Sir John Rex Beddington

HonFREng Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK and from aroun ...

(born 13 October 1945) is a British population biologist and Senior Adviser at the

Oxford Martin School The Oxford Martin School is a research and policy unit based in the Social Sciences Division of the University of Oxford. It was founded in June 2005 as the James Martin 21st Century School and is located in the original building of the Indian ...

, and was previously Professor of Applied Population Biology at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

, and the UK

Government Chief Scientific Adviser The UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA) is the personal adviser on science and technology-related activities and policies to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet; and head of the Government Office for Science. The Chief Scientific Adv ...

from 2008 until 2013.

Education

Beddington was educated at

Monmouth School Monmouth School for Boys is a public school (independent day and boarding school) for boys in Monmouth, Wales. The school was founded in 1614 with a bequest from William Jones, a successful merchant and trader. The School is run as a trust, t ...

in south-east Wales, close to the English border. He then attended the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

, gaining a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

degree in economics in 1967, and later an MSc degree in 1968. In 1973 he was awarded a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

degree from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

Research and career

Beddington's research applies biology and economics to the

sustainable management Sustainable management takes the concepts from sustainability and synthesizes them with the concepts of management. Sustainability has three branches: the environment, the needs of present and future generations, and the economy. Using these branc ...

natural resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. ...

. From 1968 to 1971 Beddington was a research assistant at the University of Edinburgh. From 1971 to 1984 he was a lecturer in population biology at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for post-nominals) is a collegiate research university, located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, co ...

Oxford Martin School

Beddington was part of the

from May 2013 until 2018. He served as the senior advisor to Professor

Ian Goldin Ian Andrew Goldin is a South African-born British professor at the University of Oxford in England, and was the founding director of the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford. He is Professor of Globalisation and Development, holds a ...

, the School's Director. The Oxford Martin School is made up of a community of more than 200 researchers, working to address the most pressing global challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

Imperial College London

Beddington joined Imperial in 1984, was promoted to

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

in 1987 and was appointed Professor of Applied Population Biology there in 1991. Beddington has been a specialist in the economics and biology of sustainable management of renewable resources, and has previously advised UK ministers on scientific and environmental issues. He has chaired the

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United K ...

' science advisory panel and the Defence Scientific Advisory Committee, and is a member of the Natural Environmental Research Council. He has also advised the European Commission and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Chief Scientific Adviser

On 1 October 2007, it was announced by the Prime Minister

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...

that Beddington would succeed Professor Sir David King as the

Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government The UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA) is the personal adviser on science and technology-related activities and policies to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet; and head of the Government Office for Science. The Chief Scientific Adv ...

with effect from 1 January 2008. His annual remuneration for this role was £165,000. Beddington was closely involved in helping the British government formulate its response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the eruptions of Icelandic volcanoes and ash dieback disease in the UK. In April 2013 Beddington was succeeded by

Mark Walport Sir Mark Jeremy Walport (born 25 January 1953) is an English medical scientist and was the Government Chief Scientific Adviser in the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2017 and Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) from 2017 to 2020. ...

Awards and honours

Professor Beddington was awarded the Heidelberg Award for Environmental Excellence in June 1997, was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

in 2001 and was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004, in recognition of his services to fisheries science and management. He was also appointed a Honorary

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2012 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2011. In July 2014, he was recognised by the Government of Japan for his contributions to strengthening the co-operation between Japan and the UK in the areas of science and technology.

Personal life

Beddington was knighted in the 2010 Birthday Honours. He was married to Sarah West from 1968 until their divorce in 1972. They have one son. In 1973, he married social policy professor Sally Baldwin. They divorced in 1979, and have one daughter, Emma Beddington, journalist at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. He married his current spouse, Caroline Hiller, in 1990.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Beddington, John Living people Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Presidents of the Zoological Society of London Academics of Imperial College London Academics of the University of York Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the London School of Economics 20th-century British biologists 21st-century British biologists People educated at Monmouth School for Boys Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Chief Scientific Advisers to HM Government Knights Bachelor 1945 births British ecologists Science communicators