A career in academia and industry - Cambridge University and Rolls-Royce plc – led to joining the House of Lords as a Crossbench Peer in 2016. She has chaired the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee and now sits on the Intelligence and Security Committee. She has a long history of providing advice to Government, including as vice chair of the Climate Change Committee 2008-2022, and as chair of the CCC Adaptation Committee since 2019.  Their latest advice to Government on adapting to our rapidly changing climate was published in May this year ‘A Well-Adapted UK’.  

Interests include climate change, innovation and technology. Current appointments: Chair: BGF Cleantech Advisory Board; Chair: Frontier IP; NED: Ørsted and Ceres Power; Chair: Royal Academy of Engineering Green Future Fellowships; and Chair: Royal Society Education Committee.  Past appointments include the Government’s Hydrogen Advisory Council; Climate Advisor to the Jet Zero Council; Chair: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Climate Commission; Chair: the Carbon Trust.