Sir Brian Keith Follett (born 22 February 1939) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

, academic administrator, and policy maker. His research focused upon how the environment, particularly how the annual change in day-length (photoperiod) controls breeding in birds and

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s. Knighted in 1992, he has been a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

since 1984, and served as the chair of the UK government's Training and Development Agency for Schools and

Arts and Humanities Research Council The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), formerly Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), is a British research council, established in 1998, supporting research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. History The Arts a ...

, and was

Vice-Chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

Education and early life

Follett was educated at

Bournemouth School Bournemouth School is an 11–18 boys grammar school, with a co-educational sixth form, located in Charminster, Bournemouth, Charminster, Bournemouth, Dorset, England, for children aged 11 to 18. The school was founded by E. Fenwick and opened o ...

and studied

biological chemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

. On graduating he undertook a Ph.D. with Professor Hans Heller in the Department of

Pharmacology Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur betwee ...

at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

. That work introduced him to

endocrinology Endocrinology (from ''endocrine system, endocrine'' + ''wikt:-logy#Suffix, -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the ...

and the development of assays to understand the physiological role of

hormone A hormone (from the Ancient Greek, Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of cell signaling, signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs or tissues by complex biological processes to regulate physio ...

Career and research

In 1964 Follett moved to

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

and joined Donald Farner's group investigating

photoperiodism Photoperiod is the change of day length around the seasons. The rotation of the earth around its axis produces 24 hour changes in light (day) and dark (night) cycles on earth. The length of the light and dark in each phase varies across the season ...

. His research focused on the brain pathways whereby birds (and mammals) measure day length and use these changes to change gonadotrophin secretion from the pituitary gland and so regulate breeding. He became a lecturer at

Leeds University The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed ...

then moved with James Dodd FRS to the University of Bangor in 1969, then to the

as Professor of Zoology and Head of Deparrment in 1978. He moved to

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

in 1993 as Vice-Chancellor.

Research programmes

Follett's studies used, as

model species A model organism is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workings of other organisms. Mode ...

, the

Japanese quail The Japanese quail (''Coturnix japonica''), also known as the coturnix quail, is a species of Old World quail found in East Asia. First considered a subspecies of the common quail, it is now considered as a separate species. The Japanese quail h ...

and later wild-caught

starling Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine (perching) birds known for the often dark, glossy iridescent sheen of their plumage; their complex vocalizations including mimicking; and their distinctive, often elaborate swarming behavior, know ...

s. His work included the development of the first

radioimmunoassay A radioimmunoassay (RIA) is an immunoassay that uses radioactive tracer, radiolabeled molecules in a stepwise formation of immune complexes. A RIA is a very sensitive in vitro assay technique used to measure concentrations of substances, usually m ...

to measure bird

luteinizing hormone Luteinizing hormone (LH, also known as luteinising hormone, lutropin and sometimes lutrophin) is a hormone produced by gonadotropic cells in the anterior pituitary gland. The production of LH is regulated by gonadotropin-releasing hormone (G ...

(LH) in collaboration with Frank Cunningham (

Reading University The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

) and Colin Scanes. This made it possible to measure LH in a few microlitres of plasma and so follow circulating hormone levels in individual birds exposed to photoperiods of many types. This enabled the first detailed analyses of the annual pattern of hormone secretion as well as allowing deeper questions to be asked: for example, using gonadectomized

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...

to show unequivocally that the underlying photoperiodic response in birds (but not mammals) is driven by brain circuits that are switched on and off by day length and to demonstrate that measuring day length involved a daily (

circadian A circadian rhythm (), or circadian cycle, is a natural oscillation that repeats roughly every 24 hours. Circadian rhythms can refer to any process that originates within an organism (i.e., endogenous) and responds to the environment (is entrai ...

) rhythm in photosensitivity with the birds being responsive to light particularly between 12 and 18 hours after

dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...

. In other words, if light fell at these hours then the day was read as "long", if not then it was read as "short". In 1978 at

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, his research interests expanded to include mammals, notably

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

, and wild birds such as

albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Paci ...

es,

swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...

s and

partridge A partridge is a medium-sized Galliformes, galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide Indigenous (ecology), native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They ar ...

s. Key studies included developing a rapid photoperiodic response system which enabled the detailed study of the neural pathways as they are switched on, the complex structure of ther time-measuring system and the action spectrum for the non-retinal light receptors (with Russell Foster). Subsequently, Takashi Yoshimura in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

used the quail to investigate these changes in molecular terms and was able to connect these into the separate discoveries that thyroid hormones play a critical role in the photoperiodic response (see below). In Bristol the focus also swung towards the mechanisms involved in ending seasonal breeding - so-called refractoriness. The photoperiodic response involves both inducing breeding but also ending it. The Bristol group found, quite counterintuitively, that

thyroid hormones File:Thyroid_system.svg, upright=1.5, The thyroid system of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4 rect 376 268 820 433 Thyroid-stimulating hormone rect 411 200 849 266 Thyrotropin-releasing hormone rect 297 168 502 200 Hypothalamus rect 66 216 386 ...

are critical for refractoriness to develop and be maintained. This had been tentatively suggested in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

prior to

WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

but was developed by Trevor Nicholls, Arthur Goldsmith and Alistair Dawson. Importantly birds are hatched in a refractory state but this is ended by removing the thyroid glands (per Tony Williams). The research group's papers on this have proved of general value in understanding the seasonal control of the neuroendocrine pathways in not only birds but also in mammals. Funding came from the

Agricultural and Food Research Council The Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC) was a British Research Council responsible for funding and managing scientific and technological developments in farming and horticulture. History The AFRC was formed in 1983 from its predecessor ...

(AFRC), later renamed the

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, is a non-departmental public body (NDPB), and is the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience. It predominantly funds science, scient ...

(BBSRC), and Follett's group became an official Research Council Research Group on Photoperiodism and Reproduction, with 413 scientific papers and reviews.

Academic administration

Follett was Head of the Department of

Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

(later

Biological Sciences Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...

) at the

for fifteen years (1978–1993), and

Biological Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...

Secretary of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

from 1978 until 1993. He then served for eight years as Vice-Chancellor of the

. > Follett was appointed to the Council of the AFRC/BBSRC and then to the UFC (

Universities Funding Council The Universities Funding Council (UFC) was a UK body established under the Education Reform Act 1988 replacing the University Grants Committee. It distributed funds provided by central government to universities for the provision of education and ...

) and its subsequent body –

HEFCE The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, which was responsible for the distribution of funding for higher education to universities and further education colleges in Engl ...

(Higher Education Funding Council for England). He served on the Council of

London Zoo London Zoo, previously known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens and sometimes called Regent's Park Zoo, is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828 and was originally intended to be used as a colle ...

(and

Bristol Zoo Bristol Zoo was a zoo in the city of Bristol in South West England. The zoo's stated mission was to "maintain and defend" biodiversity through breeding endangered species, conserving threatened species and habitats and promoting a wider underst ...

) and as a

Trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...

of the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

. He was elected to the

in 1984 and volunteered as the Biological Secretary for six years, making changes to the organisation and extending the Royal Society University Fellowship scheme. He was knighted in 1992. In 1992 he was appointed to the Vice-Chancellorship at the University of Warwick and led it from 1993 until 2001. The University improved its ranking in the published league tables with strengths in Engineering (Warwick Manufacturing Group), Mathematics, Economics, Sociology and the Humanities. The Warwick Research Fellowships began as an annual £10m scheme in 1994, to attract the brightest young researchers in the UK and abroad. Success was seen in the Research Assessment Exercises of 1996 and 2001. In 1994 Warwick was a founding member of the

Russell Group The Russell Group is a self-selected association of twenty-four public research universities in the United Kingdom. The group is headquartered in Cambridge and was established in 1994 to represent its members' interests, principally to governme ...

of universities. Follett has chaired committees for the UK government including reporting on the future of university libraries, research in the humanities, and the foot-and-mouth outbreak of 2001; and on the management and appraisal of clinical academics (following the AlderHey scandal). Once retired, he took on the role of chair of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (2001–2009,James Herbert, ''Creating the AHRC'' (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2008) 100. and chaired the government's Teacher Training Agency (TTA) and its successor body the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) from 2004 to 2010. It aimed to resolve teacher training recruitment and to develop the concept of the teaching assistant. Follett was a non-stipendiary visiting professor in the Department of Biology,

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

(2001–2019) and taught physiology to undergraduates until 2015. He was a governor of the

Royal Shakespeare Theatre The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) (originally called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) is a Grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakespea ...

(2008–2018), and was president of the Stratford Civic Society.

Honours

* Elected to the Royal Society in 1984. * Knighted in 1992. * Awarded 13 honorary

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

s and other awards.

Personal life

Follet married Deb Booth, a teacher in 1961, who later worked in radio and was the production editor for the journals of the

Society for Endocrinology The Society for Endocrinology is an international membership organisation and registered charity representing scientists, clinicians and nurses who work with hormones. The Society was established in 1946, and currently has approximately 3,000 mem ...

. Their daughter Karen Williams is at BC Women's Hospital in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

and is married to Tony Williams (Chair, School of Biology, Simon Fraser University). His son Richard Follett is an historian and, as of 2025, is Vice-President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement) at the University of Exeter.

References

External links

Webpage on Prof Brian Follett on ''Bristol University'' Website

Webpage on Prof Brian Follett on ''Training and Development Agency for Schools'' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Follett, Brian 1939 births Living people Knights Bachelor Fellows of the Royal Society Deputy lieutenants of the West Midlands (county) Vice-chancellors of the University of Warwick Scientists from Bournemouth Alumni of the University of Bristol English zoologists Presidents of the Association for Science Education