Dame Ottoline Leyser, DBE, FRS
Emeritus Professor

Profile

Biography

Ottoline Leyser is Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge.  Her research has focused on understanding developmental plasticity in plants using shoot branching as a model system. She has combined molecular genetics and computational modelling to understand the role of plant hormones in multi-scale self-organisation in shoot systems. Her contributions have resulted in election to multiple National Academies, and premier awards from learned societies in the UK and internationally.

Ottoline has a long-term interest in science policy. From June 2020-2025 she served as CEO of UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s main public funder of Research and Innovation. She is particularly focused on making science more accessible and inclusive. She has for many years been involved in a wide range of activities aimed at breaking down the artificial barriers between science and wider society. This includes public engagement activities, public lectures for organisations such as the Campaign for Science and Engineering, and work for organisations ranging from the Science Media Centre to the Science Museum. Integral to this endeavour is work within the science community to drive changes in research culture.

In 2017 she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to plant science, science in society and equality and diversity in science.