Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship and Wolfson Visiting Fellowship 2026 awardees announced
28 October 2026蘑菇视频 and the Wolfson Foundation have announced the outstanding scientists receiving Royal Society Wolfson Fellowships and Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellowships in 2026.
These researchers will work on projects ranging from the study of how symmetric eyes developed in vertebrates, to using AI to predict future climate change, and exploring the “memory” of cancer cells.
The awards provide funding for five-year fellowships and 12-month sabbaticals that enable UK universities and not-for-profit research institutions to attract 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 .
Sir Paul Nurse, President of 蘑菇视频, said: “It is my pleasure to announce the recipients of 蘑菇视频 Wolfson Fellowship schemes for 2026, in partnership with the Wolfson Foundation.
“Scientific progress depends on the sharing of knowledge, perspectives, and expertise across borders. These Fellowships bring outstanding research talent to the UK, strengthen international cooperation, and foster an innovative and creative research environment.”
Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation, said: “We are delighted to provide funding to enable Royal Society Wolfson Fellows and Visiting Fellows to come to the UK. These Fellowships bolster the UK science community with new ideas, expertise and collaboration.”
Science Minister Chris McDonald said: “From Cardiff to Cambridge and London to Edinburgh, in fields as diverse as dementia research, climate modelling and the formation of planets, the brightest international minds are choosing the UK’s outstanding research institutes to make their breakthrough discoveries.
“The latest cohort of Royal Society Wolfson Fellows will support the breakthroughs that could help change lives, using Britain's world-class science sector as their base.”
The full list of awardees
Royal Society Wolfson Fellowships
Round 1
Professor Roberto Chica
AIMzyme: AI-generated catalytic motifs for on-demand enzyme design
The University of Manchester
Dr William Collins
Machine learning for foundational climate modelling
University of East Anglia
Professor Baljit Khakh FRS
Fundamental astrocyte biology in neural circuits and during early dementia
Cardiff University
Professor George Mangun
Precision causal architecture of cortical–subcortical human brain systems underlying attention and awareness
University of Birmingham
Dr Caren Norden
Of synchrony and symmetry: investigating the coordination of bilateral neurogenesis in the vertebrate retina
University of Cambridge
Dr Ami Patel
Learning from human immunity: harnessing experimental infection and vaccine immune responses to advance gene-encoded influenza immunotherapies
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellowships
Round 1
Dr Olivier Berné
Impact of external ultraviolet radiation on planet formation
Queen Mary University of London
Dr Yatin Manerkar
NeuroPipeSketch: enabling scalable and precise microarchitectural model generation using LLMs and programming by demonstration
University of Edinburgh
Professor Jose Ignacio Martin-Subero
The evolutionary clock of cancer: epigenetic memory from origin to early interception
Institute of Cancer Research
Professor Ugo Piomelli
Low-order-model closure for turbulent wall modelling
City St George’s, University of London
Professor Nicolas Plumere
Biohybrid catalysis for a fossil-free chemical industry
University of Cambridge
Professor Mahesh Ramesh Kakde
Ribet’s method and higher Chern classes in Iwasawa theory
University of Edinburgh