Dame Frances Cairncross, is a British economist, respected journalist and academic.
She is Chair of the UK’s independent review into the future of quality journalism.
She is Chair of the Court of Heriot Watt University and a former Rector of Exeter College, Oxford.
She spent 13 years as an economic columnist for the Guardian and 20 years as a senior editor at The Economist.
She is the author of a number of books, including "The Death of Distance: How the Communications Revolution is Changing our Lives".