What our Programme Directors do
\n
We back people, then projects – and it all starts with our Programme Directors (PDs).
First, our PDs identify an emerging area that holds untapped potential for new discoveries. Through feedback from across the R&D ecosystem, they sharpen their thinking and define an opportunity space – an area that’s critically important, underexplored, and ripe for new perspectives, approaches, and talent. This becomes the foundation for coordinated multi-year programmes and speculative seed funding. From there, PDs identify, fund and direct a community of researchers to unlock breakthroughs that could define a new era of economic growth and social prosperity – in Britain and around the world.
Following an open global call, ARIA's second cohort joined in April 2025 from across the UK, Europe and the USA. These eight world-class scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs bring deep technical expertise and hands-on experience translating ideas into real-world impact – whether through founding companies, pioneering technologies, or forging new scientific disciplines.
\nTogether, they'll push each other — and the R&D community — to think differently about what's possible.
"},{"type":"team-cards","items":[{"image":{"src":"/media/ntqbexlb/brian.jpg?width=1000&height=1000&format=webp&v=1dbdb7e32dd0770","alt":"Headshot of Brian Wang"},"name":"Brian Wang","text":"Brian co-founded the non-profit Panoplia Laboratories to pre-develop medicine for the next pandemic. Brian has a PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, conducted postdoctorate research in synthetic biology at MIT, and was Head of R&D at vaccine development start-up Alvea.","position":""},{"image":{"src":"/media/341bv5xe/nicole-1.jpg?width=1000&height=1000&format=webp&v=1dbdb7e24894620","alt":"Headshot of Nicole Wheeler"},"name":"Nicole Wheeler","text":"Nicole joins ARIA from the University of Birmingham, where she researched the potential of genomics and AI to detect and track new infectious diseases. She developed the UK's first software for screening synthetic DNA for potential biohazards. Nicole is also a technical expert for the AIxBio Global Forum and contributed to the world’s first International AI Safety Report.","position":""},{"image":{"src":"/media/boblspdk/rico-1.jpg?width=1000&height=1000&format=webp&v=1dbdb7e155f7020","alt":"Headshot of Rico Chandra"},"name":"Rico Chandra","text":"Rico is a repeat founder who cut his teeth at the frontier of defence technologies. He has advised governments, investors, and high-growth companies on emerging tech and their strategic impact. He founded Arktis Radiation Detectors, whose systems are now deployed worldwide. Rico holds a PhD in dark matter detection from CERN and an MSc from ETH Zurich.","position":""}],"title":"","text":""},{"type":"team-cards","items":[{"image":{"src":"/media/52tlls1h/yannick.jpg?width=1000&height=1000&format=webp&v=1dbdb7e0041b4f0","alt":"Headshot of Yannick Wurm"},"name":"Yannick Wurm","text":"Yannick joins ARIA from Queen Mary University of London, where he is Professor of Evolutionary Genomics & Bioinformatics. Yannick pioneered the use of molecular tools to assess pollinator health, has built startups to commercialise genome analysis software, and created a real-time network for pollinator monitoring.","position":""},{"image":{"src":"/media/bfxdu2jb/alex-1.jpg?width=1000&height=1000&format=webp&v=1db9d9d5548eaf0","alt":"Alex(1)"},"name":"Alex Obadia","text":"Alex is an entrepreneur, researcher, and early-stage investor exploring the frontiers of quantum cryptography. He co-founded Flashbots, a unicorn R&D organisation working to preserve the decentralisation and permissionlessness of blockchain systems. Flashbots’ R&D sparked the 'MEV' industry and its software has helped generate nearly £1.7bn.","position":""}],"title":"","text":""},{"type":"quick-link-anchor","anchorName":"roundtablevideo"},{"type":"media-text","mediaRight":true,"title":"Programme Director cohort two in conversation with Pippy James","text":"Before joining us, our new PDs sat down with Chief Product Officer, Pippy James, to discuss the impact they want to make, why the UK is the place to drive it, and more.
","backgroundColour":null,"link":null,"mediaType":"video","video":{"provider":"vimeo","id":"https://vimeo.com/1088461885","configuration":{"autoplay":false,"loop":false,"controls":true,"mute":false},"poster":null,"customCursor":null},"secondaryImage":null,"mediaSecondMobile":false,"caption":"","fullWidth":false,"mediaVertical":false},{"type":"standout-copy","title":"Emerging opportunity spaces","text":"Our second cohort has joined with early ideas of what they will explore at ARIA.
\nThey now begin an intensive, collaborative discovery process — refining these early ideas into the next set of opportunity spaces.
\nThe goal: to push ARIA's work into entirely new scientific domains, where breakthroughs could catalyse massive economic growth and spawn entirely new industries.
","link":{"isActive":false,"text":"Explore their emerging areas","href":"/emerging-areas","title":""},"color":null,"isWhiteText":false,"fullWidth":false},{"type":"spacer-comp","cssSizeClass":"small","height":0},{"type":"quick-link-anchor","anchorName":"firstcohort"},{"type":"team-cards","items":[{"image":{"src":"/media/xavhojd2/gemma-pd-1.jpg?width=1000&height=1000&format=webp&v=1db3acba8819bc0","alt":"Gemma PD 1"},"name":"Gemma Bale","text":"Gemma is a biomedical physicist. Currently an Assistant Professor of Medical Therapeutics + Head of the Neuro Optics Lab at the University of Cambridge, her work focuses on developing non-invasive brain monitoring in real-world environments where traditional brain monitoring isn’t usually possible.","position":""},{"image":{"src":"/media/nkfhgmi0/suraj-pd-1.jpg?width=1000&height=1000&format=webp&v=1db3acc1503c6b0","alt":"Suraj PD 1"},"name":"Suraj Bramhavar","text":"Suraj is an electrical engineer. His work focuses on how we can redefine the way computers process information to build dramatically more efficient computers. Suraj joined ARIA from Sync Computing, where he was co-founder and CTO, which optimises the use of modern cloud computing resources. ","position":""},{"image":{"src":"/media/4xuaytke/davidad-pd-1.jpg?width=1000&height=1000&format=webp&v=1db3acb9411d3d0","alt":"Davidad PD 1"},"name":"David 'davidad' Dalrymple","text":"davidad is a software engineer with a multidisciplinary background. He’s spent five years formulating a vision for how mathematical approaches could guarantee reliable and trustworthy AI. davidad co-invented the top-40 cryptocurrency Filecoin.","position":""}],"title":"Meet the first cohort","text":"Our first cohort of PDs joined in October 2023. Since then, they've launched seven programmes and funded hundreds of research teams across the UK and beyond – from enabling the first clinical trial of a next-gen brain-computer interface, in collaboration with the NHS, to facilitating the launch of new climate non-profits in the UK.
"},{"type":"team-cards","items":[{"image":{"src":"/media/k5imdc5b/angie-pd-7.png?width=1000&height=1000&format=webp&v=1db30eeca7f9470","alt":"Angie PD 7"},"name":"Angie Burnett","text":"Angie is a plant biologist and has spent the last decade focusing on understanding the power of plants to solve some of our most pressing challenges such as food insecurity, climate change and environmental degradation. Previously, Angie was a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge.","position":""},{"image":{"src":"/media/snjp0y1a/jenny-pd-1-1.jpg?width=1000&height=1000&format=webp&v=1db3acb9d572df0","alt":"Jenny PD 1 (1)"},"name":"Jenny Read","text":"Jenny is a visual neuroscientist, previously trained in theoretical astrophysics. Her work focuses on how we can build smarter bodies for robots through new modes of sensing, transmission of sensory information, and actuation through hardware advances. ","position":""},{"image":{"src":"/media/ytgbpnt3/mark-pd-1.jpg?width=1000&height=1000&format=webp&v=1db3acbf6d11030","alt":"Mark PD 1"},"name":"Mark Symes","text":"Mark is an electrochemist, with a 15-year career developing sustainable fuels in the drive towards net zero. He joined ARIA from the University of Glasgow, where he is Professor of Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Technology.","position":""}],"title":"","text":""},{"type":"team-cards","items":[{"image":{"src":"/media/1r1nq1a0/sarah-pd-1.jpg?width=1000&height=1000&format=webp&v=1db3acbb8f7a0d0","alt":"Sarah PD 1"},"name":"Sarah Bohndiek","text":"Sarah is a biomedical physicist – currently a Professor of Biomedical Physics at the University of Cambridge, she is jointly appointed in the Department of Physics and the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. ","position":""},{"image":{"src":"/media/iwgjn2ac/jacques-carolan.jpg?width=1000&height=1000&format=webp&v=1db4a567a9946f0","alt":"Jacques Carolan"},"name":"Jacques Carolan","text":"Jacques is an applied physicist and neuroscientist. He spent a decade building quantum computing technologies before pivoting into systems neuroscience where he developed optical technologies to understand living brains. Before ARIA, Jacques was a BBSRC Discovery Fellow at University College London.","position":""}],"title":"","text":""},{"type":"standout-copy","title":"Live opportunity spaces","text":"From thermodynamic computing to programmable plants, so far our Programme Directors have defined eight opportunity spaces — and are now funding researchers across disciplines and institutions to bring them to life.
","link":{"isActive":false,"text":"Discover more ","href":"/opportunity-spaces","title":"about our live opportunity spaces"},"color":null,"isWhiteText":false,"fullWidth":false},{"type":"standout-copy","title":"Sign up for updates","text":"Keep up-to-date on the progress of our existing and emerging opportunity spaces.
","link":{"isActive":false,"text":"Sign up ","href":"/sign-up-for-updates","title":"for updates on how our existing and emerging opportunities are progressing"},"color":"99e0d9","isWhiteText":false,"fullWidth":false},{"type":"spacer-comp","cssSizeClass":"small","height":0},{"type":"double-card","items":[{"title":"How we work","text":"We seek out exceptional scientists and engineers with the curiosity to explore uncharted territory, then empower them with the resources and autonomy to turn their ideas into reality. 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