Robin May | Chief Scientific Officer
UK Health Security agency

Robin is Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Birmingham and Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Health Security Agency. After studying Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford, Robin completed his PhD on the mammalian actin cytoskeleton with Laura Machesky at University College London and the University of Birmingham, UK, followed by a Human Frontier Science Program-funded post-doctoral fellowship on RNA interference with Ronald Plasterk in The Netherlands. He joined the University of Birmingham in 2005, where his research focused on host-pathogen interactions, particularly in the context of diseases of immunocompromised hosts.  He has held awards from the Lister Institute for Preventative Medicine, the Royal Society and the European Research Council.  He was Director of the Institute of Microbiology & Infection at the University of Birmingham from 2017 until 2020, when he was appointed as Chief Scientific Adviser at the UK Government’s Food Standards Agency.  In 2025, Robin was appointed Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Health Security Agency, where he holds responsibility for the scientific oversight of the UK’s response to acute health threats such as infectious diseases or radiological accidents.  He retains an academic position at the University of Birmingham and has an active interest in science communication, particularly through his recent role as Gresham Professor of Physic.