UK Young Academy appoints 32 new members

Thirty-two emerging leaders from across the UK have been selected as the newest members of the UK Young Academy, a network for early career researchers and professionals established to help tackle local and global issues and promote meaningful change.

From policy to engineering, education, archaeology and the creative industries, the new cohort of members come from a wide range of sectors and have each made significant contributions to their field.

The UK Young Academy will provide them with a forum to exchange ideas, share expertise and participate in local and global policy discussions with the aim of tackling challenges based on areas that matter to them.

Speaking on behalf of the UK Young Academy executive group, Alistair McConnell, assistant professor in computer science at Heriot-Watt University, said: “We are delighted to welcome our new members to the UK Young Academy. It is such an exciting time to join the ranks. They will be able to help develop the young academy’s ambitions across areas they are passionate about, be it biodiversity loss, climate change or social inequality.

“We have just kicked off planning our major projects for the year ahead, so the new members will be able to get their teeth stuck in from the get-go. I look forward to meeting them, being inspired by their diversity of ideas, and working alongside them to create positive change for the benefit of all.”

Work programmes and initiatives led by members are already underway, with the aim to address the young academy’s strategic priorities set out in its first year. The first of the young academy’s major projects, to launch later this year, will be a programme to support researchers and professionals at risk, both in the UK and globally.

The new members take up their posts from 19 March 2024, and membership runs for five years.

Full list of members (in alphabetical order by surname):

William Allen
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Oxford and Nuffield College

Joseph Bentley
Managing Director
ACT Medical

Sifeng Bi
Lecturer (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering)
University of Strathclyde

Precious Chatterje-Doody
Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Studies
The Open University

Jennifer Clarke
Operations Leader for the Chief Scientist Directorate
NPL Management Limited

Daniele Cotton
Doctoral Research Fellow (Bioengineering) and Training Clinician (Oncology)
University of Oxford

Arthur Dudney
Director of Cultural Programmes
Arcadia

Steven Egan
Program Associate for Washington Ireland Program Academy and Forum programs
Washington Ireland Program

Sophie Frost
Lecturer in Creative Leadership
University of Creative Arts

Nikita Hari
Head of Teaching and Design Support Group, Department of Engineering
University of Oxford

Henry Ibitolu
PhD Researcher (Future Cities Engineering)
The University of Edinburgh/University of Glasgow

Andrew Jupp
Assistant Professor in Main-Group Chemistry
University of Birmingham

Hiba Khan
Chief Revenue Officer
Medics.Academy

Antonia Liguori
Professor of Participatory Storytelling and Public Policy
Teesside University, School of Social Sciences, Humanities & Law

Alexander Lloyd
Research Fellow (in Clinical, Education and Health Psychology)
University College London

Emily Lowthian
Lecturer in Education
Swansea University

Catherine Manning
Lecturer in Psychology
University of Reading

Síle Molloy
Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology
St George's, University of London

Imrose Muhit
Lecturer in Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering
Teesside University

Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles
Senior Scientist
National Physical Laboratory

Eóin Parkinson
Lecturer in Biological Archaeology
University College Cork & Queen's University Belfast

Marloes Peeters
Professor in Engineering Biology
University of Manchester

William Reynolds
Senior Machine Learning Engineer
PhysicsX

Sandeep Sandhu
Head of Stakeholder Relationships
Innovate UK Business Connect

Dhruti Shah
Creative Lead
Have You Thought About

Timor Sharan
Senior Research Associate
Centre on Armed Groups

Clare Siviter-Groschwald
Associate Professor in French Theatre
University of Bristol

Priyanka Surana
Senior Scientific Manager
Wellcome Sanger Institute

Rebecca Tapscott
Lecturer (Politics Department)
University of York

Marc Tilley
Humanitarian Affairs Adviser
Freelance / Global Centre for Climate Mobility

Rachel Tough
Doctoral Researcher (School of Global Development)
University of East Anglia

Kevin Woollard
Senior Director
AstraZeneca