman of the Conservatories UK Academic Administration Committee and he also chaired the Conservatoires UK initiative to develop a new admissions service for conservatoires, UCAS Conservatoires. He is currently Chairman of the Board of KCG shared services internal audit consortium, among an involvement in a range of HE sector organisations.

Professor Joe Smith

Joe is Director of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), where he leads the UK's learned society and professional body for geography. Prior to this he was Professor of Environment and Society and head of geography at the Open University. His academic work has focused on environmental communication, history, policy and politics. He has worked extensively with broadcast media, advising on both specific programmes and broad strategy in relation to the presentation of environmental issues to mass audiences. Joe holds a BA in Social and Political Sciences and a PhD in Geography from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He is also a Director of Smith of Derby Ltd., a 160-year-old public clock making company.

Bernard Taylor has a degree in Chemistry from St John’s College Oxford and after work at Smith’s Industries plc he joined Baring Brothers in the Corporate Finance area. He then became Chief Executive of Robert Fleming and on the merger with JP Morgan he became a Vice Chairman. He left JP Morgan in 2006 and is non-executive Chairman of Evercore Partners’ activities in Europe.  Throughout his career he has been involved with science related companies in Britain and elsewhere, including Glaxo, Wellcome, EADS, Celltech, Smith’s Industries and BAE.  He was a member of the Council of Oxford University from 2002 to 2012 and remains on various Boards and Committees for the University.  He is Chairman of the 1851 Royal Commission Board of Management, a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry,  Chairman of the Royal Society Advisory Board, Chairman of Garsington Opera, Chairman of the Ashmolean Museum and a Director of The ERA Foundation Limited.  He farms near Thame in Oxfordshire. 

Professor Simon Barton

Professor Simon Barton is an expert in genitourinary medicine and sexual health based in London, and an Adjunct Professor at Imperial College. He graduated with an MBBS in Medicine from Imperial College London in 1982. He has been the clinical director of the HIV and genitourinary medicine directorate, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital since 1996. He has been elected president of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV since 2006, and is chair of the Royal College of Physicians joint specialty committee in genitourinary medicine. Professor Barton has over 150 peer reviewed publications and five books. His areas of interest include herpes simplex virus therapies and vaccine research, as well as strategies to prevent recurrent genitourinary conditions. He also serves as the alumni representative on the Faculty of Medicine Alumni Working Group.

Mr Tim Chapman

Tim Chapman is Director at Arup for Net Zero Carbon for Infrastructure. He graduated from Imperial College in 1987 with a MSc in Soil Mechanics following which, he joined Arup and has been with the company for almost 35 years. He is a passionate advocate for the greening of infrastructure and helped to conceive the need for and then write the world’s first and only standard for the whole life management of infrastructure carbon (PAS2080). He has also been influential in the development of UK specifications for piling and embedded retaining walls and laid out the engineering basis for the reuse of old foundations, and has been intimately involved in foundation design for major structures in London such as the Gherkin, the Royal Opera House and many of the big buildings at Canary Wharf. He has also played a large role in the design of projects like Crossrail and has led the geotechnical design for major projects throughout the World. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Civil Engineers and of Engineers Ireland.

Uzoamaka Nwamarah

Uzoamaka Nwamarah is an Adviser on Climate Change at the Commonwealth Secretariat where she is responsible for providing strategic leadership and technical oversight for supporting the implementation of the Commonwealth Climate Change Programme, including its flagship Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub (CCFAH). She leads the Secretariat’s Nationally Determined Contributions and climate change and gender work streams, and also serves on its Young Professionals Advisory Team. Her international experience spans across the globe where she has worked with national governments, regional bodies and international financial institutions, advising and supporting them in designing and implementing low carbon and climate resilient policies, strategies, programmes and projects, together with climate finance resource mobilisation. She is well experienced in strengthening institutional and human capacity on climate change including work on climate finance tracking and reporting.

Prior to joining the Commonwealth Secretariat, Uzoamaka was a Principal Climate Finance Consultant with Atkins UK, Senior Climate Change Specialist with the African Development Bank in Tunisia and Ivory Coast, Energy Policy Consultant with Camco UK and Sustainable Energy Officer with the East Midlands Regional Assembly UK.

Uzoamaka Nwamarah has a Masters degree in Environmental Technology - Energy Policy, from Imperial College London, United Kingdom, and a first degree in Geology from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. She is an Associate Member of the Energy Institute, on the vetted experts roster of the United Nations Development Programme for Climate Resilience, a Steering Committee Member for the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) Climate Change Programme and is also a qualified Project Manager with Prince 2 Practitioner certification. In 2021, Uzoamaka was announced as a finalist in the Black British Business Awards (BBBAwards) in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Senior Leader category.

Dr Mohammedabbas Khaki

Dr Khaki graduated with an MBBS in Medicine from Imperial College London in 2010. He works as a General Practitioner in London, and in 2019, was named as one of the 50 most influential GPs in the UK by Pulse. He is the co-founder of the Who is Hussain Foundation, a social justice movement with teams in 90 cities across the globe and aims to make a positive change in society, through giving back to those most in need. He has also spent time volunteering overseas in crisis and catastrophe areas, and continues to carry out a range of outreach activities with ethnic minority communities. Dr Khaki is also a media doctor for a number of national TV channels and writes for national and international press on health and social issues. He uses these platforms to address medical concerns from the public whilst helping harder to reach communities improve their health and well-being. He was a winner of Imperial College’s Emerging Alumni Awards in 2020.

Roger Highfield

Roger Highfield was appointed Science Director of the Science Museum Group in 2019 after serving eight years as Director of External Affairs, when he was responsible for advocacy, press and marketing. Previously he was Editor of New Scientist magazine between 2008 and 2011 and the Science Editor of the Daily Telegraph between 1988 and 2008. Roger has published articles widely, including in Wired, Science, Observer, Sunday Times, Spectator and Economist. He has written eight books, including two bestsellers, and edited two by the genomics pioneer Craig Venter.

He read Chemistry at Pembroke College, Oxford and was awarded a Master of Arts degree in Chemistry. For his doctorate at the University of Oxford, Roger became the first person to bounce a neutron off a soap bubble, while working at the Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, Unilever and Southampton. Recently he was made a visiting professor of public engagement at the Dunn School, University of Oxford, and at the Department of Chemistry, UCL.

A member of the UKRI-Medical Research Council and Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, Roger won the Royal Society’s Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar prize in 2012 and over the decades has garnered many awards for journalism, notably a British Press Award.

Internal Members

President, Professor Hugh Brady

A graduate of University College Dublin (UCD), Professor Brady trained in general medicine and nephrology, and was awarded PhD and MD degrees for research in renal physiology and molecular medicine, respectively. His academic career as a physician-scientist included positions at Harvard Medical School, the University of Toronto and UCD. He is an international authority on the pathogenesis of renal inflammation and diabetic kidney disease. 

Professor Brady is a recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the Queen’s University Belfast, an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Anaesthetists in Ireland and the Robert Menzies Medal from the University of Melbourne.   

Professor Brady is a non-executive director of Kerry Group plc; a member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU); and chair of Ireland’s Public Health Reform Expert Advisory Group. He has also served as a member of Ireland’s Higher Education Authority; chair of the Irish Universities Association; chair of the Universitas 21 Network of global research universities; member of the Western Gateway Partnership Board, and was a non-executive director of ICON plc from 2014 to 2022.

Provost, Professor Ian Walmsley FRS

Professor Ian Walmsley FRS became the second Provost of Imperial College London in September 2018. Before joining Imperial, Professor Walmsley served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) and Hooke Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Oxford. Professor Walmsley graduated from Imperial with first class honours in physics in 1980, and completed his PhD at the University of Rochester before working as a postdoc at Cornell University. He became Assistant Professor of Optics at the University of Rochester in 1988, and held a number of roles there before joining the University of Oxford in 2001 as Professor of Experimental Physics. He was also a Senior Visiting Fellow at Princeton University. He was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) of the University of Oxford in 2009, becoming Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) in 2015. At Oxford, he led the Networked Quantum Information Technologies Hub and headed up the creation of the Rosalind Franklin Institute. In recognition of his contributions to quantum optics and ultrafast optics, Professor Walmsley was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2012. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society, and the Optical Society of America – where he currently serves as President. He was a member of the EPSRC Physics Strategic Advisory Team and was on the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics’ Science Advisory Board.

Chief Operating Officer, Mr Robert Kerse

Robert Kerse was appointed Chief Operating Officer in February 2023. 

Reporting to the President, Robert is a key member of the senior leadership team and the University Management Board. He has responsibility for Campus Services, Estates, ICT, Finance and the Commercial & Investment Activities Group. Robert plays a key role in helping to shape the development and implementation of the College’s vision, strategic goals, objectives, and values.  

Robert held a similar role at the University of Bristol since 2016, including being the senior responsible owner for Bristol's new Temple Quarter Campus. Robert spent thirteen years in several executive roles within the social housing sector in London and the West Country before moving into Higher Education. He started his career training as a chartered accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, after being educated at the University of Cambridge. Robert is the Treasurer and Chair of the Resources Committee of the young person's homeless charity, Centrepoint.

Registrar and University Secretary, Mr Richard Martin

Richard Martin is Registrar and University Secretary at Imperial. Reporting to the President as University Secretary (and also to the Chair of Council as Clerk to Council) and to the Provost as Registrar, Richard has overall management responsibility for corporate governance and the Academic Services Group.

 Richard began his career in Higher Education as a Graduate Management Trainee at Imperial in 2000, before moving to work at UCL’s Faculty of Engineering Sciences and in Australia where he was responsible for establishing UCL’s first overseas campus in Adelaide as Chief Operating Officer of UCL Australia. Richard returned to Imperial in 2011 to take up the role of Faculty Operating Officer for the Faculty of Engineering, after which he served as Director of Transformation and in 2020 was appointed Director of Academic Services. Richard was appointed Registrar and University Secretary in March 2024.  

Imperial College Union President, Ms Camille Boutrolle 

Camille Boutrolle is President of Student Union at Imperial College London for 2023-24. She is London born and raised, and holds a master’s degree in aero engineering. In her time at Imperial, Camille’s interaction with the Union has mainly been through sport and holding several executive positions on CSP committees, including the running of IC's netball club.