David Davies (electrical engineer)

Sir David Evan Naunton Davies was a British electrical engineer and educator, knighted for services to science and technology in the 1994 New Year Honours. He was described as "one of the most influential engineers of his generation, advising the government on some of the most sensitive political and defence issues in modern times. He also made important technical contributions to the development of radar and communications and to higher education policy". Davies died on 19 August 2025, at the age of 89.

Career

1985–1988: Head of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at University College London, and holder of the Pender Chair, having already been lecturing there, in Communications Systems, for many years prior to that.
1986–1988: Vice-Provost of University College London
1988–1993: Vice Chancellor of Loughborough University
1993–1999: Chief Scientific Adviser for the Ministry of Defence

He was subsequently Chairman of Railway Safety, a non-executive director of Lattice plc, a non-executive director of The ERA Foundation, Chairman of the Hazards Forum, and safety advisor to the Board of National Grid plc.

Voluntary roles

1994–1995: President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers
1996–2001: President of the Royal Academy of Engineering

Awards and honours

CBE,
Knight Bachelor
FREng in 1979
FRS in 1984
Faraday Medal, Institution of Electrical Engineers, 1987
Received an honorary doctorate from University of Bath in 1997
Received an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1999
FLSW, 2010

The Sir David Davies building at Loughborough University, housing the electrical engineering department, is now named after him and his portrait by Bryan Organ is displayed in the reception area of the University's Hazlerigg building.