Dr Henry Moss has been awarded a prestigious UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship to develop the mathematical underpinnings of generative AI to accelerate scientific discovery.

Dr Moss, who is part of the Mathematics for AI in Real-world Systems (MARS) group in the School of Mathematical Sciences, is an expert in fundamental AI research and develops machine learning tools and software for real-world applications.

Over the course of his £2M Fellowship, Dr Moss will collaborate closely with a range of industry partners to tackle the unsolved challenge of turning generative AI models into mathematically rigorous decision rules for designing real-world experimental campaigns.

His ambitious programme of research will lead to scientific innovation in areas such as drug discovery and sustainable engineering.

“AI has dramatically transformed how scientists approach experimentation but there remains a need for smarter models to accelerate the pace of innovation, particularly in areas where experimentation is technically and financially costly”, said Dr Moss.

“We have reached a crisis point where classical mathematical principles of experimental design can no longer keep pace with modern science. My Fellowship will address this problem by harnessing the power of generative AI to remove the critical innovation bottlenecks caused by the current limitations in experimental design”.

In addition to establishing a world-leading, industry-connected research group pioneering advanced mathematical experimental design, Dr Moss will also develop a pipeline to train the next generation of UK AI researchers.

“By building an industry-embedded talent pipeline, I will ensure impact beyond the term of the Fellowship”, explained Dr Moss. “I will train AI scientists who excel in both theory and deployment accelerating innovation across a wide range of UK industries”.

UKRI’s flagship Future Leaders Fellowship programme provides up to seven years of flexible funding to support outstanding early career researchers and aims to develop, retain, attract and sustain research and innovation talent in the UK.

The award of Dr Moss’s Fellowship further strengthens the mathematical AI research base in the School of Mathematical Sciences, which is also home to MARS, a £13M Research England investment in real-world mathematics and AI, and Prob_AI, an £8.5M EPSRC-funded research hub for the mathematical and computational foundations of probabilistic AI.

Congratulating Dr Moss on his award, Professor Nick Race, Director of Research Culture at Lancaster University added: “Many congratulations to Dr Moss on this fantastic achievement. His success builds on Lancaster’s strong track record of securing prestigious UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships over the years, reflecting the exceptional research talent across our Faculty. These prestigious fellowships enable exceptional researchers to pursue ambitious and transformative ideas, and I look forward to seeing the impact of Dr Moss’s work at the intersection of mathematics and AI.”