Originally dreamed up by Dominic Cummings, the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) has been tasked with a high-risk, high-reward approach to research funding
The UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency has chosen eight scientists who will each be given up to £50 million to allocate as they see fit, in the hopes that a high-risk, high-reward approach to research funding will deliver results that benefit UK society and fuel economic growth. But will it work?, an adviser to former UK prime minister Boris Johnson who has long wanted to shake up UK science funding.
, his plan is coming to fruition today as ARIA announces its eight programme directors. Like ARPA, the new agency is focused on empowering “scientific talent” in ways that “can change the course of the future”, says its CEO, Ilan Gur. “We were set up to focus on drastically improving the quality of life and economic growth in the UK.”unclear how this differs from existing government funding agencies, however.
Perhaps then the benefit of ARIA will come from the specific people it is investing in. The first cohort of programme directors are an eclectic bunch, often with experience working across disparate fields of scientific research.