Adrian Smith became President of the Royal Society in 2020. He is a mathematician with expertise in Bayesian statistics and his comprehensive publications on diverse areas of Bayesian statistics have had a major impact on statistical practice in a wide range of disciplines and application areas.
Adrian is Chair of the Board of the Diamond Light Source. Between 2008-2012, he was Director General, Knowledge and Innovation in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and has previously worked with the UK Higher Education Funding and Research Councils. He was a board member of the UK Atomic Energy Authority from 2016 to 2022 and in 2017 he carried out a review of the maths curriculum for 16-18 year olds for the Treasury and Department for Education. He recently stepped down as Institute Director and Chief Executive of The Alan Turing Institute. In the 2011 New Year Honours list, he was awarded the title of Knight Bachelor.
Professional position
- President, The Royal Society
Subject groups
- Mathematics
Statistics and Operational Research
- Health and human sciences
Medical statistics and demography
- Other
Public understanding of science
