An academic career at Cambridge University and Imperial College London and eight years in industry at Rolls-Royce plc led to 10 years as Vice-Chancellor of Aston University in Birmingham, before joining the House of Lords as a Crossbench Peer in 2016, where she has served on the Europe Select Committee, chaired the Science and Technology Select Committee and now sits on the Intelligence and Security Committee.
Baroness Brown has extensive experience in the areas of STEM education, innovation, climate change mitigation and adaptation, including 12 years as vice-chair of the Climate Change Committee until 2021 and five years in her current role as chair of the Adaptation Committee. Other current appointments: Chair of Carbon Trust and of Frontier IP; non-executive director of Orsted and of Ceres Power; chair of the Clean Tech Advisory Board for BGF; chair of the judges for the RAEng Green Future Fellowships; chair of judges for the second Manchester Prize. Former roles include three terms on the board of Innovate UK, 10 years as the UK’s Low Carbon Business Ambassador; non-executive director of the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult; chair of STEM Learning Ltd.
She has worked with Government on a number of influential reports including the King Review of Low Cars (2007) and the Browne Review of University Funding. She holds a first class degree and a PhD in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, and is a fellow of three National Academies.
