Bodmer, Principal of the Hertford College, Oxford University, is in the city as a part of the 15-member delegation for the India-UK Science Festival, 2002, and to take part in the National Science Congress, held in Lucknow. A renowned scientist in the field of biomedical research, Bodmer has headed many research institutes in the United Kingdom. He is the former director general of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and was also the director of the research from 1979 to 1991. Sir Bodmer, a genetist, has co-authored many books including the Genetics of Human Populations, Our Future Inheritance: Choice or Chance?, The Book of Man and Genetics, Evolution and Man. He has also been the president of Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) and British Association for the Advancement of Science. He was made a fellow of the Royal Society in 1974 and received knighthood in 1986.