Alison Smith

Professor Alison Smith is a leading figure in Plant Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, where she has served as Head of the Department of Plant Sciences (2017-2022) and continues as a Professor and Life Fellow of Corpus Christi College. She earned her BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Bristol, followed by an MPhil and PhD at Cambridge.

Research Interests: Her work focuses on the metabolism of plants and algae, particularly vitamin and cofactor biosynthesis, synthetic biology applications, and algal-bacterial symbiosis. Her group explores metabolic engineering of high-value products and biofuels, integrating genomics, molecular biology, and mathematical modeling.

Scientific Awards:

• Fellow of the Marine Biological Society of the UK (2017)
• Fellow of Royal Society of Biology (2012)
• Erskine Fellowship (2009)
• Rebeiz Foundation Best Paper Award (2008)
• Leverhulme Study Abroad Fellowship (2001)

Collaborations & Impact: Alison founded the Algal Biotechnology Consortium (2007) and established the Algal Innovation Centre (2016) for scaling algal biotechnology. She has served on numerous BBSRC committees, editorial boards, and university governance groups, including the VC Financial Strategy Advisory Group and Energy@Cambridge IRC.