The fusion physicist Ian Chapman is to be the next head of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – the UK’s biggest public research funder. He will take up the position in June, replacing the geniticist Ottoline Leyser who has held the position since 2020.
With an annual budget of £9bn, UKRI is the umbrella organisation of the UK’s nine research councils, including the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
UK science minister Patrick Vallance notes that Chapman’s “leadership experience, scientific expertise and academic achievements make him an exceptionally strong candidate to lead UKRI”.
UKRI chairman Andrew Mackenzie, meanwhile, states that Chapman “has the skills, experience, leadership and commitment to unlock this opportunity to improve the lives and livelihoods of everyone”.
Hard act to follow
After gaining an MSc in mathematics and physics from Durham University, Chapman completed a PhD at Imperial College London in fusion science, which he partly did at Culham Science Centre in Oxfordshire.
In 2014 he became head of tokamak science at Culham and then became fusion programme manager a year later. In 2016, aged just 34, he was named chief executive of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), which saw him lead the UK’s magnetic confinement fusion research programme at Culham.
In that role he oversaw an upgrade to the lab’s Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak as well as the final operation of the Joint European Torus (JET) – one of the world’s largest nuclear fusion devices – that closed in 2024.
Chapman also played a part in planning a prototype fusion power plant. Known as the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP), it was first announced by the UK government in 2019 with operations expected to begin in the 2040s with STEP aiming to prove the commercial viability of fusion by demonstrating net energy, fuel self-sufficiency and a viable route to plant maintenance.
Chapman, who currently sits on UKRI’s board, says that he is “excited” to take over as head of UKRI. “Research and innovation must be central to the prosperity of our society and our economy, so UKRI can shape the future of the country,” he notes. “I was tremendously fortunate to represent UKAEA, an organisation at the forefront of global research and innovation of fusion energy, and I look forward to building on those experiences to enable the wider UK research and innovation sector.”
The UKAEA has announced that Tim Bestwick, who is currently UKAEA’s deputy chief executive, will take over as interim UKAEA head until a permanent replacement is found.
Steve Cowley, director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in the US and a former chief executive of UKAEA, told Physics World that Chapman is an “astonishing science leader” and that the UKRI is in “excellent hands”. “[Chapman] has set a direction for UK fusion research that is bold and inspired,” adds Cowley. “It will be a hard act to follow but UK fusion development will go ahead with great energy.”
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