Colin H. Johnson has been an Ecsite Honorary Fellow since 2003. Honorary Fellows are nominated by the Ecsite Board for having gained outstanding merit by their activity and devotion to Ecsite or to the science engagement field.

Originally a chemist with a career in science education, I was CEO of the UK’s first purpose-built science centre, Techniquest in Cardiff, Wales, from 1997-2004. I was elected an Ecsite Honorary Fellow in 2003, and in 2004 I received the UK Honour of OBE. I was the 2011 ASTC Fellow Awardee from the Association of Science-Technology Centers.

My Ecsite background is that I served on the Board for several years, helped to lead Ecsite’s ‘Chemistry for Life’ project, and was the founding Chair of Ecsite-UK (now the UK’s Association of Science and Discovery Centres). I took part on several occasions as a staff member in Ecsite’s Science Centre Academy at Technopolis, Flanders and in 2013 I helped with the EMMESummer School in Granada, Spain, organised by Ecsite and NAMES. During 2009-11 I was the facilitator for the Ecsite Board’s strategic planning exercise and their review of the Statutes.

Although semi-retired, I have a varied portfolio of mentoring and monitoring assignments for the UK government’s Research Councils, the Wellcome Trust and others. I am a UK National Judge for the Rolls-Royce Science prize for schools. From 2010-1014 I was the Noyce Learning Institute’s Field Representative in countries outside N America, with the role of identifying and mentoring applicants for the Noyce Fellowships for science centre leaders. I am a member of the Funding Committee for the Science Learning + programme which is run by the Wellcome Trust and the National Science Foundation. I am an Honorary Research Fellow at Cardiff University.