We are delighted to announce that Professor Mark J. Bailey, outgoing Executive Director of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), has been awarded an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours list in recognition of his contribution to the field of microbial ecology and his scientific leadership.
Professor Bailey directed UKCEH for 12 years until his retirement on 16 June 2023, leading it to become one of the world’s foremost research institutes for environmental science across water, land and air. He is an internationally recognised microbial ecologist, studying complex biological systems, from landscapes to gene regulation within cells and across soil ecosystems.
Professor Bailey said: “I am delighted to be awarded this honour from the King which is a fantastic culmination to my career at UKCEH. While I am personally proud of my work both as Executive Director and as a researcher, I am fully aware that my achievements have not been possible without the huge contributions of hundreds of talented colleagues and friends.
"I am also immensely indebted to my wife Manda and daughter Sophie for their tireless encouragement, patience and support over the years.”
Professor Bailey was appointed Director of the Institute of Virology and Environmental Microbiology, a Natural Environment Research Council institute and predecessor institute of UKCEH, in 2002. Soon afterwards, he was appointed Science Director for Biodiversity at the newly formed Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), before becoming Centre Director in 2011.
He went on to oversee the organisation’s six-year transition to become an independent, not-for-profit research institute, completed in 2019, when it was re-named the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.
He then steered UKCEH through the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Professor Bailey has been responsible for a number of firsts in microbial ecology, a field which has applications for environmental restoration, food production, and the bio-engineering of products such as antibiotics, food supplements, and chemicals.
In 1993, he led the first UK release of a genetically modified (GM) bacterium, to study the transfer of genetic material between plant associated bacteria, and was a member of the committee that advised Defra over the first GM-plant farm scale evaluations. He also developed a novel approach for the detection of active bacteria in complex communities, for which he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2002 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology in 2009.
Professor Bailey chaired the Environmental Change Network for nine years. He has also served as a Trustee for the National Biodiversity Network, Rothamsted Research and Marine Biological Association. In 2007, he established and was the founding editor of the ISME-J, now the leading international research journal in microbial ecology.
He has also driven international cooperation on environmental science and, in 2021, he was awarded a Chinese Government Friendship Award in recognition of UKCEH’s bilateral cooperation with Chinese research institutes, and long contribution to China’s ecological and environmental protection.
Links
Professor Mark J. Bailey retires as Executive Director of UKCEH
Dr Stuart Wainwright is appointed new Chief Executive of UKCEH