Dr Julia Knights is Deputy Director of the Science Museum with responsibility for visitor experience, operations, curatorial, exhibitions & galleries and leads on sustainability across the five museums in the Science Museum Group. Previously Julia worked in the Senior Civil Service as Deputy Director of Energy and Climate Science in BEIS, and played a role in the UK’s Net Zero by 2050 legislation.
Previously Julia spent 12 years overseas as a British diplomat in the FCO directing the science teams in East China, Russia & Latin America. In Brazil, she led a £150 million fund for UK-Brazil research on new plant species in the Amazon rainforest, tropical medicine & sustainable agriculture. Previously Julia worked in conservation & agriculture in DEFRA.
A soil and climate scientist, Julia is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and a Fellow of the Cambridge University Centre for Science & Policy. She is a Trustee & Co-Chair for Biodiversity of the Exhibition Road Cultural Group. She sits on the Advisory Board of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Bees and Pollinators. Julia joined the Royal Society’s Public Engagement Committee in 2022.
