The International Centre for Life Chief Executive, Linda Conlon, has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List.

The recognition is for her services to Science and Science Education in North East England.

Linda said: “This is a delightful and unexpected accolade and I am incredibly proud to receive this honour not only for me, but for the Centre for Life and everyone involved with its success.”

Linda is responsible for managing the International Centre for Life, a £90m science village in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England. It brings together a University medical research institute, two National Health Service clinics, biotechnology businesses, science engagement and education, and ethics on a single site, all with the aim of promoting advancement of science. This unique project has fostered inter-disciplinary collaboration among the 550-strong workforce, achieving some spectacular results – for example, the world’s first cloned human embryo was created at the Centre.

Linda Conlon was recently elected Chair of the Association of Science and Technology Centres, a body representing 650 science centres from over 50 countries.

Linda Conlon is a governor of the Laidlaw Schools Trust in Newcastle and is a business mentor for small charities and voluntary groups in North East England. She is an executive member of NE1, the Business Improvement District Company for Newcastle, and chairs its marketing task force.

She has travelled extensively, lecturing and advising other bodies setting up science centres in the UK, Europe, the United States and China.

Linda Conlon's career before the world of science centres was in regional development and urban regeneration, where she was involved in the creation of major high profile waterfront developments, helping to bring in £1 billion of investment. Before that, she ran her own marketing consultancy and in her early career, worked for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the multi-national company, Procter and Gamble.