Exploring new frontiers in neurotech & Activation Partner opportunities
Dive into our Q&A with Programme Director Jacques Carolan, check out live seed funding calls, and get involved with our Activation Partners.
What’s new at ARIA
Seed funding applications for Mathematics for Safe AI, Scalable Neural Interfaces and Programmable Plants are now live. We're looking to fund high potential + novel ideas in each opportunity space with up to £500k.
We announced the 19 teams we’re funding through our Precision Neurotechnologies programme. Read on for more in our Q&A with Programme Director Jacques Carolan, who also spoke to The Guardian about how our funding is bringing one of the world’s most advanced brain-computer interfaces to the UK.
New opportunities from our Activation Partners are now open to applications. Find them at the end of this Substack, plus more on how APs are creating impact across our opportunity spaces.
Jenny Read, Programme Director for Robot Dexterity, spoke to Audrow Nash about how neuroscience insights can inspire better robot design, and Lab Matters about her personal journey as a scientist.
Programme Director davidad Dalrymple appeared on the Future of Life Podcast to discuss the structures and layers of Safeguarded AI.
“The magic happens in the overlaps between different approaches”: Q&A with PD Jacques Carolan
With £69m in funding over four years, the Precision Neurotechnologies programme is supporting 19 Creator teams to develop new ways of interfacing with the human brain at the circuit level and design next-generation technologies informed by clinicians' and patients' lived experiences.
Their goal is to understand, identify, and treat many of the most complex neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, from Alzheimer’s and epilepsy to depression.
We sat down with Programme Director, Jacques, to talk about building the programme and project selection, the importance of a coordinated effort in this space, and why a patient-centred approach is critical to the programme’s success.
You've chosen to fund 19 Creator teams across a broad spectrum of approaches and disciplines. How have you optimised this group, and where have you placed your bets for success?
Jacques: We intentionally kept the scope of the programme broad. Rather than specifying the types of technologies we wanted to fund, we said: “we know what these technologies need to do, now give us your best ideas.” That is a key part of being a Programme Director – you need to leave space to be surprised. But the key question on my mind was always: given how broad the scope is, how do we find synergies between our teams? A ‘programme’ is a mechanism where something magical happens that can’t happen from funding teams in isolation. What was so exciting was that as we reviewed the strongest proposals, we saw technology themes emerge: non-invasive interfaces, remote interfaces and biological interfaces. These now make up our programme areas.
Creator Spotlight: Biological Approaches
Rylie Green's team at Imperial College London is developing RESCUE, a new class of biohybrid neurotechnology that will harness the synergy between biology and hardware to enable the engineering of neural circuits in vivo via neuromodulation.
"This is more than just a funding opportunity: it's a call to action, inviting us to dream bigger, think smarter, and work harder – together – to achieve something truly extraordinary."
Why is a coordinated programme necessary for developing these technologies?
Jacques: It's really about maximising impact. When you coordinate these efforts, you can develop technologies that address a much broader range of diseases and really capitalise on the natural synergies between teams. We've given ourselves the freedom to explore these connections while staying focused on our core objectives. The magic happens in those overlaps between different approaches.
How has your experience of research in this field influenced your approach?
Jacques: The ARIA model has been absolutely crucial here. When you're evaluating projects and setting milestones, having knowledge across multiple fields turns out to be incredibly valuable. It helps you recognise what's truly novel and what's actually feasible. But what's really struck me, as a practicing scientist myself, is how receptive teams are when their funder can engage with them at a technical level. There's something really powerful about being able to sit down together and work through plans in detail. It builds a different kind of trust.
Creator spotlight: Remote Interfacing Technologies
At University College London, Gabriele Lignani's team is working to reverse dysfunctional brain circuits towards a stable physiological ‘ground state’ that’s more resilient to minor perturbations that trigger paroxysmal activity. The team’s vision is to focus on applications for epilepsy, schizophrenia and dementia.
"This programme is exactly what the UK needs to accelerate the testing of novel ideas and drive meaningful societal impact, ultimately bringing advanced treatments closer to those who need them most."
This programme will include ARIA's first ever clinical trial, with the team having found each other through ARIA's teaming tool. Why is nucleating a community and fostering collaboration so important for this programme?
Jacques: Here's the thing about solving problems in this space, it's incredibly complex because you need such diverse expertise. You're not just talking about one discipline; you need clinicians, hardware engineers, bioengineers – really the whole spectrum of different specialists working together. That's been a historical challenge, not just from a technical perspective, but from a funding one too. Traditional funding mechanisms often struggle to support these kinds of diverse collaborations.
What's been really exciting is seeing how our teaming platform has already proven its value. Two of the teams we ended up funding actually met through the platform – that's exactly the kind of connection we were hoping to facilitate, bringing people together to spark something new.
Creator spotlight: Non-Invasive Technologies
The Brain Mesh project, led by Jacob T. Robinson of Rice University and Motif Neurotech, is a cross-disciplinary collaboration between multiple labs in the US and UK. They're building a scalable system for brain state monitoring and modulation across entire neural circuits, designed explicitly for human translation, which will pave the way for more radically more comprehensive neuromodulation.
"This programme will move us closer to overcoming one of the most intractable barriers in neurotech – the development of systems capable of high-precision neuromodulation – while maintaining emphasis on scalable, translation-ready solutions."
You're funding multiple projects that will gather insights from clinicians and people with lived experiences of brain disorders. Can you expand on why this is so important?
Jacques: Patient-centred design is critical in any medical technology or therapeutic development. If you're building technology for someone, you absolutely need to understand what they actually want and need. It's not just an ethical consideration – though that's certainly important – it's about creating something that will actually make a difference in people's lives.
We've seen time and time again that understanding potential adoption barriers early in the development process can make or break a technology's success. If we develop something brilliant but people don't want to use it, or clinicians find it impractical in real-world settings, we haven't really succeeded, have we? Understanding ethical considerations, user needs and potential adoption barriers early in the development process is crucial for success.
Creator spotlight: Future Adoption
Martyn Pickersgill's project at the University of Edinburgh project has three aims: to discover how neurologists have experienced – and consider that they might experience – neurotechnological innovation; to understand clinical perspectives and how they relate to expectations and framings of novelty in discourse on novel tech; and generate actionable insights into the barriers and facilitators of the adoption of precision neurotech.
"We have the rare opportunity to bring together scientists and developers with clinicians and specialists in the social dimensions of biomedicine, to catalyse co-produced innovation."
Which outputs are you excited to see from teams over the next 12 months?
Jacques: There's so much to look forward to! I'm particularly excited about seeing the first prototypes and initial data coming out of our teams. While four years isn't a long time in this space – and believe me, we know that – our teams are moving incredibly quickly.
One area I'm especially keen to watch is the development of biological interfaces. There's fascinating work happening around growing neurons that can be implanted into brains, either to repair damaged pathways or as an interface to the outside world. The really intriguing thing about this approach is that because it's biological, you can leverage the tools of molecular and cellular biology to, for example, increase biocompatibility and potentially prevent rejection. That could be a game-changer if it works out.
But really, every team has something exciting in the pipeline. These early signs of the technology coming together in the first year. That's what keeps us all motivated.
The latest from our Activation Partners
We launched our Activation Partners in October to help us drive science entrepreneurship across the UK. Some of our Partners are already taking applications for new fellowships and entrepreneurial training programmes or developing hardware prototypes for our funded projects, while others are laying the groundwork for new initiatives that will launch soon. Together, we’re bringing researchers, investors, and industry closer, sparking new ventures, and creating the conditions for breakthrough R&D to thrive.
Our partners are currently welcoming applicants to a number of unique opportunities and events in the coming month.
Submit a concept paper for Convergent’s first open solicitation for FROs in the UK by 7 February: Convergent Research are seeking proposals for Focused Research Organisations (FROs) that could unlock transformative progress in our opportunity spaces.
Apply to Fifty Years’s first 5050 UK cohort until 17 February. Fifty Years helps great scientists and engineers translate breakthroughs and start deep tech startups – to date, 250 scientists and engineers have gone through 5050 and 55 companies have been started by alumni.
Join Nucleate UK at Anatomy of an Oxford Startup on 12 February – through discussions with top founders and networking opportunities, the event will explore the challenges and opportunities of biotech venture creation in Oxford and across the wider UK ecosystem.
Momentum from the last few months
Nucleate UK kicked off a new event series through our partnership, bringing an experienced deep-tech investor and operator to share insights with aspiring scientist-entrepreneurs.
Fifty Years hit the road, hosting events to spark entrepreneurship among academic researchers, including a six-university tour across the UK to introduce their 5050 programme.
Cambridge University Health Partners launched the Cambridge NeuroWorks, with fellowship programmes designed to develop revolutionary neurotechnologies.
Amodo – who are bringing design engineering to ARIA to fast-track R&D impact – shipped their first hardware prototype to an ARIA Creator.
