Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship and Wolfson Visiting Fellowship 2025 awardees announced

The Royal Society and the Wolfson Foundation have announced the first round of outstanding scientists receiving Royal Society Wolfson Fellowships and Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellowships in 2025.

The awards provide funding for five-year fellowships and 12-month sabbaticals that enable UK universities and not-for-profit research institutions to attract and retain outstanding overseas senior research scientists. Both Fellowships are generously supported by the Wolfson Foundation, and Royal Society funds are provided through its grant from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Dame Julie Maxton, Executive Director of the Royal Society, said: “It is my pleasure to announce the first recipients of the Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship schemes for 2025, in partnership with the Wolfson Foundation.

“Science, and society at large, thrive on the exchange of new ideas and ways of thinking. Now, more than ever, it is important we continue to face outwards. By supporting these innovative research leaders, we can bring new approaches to scientific questions and global challenges facing our health and environment, for the benefit of all.”

Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation, said: “We are delighted to welcome the latest cohort of Royal Society Wolfson Fellows and support such exciting research in the years ahead. International collaboration has always been a core strength of the UK’s research ecosystem. That’s more true – and more important – today than ever.”

The nine first round awardees will begin their work from May 2025, with their expertise ranging from mitochondrial disease to microbial ecosystems. They will take up their posts across the UK including Loughborough University, the University of Leeds and the University of Exeter.

The full list of awardees

Royal Society Wolfson Fellowships

The Royal Society Wolfson Fellowships offer £300,000 of funds to support the awardees’ UK research programme and team.

Dr Peter Bieling
Mechanistic Principles of Cell Morphogenesis
King’s College London

Dr Milos Filipovic
Unravelling the Role of Thiol Modifications in Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation
University of Glasgow

Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellowships

The Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellowships offer £125,000 to enable international researchers to undertake a flexible sabbatical period at a UK university or research institution to build and develop international collaborations and networks.

Professor José Alves
Statistical Prediction and Smooth Transition in Partially Hyperbolic Dynamical Systems
Loughborough University

Professor Aled Edwards
Chemical probes to study microbial ecosystems
University College London

Professor Hanns Lochmüller
Mitochondrial pathology in neuromuscular transmission
University of Cambridge

Dr Simon Rit
Motion-compensated CT reconstruction for cone-beam, spectral and ion imaging
University College London

Professor Eric Rowell
Anyons, Braids and Categories
University of Leeds

Professor Alexander Vladimirsky
Optimality, risk-awareness, and high-dimensional challenges in stochastic switching systems and mean field games
Imperial College London