One hundred and one research and innovation leaders of the future have received significant government support to tackle major challenges ranging from cancer treatment to space travel and reducing harmful vehicle emissions.
Science Minister Amanda Solloway today, 15 October 2020, announced the latest next wave of individuals to receive Future Leaders Fellowships through UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) flagship scheme.
The fellows, based at UK universities and businesses, will be supported through an investment of £109 million.
World-class research and innovation leaders
The Future Leaders Fellowships scheme is designed to establish the careers of world-class research and innovation leaders across the UK.
The new fellows include:
- Dr George Gordon (University of Nottingham) aims to develop advanced endoscopes – long thin tubes capable of capturing images through optical fibres – that will help to identify cancers that occur deep within the body and can be difficult to detect and treat, such as pancreatic and ovarian cancer
- Dr Zoe Tolkien (Advanced Furnace Technology) aims to develop new, advanced graphite coated parts for use in the silicon carbide semiconductor market, which is critical to a range of new clean technologies, from electric cars to solar and wind power generators
- Dr Tobias Hermann (University of Oxford) aims to ensure that future spacecraft are able to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere safely despite being exposed to extreme heat, removing barriers to future space travel
- Dr Yoselin Benitez-Alfonso (University of Leeds) is working to make UK crops resistant to viruses and the impacts of climate change, such as depleted soils with little water or nutrients, helping to ensure the UK’s food supply remains strong during severe weather events. She will also determine how unused plant resources can be repurposed to create new biomaterials, such as bioplastics, which could be used as sustainable alternatives to plastics in manufacturing and packaging
- Dr Alison Garden (Queen’s University Belfast) will work with the arts and cultural sector across Ireland to produce an interdisciplinary social and cultural history of mixed marriage, or love across the divide, in modern Ireland. She will capture and disseminate her findings through theatre productions, films, exhibitions and engagement with community groups
- Dr Mauro Vallati (University of Huddersfield) aims to create an artificial intelligence-driven, autonomous traffic management system that will be able to use vast quantities of data to reduce traffic congestion – while monitoring the environmental impact of travel, such as vehicle emissions. The system will be designed to effectively manage congestion in specific areas by altering existing traffic light sequences and to communicate with vehicles to suggest that they drop speed, change routes to avoid congested areas or switch to electric power.
Building back better
Announcing the successful fellows at today’s Future Leaders Fellowships conference, Science Minister Amanda Solloway said:
We are committed to building back better through research and innovation, and supporting our science superstars in every corner of the UK.
By backing these inspirational future leaders fellows, we will ensure that their brilliant ideas can be transferred straight from the lab into vital everyday products and services that will help to change all our lives for the better.
UKRI Chief Executive, Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, said:
Future Leaders Fellowships provide researchers and innovators with freedom and support to drive forward transformative new ideas and the opportunity to learn from peers right across the country.
The fellows announced today illustrate how the UK continues to support and attract talented researchers and innovators across every discipline to our universities and businesses, with the potential to deliver change that can be felt across society and the economy.
Links across sectors and disciplines
UKRI’s initiative aims to support the creation of a new cohort of research and innovation leaders who will have links across different sectors and disciplines. Awardees will each receive between £400,000 and £1.5 million over an initial four years.
The grant supports challenging and novel projects, and the development of the fellow’s career. The funding can also be used to support team members, their development, and pay for equipment and other needs.
UKRI is committed to increasing diversity on its fellowship programmes. It is today publishing diversity data on application and award rates for the Future Leaders Fellowships.
Further information
The UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships scheme will recognise up to 550 individuals with a total investment of £900 million committed over three years:
- the scheme helps universities and businesses in the UK recruit, develop and retain the world’s best researchers and innovators, regardless of their background
- researchers can apply for substantial long-term funding to support their research or innovation and develop their careers Each fellowship will last four to seven years
- fellows from the first three rounds will be meeting for a digital conference on 14, 15 and 16 October, and may be made available for interview.
Round four fellows
| Name | Organisation |
|---|---|
| Dr Carolyn Atkins | STFC – Laboratories |
| Dr John Baison | RAGT Seeds Ltd |
| Mr Edward Ball | The University of Sheffield |
| Mr Josh Barras | The Welding Institute |
| Dr Martin Bauer | Durham University |
| Dr Dayne Beccano-Kelly | Cardiff University |
| Dr Robert Bell | C-Tech Innovation Ltd |
| Dr Yoselin Benitez-Alfonso | University of Leeds |
| Dr Eloisa Bentivegna | IBM United Kingdom Limited |
| Dr Megan Bergkessel | University of Dundee |
| Dr Joanna Birch | University of Glasgow |
| Dr Matthew Birket | The University of Manchester |
| Dr James Nicholas Blaza | University of York |
| Dr Greg Brittles | Tokamak Energy Ltd |
| Dr David Bryant | University of Glasgow |
| Dr Amaya Bustinduy | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine |
| Dr Jose Camacho Collados | Cardiff University |
| Dr Valentina Cambiano | University College London |
| Dr Eleanor Carter | University of Oxford |
| Dr Stephen Clement | Edgetic |
| Dr Thomas Collett | Lancaster University |
| Dr Charles-Antoine Collins-Fekete | University College London |
| Dr Gwyneth Davies | University College London |
| Dr Aoife Doyle | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine |
| Dr Patrick Dunne | Imperial College London |
| Dr Luisa Enria | University of Bath |
| Dr Azadeh Fattahi | Liverpool John Moores University |
| Dr Adam Fletcher | University of Glasgow |
| Dr Alexander Forse | University of Cambridge |
| Dr Maria Fragiadaki | The University of Sheffield |
| Dr Jennifer Garden | The University of Edinburgh |
| Dr Alison Garden | Queen’s University of Belfast |
| Dr George Gordon | University of Nottingham |
| Dr Felicia Gottmann | Northumbria University |
| Dr Hannah Griffiths | University of Bristol |
| Dr Andrew Guise | King’s College London |
| Dr Lauren V Hadley | University of Nottingham |
| Dr Sarah Hall | The University of Manchester |
| Dr Xinjiang Hao | Liberty House Group (UK) |
| Dr Tobias Hermann | University of Oxford |
| Dr Jane Hirst | University of Oxford |
| Dr Romina Istratii | SOAS University of London |
| Dr Lindsay Jaacks | The University of Edinburgh |
| Dr Ana Belen Jorge Sobrido | Queen Mary University of London |
| Dr Izabela Jurewicz | Advanced Material Development |
| Dr Zubin Kanga | Royal Holloway, University of London |
| Dr Siddhartha Kar | University of Bristol |
| Dr Anthony Khawaja | University College London |
| Dr Johannes Kromdijk | University of Cambridge |
| Dr Adriano Lameira | The University of Warwick |
| Dr Sam Lindley | The University of Edinburgh |
| Dr Andrew Lloyd | Aberystwyth University |
| Dr Rianne Lord | University of East Anglia |
| Dr Sarah Louise Lovelock | The University of Manchester |
| Dr Marjorie Lundgren | Lancaster University |
| Dr Jennifer MacRitchie | The University of Sheffield |
| Dr Filipe Marques Ferreira | University College London |
| Dr Nathan Mayne | University of Exeter |
| Dr Erin McFee | London School of Economics and Political Science |
| Dr Raymond McQuaid | Queen’s University of Belfast |
| Dr Giacomo Melis | University of Stirling |
| Dr Zoë Mildon | University of Plymouth |
| Dr Simon Mitchell | Brighton and Sussex Medical School |
| Dr Leah Morabito | Durham University |
| Dr Hannah Murphy | King’s College London |
| Dr Adrianna Murphy | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine |
| Dr Daragh Murray | University of Essex |
| Dr Ioanna Mylonaki | Sixfold Bioscience Ltd |
| Dr Martha Newson | University of Kent |
| Dr Rachel Newton | University of Reading |
| Dr Sahil Nijhawan | Zoological Society London Institute of Zoology |
| Dr Cengiz Oztireli | University of Cambridge |
| Dr Miriam Pena-Alvarez | The University of Edinburgh |
| Dr Michelle Pentecost | King’s College London |
| Dr Simon Poland | King’s College London |
| Dr Mohsen Rahmani | Nottingham Trent University |
| Dr Marc Reid | University of Strathclyde |
| Dr Alessandro Rossi | University of Strathclyde |
| Dr Oyuna Rybdylova | University of Brighton |
| Dr Maria Secrier | University College London |
| Dr Ellie Sherrard-Smith | Imperial College London |
| Dr Anastasia Shesterinina | The University of Sheffield |
| Dr Joshua Silverstone | University of Bristol |
| Dr Brooke Simmons | Lancaster University |
| Dr Anya Skatova | University of Bristol |
| Dr Jonathan Skelton | The University of Manchester |
| Dr Nathan Skene | Imperial College London |
| Dr Petr Slovak | King’s College London |
| Dr Fabian Spill | University of Birmingham |
| Dr Jonathan Stewart | CATAGEN Limited |
| Dr Carolin Struller | Bobst Manchester Ltd |
| Dr Gavin Sullivan | University of Kent |
| Dr Peter Taylor | Newcastle University |
| Dr Zoe Tolkien | Advanced Furnace Technology Ltd |
| Dr Mauro Vallati | University of Huddersfield |
| Dr Curt von Keyserlingk | University of Birmingham |
| Dr Matthew Wallace | University of East Anglia |
| Dr Catherine Walsh | University of Leeds |
| Dr Xinyan Wang | Brunel University London |
| Dr Bodo Winter | University of Birmingham |
| Dr Laura Young | Newcastle University |