Career
He assumed the post on 1 April 2007 after the merger of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC) and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), having previously been chief executive of PPARC. After a farming childhood on the Llyn Peninsula, Mason initially trained as an astronomer, studying for a Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Physics at University College London, and was a candidate astronaut. He subsequently worked on X-ray astronomy at University of California Berkeley before returning to the University College London Mullard Space Science Laboratory, eventually becoming a professor at University College London and director of the Mullard Laboratory in 2003.
