New Foreign Secretary for Royal Society

Congratulations to Professor Richard Catlow, Honorary Fellow and Alumnus of St John’s (Chemistry, 1965), who has been elected the new Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society. He will take over from Professor Martyn Poliakoff, who will step down in November.

Speaking about the appointment the President of the Royal Society, Venki Ramakrishnan, said, ‘The relationship between science in the UK and Europe is in a state of flux and so the role of the Foreign Secretary of the Society has never been more important. Science has always been a global undertaking and international collaboration has become the norm. Richard Catlow is well placed to help the Society negotiate this difficult time and build on the strong relationships we have across the world.’

Professor Catlow currently has a joint appointment between the Department of Chemistry at UCL and the School of Chemistry at Cardiff University. He has collaborated in Europe, the US, India, China, Japan, Cuba, Africa and Australia, and has a particular interest in capacity building programmes in Africa.

His research develops and applies computer models in conjunction with experiment to probe the properties of materials, including their synthesis, structure and properties. By combining computational methods with experiments, he has made considerable contributions to major areas of contemporary materials chemistry and physics, including mineralogy and the study of electronic, energy and catalytic materials.

The post of Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society dates back to 1723, and predates the post of Foreign Secretary in HM Government by 60 years.

To find out more please visit the Royal Society press release.