About
Professor Peter JS Smith joined Southampton University in 2011 as the founding Director of the Institute for Life Sciences. The Institute has built up an impressive foundation for supporting interdisciplinary research on the part of students and staff across disciplines of medicine, health and biological sciences, with the physical sciences, mathematics and engineering. Professor Smith further directs two national networks, MyAge and FortisNet, and supports several regional medical and health initiatives. He was responsible for bringing the University of Southampton into the Rosalind Franklin Institute as a Founding Partner.
Research
Research groups
Research projects
Active projects
Completed projects
Publications
External roles and responsibilities
Biography
Career History
2011- 2023: Director. Institute for Life Sciences (IfLS), University of Southampton, UK.
2011-present: Professor of Life Sciences. School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences, UoS.
2018-2019: Rosalind Franklin Institute, Harwell (RFI): Non-executive Director 2018 – 2021;
2021 – present: Rosalind Franklin Institute Audit and Risk committee
2020 - present: EPSRC Value for Money Committee RFI
2013-present: Visiting Fellow, Marine Biological Association, Plymouth, UK.
2008-2011: Director. Cellular Dynamics Program, Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), USA.
2008-2011: Adjunct Professor of Engineering (Research). Brown University, RI.
2002-2008: Director. Molecular Physiology Program, MBL, USA.
1999-2011: Senior Scientist, MBL, USA.
1996-2011: Director and Principal Investigator. NIH BioCurrents Research Center, MBL.
1994-1996: Director and PI. NIH Probe Facility, MBL.
1992-1993: Co-Director. NIH Probe Facility, MBL, USA. (With L. F. Jaffe).
1992-1999: Associate Scientist. MBL, USA.
1990-1991: Senior Scientific Officer and Lab. Leader. AFRC Laboratory of Molecular Signalling, Dept. of Zoology, University of Cambridge and the Babraham Research Institute, UK.
1987-1990: Higher Scientific Officer. AFRC Unit of Insect Neurophysiology and Pharmacology, Dept. of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK.
1986-1991: Fellow and Director of Studies in Natural Sciences. Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, UK.
1985-1987: Leverhulme Research Fellow, University of Cambridge. Dept. of Zoology, Cambridge, UK.
1982-1984: Research Associate. University of Cambridge, Dept. of Zoology, Cambridge, UK (With J. E. Treherne).
1979-1982: Research Associate. University of Manchester, UK. (With D.M. Guthrie).
Selected Service and Civic Engagement
2020- present Wessex Health Partners Steering Committee.
2020-2022 Wessex Health Partners Steering Group and start and finish planning group. Tasked with building the Discovery, Governance and Innovation template. Complete 2022 with the Partnership launched that year.
2022 Co-sponsor Life Science in the Central South: Southern Policy Centre Dir Prof John Denham
2020-2021 University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton Foundation Trust COVID-19 Assessment Panel
2019-present Secretary to Lockerley and East Dean Memorial Hall.
2019 Non-executive Director Renovos
2018-present Regional Steering Committee BBSRC IKC National Biofilms Innovation Centre
2017-2018 Bioscience Representative to the regional Government Local Enterprise Partnership Innovation South Strategic Steering Group. Regional Industrial Policy.
2015-2016 Oversight for life sciences portfolio, Enterprise M3 and Solent LEPs
2013-2014 Oversight Board: Swindon and Wiltshire Health and Life Sciences Business Plan
2012-present Joint Research Strategy Board, University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton
2008-2011 Steering Committee, Brown Univ. and Women and Infants Hospital, Clinical Translational Science Initiative.
2008-2011 Advisory Committee, Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, West Virginia
2007-2011 Member, Institute for Molecular & Nanoscale Innovation, Division of Engineering, Brown Univ.
2001-2011 Member of the Astrobiology Program, MBL
2001 & 2002 Ad hoc Member of the Endocrinology Study Section NIH
2001 Steering committee for the MBL workshop on – Futures for Microscopy at the MBL
1999-present Consultant, CIR Biomedical Technology and Engineering, Falmouth
1999-2011 Steering Committee for the consortium in biomedical engineering, Univ. of Rhode Island
1999-2010 Elected (3 terms) to the MBL Science Council
1998 Appointed to the Graduate Board of the University of Rhode Island
1997-2011 Consultant on NIH/NIDDK award Program Project Grant NIH DK 38452 Renal Unit Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University, Protein Transport P.I.: D. Brown
1996-2011 Chair, Optics Committee, Children’s School of Science, Woods Hole, MA
1996, 2003, Special Study Section NIH: NCRR & NIBIB: 1996, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 (twice), and 2008 (twice).
1995-2011 Professor, (Adjunct) Zoology Dept., University Rhode Island, Kingston, R.I.
Education
1991: MA Neurosciences. University of Cambridge, UK.
1976-1979: PhD Comparative Cardiovascular Physiology. University of Aberdeen, Scotland.
1972-1976: BSc Zoology (1st Class). University of Aberdeen, UK.