Dame Mary Archer

Dame Mary served as a Trustee of the Science Museum Group (then known as the NMSI), 1990–2000, and became chair in January 2015. She started her career as a physical chemist and has taught Chemistry in Oxford, Cambridge and London.

Her long-standing interest in solar photoconversion was kindled by post-doctoral work at The Royal Institution in the 1970s. During that time, she co-founded the UK section of the International Solar Energy Society, of which she is now president.

She was the founder chair of the UK’s National Energy Foundation and is now its Patron. She is a Companion of the Energy Institute, and was awarded the Institute’s Melchett Medal in 2002, and the Eva Philbin award of the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland in 2007.

Dame Mary has also had a long association with the NHS, serving as chair of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, 2002–2012, and a founder director of Cambridge University Health Partners, 2009–2012. In 2012, she was appointed DBE for services to the NHS.

She was a Visiting Professor in the Department of Biochemistry of Imperial College in the 1990s and is currently chair of the External Advisory Board of the Centre for Personalised Medicine, Oxford.

She is also Chancellor of the University of Buckingham, an Honorary Liveryman of the Fuellers’ Company and an Honorary Member of the Salters’ Company.