Oxford University Consulting (OUC) facilitates the recruitment of Oxford academics to advisory boards, and has arranged consultancy agreements for academic consultants to participate in scientific and clinical advisory board meetings on a range of subjects from rare genetic conditions to infectious diseases. For example, Professor Frances Platt of the Department of Pharmacology has participated in UK and international advisory board meetings to advise on the use of a drug for treating type 1 Gaucher disease and Niemann-Pick disease type C. Professor Paul Klenerman from the Nuffield Department of Medicine provides guidance through a Scientific Advisory Board on viral infection and immunity.

Advisory boards provide a structured way of collating opinions and obtaining critical assessments and objective insights to corroborate or change research and development plans. In this way, boards assist companies in assessing whether their development plans are capable of realising their commercial aims.

Given the nature of their role, advisory boards and their members need to be demonstrably independent of the companies they advise if they are to genuinely protect the interests of all concerned, and board governance arrangements should reflect this requirement.