Richard Faragher

Richard Faragher is Professor of Biological Gerontology at the University of Brighton and is past Chair of the British Society for Research on Ageing, the International Association of Biomedical Gerontology and the American Aging Association. He read Biochemistry at Imperial College, London and undertook a D.Phil. on human premature ageing at Sussex. His primary research interest is the relationship between cellular senescence and mammalian ageing. His lab has discovered simple compounds which reverse this process opening up new therapeutic avenues for conditions previously considered untreatable.

He holds the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Conference Science Medal for his work on accelerated human ageing, the Paul F Glenn Award for research into the mechanisms of ageing and the British Society for Research on Ageing’s highest honour, the Lord Cohen of Birkenhead Medal. He was the first scientist to receive Help the Aged’s ‘Living Legend’ award for his championship of older people and the use of research for their benefit.

From 2005-2008 Faragher was Co-director of the BBSRC-EPSRC SPARC programme, a research network that built national capacity to conduct inter-disciplinary ageing research. Over 70% of the early career biomedical researchers who won SPARC pump-priming grants became Professors, Pro Vice Chancellors or Directors of professional bodies (the Royal Society estimates that <1% of PhDs typically obtain a Chair).

He serves on the Board of Directors of the American Federation for Aging Research (the leading US Charity supporting research into fundamental mechanisms of ageing) and leads their work on international collaboration.

He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of two venture capital organisations as well as the company LinkGevity, a longevity science company dedicated to improving quality of life through innovative drug discovery and AI. He is a member of the Legal & General Longevity Sciences Panel, a group of experts brought together to advise L&G on the factors that influence life expectancy in the UK.

Most recently he co-directed the BBSRC-MRC Building Links in Ageing Science and Translation (BLAST) research network and co-ordinated a series of ten other knowledge exchange networks which were part of UKRI’s response to the House of Lords S&T Committee Report (2021) Ageing: Science, Technology and Healthy Living to which he gave oral evidence.