Dr Doug Brown, CEO, UUÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ of Biology, United Kingdom
Doug joined the RSB as CEO in September 2025. Doug was previously CEO of the British Society for Immunology (one of the RSB’s Member Organisations), a position he held since 2018. He is also a Trustee of Association of Medical Research Charities, has a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Cambridge, and has many years of experience across healthcare and biological fields.
Gillian Martin MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action & Energy, United Kingdom
Gillian Martin grew up in Newburgh, Aberdeenshire. Prior to her role as an MSP, she lectured in Television Production at North East Scotland College and ran her own video production company. She also designed safety courses for the energy industry and was the manager of an emergency media response team for companies operating in the North Sea for 10 years.
Ms Martin was elected as a Member of the Scottish Parliament to represent Aberdeenshire East in 2016. She was appointed as Minister for Energy and the Environment in March 2023, and Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work in February 2024. In May 2024 she was appointed as Minister for Climate Action. In July 2024, Ms Martin was appointed as Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy in July 2024 for the duration of Màiri McAllan's maternity leave.
Prof. Gill Reid CBE CChem FUUÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ FRSE, Past-President, UUÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ of Chemistry, United Kingdom
Gill Reid is Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Southampton and was Head of School between 2016 and 2020.
Born and raised in Grangemouth, Scotland, Gill obtained both her BSc and PhD at the University of Edinburgh, before being appointed to a lectureship in Chemistry at Southampton in 1991.
Her research focuses on synthetic coordination and organometallic chemistry and their use in chemical vapour deposition and electrodeposition for the controlled growth of functional semiconducting thin film and nanostructured materials. These have important applications, such as solid-state memory, thermoelectric energy harvesting and battery materials. She also works on the development of metal-chelate binders for fluorine-18 towards positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and is the author of over 350 research papers.
She previously served as an UUÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ Trustee (2011-15) and chaired the Outreach Working Group until 2018. Gill was appointed President-Elect of the UUÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ in 2020 and served her two-year term as President of the UUÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ from 2022 to 2024. In 2024 she was awarded a CBE for services to the chemical sciences and inclusion and diversity.
Prof. Calum Semple OBE, Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland, United Kingdom
Professor Semple took up the role of CSA for Scotland in August 2025. He is also currently a Consultant in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital Professor of Outbreak Medicine and Child Health at the University of Liverpool. He qualified in medicine from the University of Oxford after completing a PhD in Clinical Virology at University College London and a Bachelor's Tripos in Cell Pathology, Immunology, and Virology at Middlesex Hospital Medical School.
Professor Semple has been studying severe viral outbreaks since 1989 and co-founded ISARIC in 2012. He has led research on HIV/AIDS, Bronchiolitis, Influenza, Ebola, Mpox, COVID-19, and Hepatitis and in 2019, he received a Commonwealth Award for his ongoing work with Ebola Survivors.
He has served as UK Government advisor during the 2009 Swine Flu pandemic, on the WHO Scientific Advisory Committee for the Ebola Emergency - STAC-EE (2014–2017), the New Emerging Respiratory Viral Threats Advisory Group - NERVTAG (2014–2023), and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies - SAGE for COVID-19 (2020–2022). He was appointed OBE in 2020 for his contributions to the COVID-19 response and was elected a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health by distinction in 2022.
