Following a formal appointment process and subsequent recommendation to the Royce Governing Board, Dr Jan-Theodoor (JT) Janssen has been appointed as the Royce Strategic Advisory Board (SAB) Chair from January 2024.
Speaking about his appointment, JT said:
“It’s a privilege to be selected for such an important role, and to be able to continue to provide leadership and oversight of Royce’s scientific endeavours in meeting both national and global challenges.
I am indebted to Mark E. Smith for his many years of commitment in steering the Royce SAB, his contribution has been a key factor in the Institute successfully transitioning from set-up through to its operational phase – a challenging period to navigating to a very successful outcome, including oversight of the procurement and incorporation of over £200million of facilities across Royce Partners,
Professor Phillip Withers, Royce Chief Scientist and SAB ex Officio member said:
“I am delighted by the appointment of JT as Chair of SAB. As well as his experience as Deputy Chair, JT is a leader who brings a great deal of knowledge and experience to the role. The science we undertake at Royce will be crucial to meeting many of the challenges we face – from meeting net-zero targets to ensuring a healthy population – and we look forward to working with JT to drive forward the materials research and translation activities that will play a huge part in delivering all this.”
Professor David Knowles, Royce CEO and SAB ex Officio member added:
“JT’s appointment is fantastic news for Royce as we continue to develop both our capabilities and our facilities. The SAB has a key role in ensuring we effectively engage with both industry and the wider UK materials community at a time when we really want to accelerate momentum around supporting the translation of materials research from the lab to application in the real world. JT will bring both insight and direction to this endeavour, alongside the other experienced members of the SAB.”
Dr Jan-Theodoor Janssen (JT) is Chief Scientist at the National Physical Laboratory. JT joined NPL in 1998. Prior to this he was a research fellow at the University of Bristol and did his PhD and Masters at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. JT became an NPL Fellow in Quantum Electrical Metrology in 2006 and was appointed a visiting professor at Lancaster University in 2018. Since 2017, he has been a member of the NPL Executive team, first as the Research Director, and recently as the Chief Scientist. In this role he is responsible for the external scientific engagements with academia and other government organisations
