Exceptional scientists elected as Fellows of the Royal Society

Over 90 outstanding researchers from across the world have this year been elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences.

This year’s cohort include trailblazers across a wide range of fields, from artificial intelligence and electron microscopy to global health and neuroscience. Among them are a public health expert working to prevent HIV in young women, a Nobel Prize winner whose team created the transformative AI model, AlphaFold, an immunologist whose work has led to new insights into how the immune system can distinguish between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ microbes, and the first Sudanese scientist to be elected to the Fellowship.

Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society, said:

“It is with great pleasure that I welcome the latest cohort of outstanding researchers into the Fellowship of the Royal Society.

“Their achievements represent the very best of scientific endeavour, from basic discovery to research with real-world impact across health, technology and policy. From tackling global health challenges to reimagining what AI can do for humanity, their work is a testament to the power of curiosity-driven research and innovation.

“The strength of the Fellowship lies not only in individual excellence, but in the diversity of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences each new member brings. This cohort represents the truly global nature of modern science and the importance of collaboration in driving scientific breakthroughs.”

The Fellows and Foreign Members join the ranks of Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Lise Meitner, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and Dorothy Hodgkin.  

Statistics about this year’s intake of Fellows:

• 25% of this year’s intake of Fellows, Foreign Members and Honorary Fellows are women
• New Fellows have been elected from more than 20 UK institutions, including The University of Hull, the National Physical Laboratory, University of Dundee and Google DeepMind
• They have been elected from countries including, South Africa, China, Switzerland, Singapore and Malaysia

The full list of the newly elected Fellows of the Royal Society is, in alphabetical order:

Fellowship

Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim FRS
Associate Scientific Director, Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), University of KwaZulu-Natal & Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

Professor Neil Alford MBE FREng FRS
Professor of Physical Electronics and Thin Film Materials, Department of Materials, Imperial College London

Professor Deborah Ashby OBE FMedSci FRS
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London

Professor Bernard P. Binks FRS
Emeritus Professor of Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Hull

Professor Philip Boyd FRS
Professor Marine Biogeochemistry, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, Australia

Dr John Briggs FRS
Director, Department of Cell and Virus Structure, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Germany

Dr Morris Brown FMedSci FRS
Professor of Endocrine Hypertension, Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Precision Medicine, Queen Mary University London

Professor Edward Bullmore FMedSci FRS
Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge

Professor Matteo Carandini FRS
GlaxoSmithKline / Fight for Sight Professor of Visual Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London

Professor Xiaodong Chen FRS
Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Professor Alessio Ciulli FRS
Professor of Chemical Structural Biology and Director of Centre for Targeted Protein Degradation, School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee

Professor Jonathan Clayden FRS
Professor of Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol

Professor Jonathan Coleman FRS
Erasmus Smith's Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Professor Iain Couzin FRS
Director, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour and Professor, University of Konstanz, Germany

Professor Gabor Csanyi FRS
Professor of Molecular Modelling, Engineering Laboratory, University of Cambridge

Professor Judith Driscoll FREng FRS
Professor of Materials Science, Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge

Professor Marie Edmonds FRS
Head of Department and Professor of Volcanology and Petrology, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge

Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein Kt CBE FREng FRS
President, City St George's, University of London

Professor Kevin Foster FRS
Chair of Microbiology, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford

Professor Mike Giles FRS
Professor of Numerical Analysis, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford

Professor Sue Grimmond FRS
Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading

Professor Jim Hall FREng FRS
Professor of Climate and Environmental Risks, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford

Professor Graham Hatfull FRS
Eberly Family Professor of Biotechnology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, USA

Professor Julian Hibberd FRS
Head of Department, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge and Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Professor Jane Hill OBE FRS
Associate Dean for Research, Faculty of Sciences & Department of Biology, University of York

Professor Neil Hunter FRS
Professor, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Davis, USA and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Professor Barbara Imperiali FRS
Professor of Biology and Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC FRS
Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Australian National University and President, Australian Academy of Science

Dr Leo James FRS
Group Leader, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Dr Gregory Jefferis FRS
Joint Head, Neurobiology Division, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Director of Research, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge

Professor Sajeev John OC FRS
University Professor, Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Canada

Dr John Jumper FRS
Distinguished Scientist, Google DeepMind

Professor Baljit Khakh FRS
Eleanor I. Leslie Chair in Neuroscience, Professor of Physiology and Neurobiology, Department of Physiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Professor John King FRS
Professor of Theoretical Mechanics, School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham

Professor Philipp Kukura FRS
Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery, University of Oxford

Professor William Laurance FRS
Distinguished Research Professor & Director, Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Australia

Professor Cristina Lazzeroni FRS
Professor of Particle Physics, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham

Professor Mark Lewis FRS
Professor and Gilbert and Betty Kennedy Chair in Mathematical Biology, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, and Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Canada

Professor Melissa H. Little AC FRS
CEO, Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW), Denmark and Chief Scientist at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Australia

Professor Wenbo Ma FRS
Senior Group Leader, The Sainsbury Laboratory

Professor Graham Machin FREng FRS
NPL Senior Fellow, National Physical Laboratory, Honorary Professor Universities of Glasgow and Birmingham and Visiting Professor University of Strathclyde

Professor Jennifer McElwain FRS
1711 Chair of Botany, School of Natural Sciences, Discipline of Botany, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Professor Jason Miller FRS
Professor, Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, University of Cambridge

Dr Charles Mullighan FRS
Member and Divisional Director for Research, Department of Pathology; Senior Deputy Director, Comprehensive Cancer Center; Director, Center of Excellence for Leukemia Studies; and William E. Evans Endowed Chair, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, USA

Professor Donal O'Carroll FRS
Chair of Stem Cell Biology, Centre for Cell Biology and Centre for Regenerative Medicine, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh

Professor Prakash Panangaden FRS
Professor Emeritus, School of Computer Science, McGill University, Canada

Professor Andrew Pitts FRS
Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Computer Science, Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge

Professor Philip Poole FRS
Professor of Plant Microbiology, Molecular Plant Sciences Section, Department of Biology, University of Oxford

Professor Hugh Possingham FRS
Research Professor, School of The Environment, University of Queensland, Australia

Professor David Pyle FRS
Professor of Earth Sciences, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford

Professor Graham Reed FREng FRS
Director, Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton

Professor Daniel Rueckert FMedSci FREng FRS
Alexander von Humboldt Professor for AI in Medicine and Healthcare, Technical University Munich, Germany and Professor of Visual Information Processing, Imperial College London

Professor Stuart Russell OBE FRS
Professor of Computer Science and Smith-Zadeh Professor in Engineering, University of California, Berkeley and Honorary Fellow, Wadham College, Oxford

Dr Ravigadevi Sambanthamurthi FRS
Scientific Consultant, Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Malaysia

Dr Andrew Singleton FRS
Co-Lead, Global Parkinson's Genetics Program, USA

Professor Nigel Smith FRS
Executive Director and CEO, TRIUMF

Professor Shivaji Sondhi FRS
Wykeham Professor of Theoretical Physics, Tencent Professor of Physics and Leverhulme Professor, Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford

Professor Claire Spottiswoode FRS
Pola Pasvolsky Chair in Conservation Biology, FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, South Africa and Visiting Research Associate, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge

Professor Nial Tanvir FRS
Professor of Astronomy, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester

Dr Mallikarjun Tatipamula FRS
Chief Technology Officer, Ericsson Silicon Valley, USA

Dr Swee Lay Thein FRS
Senior Investigator and Chief, Sickle Cell Branch, National Institutes of Health, USA

Professor Arkady Tseytlin FRS
Professor of Theoretical Physics, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London

Professor Miltos Tsiantis FRS
Director, Department of Comparative Development and Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Germany

Professor Jacob Tsimerman FRS
Professor, Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto, Canada

Professor Reidun Twarock FRS
Professor of Mathematical and Computational Virology, University of York

Professor Joanne P. Webster FMedSci FRS
Chair in Parasitic Diseases and Director London Centre for Neglected Tropical Disease Research, Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College and Professor of Infectious Diseases, Imperial College London

Professor Tien Y. Wong FRS
Senior Vice-Chancellor, Tsinghua Medicine and Vice-Provost, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Senior Advisor, SingHealth, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore

Dr Tony Wood FMedSci FRS
Chief Scientific Officer and President of R&D, GSK

Professor Dek Woolfson FRS
Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Chemistry and School of Biochemistry, University of Bristol

Dr Marta Zlatic FRS
Programme Leader, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Director of Research, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge and Fellow, Trinity College, University of Cambridge
 

Honorary Fellowship

Baroness Manningham-Buller LG DCB FMedSci FRS
Cross-Bench Life Peer and Chair of Select Committee on Society Mobility, House of Lords, Ambassador for Halo and former Director General, MI5

Foreign Membership

Professor Asifa Akhtar FRS
Director, Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics and Vice-President, Biology and Medicine Section of the Max Planck Society, Germany

Professor Yasmine Belkaid FRS
President, Institut Pasteur, France

Professor Robert E. Black FRS
Professor and Director, Institute for International Programs, Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Professor Antje Boetius FRS
President, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, USA, Professor of Geomicrobiology, University of Bremen, Germany and Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, Germany

Professor Zhijian 'James' Chen FRS
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Professor, Department of Molecular Biology; Director, Inflammation Research Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, USA

Professor Robbert Dijkgraaf FRS
Distinguished University Professor, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Professor Claudia Felser FRS
Director, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Germany

Professor Bin Han FRS
Director, Centre for Excellence in Plant Molecular Sciences (Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology), Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Professor Mohamed Hassan FRS
President, Sudanese National Academy of Sciences

Professor Sanwen Huang FRS
President, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, China and Professor, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China

Professor Claude Jaupart FRS
Professor (Emeritus), Université Paris-Cité and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France and Member of the French Academy of Science

Professor Ursula Keller FRS
Professor, Head of Research, Physics and Electrical Engineering Department, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Professor Dr Ulman Lindenberger FRS
Director, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Germany

Professor Detlef Lohse FRS
Chair of Physics of Fluids, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, Netherlands and Max-Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, Germany

Professor Eiichi Nakamura FRS
University Professor, Department of Chemistry, the University of Tokyo, Japan and Lecture Professor, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, China

Professor Eva Nogales FRS
Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology, Molecular and Cell Biology Department, UC Berkeley, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Senior Faculty Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, USA

Professor Stephen Pacala FRS
Frederick D. Petrie Professor Emeritus, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, USA

Professor Judea Pearl FRS
Chancellor's Professor of Computer Science and Statistics, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Professor Steve Quake FRS
Lee Otterson Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics, Stanford University, and Chief Science Advisor, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, USA

Professor John Rogers FRS
Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, USA

Professor Joshua Sanes FRS
Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Founding Director, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, USA

Professor Terrence Sejnowski FRS
Francis Crick Chair, Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology, University of Califorma, San Diego, USA

Professor Yifang Wang FRS
Researcher, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Professor Xueming Yang FRS
Distinguished Research Fellow, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences