25th February 2015

The Prime Minister has just announced Mary as the new Chair of the Science Museum Group – I’m a very proud husband.

Culture Secretary Sajid Javid announces the appointment by the Prime Minister of Dame Mary Archer DBE as Chair of the Science Museum Group.

Dame Mary Archer has been appointed as Science Museum Group Chair for a term of four years from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2018.

Sajid Javid said:

The Science Museum Group has a long and very distinguished history of helping to make science, engineering and technology accessible and understandable for all. And visitor numbers of more than five million a year across the Group show how successful they have been.

Dame Mary Archer will bring to the museum a combination of proven scientific experience and expertise and a fine track record of chairing high profile institutions, along with a sense of what the visiting public want and expect from museums today.

Dame Mary Archer said:

The Science Museum in South Kensington has a special place in my heart, as somewhere I visited when I was growing up and a source of inspiration as my scientific career developed. I much enjoyed serving as a trustee in the 1990s, and it is a privilege and an honour to return to this unmatched group of science museums as chairman. I look forward to supporting the Group in its task of inspiring and delighting new generations of visitors.

Biography

Dame Mary Archer DBE started her career as a physical chemist and taught Chemistry at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Dame Mary was 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.

Dame Mary is Chair of Imperial College Health Partners’ Expert Advisory Board and President of the National Energy Foundation, the UK Solar Energy Society and the Guild of Church Musicians. She is a trustee of the UK Stem Cell Foundation and the Britten Sinfonia, and she has recently joined Hydrodec Group plc as a non-executive director.