Professor Kate Robson Brown to advise the British Natural History Museum on AI as newest trustee
30 April 2025
Professor Kate Robson Brown, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact
Professor Kate Robson Brown has joined the Board of Trustees at the (opens in a new window)British Natural History Museum to help advise the 144-year-old institution on its use of digital technologies and AI.
The Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact at University College Dublin, Professor Robson Brown is one of two new trustees of the museum announced by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Speaking of her appointment, Professor Kate Robson Brown said it was “a privilege to be joining the Natural History Museum’s Board of Trustees at a time when the organisation is seeking to realise the opportunities presented by digital technologies to deliver its core missions."
"We are living through a period of digital transformation in which data generation and management, data science and AI are impacting on many aspects of our lives and opening up opportunities for new ways of working and engaging with the communities we serve.”
Exhibiting a vast range of specimens comprising some 80 million items across its main collections, the Natural History Museum is recognised as the pre-eminent centre of natural history and research of related fields in the world.
Given the age of the institution, many of its collections have great historical as well as scientific value, and include specimens collected by Charles Darwin.
In addition to Professor Robson Brown, Tanuja Randery, VP and Managing Director of Amazon Web Services (AWS) UKI, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), has also been appointed to the Museum’s Board of Trustees.
The Natural History Museum is one of the most popular museum in the United Kingdom, and is one of the country's centers of research specialising in taxonomy, identification and conservation Credit: Diego Delso
Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE, Chairman of the Natural History Museum said he was “delighted to welcome our two new Trustees to the Natural History Museum”.
“Tanuja Randery and Professor Kate Robson Brown are both leaders in their fields and will be fantastic additions to the board. I look forward to working with them on our mission of creating advocates for the planet.”
A professor of Engineering Mathematics and Biological Anthropology, Professor Robson Brown leads both UCD Research and NovaUCD at UCD, as well as being the University’s AI Champion.
Prior to joining UCD, her previous role was Director of the Jean Golding Institute for Data Science and AI at the University of Bristol.
Her research includes exploring the computational modelling of the microstructure and performance of living tissues and manufactured materials and their response to changing and extreme environments, including space.
She has a collaborative ESA and UKSA funded experiment currently in orbit on the International Space Station.
A member of the Ireland National Advisory Forum for Space Research, she is also an Honorary Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute for Data Science and AI, President of the European Low Gravity Research Association, co-chair of the UK Space Academic Network, and a Visiting Professor in Data Science at Strathmore University in Nairobi.
By: David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations (with materials from Micéal Whelan, UCD Research and Innovation)
To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie
