OBE awarded to Prof. Chris Budd, G4NBG
Prof. Chris Budd, G4NBG OBE
Professor Chris Budd, G4NBG has been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to science and maths education
Professor Budd has been a radio amateur and RSGB member since his teens, when he was introduced to it by his grandfather who held a licence in the 1920s and was a radio scientist during the war.
Professor Budd was active first under G8OPB and then G4NBG and, as a student, was President of G6UW, the Cambridge Wireless Society.
He was a member of the Stevenage and District Amateur Radio Society and then—working at Marconi—of the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society.
Professor Budd joined the University of Bath in 1995, has published over 100 research papers, raised over £5m in research funding and founded—and still runs—the university’s MSc in Modern Applied Mathematics.
He is also the creator of Bath Taps into Science, a major hands-on science festival which has won several national prizes in the 14 years it has been running.
The week of events aims not only to show students and families how the science and maths that they learn at school can be applied to the wider world, but also to inspire them to want to become a scientist or mathematician.
Many radio amateurs have been involved in organising various activities at this event over the years.
In 2010, 70,000 members of the public attended the hands on maths exhibition Living in a Complex World which was part of the Royal Society’s 350th anniversary celebration.
Professor Budd led this exhibition, and has since taken it to Manchester, Japan, Canada, Ireland and—every year from 2011—to the Big Bang Fair, at which it has been presented to 300,000 members of the general public.
Professor Budd said: “I am very honoured to receive this award. I believe passionately that the importance of maths and science should be communicated in an exciting way to as wide an audience as possible. I could not have done this without the support of many others, and I hope that this honour is a way of recognising the wonderful work of everyone involved in public engagement.”
He is currently actively working in problems in meteorology and climate change, and his close collaboration with the Met Office has helped to improve weather forecasting accuracy.
He co-founded an international network which brings together mathematicians working in climate change with policy-makers—and leads its outreach programme.
He is also the UK lead on a Marie Curie network, which trains many PhD students across Europe.
His particular interests within amateur radio are 2m SSB operation; linking amateur radio with young people; the Raspberry Pi and amateur radio.
Category: Front Page News, GB2RS Headlines, RSGB Notices
