Professor Patricia Thornley FREng
Biography
Professor Patricia Thornley was appointed Chief Scientific Advisor for the Department for Transport in February 2026.
Patricia is a research leader in sustainable fuels. She has听led the national research programme in bioenergy (UKRI听Supergen听Bioenergy Hub) for 14 years.听Previous听work includes听leading on fuel scale up in the Clean Maritime Decarbonisation Hub and environmental assessment in the听NewJet听aviation听project.听Patricia听continues to lead an听EPSRC & BBSRC听funded centre for doctoral training on negative emission technologies to remove greenhouse gases from atmosphere across Aston, Nottingham, Warwick and Queen鈥檚 University, Belfast.听听
Patricia听has听been听director of Aston University鈥檚 Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute听from 2018听to 2025 and associate dean for research for its College of Engineering and Physical Sciences for 3 years. She was听elected听a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2021 based on her work on engineering evaluation of听the environmental,听economic听and social consequences of听low carbon听implementation pathways听and policy advice.听听
She received her B.Sc.听in Physics from Durham University in 1993 and PhD from the University of Ulster in 1996. She spent 7 years in the commercial sector, working as a combustion engineer and lender鈥檚 engineer before moving to academia via the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change research at the University of Manchester鈥檚 school of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, where she became professor in 2015. 听She has听led听拢36听million听EPSRC and BBSRC projects听as principal investigator听and听pioneered work on integrated assessment and sustainability analysis of fuel and energy systems, including appointments to advisory groups,听based on experience across Europe, the Americas,听sub Saharan听Africa and Asia,听for听the:听
- DfT听
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero听
- Climate Change Committee听听
- Department for Environment,听Food听and听Rural Affairs听
- Royal Academy of Engineering听
- British Council听
- Royal Society听听
- UKRI
DfT Chief Scientific Adviser
The Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA):
- provides advice and independent challenge to ministers and senior officials
- ensures that science and engineering evidence and advice is robust, relevant and high quality
- ensures there are mechanisms for science and engineering to underpin policymaking and the delivery of services and operations
- assures the operation of the principles of scientific advice to government to all external scientific advice
- is responsible for the 鈥�DfT science, innovation and technology plan鈥�
- works with CSAs in other departments to share good practice across government and identify and resolve cross-departmental science issues
- is the Head of the Science and Engineering Profession (HoSEP) at Department for Transport