Professor Sir Martin Rees, Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics and Master of Trinity College, has been appointed to the House of Lords as one of five new non-party-political peers. The title he will take has yet to be decided.

Sir Martin was among five new non-party-political peers recommended by the House of Lords Appointments Commission and announced recently. A former Royal Society Research Professor, Sir Martin will also become President of the Royal Society in December.

The other four non-party-political peers are:

• Dame Ruth Deech, the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education. Previously she was Chairman of the UK Human Embryology and Fertilisation Authority, a Mandela Rhodes trustee and Principal of St Anne's College, Oxford.
• Michael Hastings, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at the BBC and Chairman of Crime Concern. His previous roles in the BBC include Head of Public Affairs leading the Political and Parliamentary Affairs Department and the first Community Affairs Unit. He is also a trustee of Volunteering England and a former Commissioner for Racial Equality.
• Adair Turner, the Chairman of the Independent Pensions Commission and Chairman of the Low Pay Commission. Previously Mr Turner was Director General of the Confederation of British Industry from 1995 to 1999. He is Vice Chair of Merrill Lynch Europe, a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and the Cass Business School and a member of the Cambridge Foundation.
• Jo Valentine, the Chief Executive of London First. She is also a National Lottery Commissioner and a Board member of the New West End Company, the Central London Partnership, Think London and a trustee of Teach First.

They will sit on the crossbenches in the Upper House.

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