The President of British Science Association for 2005-2006 was Francis Cairncross.

Rector of Exeter College, Oxford, she was previously on the staff of The Economist, most recently as management editor. She is also chair of Britain’s Economic and Social Research Council, a non-executive director of the Alliance and Leicester Group, and a regular presenter of BBC Radio Four’s Analysis programme. Her latest book, The Company of the Future, was published in 2002 by Harvard Business School Press.

In March 2003 Frances won the Institute of Internal Auditors’ annual award for business and management journalism. She is also the author of The Death of Distance, a study of the economic and social effects of the global communications revolution, first published in 1997 and re-published in a completely new edition in 2001. In 2004-05, she held the honorary post of High Sheriff of Greater London.