Trustees
The Trustees provide strategic oversight and governance for the Foundation, ensuring that our resources are directed towards activities that deliver the greatest benefit to bioscience research and innovation.
Chair
Dr John Brown, CBE, FRSE
John has extensive experience in the life sciences sector. He iscurrently Chairman of Laverock Therapeutics Ltd and Novacyt S.A.and until recently served as Chairman of Synpromics Ltd, BioCity Group and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult. He has previouslychaired Kyowa Kirin International plc, BTG plc, Axis-Shield plc,Touch Bionics Ltd and Calcivis Ltd, and served as Senior Non-Executive Director of Quantum Pharma plc.
In the public sector, John is a Fellow and former Treasurer of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and anHonorary Professor of the University of Edinburgh. He also served as a member of the MRC Council andas a Board Member of the UK Technology Strategy Board.
John was appointed Chair of the Roslin Institute Board in 1999 and has continued to provide strategicleadership as Chair of the Roslin Foundation since its establishment in 2008.
Trustee
Abby Glennie
Abby is Deputy Head of Smaller Companies at Aberdeen plc, where she manages portfolios investing in UK listed smaller companies. She graduated from the University of Aberdeen in 2007 with a firstclass joint honours degree in economics and finance and began her career on the graduate investment programme at Aegon Asset Management.
Abby has worked at Aberdeen plc (formerly Standard Life Investments) since 2013 and has focused on smaller companies investing throughout her career, developing extensive experience in identifying and supporting high-growth businesses with the UK Market.
She joined the Roslin Foundation Board of Trustees in 2022 and is a member of the Foundation’s Investment Committee.
Trustee
Alasdair Gill
Alasdair is Head of Charities and Endowments at XPS Investments in Edinburgh.
A Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, he has extensive investment experience advising pension schemes endowments and charities on investment strategy, governance structure and manager selection.
He began his career at Clay and Partners (now part of Aon) qualifying as an actuary in 1994 and has specialised exclusively in investment since 1997 when he joined Mercer. There, he led the Charities and Endowments team for 10 years building a substantial client base in this sector, alongside his pension scheme work. Alasdair was a Trustee at Medical Research Scotland from 2017 to 2025, chairing the Audit and Investment Committee.
He joined the Roslin Foundation as a Trustee in 2025 and is a member of the Foundation’s Investment Committee.
Trustee
Andy Bamford
Andy trained as a Chartered Accountant in Edinburgh and enjoyed a 30-year career in investment management. During that time, he served as a Director of Edinburgh Fund Managers, a Partner of Aberforth Partners and a Founding Partner of Teviot Partners.
He remains actively involved in the industry, running his family office, Seaforth Investors, which invests in listed UK smallercompanies and is also a volunteer with Future Assets.
Andy joined the Roslin Foundation as a Trustee in 2022 and serves as Chair of the Foundation’s Investment Committee.
Trustee
Dr Sarah Hardy
Sarah is Director and Head of New Investments at Archangel Investors Ltd, a leading business angel syndicate at the forefront of early-stage investing in Scotland. She has extensive international experience in financing early-stage technology opportunities, with particular expertise in the life sciences and healthcare sectors. Sarah brings significant knowledge of investment, innovation and company growth to the Board.
She joined the Roslin Foundation Board of Trustees in 2022 and currently serves as Chair of the Foundation’s Audit Committee.
Trustee
Malcolm Bateman FCMA, CGMA
Malcolm is an accountant with extensive senior management experience, across private, public and not-for-profit organisations. He spent over 30 years in the UK and overseas with UK, US and German automotive and pharmaceutical multinationals, latterly as Managing Director of a major automotive component manufacturer.
After retiring from the corporate sector in 1999, he worked with several emerging companies before becoming Director of Finance at the Roslin Institute in 2004. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Roslin Foundation in 2008 and also served as CEO of the Roslin BioCentre, as well as a director and chair of several spin-out companies.
He was instrumental in establishing Roslin Cells, Censo Biotechnologies (now part of the Axol group) and RoslinCT, pioneering regenerative medicine companies specialising in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technologies. Both Axol and RoslinCT were recently recognised in the inaugural Sunday Times Scotland Fast 50.
Malcolm retired as the Foundation’s CEO in 2022 and joined the Roslin Foundation Board of Trustees serving on the Foundation’s Audit Committee.
Trustee
Andrea Young
Andrea has over 35 years of investment and venture capital experience. She was Head of Investment at Old College Capital (OCC), the in-house venture fund of the University of Edinburgh, for 14 years, where she worked closely with founders, investors and the wider ecosystem to accelerate the growth of start-ups and spinouts seeking to make a positive impact on people and the planet.
She brings significant experience in strategic planning and investment oversight and has previously held senior roles at the Royal Bank of Scotland, Deutsche Bank and Scottish Enterprise. She currently serves on the Boards of OCC GP and OCC Holdings. Andrea holds a BSc in Pure and Applied Mathematics from the University of Strathclyde.
She joined the Roslin Foundation as a Trustee in 2025 and is a member of the Foundation’s Audit and Scientific Review Committees.
Trustee
Professor Evelyn Telfer CBE, FRSE, FRSB
Evelyn holds a Chair in Reproductive Biology at the University of Edinburgh, where she leads a research group specialising in ovarian development. Her work focuses on developing in vitro models to support oocyte development from immature stages in domestic species and humans and her group has established a culture enabling the in-vitro activation and growth of immature human and bovine eggs to maturity.
She collaborates closely with the ovarian transplantation programme and was part of the team that reported the first successful UK human ovarian transplantation leading to a live birth.
Evelyn has received several honours, including the Society for Reproduction and Fertility’s most prestigious award, The Marshall Medal. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to female reproductive biology.
She joined the Roslin Foundation Board of Trustees in 2024 and serves as Chair of the Foundation’s Scientific Review Committee.
Trustee
Professor Alan Archibald, MRSB, FRSE
Alan is an Emeritus Professor of Mammalian Molecular Genetics at the University of Edinburgh, following a career of over fifty years at The Roslin Institute and its predecessors. His research has focused on the genetic control of complex traits in farmed animals, particularly pigs, with applications in production efficiency, product quality and disease resistance.
He has played a leading role in international genomics co-leading the PiGMaP project and the Swine Genome Sequencing Consortium and contributing to high-quality pig genome assemblies. He was also a key initiator of the Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes (FAANG) initiative.
His work has delivered real-word impact, including developing tools to enable genomic selection and gene editing. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the International Society of Animal Genetics. He joined the Roslin Foundation Board of Trustees in 2022 and is a member of the Foundation’s Scientific Review Committee.
Trustee
Prof Dr Lonneke Vervelde
Lonneke is an accomplished veterinary immunologist with extensive experience in securing and managing academic and commercial research projects. She has built a wide international network of interdisciplinary collaborators, enabling integrated and holistic approaches to animal health research.
Her research focuses on host-pathogen interactions and vaccine development in poultry, cattle and sheep, with particular expertise in avian mucosal immunity to viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases. She has developed in vitro mucosal tissue models that are applied in both basic and translation research, working closely with microbiologists, nutritionists and geneticists.
Lonneke is currently Senior Scientist at Royal GD in the Netherlands and an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.