Richard Sykes (biochemist)


Sir Richard Brook Sykes, HonFREng is chairman of the Royal Institution and Imperial College Healthcare, and Chancellor of Brunel University. Sykes also chairs the UK Stem Cell Foundation and is Non-executive director of Lonza AG.

Education

Sykes was educated at Queen Elizabeth College where he graduated with a BSc degree in Microbiology. He went on to study for a PhD degree in Microbial biochemistry at the University of Bristol, graduating in 1972 with thesis on beta-lactamases of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Career

Until 2002, Sykes was chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, following a research career in Glaxo and Glaxo Wellcome. He was rector of Imperial College London, UK, from 2001 to 2008. In October 2008, Sykes accepted Farad Azima's invitation to join the NetScientific Group as the non-executive chairman. Sir Richard was the senior independent director and non-executive deputy chairman and chairman of the remuneration committee of Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation until June 2011.

Imperial College

Between January 2001 and July 2008, Sykes was the rector of Imperial College London.
Sykes's tenure was not without controversy.
On 1 July 2008, he was succeeded as rector of Imperial College by Professor Roy Anderson.

Other activities

Sykes was chairman of the advisory panel of the think-tank Reform. He was a trustee of the Natural History Museum, London from 1996 to 2005 and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 2003 to 2005. He was president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1998–99.
In September 2008, he was appointed chair of NHS London, but resigned in May 2010 over the decision of the Cameron Ministry to halt planned hospital reorganisations in London.
He was a member of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education that published an influential report in 1997. He is a member of the Advisory Council for the Campaign for Science and Engineering.
He joined Adcurata Cultural Change Advisory Board in September 2012 to advise on the pharmaceutical and healthcare markets.

Awards and honours

Sykes holds a number of honorary degrees, including ones from the universities of Birmingham, Brunel, Cranfield, Edinburgh, Hertfordshire, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Madrid, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield Hallam, Sheffield, Strathclyde, Surrey, Warwick and Westminster. Sykes was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1998. He was also appointed as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2004.
Sykes was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1997. His nominations reads
Sykes was knighted in the 1994 New Year Honours. In 1999 he was awarded the Singaporean Public Service Star for his services to the economy of Singapore.