Bryan Wells

As of 1 July 2019, the North Atlantic Council (NAC) appointed Chief Scientist is Dr. Bryan Wells (UK). In this role, he has three major responsibilities. First, he serves as Chair of the NATO Science and Technology Board (STB). In this context, he serves as the STB’s representative to the Secretary General and the NAC and is responsible to the STB for the effective coordination of NATO’s Science and Technology (S&T) program. Second, he serves as the senior scientific advisor to NATO leadership, ensuring that appropriate and timely S&T based advice is provided to NATO senior decision makers. Finally, he leads the Office of the Chief Scientist at NATO Headquarters
Prior to his appointment as Chief Scientist, Dr. Wells was the UK Ministry of Defence’s Head, of S&T Policy, Strategic Research and International Engagement. His responsibilities included the provision of strategic policy advice on the international and research aspects of the Ministry’s science and technology programme.
Additionally, he has recently completed a three-year term (2016-2018) as Chair of the European Defence Agency’s Research & Technology Steering Board.
Dr Wells joined the UK Ministry of Defence in 1988. He served as Assistant Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence 1989-1992, and has held a range of other posts, including Deputy Director of NATO Policy 1997-1999, and Director of Counter-Proliferation and Arms Control 2002-2008. During 1999-2002 he was on secondment to the Lord Chancellor’s Department (now the Department of Justice) as Head of Administrative Justice.
Dr Wells was educated at St Catherine’s College, Oxford (1978-85) and Merton College Oxford (1985-1988). He graduated BA(Hons) in Chemistry in 1982 and was awarded a DPhil in 1985. He conducted three years post-Doctorate research at Oxford University as a Junior Research Fellow at Merton College.