Christopher John Pollock

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

is a leading British research scientist. Chris Pollock was born in 1947 in Handsworth, Birmingham. He studied at

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

. Pollock graduated from Birmingham University with a PhD degree in

microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, prot ...

in 1971, and with a DSc degree in 1993 for a thesis on ‘Temperature, growth and carbohydrate metabolism in plants’. In 2003 Pollock was appointed Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

government's main advisory committee on risks to human health and the environment from the release and marketing of GM crops and other genetically modified organisms. Pollock was Chief Scientific Adviser to the First Minister of the Welsh Assembly Government from 2007 to 2008. Pollock is Independent Co-Chair of the Science Advisory Council for Wales. Pollock was Director of the

Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...

from 1993 to 2007. Pollock resigned from the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...

’s

Bovine TB ''Mycobacterium bovis'' is a slow-growing (16- to 20-hour generation time) aerobic bacterium and the causative agent of tuberculosis in cattle (known as bovine TB). It is related to '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'', the bacterium which causes tub ...

Eradication Programme Board in 2012, over the Welsh government's reversal of a planned badger cull. In 2012 at the Farmers' Union of Wales’ annual conference held at

Pollock stated, regarding the Welsh Government's bovine TB policy, that in areas of high disease incidence vaccination would not prevent infected badgers from infecting cattle. Pollock also stated, at the Farmers’ Union of Wales’ annual conference held at Aberystwyth in 2012, that there was no scientific evidence that GM crop technology was inherently unsafe and that GM crops had a twenty-year history of safe use worldwide. Chris Pollock was chairman of the independent Scientific Steering Committee for the programme of farm-scale evaluations of GM crops. He was chairman of the Research Priorities Group for Sustainable Farming and Food. He was chairman of

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 scientific rese ...

’s Plants and Microbial Sciences Committee and Review Group on Sustainable Agriculture and Land Use. He is an Honorary Professor at

Aberystwyth University , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

and the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

. Pollock was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the

2002 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supp ...

, for services to the environment. He is a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies (FRAgS) and a Fellow of the Institute of Biology. Pollock is a former winner of the British Grassland Society Award. He was awarded the honorary degree of DUniv by Birmingham University in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollock, Christopher John Living people 1947 births Alumni of the University of Birmingham Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Academics of Aberystwyth University Commanders of the Order of the British Empire British scientists