April 17, 2013 – "Our Shared Destinies Within the Planet's Boundaries"
Sir David King, Former Chief Scientific Adviser to the British government; currently Director, Cambridge Kaspakas; Senior Science Advisor, UBS; Chancellor, University of Liverpool
Sir King is the Former Chief Scientific Adviser to the British government under prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown; currently Director, Cambridge Kaspakas; Senior Science Advisor, UBS; Chancellor, University of Liverpool. He also serves as Chair of the UK National Oceanography Advisory Board; as Council Member of the Ditchley Foundation; and as NED of Midatech Limited.
He was the UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser from 2000 to 2007. During that time he raised the need for governments to act on climate change and was instrumental in creating the new ┬ú1 billion Energy Technologies Institute. He created an in-depth futures process which advised government on a wide range of long term issues, from flooding to obesity. He served as Founding Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University, 2008 – 2012, Head of the Department of Chemistry at Cambridge University, 1993 – 2000, and Master of Downing College Cambridge 1995 – 2000.
He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1991; Foreign Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002; knighted in 2003; made "Officier dans l'ordre national de la Légion d'Honeur" in 2009.