Professor Sir David King

Professor Sir David King

Director, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford

Professor Sir David King is the Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at the University of Oxford. He was the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser and Head of the Government Office of Science from October 2000 to December 2007. In that time, he raised the profile of the need for governments to act on climate change and was instrumental in creating the new £1 billion Energy Technologies Institute. In 2008 he co-authored The Hot Topic (Bloomsbury) on this subject.

As Director of the Government’s Foresight Programme, he created an in-depth horizon scanning process that advised government on a wide range of long-term issues, from flooding to obesity. He also chaired the government’s Global Science and Innovation Forum from its inception. He advised government on issues including the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic of 2001; post 9/11 risks to the UK; GM foods; energy provision; and innovation and wealth creation. He was also heavily involved in the Government’s Science and Innovation Strategy 2004-2014.

Sir David was born in South Africa in 1939, and after an early career at the University of Witwatersrand, Imperial College and the University of East Anglia, he became the Brunner Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Liverpool in 1974. In 1988 he was appointed Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Cambridge and subsequently became Master of Downing College (1995-2000) and Head of the University Chemistry Department (1993-2000). He has published over 450 papers on his research in chemical physics and on science and policy, and has received numerous prizes, fellowships, and honorary degrees. He continues as Director of Research in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, and is currently President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

Growth Jury

The jury for the Prix Pictet are a group of leading experts in the visual arts from around the world including directors of major museums and galleries as well as journalists and critics. They lead the global search for images of high artistic qcuality and narrative power and fit the theme of a particular cycle.

  • Professor Sir David King (Chairman)

    Director, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford

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  • Shahidul Alam

    Photographer and Critic

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  • Peter Aspden

    Arts Writer, Financial Times

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  • Michael Fried

    Critic and Art Historian

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  • Loa Haagen Pictet

    Pictet Art Consultant and Curator, Pictet & Cie

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  • Nadav Kander

    Winner, Prix Pictet 2009

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  • Christine Loh

    Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer,Civic Exchange (Hong Kong)

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  • Fumio Nanjo

    Director, Mori Art Museum (Tokyo)

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