Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, is a crossbench peer and Chair of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee who has made exceptional contributions across the science sector.
Born in London, Julia was educated at Godolphin and Latymer Girls' School and the University of Cambridge where she graduated with a first-class degree in natural sciences in 1975 and a PhD in fracture mechanics in 1978.
Staying in Cambridge as a Rolls-Royce research fellow for two years, Julia became a lecturer at the University of Nottingham in 1980. Appointed the Royal Academy of Engineering’s first senior research fellow in 1987, Julia returned to Cambridge University. In 1994, she moved to Rolls-Royce, taking a number of senior positions, including head of materials, managing director of fan systems and engineering director of the marine business.
She was appointed chief executive of the Institute of Physics in September 2002, and in 2004 became principal of the Engineering Faculty at Imperial College London. In 2006 she joined Aston University as vice-chancellor, where she served until September 2016.
Julia has held many senior public appointments and has worked closely with government on education and technology issues, including as a member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; advising the Ministry of Defence as Chair of the Defence Science Advisory Council and the Cabinet Office as a member of the National Security Forum. She was a non-executive member of the Technology Strategy Board for five years and a member of the board of Universities UK, chairing its Innovation and Growth Policy Network.
Julia was an inaugural member of the Governing Board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and a member of the World Economic Forum Automotive Council. She was a member of the Engineering and Technology Board (now Engineering UK) and led a Royal Academy of Engineering Working Party on `Educating Engineers for the 21st Century.’
This role chimed well with one of her abiding passions, identifying how best to develop the next generation of engineers and scientists, in a much more inclusive way, through relevant and exciting learning, supported by inspiring teachers. In 2016, Julia took the role of chair at STEM Learning Ltd, which works with the UK government, employers schools and colleges to deliver positive STEM interactions for teachers, young people and beyond, with the aim of providing world-leading STEM education across the UK.
Julia’s other roles have included non-executive director of Angel Trains, of the Green Investment Bank and as chair of the Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials.
Another focus for Julia has been addressing climate change. In 2007, her King Review examined how vehicle and fuel technologies could help to reduce carbon emissions from road transport. This important study led to developments ranging from new Vehicle Excise Duty bands for higher emissions vehicles to government support for the development of the electric vehicle market in the UK.
In 2008 she was appointed to the UK Climate Change Committee, becoming its vice chair until 2022. She continues to chair the Adaptation Committee of the Climate Change Committee, which she took on in 2017.
In 2010, she set out the challenges and opportunities that surround low-carbon transport when she delivered the Institution of Chemical Engineers 6th John Collier memorial lecture. Julia became the UK government's low carbon business ambassador from 2009-2019, where her extensive knowledge made her ideally placed to make technical contributions to developing evidence-based policy to address climate change.
Alongside her technical, corporate and policy achievements, Julia has published extensively on fatigue and fracture in structural materials and developments in aerospace and marine propulsion technology and received numerous awards in recognition of her work. In the 1999 Queen’s Birthday Honours list, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to materials engineering. She is also an honorary graduate of Queen Mary, University of London, the University of Manchester, the University of Exeter, Imperial College London, the University of Nottingham and an honorary fellow of both Churchill College and Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, Cardiff University and of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Society for the Environment and the British Science Association.
It is unsurprising that Julia’s work and achievements have elicited such widespread approbation. Named as an Inspiring Woman Engineer by the Royal Academy of Engineering, of which she is also a Fellow, she was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to higher education and technology and the same year received the President's Prize of the Engineering Professors' Council.
Julia was appointed to a life peerage, as Baroness Brown of Cambridge, in 2015, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2017 and was an inaugural council member of Innovate UK when it was set up by the government in 2018.
As much of her work is to champion business-led innovation and help secure the success of UK research, Julia doesn’t shy away from expressing her views, or from reinforcing the importance of listening to others, especially the young. As she said “We need the help of the public and of green groups like Extinction Rebellion and of the press…It’s crucial that this interest from young people continues. Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion have been very helpful.”
She has also called the fact that our economic growth is based on increasing consumption “the elephant in the room” adding “Continually trying to drive endless GDP growth in the developed and rich world is not only a bad example to the rest of the world, it’s unsustainable. We need a better way to measure progress and quality of life in developed economies.”
The wider science sector is deeply fortunate to benefit from her measured and imaginative approach, and the Academy of Medical Sciences is delighted to welcome her as an Honorary Fellow.