Professor Gail Taylor
Chair
Fields of interest
Gail Taylor was appointed as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences, University College London in 2024. As Dean she is responsible for over 5,000 people including 15 Departments and Centres that span Life Sciences interests from cells and molecules to populations and ecosystems, tackling life’s biggest questions with world-class research and innovation. The Faculty is routinely featured in the top ten for global rankings, ranked #3 in the world (QS) for Pharmacy and Pharmacology, ~9 for REF21 was #2 in the UK for research power, is #1 for Europe in Biology, Biochemistry, Genetics, Neuroscience in EDURANK. She oversees the research and education programmes of the Faculty and an annual budget in excess of ?250 M. She has trained over 50 PhD students and her current research is improving the safety and quality of leafy green crops for indoor and outdoor production systems. This includes reducing the water footprint of culinary herbs, improving the anti-cancer properties of watercress and developing more sustainable cropping systems for future climates. She also has a long-term interest in plants used for bioenergy and is a PI in the Centre for Bioenergy Innovation, funded by Department of Energy, unravelling the complex basis of genetic traits n fast growing trees for the bioeconomy.
Job description
Professor Taylor succeeded Professor Hugh Dickinson as Chair of the Annals of Botany Company in 2025. The Chair heads the Company and normally leads all of its meetings. As a member of the Company's Executive, the Chair is a Director of the Company and a Charitable Trustee. Like all Company Members, the Chair also oversees all aspects of the ownership, support and operation of the Company itself and of its five published titles Annals of Botany, AoB PLANTS, in silico Plants, BotanyOne, and The Week in Botany. Professor Taylor has additional responsibilities towards BotanyOne.
Contact details
Email gail.taylor@ucl.ac.uk
Web https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/95153-gail-taylor?