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Cambridge Forum for Sustainability and the Environment

 

Biography

Claire leads the Government Office for Science which supports the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor (GCSA), Professor Sir John Beddington. The GCSA’s role is to provide science and engineering advice direct to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet; to enhance the capacity to create, and use, science and engineering evidence across government departments. The GCSA heads the Government Science and Engineering profession.

Claire originally joined the Civil Service to run Foresight, a programme of science-based strategic futures projects, covering from flood risk to cognitive enhancers. While at Foresight, she was awarded a CBE for her work, and became a Faculty member of the World Economic Forum at Davos. Later she joined the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit, where she worked on the Capability Reviews of the Ministry of Defence and Cabinet Office; and became Director of strategy at the Office of Fair Trading and the Department of Trade and Industry.

Her earlier experiences mixed science, strategy and business, as they included strategy consultancy for energy, and financial service companies at McKinsey & Co, and running the Environment Group at the Confederation of British Industry.

Claire has a lifelong interest in science and learning. In her home town of Bristol she helped launch “At-Bristol”, a Millennium Commission-funded hands-on science centre and leisure destination. At different times she has been a Governor or Fellow at the University of the West of England, Newnham College, Cambridge, an FE College and a Special Educational Needs School in Hackney; and an NED on the board of a science-based business. Her first degree was in physics and she did a stint of post-Doctoral work in geophysics at the University of Texas at Austin. She loved Texas.

Deputy Head,
Government Office for Science (GOS)
Dr Claire  Craig
Not available for consultancy

Affiliations

Classifications: 
Person keywords: 
she has a lifelong interest in science and learning, including helping to launch “At-Bristol”, a Millennium Commission-funded hands-on science centre and leisure destination
enhancing the capacity to create, and use, science and engineering evidence across government departments
the uses and limitations of modelling and simulation in the context of decision-making
how narrative (non-fiction and fiction) can be used in the development of both science and policy
ways of understanding the behaviour of groups
the latest research into geoengineering and climate engineering