Rachel Youngman, IOP Deputy Chief Executive
As well as being IOP’s Deputy Chief Executive, Rachel is also the executive lead for our international programme, the IOP’s new UK and Ireland influencing campaign which seeks to increase the diversity of young people continuing post-16 physics education and the progression and recognition frameworks IOP provide as a professional body.
Rachel joined IOP in 2014 and was appointed Deputy Chief Executive in 2019. She is the executive lead for the international programme, our new public-facing influencing campaign, and is developing the IOP’s new approach to public-led dialogue. Her international role includes leading a drafting team to submit to government a £50m proposal to fund research between the UK and Africa on climate/weather, health, AI, big data and largescale facilities.
The work to date has included forming a new network comprising researchers in the UK and Africa, government and UK Research and Innovation and identifying philanthropic and other sources of funding in the UK and the US.
Prior to joining IOP, Rachel held CEO and other leadership roles in NGOs. This included the International Bar Association where she was responsible for commercial law programmes involving regulators and practitioners in more than 120 countries. Rachel was senior lead on the establishment of the International Competition Network supported by the European Commission and US Department of Justice to provide a venue for maintaining regular contact between governments, regulators, the private sector and practitioners to address policy and practical competition concerns and to build consensus and convergence across the global competition community.
In 2008, she undertook a review for the Cabinet Office of a national award. She has also worked on evaluations of funded work by the Department for Education and Department for Health, advising organisations on the sustainability of programmes post government funding.
In 2020, Rachel joined the External Advisory Board of the UK Quantum Technology Hub Sensors and Metrology, which aims to translate state-of-the-art lab technology into deployable practical devices that will have a potentially transformative impact across business and society as a whole.
She is chair of a UK charity which supports female BAMER (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee) and foreign national women within the social justice and criminal justice systems, including those who have been trafficked into the UK.