Ottoline Leyser is CEO of UK Research and Innovation and Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge. Her research uses the control of shoot branching in Arabidopsis to understand plant developmental plasticity.

She has a long-term interest in inclusiveness and engagement in science. This includes ongoing work to improve research culture, which started with a project she chaired for the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. She is actively engaged in science policy. For example, from 2014 - 2020 she chaired the Royal Society's Science Policy Expert Advisory Committee and she serves on the Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology.

In 2017 she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to plant science, science in society and equality and diversity in science.