New Trustees elected to the Science Council Board
We are delighted to announce that Harriet Gould, Commercial Sales Executive, Royal Society of Chemistry and Stephanie Smith, Deputy Director, The Russell Group, have been elected to the Science Council’s Trustee Board and that Lorraine Turner, Accreditation Director, United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), has been re-elected for a second term. Their terms in office begin with immediate effect.
49% of Members voted in the elections this year, which was a higher turnout than in 2023. The Board would like to thank members for voting in the election and thank all candidates that put themselves forward for election.
For further information, please contact Oliver O’Hanlon, Governance and Corporate Services Manager.
Harriet Gould, Commercial Sales Executive, Royal Society of Chemistry
Harriet works in the commercial team at the Royal Society of Chemistry, offering guidance to companies on marketing strategies and advertising campaigns. You can also find Harriet on all major podcast platforms as the host of Lab Matters where she invites a talented selection of scientists and those in the field to talk about their experiences. Harriet has a passion for making all aspects of science relatable and accessible. She completed her Social Sciences certificate in 2020.
Before corporate life, Harriet was a show jumper on the junior international circuit and still rides occasionally. More recently, she learned to swim in order to complete the London Classics challenge and then wrote a book about it; Water Force.
Stephanie Smith, Deputy Director, The Russell Group
Stephanie Smith is Deputy Director of Policy at the Russell Group and is primarily responsible for policy relating to research and innovation. She joined the organisation from Universities UK International in 2014, where she helped to found UUKi’s outward mobility policy programme. Before this, she worked at the Council of Deans of Health, the representative body for university faculties engaged in education and training for the nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions. Stephanie began her career working in think tanks including the Royal Society of Arts and Institute for Citizenship.
Stephanie holds an MSc in European Politics and a BSc in Political Science, both from the London School of Economics.
Lorraine Turner, Accreditation Director, United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS)
Lorraine Turner is currently the Accreditation Director at the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), where she is responsible for setting, driving and maintaining technical policy, customer service standards and management of business risks. Lorraine also oversees the international technical engagement strategy for UKAS and leads the development of new accreditation services to ensure they meet the highest technical standards.
Lorraine is a Chartered Chemist and started her career as an analytical chemist before joining UKAS in 1995. Since then, she has held numerous roles working across many scientific disciplines to develop and deliver accreditation to support policy, regulation, and business. Lorraine joined the UKAS Board in 2012, and she also sits on the Board of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation and is Chair of the ILAC Inspection Committee.
Lorraine has extensive experience providing advice to government on scientific and policy matters. She is a member of the Forensic Science Regulator’s Advisory Council, DBT Technical Barriers to Trade working group and the Building Safety Regulator’s Industry Competence Committee and has previously been a member of the Laboratory Expert Group for the World Anti-Doping Agency.