Speaker Details

Biography:

Linda Conlon is Chief Executive of the International Centre for Life, a £90m science village in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England. It brings together a University medical research institute, 2 National Health Service clinics, biotechnology businesses, science engagement and education, and ethics on a single site, all with the aim of promoting advancement of science. This unique project has fostered inter-disciplinary collaboration among the 550-strong workforce, achieving some spectacular results – e.g. the world’s first cloned human embryo was created at Life.

The Centre is financially self-sustaining through its own income generation efforts and recently won “Not for Profit Organisation of the Year 2016” at the UK Chamber of Commerce Business Awards.

Linda Conlon is currently Chair of the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC). She is also a member of the International Committee which is charged with delivering the next Science Centre World Summit in Japan in 2017. She is a former board member of the European Collaboration of Science and Discovery Centres (Ecsite), and a former chair of its UK equivalent. In 2016 she was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) by Her Majesty the Queen for services to science and science education.

She has traveled extensively, lecturing and advising other bodies setting up science centres in the UK, Europe, the United States and China.

Status: Confirmed