Remote All Members' Meeting

Sophie Meekings is a neuroscientist whose work focuses on understanding speech production in typical speakers and people with communication disabilities (like stuttering). Studying voices was an unusual choice, as Sophie is profoundly deaf – but she believes her lived experience of communication disability makes her a better researcher as she has a deep personal understanding of the complexity of spoken communication and the challenges it can pose for disabled people. Sophie is currently a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of York, with previous work funded by the British Academy and the Economic and Social Research Council. In her spare time, she volunteers for a national outdoor education charity and can teach you how to light a fire, read a map, or whittle a spoon.

Ed Pyzer-Knapp is the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Xyme AI. He is interested in the use of powerful emerging technologies, such as AI and quantum computing, to help to answer some of the biggest challenges of our time. He obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge, and then moved to Harvard University, finally leaving to help start the IBM Research Lab in the UK in 2015. He holds a visiting Professorship at the University of Liverpool, and also an honorary position at the University of Cambridge. Ed is Editor in Chief of the Wiley journal ‘Applied AI Letters’, has authored more than 70 papers and conference proceedings, filed multiple patents, and has authored a textbook on the use of AI for physical science, published by Wiley in 2021.

Amy Fry is the Programme Manager for the UK Young Academy, and has been in the role since 2021, supporting in the planning and launch of the organisation in 2022 and operational running since. She manages the Staff team, and is the main point of contact for the Executive Group, Partner Academies and other stakeholders involved in the initiative. Her background is in public engagement with science and project management, and she has been involved with running science festivals, delivering engagement initiatives such as book prizes and interdisciplinary grant funding as well as managing a range of small and large scale events and trainings. She is passionate about advocating for the voices of early-career individuals and is an avid theatre-goer in her spare time.

Ana Blanco is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Advanced Construction Materials and Methods at Loughborough University. She studied Civil Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, where she completed a PhD on fibre-reinforced cementitious composites. Ana has been a visiting researcher at Delft University of Technology, co-founded a spin-out company in Spain, and joined Loughborough University in 2018. She is a Chartered Engineer and a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institute of Concrete Technology, and Women's Engineering Society. She also serves as an Editor of Construction and Building Materials. Her research focuses on advanced and multifunctional cementitious composites, with particular interests in low-carbon materials, structural dematerialisation, and innovative construction and repair techniques for resilient infrastructure. Recent projects include developing next-generation rail repair technologies with Network Rail, advancing self-healing concrete systems to improve infrastructure durability and resilience, and exploring low-carbon materials and alternative methods of construction.

Andrea Ford is a medical and cultural anthropologist currently working at the Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society in the University of Edinburgh Medical School. She conducts research on childbearing, periods, endometriosis, and FemTech, more broadly investigating how ideas about gender, bodies, knowledge, nature, and technology shape the culture surrounding medicine and reproduction. Her books include 'Near Birth: Contested Values and the Work of Doulas,' (University of California Press), and ‘Hormonal Theory: A Rebellious Glossary’ (Bloomsbury). Her work appears in numerous academic journals and popular outlets. She received her PhD from the University of Chicago, an MA from the University of Ghana, Legon where she was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She has also worked at Stanford University, the FrameWorks Institute, and the UK's NHS. Currently she is working on bridging academic and non-academic spaces for research, ideas, and cultural change.

Saloni Krishnan is a Professor at University College London (UCL), where she leads the UCL N-CoDe Lab. Her research focuses on brain differences in childhood communication disorders, such as developmental language disorder (DLD) or dyslexia. She takes an interdisciplinary research approach, bringing together psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience. Saloni currently holds an Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard Award and a Medical Research Council New Investigator Research Grant. She won the 2021 Neil O’Connor Award from the British Psychological Society and was named a Rising Star by the Association of Psychological Sciences in 2022.

Alistair McConnell is an Associate Professor and Global Head of Computer Science at Heriot-Watt University, whose research primarily focuses on soft robots, human-robot interaction, and healthcare robotics. Alistair is enthusiastic about public engagement and outreach both within the university and all around the country. He leads the Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh Centre for Robotics public engagement activities and works closely with the National Robotarium engagement team. He is driven to take research and work out of the lab and into the real world, often through the entrepreneurial route, where he has experience creating both spinouts and start-ups. During his post-doctoral role, he co-founded the start-up Mask Logic Ltd as a way of addressing the problems of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Denis Newman-Griffis (they/them) is a transdisciplinary leader working at the intersection of academic research and policy to shape responsible AI, AI-enabled research, and the intersection of AI and disability. Their research integrates perspectives from AI and machine learning, critical data studies, and health informatics to understand how AI and research systems can be ethically designed and managed to improve human flourishing. Denis has developed some of the first natural language processing methods for analysing information about the lived experience of disability, and is pioneering methods for examining the AI design process from a critical disability perspective. They are working to develop best practices for responsible AI design and growing the international community around disability informatics. Denis is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Sheffield and AI for Health Lead in the Centre for Machine Intelligence. They received the American Medical Informatics Association's Doctoral Dissertation Award in 2021.

Vanissa Wanick is a Senior Lecturer in Interaction Design at the University of Southampton, as well as a User Experience (UX) Designer, Researcher and Educator, studying how games influence people’s behaviour and decision-making. Vanissa wears different 'hats' as a designer, a mum, an academic, lab convenor, collaborator and an entrepreneur. She has been in the academic field since 2017 but has worked in the design industry since 2006 (mostly in Brazil). Vanissa's main area of work involves many aspects of design education and practice – particularly in the area of games design and Human-computer interaction.

Michael Berthaume is a Reader in the Department of Engineering at King’s College London. Previously at London South Bank University, he was Deputy Head of the Division of Mechanical Engineering and Design, served as treasurer of its LGBTQ+ organisation, and sat on the School of Engineering’s Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) committee. He studied mechanical engineering and anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, before moving to Europe and completing postdoctoral researcher positions in anthropology and bioengineering at the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology and Imperial College London. Mike believes that transdisciplinary research is the future, providing a holistic view of problems and enabling novel solutions. He is working to establish the field of anthroengineering, which combines anthropology and engineering to address questions within and beyond both disciplines. His research focuses on human evolutionary biomechanics, the mechanics of human biological variation, and prosthetics for low- and middle-income countries.

Denis Newman-Griffis (they/them) is a transdisciplinary leader working at the intersection of academic research and policy to shape responsible AI, AI-enabled research, and the intersection of AI and disability. Their research integrates perspectives from AI and machine learning, critical data studies, and health informatics to understand how AI and research systems can be ethically designed and managed to improve human flourishing. Denis has developed some of the first natural language processing methods for analysing information about the lived experience of disability, and is pioneering methods for examining the AI design process from a critical disability perspective. They are working to develop best practices for responsible AI design and growing the international community around disability informatics. Denis is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Sheffield and AI for Health Lead in the Centre for Machine Intelligence. They received the American Medical Informatics Association's Doctoral Dissertation Award in 2021.

Alistair McConnell is an Associate Professor and Global Head of Computer Science at Heriot-Watt University, whose research primarily focuses on soft robots, human-robot interaction, and healthcare robotics. Alistair is enthusiastic about public engagement and outreach both within the university and all around the country. He leads the Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh Centre for Robotics public engagement activities and works closely with the National Robotarium engagement team. He is driven to take research and work out of the lab and into the real world, often through the entrepreneurial route, where he has experience creating both spinouts and start-ups. During his post-doctoral role, he co-founded the start-up Mask Logic Ltd as a way of addressing the problems of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sandeep Sandhu is an Executive Director of Global, Investment, and Insights at Innovate UK Business Connect (IUK). She is a research and innovation expert with experience across government, academia, and international partnerships. She currently leads a 50-strong directorate, spanning global partnerships, policy and insight, strategic stakeholder engagement, and private investment across the UK and Africa. Sandeep has built impactful collaborations with governments, industry, investors, and universities worldwide, and previously led IUK’s international programmes, brokering bilateral innovation partnerships with key global economies. Earlier, Sandeep served as Senior International Policy Manager at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), where she developed UKRI’s international strategy, advanced European science policy, and represented the UK on the Global Research Council. At the Medical Research Council, she managed global health programmes including the Newton Fund and the Global Challenges Research Fund, and acted as National Contact Point for Health for Horizon 2020. She holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Birmingham, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.

Clare Siviter-Groschwald is Associate Professor in French Theatre at the University of Bristol. Prior to this, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Université Clermont Auvergne, France, after a BA and PhD at the University of Warwick. Clare’s current research primarily focuses on theatre as a lens to study discussions of nationalism and rights during the longer Revolutionary period in France (c.1788-1818). She is passionate about Arts education, international collaboration, and how history can help us better understand the present world. Clare has been nominated as a BBC/Arts and Humanities Council New Generation Thinker; a Franco-British Young Leader (a scheme supported by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office and its French counterpart); and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society amongst other positions. She is also dyslexic and epileptic and is a keen advocate for disability awareness.

Linda Oyama is a microbiologist and lecturer at the School of Biological Sciences and Institute for Global Food Security, Queen’s University Belfast. She holds a First-class Microbiology degree and a PhD in Biological Sciences. Linda’s research interests centre around understanding antimicrobial resistance in microbiomes from a One Health perspective through surveillance and epidemiological studies using meta-omics approaches. She aims to tackle antimicrobial resistance through the discovery and development of novel treatment options for various clinical and veterinary multidrug-resistant infections.

Lucy Parfitt is the Communications Officer for the UK Young Academy. She leads the development of multi-channel communication strategies and works to raise the visibility of members’ work both within the organisation and externally. Previously, she was the Marketing and Communications lead for the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s public engagement programme. Lucy has also spent several years supporting the broader education sector, including roles in higher education, youth work, and secondary education. Outside of work, she is a keen singer-songwriter, a history enthusiast, and can often be found swimming in cold bodies of water.

Catarina Vicente is the Head of Scientific Strategy and Projects of the Dunn School of Pathology at the University of Oxford. A scientist by training, her professional career has followed the belief that science cannot be truly successful or impactful without effective communication, both between scientists and with wider society. After a PhD in cell biology, she pursued roles in intra-scientific communication (in the publishing industry), later focusing on public engagement and science communication in an academic context. In her current role, she has a unique opportunity to influence academic research directly, capitalising on her communication skills. Alongside this, Catarina is an Official Fellow in Public Engagement with Research at Reuben College, where she develops public engagement projects from a unique scholarly and interdisciplinary perspective.

Jahangir Alom is an Emergency Medicine Doctor at Barts Health NHS Trust, and the former Clinical Lead for the NHS Staff Vaccination Programme. He gained his primary medical qualification at the University of Southampton. He holds an MSc in Public Health from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he researched the experience of British Bangladeshis during the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. He is a board member at the Institute of Public Policy Research, a Westminster think tank and a Governor at Stepney All Saint School, a non-selective state school in East London. In his free time, he has completed the London and Tokyo Marathon to raise funds for a global health charity, Selfless, where he is the Programme Director. He was a recipient of an NHS Parliamentary Award (London) for his work on tackling vaccine inequality and was ranked in the top 100 influential healthcare leaders in 2022 by the Health Service Journal. In the New Years Honours 2024, Jahangir received a British Empire Medal for services to tackling health inequalities.