Appointments & reappointments to the NHM board
The Natural History Museum is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Yadvinder Malhi FRS and Harris Bokhari OBE to the Board of Trustees. Robert Noel and Janet Thornton have also been reappointed by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as Trustees of the Natural History Museum for four years from 25 April 2020 to 24 April 2024 and 1 April 2020 to 31 March 20204 respectively.
Both Yadvinder Malhi FRS and Harris Bokhari OBE were appointed by the Prime Minister and have commenced an initial four-year term.
About Yadvinder Malhi FRS
Yadvinder Malhi is Professor of Ecosystem Science at the University of Oxford, Jackson Senior Research Fellow in Biodiversity and Conservation at Oriel College, Oxford, and Director of the Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests and the Oxford University Biodiversity Network. His research interests have focused on the impacts of climate change and other types of change on the biosphere, and how protection and restoration of the biosphere can contribute to mitigating and adapting to climate change. Much of his work has focussed on the tropics, and he has established a network of intensive study and monitoring of tropical ecosystems spanning across Amazonia, Africa and Asia. His fieldwork has taken him to some of the remotest places on Earth, and also to some of the most rapidly changing.
He also has a strong interest in the many possible forms of ecosystem restoration in the UK and Europe, how such restoration can be scaled up, and how it can best contribute to biodiversity recovery and climate change goals. A former President of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Professor Malhi is Chair of Trustees of the Global Biodiversity Foundation and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He has authored or co-authored over 400 scientific papers on ecosystems and climate change.
About Harris Bokhari OBE
Harris Bokhari OBE is a social entrepreneur, public engagement advisor and chartered accountant. He serves as a board member of Prince's Trust Mosaic Initiative and its first honorary patron and as an ambassador for the British Asian Trust. In 2013, he was awarded the prestigious Beacon Award for Philanthropy Advocate, where he now serves as a member of the awards judging panel.
In 2012, in memory of the late father, Naz Bokhari OBE, Harris co-founded the Naz Legacy Foundation, which went on to receive the 2014 Big Society Award from the Prime Minister. In 2016 he organised the first youth interfaith iftar at Lambeth Palace, bringing together the Archbishop of Canterbury, Chief Rabbi, Mayor of London and over 100 youth leaders from every London borough - representing all faiths and none.
Harris founded Patchwork Foundation in 2010, recognising the vital need for a vehicle through which to promote the political and democratic engagement of under-represented communities. In 2018 he was awarded the Diversity Champion Award by the Cabinet Office as part of its inaugural National Democracy Week.
Harris serves as a member of the Mayor of London’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group, an Independent Member of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service Committee, and an Independent Member of the Community and Voluntary Service Honours Committee - also sitting on the Diversity and Inclusion Group. He was awarded an OBE in Her Majesty's 2015 Birthday Honours List for services to young people and interfaith relations; named by the Financial News Extra Mile List as one of 40 people in finance who go further for good causes; named as one of London's most influential figures by the Evening Standard's Progress 1000 List; and awarded Imperial College’s inaugural Distinguished Alumni.
The new appointees join the other current members of the Board of Trustees: Chair - The Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint; Prof Sir John Beddington; Dame Frances Cairncross; Hilary Newiss; Robert Noel; Simon Patterson; Prof Sir Stephen Sparks; Prof Dame Janet Thornton and Dr Kim L Winser.
About Robert Noel
Robert Noel developed his career in commercial property most recently as Chief Executive of Land Securities Group PLC (Landsec), the FTSE100 Real Estate Investment Trust. He stepped down from the role in March 2020 after serving 8 years. He was previously Managing Director of Landsec’s London business having joined Landsec in 2010. Before that he was Property Director at Great Portland Estates PLC from 2002 to 2009. From 1987-2002 he held various posts at property services group Nelson Bakewell. Robert is currently also a Non-executive Director at Taylor Wimpey Plc and has previously served on the Boards of LandAid, the property industry charity, and The British Property Federation and was its President from 2018-2019
About Professor Dame Janet Thornton
Professor Dame Janet Thornton is a world renowned scientific leader whose early career was rooted in structural biology. Professor Dame Janet is widely credited, alongside others, with the establishment of a new scientific field of Bioinformatics. She graduated in physics before completing her PhD in Biophysics at the UK National Institute for Medical Research.
After postdoctoral research at Oxford University, Professor Dame Janet moved to a fellowship at Birkbeck College, later taking up a joint professorship with University College London. She was Director of EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute in Hinxton, Cambridge from 2001 - 2015, was awarded a CBE in 2000 and a DBE for services to bioinformatics in 2012. Today, as a Senior Scientist at EMBL-EBI, she works on proteins and the impact of variants and ageing on diseases. Professor Dame Janet is a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation as well as a foreign association of the US National Academy of Sciences.
Professor Dame Janet combines her research with many advisory roles, including Vice President of the European Research Council and Chair of the Board of the Earlham Institute.
These roles are not remunerated. These reappointments have been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments, the process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Government’s Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared. This is defined as holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Neither have declared any activity.
About the Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is both a world-leading science research centre and the most-visited natural history museum in Europe. With a vision of a future in which both people and the planet thrive, it is uniquely positioned to be a powerful champion for balancing humanity’s needs with those of the natural world. It is custodian of one of the world’s most important scientific collections comprising over 80 million specimens. The Museum’s 300 scientists continue to represent one of the largest groups in the world studying and enabling research into every aspect of the natural world
for further information visit https://www.nhm.ac.uk/
