Atomic Energy Authority chief executive to head up UKRI

Ian Chapman, the current chief executive of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), will become the next leader of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) later this year. Chapman will replace current UKRI chief executive Ottoline Leyser, who ends her term in June.

UKRI is the UK’s main funder of research, comprised of nine research councils and funding bodies through which it distributes funds from the government’s science budget. It has been led by Leyser, a plant biologist, since 2020.