Brian Keith Tanner CPhys, FRSA, FInstP, FHEA is a British physicist, currently Emeritus Professor of Physics and former Dean of Knowledge Transfer at Durham University.

[6] He studied undergraduate physics at Balliol College, University of Oxford, where he went on to graduate with a DPhil in 1971 on 'X-ray diffraction topography; methods and applications'.

[1] Professor Tanner was the first Director of the North East Centre for Science Enterprise, serves as chief scientific advisor of the North East Technology Park (NETPark) and now chairs the County Durham Economic Partnership.

[2] Married to Ruth Tanner, formerly a Trustee and Deputy President of the Workers' Educational Association[11] and currently secretary of the Cobweb Orchestra, about which she published a history in 2013.

[12] He has two sons: Rob is a teacher and Director of Cross-Curricular Learning at St Albans School [13] and Tom is a climate change academic at SOAS University of London.