Chris Llewellyn Smith is Director of UKAEA Culham Division, which is responsible for the UK's fusion programme, and for operation of the Joint European Torus (JET) on behalf of Euratom. His role is to lead the UK's contribution to the development of fusion, as a viable environmentally benign source of energy, on the "fast-track" advocated by the British government. He is Chairman of the Consultative Committee for Euratom on Fusion (CCE-FU). In November 2007, he was elected as the first Chair of the Council of ITER (International Tokamak Experimental Reactor). He has previously served as Provost and President of University College London (1999 - 2002), Director General of CERN (1994 - 1998), and Chairman of Oxford Physics (1987 - 1992).

Chris Llewellyn Smith is a theoretical physicist and has worked on a wide range of topics related to particle physics experiments. He has also published, and spoken widely, on science policy, international scientific collaboration, and issues related to energy.

He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society since 1984, and his scientific contributions and leadership have been recognised by awards and honours in seven countries on three continents, including a knighthood in 2001 for "services to particle physics". He has served on numerous national and international advisory bodies, including ACOST (the UK Prime Minister's Advisory Committee on Science and Technology).

After completing a DPhil in theoretical physics in Oxford in 1967, he worked briefly in the Lebedev Institute in Moscow, and then at CERN and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, before returning to Oxford in 1974. As the first Chairman of Oxford Physics (1987 - 92) he led the merger of five separate Departments to create one the UK's top-rated Physics Departments.

In 1994, he returned to CERN to serve as Director General for five years. During his mandate, CERN's flagship project (LEP) was successfully upgraded and a new project, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), was approved and construction started. When it comes into operation in 2007, the LHC will be the world's premier instrument for exploring the deep structure of matter. Scientists from over 30 non-Member States have joined scientists from CERN's Member States in designing and constructing LHC experiments. During the period 1995-97, Professor Llewellyn Smith led negotiations that resulted in Canada, India, Israel, Japan, Russia and the USA agreeing to contribute to the construction of the new collider itself, as well as the experiments, making the LHC the first large global scientific construction project.

Chris Llewellyn Smith moved to UCL (University College London) in January 1999, and was President and Provost of UCL from April 1999 to September 2002, when he resigned in order to focus on other interests. UCL is consistently ranked as one of the UK's leading multi-faculty universities. He further strengthened its national and international standing as a powerhouse in both teaching and research, oversaw successful bids for major funds to upgrade the infrastructure, and during the 2002 Comprehensive Spending Review, played a significant role in putting the case that has led to improved funding for the UK's research-led universities.