Science and the Parliament 2020

Clare Adamson is the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Motherwell and Wishaw Constituency and the Convenor of the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee. Clare also convenes the Cross Party Group on Science and Technology. Clare is passionate about education and STEM subjects; particularly women’s representation in these sectors. She studied Computer Information Systems at Glasgow Caledonian University, graduating with a BSc (with distinction), before entering the IT industry where she latterly worked as a European Development Manager at a Glasgow document management firm.
 
Clare worked at SNP HQ between 2003 – 2007; leading the development of the SNP’s ‘Activate’ campaign tool as Project Manager. In 2007, Clare was elected to North Lanarkshire Council to represent Wishaw. Clare was then elected to represent Central Scotland at the Scottish Parliament in 2011 before becoming the first ever SNP MSP for Motherwell & Wishaw in 2016.
 

Mark took over as CEO of IBioIC in February 2020, having previously been IBioIC's Commercial Director. Mark joined IBioIC from CPI where he was Business Development Director for the National Biologics Manufacturing Centre, a £38M facility for the rapid development, scale-up and characterisation of complex biologic therapeutics, vaccines and viral vectors. Prior to this he was the Medicines Manufacturing Specialist at the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), Technical Director for Medicines at the previous HealthTech and Medicines KTN and worked for seven years developing the growth of bioprocessing across the UK as part of bioProcessUK. In these roles he assisted companies build collaborations, raised awareness of funding opportunities and made academic links. Mark has also been a steering group member for the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership and has recently led the secretariat function for the Advanced Therapies Manufacturing Taskforce.
 
Prior to joining KTN, he held senior positions in academia as Director of Research for Chemical Engineering and Lecturer in Bioprocessing at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. www.IBioIC.com / https://twitter.com/IBioIC
 

Anne pursued a research career at Aberdeen University where she studied the diversity and function of microbes in soil, the development of sensors to detect environmental pollution and how we respond to stress, which has particular relevance to how we age.
 
She is currently a Special Advisor to the Principal at the University of Strathclyde and the President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Anne was the first Chief Scientific Adviser to the President of the European Commission (2012-2015) and was the first Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland (2006-2011).
 
She became a Woman of Outstanding Achievement in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) in 2008 and has worked hard to support women in SET.
 
In 2009, she was awarded a CBE by the Queen in recognition of her services to environmental sciences and in 2015, she became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to science in the UK and Europe.
 

Iain spent his early years in Edinburgh before his family moved to Inverness. He went to George Watson’s College in Edinburgh, then the Royal Academy in Inverness, where he was awarded the school dux before returning to study Physics at Edinburgh University. Iain taught Maths and Physics in Edinburgh before leaving to teach in an agricultural technical school in Mozambique. After seven years as a teacher and twelve years with Oxfam organising for social justice and against poverty around the world, Iain successfully stood for the Scottish Parliament.
 
He has held four different Ministerial posts, including Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning, alongside Donald Dewar, Henry McLeish and Jack McConnell.  Iain became MSP for East Lothian in 2007 and was Leader of Labour in the Scottish Parliament from September 2008 to December 2011. Since December 2014 he has served as Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education, Skills and Science.

Jamie Halcro Johnston is a Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Highlands and Islands and the Scottish Conservative Shadow Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science.
Jamie was elected in 2017 and has served in shadow education and skills roles over the past three years. He is particularly passionate about bringing young people into STEM careers, as well as diversifying access to science and technology professions.
Coming from Orkney, Jamie's family have a long background in science. He is great-nephew of Scottish botanist, army doctor and rugby international Henry Halcro Johnston and has spoken about his legacy at the Orkney International Science Festival in his region. 
 

Richard Lochhead MSP was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and 2003 via the North East regional list. During the second session of Parliament he stood down from his regional seat and was elected as constituency MSP for Moray in the by-election in April 2006. He was the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment from 2007 to 2016. Mr Lochhead lives with his wife Fiona and sons Angus and Fraser. In his spare time he is a keen cyclist.
 
His ministerial responsibilities include: Further education and colleges, Higher education and universities, Science and STEM, student funding, youth work, widening access, and community learning and development.

Having somehow escaped academe with a law degree, he started in journalism as a cub reporter on local newspapers in Fife and got his first broadcasting experience as a newsman for radio stations in Ayr and Dundee. Among the stories he has covered in his BBC career are Piper Alpha, Dunblane and the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He has also reported on major political events such as the general election landslide of 1997, four US Presidential elections and the opening of the Scottish Parliament. His proudest Newsnight Scotland moment was exclusively predicting problems with the Holyrood election in 2007 and winning a Scottish BAFTA for the coverage which followed the fiasco.
 
In such spare time as he has, Ken enjoys music, reading and theatre. He suffers from St Mirren FC
 

After graduating B.Sc and Ph.D in chemistry from the University of St Andrew, Bill MacDonald joined ICI Plastics Division in 1980.  He spent 37 years in the polymer related chemical industry and lived through the acquisitions and mergers that characterised the chemical industry during this period. He remained a research scientist throughout his career with his interests focussed on understanding the interrelationship between polymer, processing and properties. Laterally in DuPont Teijin Films, a leading polyester film manufacturer, he was involved in developing substrates for the flexible electronic and solar cell industry and in understanding the material requirements for these emerging industries. He was a recognised international expert in this field. A major part of his role was to identify new opportunities for the Company based on emerging research and to that end actively collaborated with Academia. He has sat on various EPSRC panels and on industrial advisory panels for university related programmes. He was a Visiting Professor at the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde for the period 2008-2016 and is a Fellow of the RSC. He retired in 2017, but remained active at the University-Industry interface and was appointed as CEO of ScotCHEM in October 2018. He currently holds an Honorary Professorship from the University of Edinburgh.

Dr McPeake is a Nurse Consultant in Clinical Research and Innovation in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, a THIS Institute post-doctoral research fellow (University of Cambridge) and an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Glasgow.
 
Joanne’s principle research interest is related to long term outcomes following critical illness.  Specifically, she is focussed on how the social determinants of health influence recovery in this group. Joanne is actively engaged in working with patients, carers and the lay public in the design, execution and dissemination of research activities. She has set up various patient forums and has published and held research grants with patients and caregivers.  Her work has informed Scottish Government policy, including the CMO (Scotland) Realising Realistic Medicine annual report and the Scottish Government’s Health Literacy Action Plan.  
 
Joanne, alongside Dr Tara Quasim, has led the development implementation, scale-up, and evaluation of the Intensive Care Syndrome: Promoting Independence and Return to Employment (InS:PIRE) programme in Scotland over the last five years.  At present, Joanne is PI on a number of national and international studies and collaborates with colleagues from Australia, the USA and Canada.

Alison is one of the Heads of Business Services and Advise at Scottish Enterprise with responsibility for design, development and delivery of relationship management and innovation services.
She has nearly twenty years’ experience in economic development in Scotland and New Zealand in a wider variety of roles from policy development to operational delivery with companies and universities. 
Alison’s current role covers four aspects of SE’s Business Services: Account Management, Collaborative Funding & Support, Innovation and Intellectual Property support.
 

Helen joined the Royal Society of Chemistry after completing a degree and PhD in Chemistry. She is a Chartered Chemist and a Chartered Scientist.  At the RSC, she has led many of its strategic functions becoming Deputy CEO in 2015.  Helen is a champion for the profession and has commissioned bold campaigns such as Breaking the Barriers and our work to support Technicians.
In 2018, Helen was appointed as Chair of the Science Council, a UK organisation for the advancement of the science profession.  She took up the role of Acting CEO of the Royal Society of Chemistry in January 2020.
 

Elected as MSP in the Shetland by-election in August 2019, Beatrice Wishart was a councillor and depute convener of Shetland Islands Council where she served on the education and families committee. She previously worked as senior caseworker/office manager for Alistair Carmichael MP, and is a trustee of Shetland Women’s Aid.
 
Since being elected to the Scottish Parliament, Beatrice has taken on a variety of front bench policy roles which have Shetland at their heart. She is the Education Spokesperson for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, and sits for the party on the Education Committee, the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee and most recently on the COVID-19 Committee. She is also a deputy convener of the CPG on Mental Health, and a co-convener of the CPG on Fishing and the CPG on Oil and Gas.