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I am delighted to invite you to apply for the key role of Chair of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). This is an exceptional opportunity to lead an organisation that is at the forefront of driving innovation and research excellence in the United Kingdom. This is a critical moment as UKRI is essential for knowledge creation, growth and prosperity now and in the future.
As the Chair of UKRI, you will play a pivotal role in leading an effective Board and maintaining good governance and robust assurance processes. You will work closely with the new CEO, Sir Ian Chapman, and support him in delivering on UKRI’s aims and objectives. You will also be responsible for overseeing the governance framework of UKRI, ensuring that it operates with transparency, accountability, and integrity. Your leadership will be crucial in fostering a positive corporate culture while also ensuring that UKRI’s activities align with its mission and values.
Working with the CEO and other senior executives you will have an important role in managing the relationship between UKRI and Government Ministers. Ensuring UKRI remains responsive to the needs of government, accountable for taxpayers’ money, and that the UKRI Board’s advice to government is timely, relevant and impactful.
We are seeking a leader with strong commitment to maximising the impact of UKRI’s investments into our excellent science, research and innovation systems structured around three principal areas: protecting and growing curiosity-driven research; addressing government priorities and tackling societal challenges; and supporting R&D-intensive companies to start up, scale up, and stay in the UK. Leveraging private sector investment will be an important part of this.
This will be essential in ensuring impact from the c.£9bn annual allocation to UKRI (expected to increase over the spending review period).
This role is crucial in driving economically beneficial outcomes and ensuring that UKRI’s research and innovation activities contribute to the UK’s economic growth and global competitiveness as highlighted in the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy. The new postholder will therefore need to have experience of focusing and prioritising on effective delivery.
If you are passionate about making a difference and have the skills and experience needed to work with the CEO leading UKRI into the future, we encourage you to apply for this exciting and influential role.
We welcome applications from outstanding individuals from a diverse range of sectors and backgrounds. We look forward to receiving your application.
Yours sincerely,
Minister Vallance
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. UKRI is the largest public funder of research and innovation in the UK, spanning all disciplines and all sectors, investing £9 billion each year on behalf of the UK Government. UKRI inspires and enables talented people to push the boundaries of discovery, support innovative businesses to grow and scale, and target solutions to national and global priorities.
UKRI links together the seven research councils, Innovate UK, and Research England, and works with the funding agencies in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to deliver an ambitious agenda, drawing on its great depth and breadth of expertise and the enormous diversity of its portfolio.
UKRI maintains and champions the creativity and vibrancy of disciplines and sector-specific priorities and communities. Its councils shape and deliver both sectoral and domain-specific support and work together to ensure a fully joined-up research and innovation investment portfolio.
Whether through research grants, quality-related block grants from Research England, or grants and wider support for innovative businesses from Innovate UK, UKRI works with its stakeholders and partners to understand the opportunities and requirements of all the different parts of the research and innovation landscape, maintaining the health, breadth, and depth of the system.
We fund people and teams in over 140 universities, 60 institutes and 3,600 companies across the UK, supporting a diverse range of research and innovation environments. Our investments in R&D deliver benefits across the whole of the UK.
Please find further information about UKRI here.
The Chair of UKRI will play a pivotal role in steering UKRI to deliver the strategic objectives set by Government, translating the UK’s global leadership in research and innovation, into economic growth and social impact and delivering for citizens. The Chair will provide overarching direction and ensure effective governance and enhanced accountability building confidence within Government, and with UKRI’s staff and users.
We are looking for an outstanding individual to become Chair of UKRI.
Applications are sought from candidates with demonstrable experience to show they can command the confidence of Government, the academic, business, higher education communities, guide and challenge the development of UKRI’s organisational approach, ensure the organisation is delivering effectively and efficiently, is focussed on value for money, able to demonstrate impact, and confident in embracing change and innovation.
It is expected that you would be able to demonstrate all the following abilities and attributes:
The seven principles of public life (the Nolan Principles) apply to anyone who works as a public office-holder. This includes people who are elected or appointed to public office, nationally and locally, and all people appointed to work in:
Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest.
Holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.
Holders of public office must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.
Holders of public office are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.
Holders of public office should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing.
Holders of public office should be truthful.
Holders of public office should exhibit these principles in their own behaviour. They should actively promote and robustly support the principles and be willing to challenge poor behaviour wherever it occurs.
Holders of public office are expected to adhere and uphold the Seven Principles of Public Life and the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies. Before you apply you should consider carefully:
You will need to answer relevant questions in relation to these points when making an application. Many conflicts of interest can be satisfactorily resolved and declaring a potential conflict does not prevent you from being interviewed. If you are shortlisted for an interview, the panel will discuss any potential conflicts with you during that interview, including any proposals you may have to mitigate them and record that in their advice to ministers. Alongside your own declaration, we will conduct appropriate checks, as part of which we will consider anything in the public domain related to your conduct or professional capacity. This may include searches of previous public statements and social media, blogs or any other publicly available information. The successful candidate(s) may be required to give up any conflicting interests and their other business and financial interests may be published in line with organisational policies.
Details of declared political activity will be published when the appointment is announced, as required by the Governance Code (political activity is not a bar to appointment, but must be declared).
UKRI has engaged the services of Perrett Laver to assist with the appointment process for the Chair. The closing date for applications is 23.59 GMT on Sunday 11th January 2026. For more information, please visit the Perrett Laver website at https://plusportal.perrettlaver.com/, quoting reference 8165.
Application is by submission of a curriculum vitae and a covering letter of application, addressing the job description and person specification and including suitable daytime and evening telephone contact details. If you wish to discuss this role further in confidence, please contact Devin Dattan on [email protected].
Please also complete a Diversity Monitoring Form as part of your application at this link: https://apply-for-public.appointment.service.gov.uk/roles/9050. On following the link, you will be asked to set up an account and provide your equality and outside interests information. Your application will not be considered without this.
If you require any reasonable adjustments to assist you in the selection process, please advise us of these so that we can make appropriate arrangements.
We welcome your interest and look forward to receiving your application. Please specify in your covering note the Council you wish to apply to; this is to ensure your interest is captured correctly.
Thank you for taking the time and effort to apply for this role. All data is processed accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act.
UKRI is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and welcomes applications from all. Applications from women, those with a disability, and members of minority ethnic groups, who are currently under-represented at senior levels in some sectors of the research and innovation community, are therefore especially encouraged. UKRI is a Disability Confident Employer.
Protecting your personal data is of the utmost importance to Perrett Laver and we take this responsibility very seriously. Any information obtained by our trading divisions is held and processed in accordance with the relevant data protection legislation. The data you provide us with is securely stored on our computerised database and transferred to our clients for the purposes of presenting you as a candidate and/or considering your suitability for a role you have registered interest in.
Perrett Laver is a Data Controller and a Data Processor, as defined under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Our legal basis for much of our data processing activity is ‘Legitimate Interests’. You have the right to object to us processing your data in this way. For more information about this, your rights, and our approach to Data Protection and Privacy, please visit our website http://www.perrettlaver.com/information/privacy/.
Goran is a Partner & Sector Lead, Health & Life Sciences.
His experience includes working on senior level strategic appointments for a range of higher education institutions, research institutes and centres, research-led organisations, public-private partnerships and biotech companies, and on global professorial and chair level appointments across various disciplines.
Goran holds an MSc in Molecular Biology from University of Zagreb and a PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from University of Geneva.
Prior to joining Perrett Laver, Goran was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London.
Harriet Howlett is a Partner & Sector Lead, Board in the UK working on Chair and governance level appointments across all of Perrett Laver’s sectors including Higher Education, Charities, Arts and Culture, and Sports.
Harriet also leads the firm’s Governance Apprenticeship Programme which is a partnership initiative aimed at developing a pipeline of future governing body members from diverse backgrounds.
Harriet holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of St Andrews, and an MA in History from University College London.
Simon Laver is one of Perrett Laver’s co-founders. Having co-led the firm for 20 years, he now acts as Senior Advisor, Science & Research.
Sarah is a Regional Managing Partner, UK and Africa & Middle East, working with colleagues across our different sectors to serve clients as they pursue new leadership.
She has worked for the firm for over a decade and has a particular breadth of expertise and experience in leading senior level executive search for Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, senior academic and professional services leaders, and non-executive governance appointments globally within the Higher Education and related sectors. Her clients include universities in both research-intensive and teaching focused environments, as well as specialist HEIs. She is always keen to support the sector more broadly, working with organisations such as Advance HE and the Women in Higher Education Network in pursuit of better diversity and inclusion in universities.
Sarah holds a BA (Hons) in English and Related Literature from the University of York. Prior to joining Perrett Laver, she worked for an HR consultancy in the account management function and also trained as a career coach.
