2025 Fellows

Bio

Hugh is a Chartered Engineer and Project Professional who joined the UK MOD in 1998 as a freshfaced student at the acclaimed Engineering Training Centre in Malvern. Since then, Hugh has been involved a variety of engineering, programme delivery, commercial, and policy roles across government, industry and charity – notably spending 5 years from 2016 leading teams to deliver technology and international aspects of the UK’s next Fighter Jet (aka Tempest/Global Combat Air Programme - GCAP). Alongside this role, he completed a Masters in Major Programme Management at Oxford and his ‘Beneficial Inefficiency’ dissertation examined success factors for collaborative international projects.  Before joining the UK MOD Defence AI Centre as ‘second in the door’ in 2022, Hugh was seconded for 11 months to design and implement the Cabinet Office COVID 19 Task Force Delivery Unit - learning a lot about the heart of UK government and the amazing things that can be achieved at pace through collaboration.   

Bio

Victoria is Deputy Director, Strategy for i.AI, the Government’s new incubator for Artificial Intelligence. This is a technical team sitting at the heart of UK Government - the team was founded in November 2023 in Number 10, and now sits alongside AI and digital delivery teams in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Prior to joining i.AI, Victoria worked at HM Treasury, Nesta and in Management consultancy.  

Bio

Colin is Deputy Director for Research Infrastructure in the Office for Life Sciences, which leads the Government’s support to the life sciences sector. Following a PhD in physics, his earlier career was in homeland security, including serious and organised crime, crime prevention and border control. He has since moved to healthcare, where he works to ensure life sciences researchers can make best use of the UK’s research systems, with a particular emphasis on genomics, healthcare data, clinical trials, preclinical research and cancer.  

Bio

Emma spent the first part of her career in the private sector culminating in delivering transformation across a large omni-channel business and focussed on the customer experience and IT delivery. Emma joined the Home Office in 2016 and has been instrumental in growing the Migration and Borders Technology Portfolio which exists to deliver transformational Programmes, Project and Products across the totality of Migration and Borders. Outside of work Emma enjoys watching a wide variety of sports and taking holidays with her family and small dog.  

Bio

Madhukar is head of Digital Health for the Department for Business and Trade where he is responsible for growing digital health exports and investment for the UK, worldwide.  He has led ground-breaking initiatives such as the Digital Health demonstrator in China, the Healthcare AI Catalyst in India and the UK’s Digital Health Playbook. He has led trade missions to Brazil, the USA, UAE, China and India.  Prior to working with the Government, Madhukar worked in management consulting for over 10 years, working with clients such as the NHS, Roche, Novartis and Pfizer. He has set up a Telehealth venture in India and is an MBA alumnus of the Cranfield School of Management.  

Bio

Rachel Kempsell was appointed as Deputy Director for Cyber & Technology Policy at the National Security Secretariat in July 2023. Since joining the Senior Civil Service in 2017 she has held roles relating to cyber, digital policy, and intelligence oversight and was seconded to work for the Australian Government's Cyber & Tech Ambassador in 2021-22.   

Bio

Matt Lyon currently serves as the Chief Analyst at the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO), where he leads the analytical function within the organisation. In this capacity, he oversees a team of Data Scientists, Data Analysts, and Economists.  With over 7 years of experience in digital transformation, Matt has worked across key areas such as service transformation, data sharing, technology adoption, common platforms, and capability building. His team is currently focused on improving the organisation's data analysis set-up, further adopting AI and automation to drive efficiency, and supporting the delivery of the organisation’s current digital transformation strategy. Previously, Matt served as the Head Economist at the Government Digital Service (GDS).  

Bio

Samir Prakash is the deputy director for higher education funding and student finance reform at the Department for Education. He has been a civil servant for 8 years and worked in public policy 14 years. Before higher education policy, he worked on regulatory reform and experimentation to support scientific innovation and investment at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and on the assessment of emerging technologies for public policy at the Government Office for Science. Before that, he was an economic regulator at Ofcom – and, earlier, an R&D engineer and then a news journalist at the BBC .    

Bio

Charlie is an experienced technology-for-good consultant with a PhD in Computer Science in technology-mediated behaviour change. She has a broad data science strategy and implementation experience, and a special interest in embedding quality assurance, best practices and open data standards. Char lie’s fellowship research is on developing an implementable responsible AI framework that delivers intelligently transparent projects of appropriate quality and alignment with public values.   

Bio

Dr Maggie McGowan currently works in the Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT). Throughout her career, Dr McGowan has been instrumental in supporting research, innovation, and economic development. She holds a PhD and an MBA, and her diverse experience spans the private sector, higher education, and the civil service.  

Bio

Jack Snape is an experienced leader of public policy analysis with expertise in science and technology policy, transport, and net zero. He specialises in developing evidence and analysis to help make decisions. As the Deputy Director of AI Policy Analysis at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Jack leads a team of 18 analysts to deliver a programme of analysis to support the UK’s AI policy, including regulation, supporting the AI sector and AI adoption, and the AI Safety Institute.  

Bio

Emily is a strategic policy leader who is passionate about sustainability and the energy transition. She is currently working on energy security and resilience as a Deputy Director in DESNZ and previously worked on electricity networks. Prior to that, she was Head of Strategic Delivery, Smart Energy in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Head of Sector: Energy, Manufacturing and Construction in the Cabinet Office. Emily holds an MSc in Politics and Communications from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a BA in Politics and East European Studies from University College London (UCL).  

Bio

Lead Data Engineer at the Incubator of Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), pioneering data and infrastructure solutions that accelerate AI innovation in government. I architect scalable data ecosystems that transform how public sector organisations prototype and implement cutting-edge AI technologies, bridging technical complexity with strategic potential.  

Bio

John Corcoran is the Head of Security Data Science at the Department for Work and Pensions, having joined the civil service in 2021. His career background spans data science project and infrastructure delivery, novel cyber security research projects, incident response capability development and digital forensics investigations, and delivery of incident management and consultancy services. He has led technical cyber security teams in a variety of roles across the private and public sectors.  

Bio

David has worked for the Civil Service for 20 years, mainly in analytical and data roles, but also in policy, operations, shared-services and procurement roles.  He is currently the Senior Responsible Owner for two of Defra’s key data focused programmes; the terrestrial Natural Capital Ecosystem Assessment ( tNCEA ), which is setting up a long-term environmental monitoring programme for England using professional field surveys, earth observations and citizen science to generate a comprehensive set of data, maps and analyses to assess the state of the environment; and the Data Science and Analytics Hub (DASH), which is developing the data science capability across the Defra group through delivering a cloud-based analytical platform, providing access to data and training, developing the community and accelerating innovative projects, such as mapping peatlands and analysing soundscapes.  

Bio

Alec is a Chief Engineer within the Future Capability Innovation Team of Defence, Equipment and Support (DE&S).  His key focus is on emerging disruptors and understanding the opportunities these may bring to UK Defence, as well as potential hurdles to successful adoption.  

As part of his role, he acts as Chief Robotics Engineer for the Defence AI Centre (DAIC), looking to establish the guidance required for DE&S to support UK MODs’ Ambitious, Safe, Responsible principles.  

Bio

Bandhu Das is the head of data strategy and engagement at Defra. Previously, he led data strategy and insight at HM Treasury, where he advised the Chief Secretary on data funding and sectoral transformation. A qualified accountant with over 15 years of experience at the intersection of finance, policy, data, and emerging technologies, Bandhu has held multiple transformation roles across government. As an Imperial AI Policy Fellow, he is exploring how AI literacy can help policy makers apply AI capabilities and tools responsibly and effectively in environmental policy and beyond. He is particularly interested in the ethical, transparent, and sustainable use of AI to address challenges such as climate resilience, food security, and nature recovery.

Bio

Maeve McMahon is the Head of Statistics and Reporting at Building Digital UK (an executive agency responsible for connecting hard-to-reach premises with broadband). Before that, she worked at HMRC on tax compliance analysis and as the Deputy Head of Profession for Statistics. She joined the Civil Service after completing a PhD in Neuroscience.

Bio

Dr. Amie Adkin serves as the Deputy Director of Risk Assessment within the Science Evidence and Research Directorate at the Food Standards Agency. This directorate offers scientific and technical advice across the UK food and feed portfolio, covering areas such as market authorisation of new food and feed products, import safety assessments, food toxicology, microbiology, radiological risk, and food allergy and intolerances. Amie began her career in the UK Civil Service in 2002, focusing on animal and public health risk analysis. She has extensive experience in managing large multidisciplinary scientific projects and delivering outbreak risk assessment response. Prior to joining the Food Standards Agency in 2018, Amie led various analytical teams within the Defra group, where she was responsible for delivering risk assessments, designing surveillance models and biosecurity controls at both national and European levels.