The UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA) is the personal adviser on science and technology-related activities and policies to the Prime Minister

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

 and the Cabinet

Cabinet of the United Kingdom

The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....

; and head of the Government Office for Science

Government Office for Science

The Government Office for Science is part of the British government. This organisation exists to ensure that Government policy and decision-making is underpinned by robust scientific evidence and long-term thinking...

.

He has a significant public role as the government's most visible scientific expert.

, every individual government department has its own departmental Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA). The Department for Health has a Chief Scientist in addition to its Chief Scientific Advisor. The GCSA has no formal management responsibility for departmental CSAs and is free to provide advice to all departments, including those that have their own chief scientific adviser. The GCSA and departmental CSAs sit on a Chief Scientific Adviser's Committee (CSAC), a cross-departmental forum for the discussion of science issues, chaired by the GCSA.

List of Government Chief Scientific Advisers

• Sir John Beddington
  John Beddington
  Sir John Rex Beddington, CMG, FRS is the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government and Professor of Applied Population Biology at Imperial College London.-Early life:...
  
  , 2008–
• Sir David King
  David King (scientist)
  Sir David Anthony King FRS is the Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford, Director of Research in Physical Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, Director of the Collegio Carlo Alberto, Chancellor of the University of Liverpool and a senior...
  
  , 2000–2008
• Sir Robert May
  Robert May, Baron May of Oxford
  Robert McCredie May, Baron May of Oxford, OM, AC, PRS is an Australian scientist who has been Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government, President of the Royal Society, and a Professor at Sydney and Princeton. He now holds joint professorships at Oxford, and Imperial College London...
  
  , 1995–2000
• Sir William Stewart
  William Stewart (scientist)
  Sir William Duncan Paterson Stewart, FRS, FRSE was President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1999–2002 and Chairman of the Microbiological Research Authority...
  
  , 1990–1995
• Sir John Fairclough, 1986–1990
• Sir Robin Nicholson, 1982–1985
• Dr John Ashworth, 1977–1981
• Dr Robert Press, 1974–1976
• Sir Alan Cottrell
  Alan Cottrell
  Sir Alan Howard Cottrell, FRS is a British metallurgist and physicist. He received his BSc degree from the University of Birmingham in 1939 and a PhD for research on welding in 1942. He joined the staff as a lecturer at Birmingham, being made professor in 1949, and transforming the teaching of...
  
  , 1971–1974
• Sir Solly Zuckerman
  Solly Zuckerman
  Solly Zuckerman, Baron Zuckerman, OM, KCB, FRS was a British public servant, zoologist, and scientific advisor who is best remembered as an advisor to the Allies on bombing strategy in World War II, for his work to advance the cause of nuclear non-proliferation, and for his role in bringing...
  
  , 1964–1971

See also

• Chief Medical Officer in the United Kingdom
• Chief Scientific Officer for England
• MoD Chief Scientific Adviser
  MoD Chief Scientific Adviser
  The Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK's Ministry of Defence is responsible for providing strategic management of science and technology issues in the MoD, most directly through the MoD research budget of well over £1 billion, and sits as a full member of the Defence Management Board and the...
  
  
• Government Office for Science
  Government Office for Science
  The Government Office for Science is part of the British government. This organisation exists to ensure that Government policy and decision-making is underpinned by robust scientific evidence and long-term thinking...
  
  

External links

• Official webpage
• The Role of the Chief Scientific Adviser A discussion at the Royal Society
  Royal Society
  The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
  
  , 2001.