Dame Henrietta Miriam Ottoline Leyser (born 7 March 1965) is a British plant biologist and Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge, Chief Executive Officer of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the

Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge The Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (or SLCU) is located in Cambridge University Botanic Garden. Its aim is to elucidate the regulatory systems underlying plant growth and plant development. Senior research staff As of 2022 Senior resea ...

Education

Leyser was born in England. Her birth was registered in Ploughley,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

She attended Wychwood School in Oxford and the University of Cambridge as an undergraduate student of Newnham College, Cambridge, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences in 1986 followed by a PhD in Genetics in 1990 for research supervised by Ian Furner.

Research and career

Her postdoctoral research at Indiana University preceded a lectureship at the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

, where Leyser worked from 1994 - 2010. In 2010, Leyser was appointed Director of the Sainsbury Laboratory and Professor of Plant Development at the University of Cambridge. Leyser's research interests are in the genetics of plant development and the interaction of plant hormones with the environment. Leyser is chair of the University of Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy Management Committee. In 2020 she was appointed the Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation.

Awards and honours

Leyser was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2007. Her nomination reads: Leyser was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the

2009 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2009 were announced on 31 December 2008 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Barbados, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Christopher and Nevis,Saint Christopher. to ...

. She was a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics from 2009 to 2015, and a member of the Council’s Working Party on Biofuels (2009-2011). Leyser was elected a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences in 2012. She has been a Member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina since 2014. In 2016, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the

Norwegian University of Science and Technology Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

(NTNU). Other honours include the Society of Experimental Biology’s President’s Medal (2000), the Royal Society's Rosalind Franklin Award (2007), the International Plant Growth Substance Association’s Silver Medal (2010), the UK Genetic Society Medal (2016, which recognises outstanding contributions to genetics research), and the EMBO Women in Science Award (2017). Leyser was appointed

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(DBE) in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to plant science, science in society, and equality and diversity in science. That same year, she received the Women in Science Award from the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS).

Personal life

Leyser is the daughter of the historians

Henrietta Leyser Henrietta Leyser is an English historian. She is an expert on the history of medieval England, in particular the role of women. Career Leyser is an Emeritus fellow at St Peter's College, Oxford and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. ...

and Karl Leyser. She married Stephen John Day in 1986 and has one son and one daughter. She has been a guest of Jim Al-Khalili on the BBC Radio 4 programme '' The Life Scientific'' multiple times.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leyser, Ottoline 1965 births Living people British botanists Women botanists Female Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization Academics of the University of York Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences British women scientists Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina British people of German descent Regius Professors of Botany (Cambridge)