Brian Heap was President of the Institute of Biology (now Royal Society of Biology) 1996-1998, UK Representative on the European Science Foundation Strasbourg, 1994–97, a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics 1996-2001, UK Representative on the NATO Science Committee 1998-2005, member of the Scientific Advisory Panel for Emergency Responses (SAPER) at the Cabinet Office, Chairman of the Cambridge Genetics Knowledge Park and Public Health Genetics, 2002-2010, and President of the , 2010-2014.