Professor Sheila Rowan CBE FRS

Professor Sheila Rowan is an experimental physicist, and since 2009, Director of the Institute for Gravitational Research in the University of Glasgow in the UK. She received her BSc (1991) and PhD (1995) in the field of gravitational wave instrumentation from the University of Glasgow, and subsequently held research positions split between Stanford University and Glasgow before returning full time to a Faculty position in Glasgow in 2003.

She was awarded a Leverhulme Prize for Astronomy and Astrophysics in 2005, appointed to Fellowship of the UK Institute of Physics in 2006, elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2008, and awarded Fellowship of the American Physical Society in 2012. She was made an MBE for services to science in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 2011, and received the Hoyle Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics in 2016 in recognition of her pioneering research on aspects of the technology of gravitational wave observatories. In 2016 she was seconded (part-time) to be Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government.

Professional position

  • Director and Professor of Experimental Physics, Institute for Gravitational Research, University of Glasgow
  • Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland, Scottish Government

Subject groups

  • Astronomy and Physics

    Astrophysics, Gravitation

  • Engineering and Materials Science

    Instrumentation

  • Other

    Public engagement, Science policy

Committees

Participated Role
Sectional Committee 2: Astronomy and physics November 2019 - October 2022 Member
Research Professorships Panel July 2020 - December 2026 Member
Public Engagement Committee January 2022 - December 2024 Member
Education Committee November 2023 - November 2028 Ex-Officio
Committee Advising Council on Honorary Candidates December 2023 - November 2028 Ex-Officio
Physical Sciences Awards Committee November 2023 - November 2028 Chair
Premier Awards Committee November 2023 - November 2028 Co-Chair
Committee Advising Council on General Candidates November 2023 - November 2028 Co-Chair
Council November 2023 - November 2028 Physical Secretary