How we are governed
The UK Young Academy is governed by its members with the support of the seven senior partner academies.
Our newly appointed Executive Group, elected by the membership, began their two-year term on 1 October 2024. This leadership team will guide the organisation’s development, shaping its direction and supporting key initiatives that address critical societal challenges.
Our structure
The UK Young Academy is a not for profit organisation, established under the auspices of the Royal Society, a UK registered charity, in partnership with the six other senior national academies, operating across the UK and Ireland.
Launched in June 2022, the initial structure sees the Young Academy currently operating under the Royal Society in the first instance, and the UK Young Academy’s Governance Committee report to the Royal Society Council on its progress.
67 members were selected to form the initial membership cohort in January 2023. We now have 99 members in total.
An Executive Group, comprising elected representatives of the membership, forms the leadership team and is responsible for working with the members to develop the Young Academy’s strategy and initial work plan.
Members are selected through a competitive application process by a selection committee comprising members from the Young Academy, Fellows and Members from the seven partner academies and early-career and professional sector representatives covering different areas of knowledge, expertise and geography.
The UK Young Academy is funded by a grant to the Royal Society from the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
Executive Group
The Executive Group of the UK Young Academy is comprised of peer-elected representatives from the membership. Following the completion of the Interim Executive Group’s term, seven new members have been appointed to serve a two-year term, beginning on 1 October 2024. This leadership group will guide the organisation’s development in its early years, shaping its direction and supporting initiatives that address critical societal challenges, both in the UK and beyond.
JahangirAlom
AlistairMcConnell
EdPyzer-Knapp
DenisNewman-Griffis
SophieMeekings
LindaOyama
SandeepSandhu
AmyVincent
CatarinaVicente
Membership Selection Committee
Jahangir Alom
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Alistair McConnell
Membership Selection Committee
Alistair McConnell
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Ed Pyzer-Knapp
Membership Selection Committee
Ed Pyzer-Knapp
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Denis Newman-Griffis
Membership Selection Committee
Denis Newman-Griffis
Denis Newman-Griffis (they/them) is an interdisciplinary researcher and educator working at the intersection of responsible and ethical artificial intelligence (AI), health, and disability. Their work is breaking new ground in the principles, practices, and skills underpinning responsible data science and AI, combining technical and SHAPE approaches to learn how we can use AI effectively and ethically as part of healthcare and research.
Denis is an international leader in AI and disability, and has developed significant innovations in natural language processing methods for analysing information about the lived experience of disability, as well as new critical approaches to examine ethical AI and data design through a disability lens. Denis’ work on AI and disability was recognised with the American Medical Informatics Association Doctoral Dissertation Award in 2021. They are also leading research projects on practical approaches to Responsible AI in organisations, working with non-academic partners across public and private sectors and civil society.
Denis is a Lecturer in Data Science at the University of Sheffield’s Information School and a Research Fellow of the Research on Research Institute, and a former Visiting Fellow of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. They hold a BA from Carleton College, a PhD from Ohio State University, and completed a National Library of Medicine postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh.
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Sophie Meekings
Membership Selection Committee
Sophie Meekings
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Linda Oyama
Membership Selection Committee
Linda Oyama
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Sandeep Sandhu
Membership Selection Committee
Sandeep Sandhu
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Amy Vincent
Membership Selection Committee
Amy Vincent
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Catarina Vicente
Membership Selection Committee
Catarina Vicente
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Jahangir Alom
Governance Committee
For its establishment, the UK Young Academy’s Governance Committee is responsible for overseeing the plan to set up the UK Young Academy, budget allocations and its operational requirements. Members include representatives from the Royal Society’s Council and staff, and the partner academies.
Michael Ashfold (Chair)
Doreen Cantrell
Claire Connolly
Lesley Miles
Simon Swain
Veronica van Heyningen
Membership Selection Committee
The Membership Selection Committee is comprised of members from the Young Academy, Fellows and Members from the seven partner academies and early-career and professional sector representatives covering different areas of knowledge, expertise and geography. Their role is to oversee the application process and asses possible candidates for membership.
Senior Partner Academies
The seven senior partner academies each work in their own ways to engage people at an early stage of their careers across the UK and Ireland, but there was a gap for a single UK-wide organisation to do this independently. In the first initiative of this scale, the seven partner academies are working together to establish a Young Academy covering all areas of the UK.
While the UK Young Academy operates independently, it is overseen by the Governance Committee and continues to work closely with the partner academies on relevant programmes of work where appropriate.
Other Young Academies
We are part of a growing global network of Young Academies who share knowledge, support one another, and work on international projects. There are now over 60 other national young academies around the world and a further eight transnational young academies as part of the global Young Academies initiative. Within the UK, the Young Academy of Scotland was established by the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2011, while the Royal Irish Academy launched the Young Academy Ireland in 2022. Many early-career researchers and professionals from the UK have also been members of the European Young Academy and the Global Young Academy.
Learn more about the activities of other Young Academies from their members.
Need more help or have further questions?
Call us on : + 44 207 451 2500
(Lines open Mon-Fri, 9:00 – 17:00
Excludes bank holidays)
Email us: enquiries@ukyoungacademy.org
You can also write to us at this postal address:
UK Young Academy, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG
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