Ewan Birney awarded CBE in New Year’s Honours List

December 29, Cambridge – Ewan Birney, Director of EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list. Birney was recognised for his services to computational genomics and leadership across the life sciences.

The Commander of the British Empire is an honour awarded to an individual by the Queen, for distinguished or notable contributions in a specific area of activity.

“I feel incredibly privileged to be honoured in this way,” says Birney. “This is a recognition of how bioinformatics and genomics are changing our understanding of life, including human health and disease. Because this shift relies on collaboration, this honour is also an acknowledgement of the work of my own institute, EMBL-EBI and many different organisations and individuals that are working towards the common goal of responsible genomic data sharing.”  

Birney completed his PhD at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, after which he moved to EMBL-EBI, where he became Associate Director in 2012. Since 2015, he has been a Joint Director of the institute, alongside Rolf Apweiler. Birney’s research focuses on functional genomics, DNA algorithms and statistical methods to analyse genomic information.

Birney is also a non-executive Director of Genomics England, Chair of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, as well as consultant and advisor to a number of private companies. In 2014, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and, in 2015, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

“It requires a huge amount of energy and acumen to bring together people from different backgrounds, and to build interdisciplinary collaborations in science and technology,” explains Melanie Welham, Executive Chair of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). “Ewan has managed to do so not only in the UK, but also internationally, which is a truly unique accomplishment.”

“EMBL is proud to see one of its scientific leaders receive such a prestigious award,” says Edith Heard, EMBL Director General. “Ewan has played a key role in making genomics a cutting-edge technology for the life sciences.”