Research Policy Committee

Dr Matthew Brown is a research-strategy leader working at the intersection of digital technology and global mental health. He is currently Head of Digital Technology, Mental Health & Life Sciences at Wellcome, where he leads strategic portfolios that accelerate the development, evaluation and responsible adoption of data-driven tools for mental health and the broader life sciences

Trained as a neuroscientist, Matthew holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford and has conducted research across cellular, circuit and cognitive neuroscience, with previous academic posts at Imperial College London and the University of Geneva. He brings this deep scientific grounding to his current work shaping large-scale research investments and collaborative programmes.

At Wellcome, Matthew manages portfolios spanning digital mental-health technologies, foundational neuroscience infrastructure, data access, software, and skills development. His work includes co-designing new models for international neuroscientific collaboration, supporting regulatory guidance for digital mental-health tools, and establishing capacity-building initiatives such as the first African Bioinformatics Institute.

Matthew has extensive experience working across academia, philanthropy, industry and regulation, and currently serves on several advisory and steering boards, including for the Alzheimer’s Disease Data Initiative and the MHRA. He is passionate about strengthening the neuroscience ecosystem through collaboration, open science and inclusive research cultures.

Prof Julie Williams is a world leader in the genetics of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia and former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Welsh Government. She was the founding Centre Director for UK DRI at Cardiff from 2017-2024. With a background in Psychology, Julie obtained her PhD from the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology. She joined University of Wales College of Medicine in 1991 as a Research Assistant, rising to Reader in Neuropsychological Genetics. As a co-lead in global initiatives her group has contributed to the discovery of over 40 susceptibility loci for AD. These findings implicate the role of immunity in disease development and specifically the contribution of microglia. Computational genetics of AD shows it to be a disease of multiple components which together, allow the prediction of those at high risk. Julie’s contribution to the field was recognised with a CBE in 2012. She is also an advocate for women in STEMM, commissioning a report that aimed to address the gender imbalance in science, published in 2016. Julie is also a member of the Council of the Academy of Medical Sciences and their champion in Wales.

Laura studied Pharmacology at King’s College London (including a year in industry with GlaxoSmithKline) before completing her PhD at the Institute for Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience on the topic of ‘the Neuropharmacology of Autism Spectrum Disorders’.

In 2021 Laura was awarded the ‘ELRIG Early Career Impact Award’ for making a ‘significant impact in the drug discovery community’, and in 2022, a prestigious Fellowship to the British Pharmacological Society in recognition of her ongoing contribution to the sector.

Laura has worked across NHS, charity, academic and pharmaceutical research settings to develop strategic cross-sector partnerships and accelerate neuroscience drug discovery efforts in mental health, dementia and motor neurone disease.

Laura is currently Chief Executive of the British Neuroscience Association, where she is responsible for delivering the vision, mission and strategy of the BNA and it’s subsidiary company, BNA Events Ltd.

Dr Maria Beatrice Panico is a medical doctor, fully qualified neurologist and has a PhD in neuroscience. She is the Chief Medical Officer at Scendea, responsible for providing clinical and regulatory advice across a wide range of development programs of medicinal products (UK, EU and US jurisdictions). Beatrice was formerly a Leading Senior Medical Assessor at the UK Regulatory Authority, the MHRA, and represented the UK in the European working groups on new trial designs, safety and In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices. She is one of the authors of the CTFG Recommendation Paper on the Initiation and Conduct of Complex Clinical Trials. She was the UK contact person for safety in clinical trials and is the author of the MHRA/Health Canada Development Safety Update Report (DSUR) guidance. She worked on the Ebola epidemic and Covid19 pandemic.

Before joining the MHRA she worked as a clinical neurologist, clinical investigator, researcher in neuroscience and pharmacovigilance expert in the pharmaceutical industry.

She was a member of the WHO working group on regulatory aspects of artificial intelligence and contributed to the SPIRIT-AI and CONSORT-AI guidelines. She is a member of the CIOMS Working Group XVI on DSUR.

In 2023 she was given the TOPRA Lifetime Achievement Award.

Tobias Bast’s research examines brain mechanisms of cognition and behaviour in health and disorder. One main research interest is the role of the hippocampus and connected brain regions. Tobias contributed to an ‘integrative view’ of hippocampal function, which emphasises that, apart from contributing to a narrow domain of specific memory functions (which are the focus of much research on the hippocampus), the hippocampus plays a role in a wide range of not primarily memory-related functions. Another important research focus is the functional significance of GABAergic inhibition and balanced neural activity within hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and other forebrain regions. Tobias’ research showed that reduced GABAergic inhibition (so-called neural ‘disinhibition’) – which has come to the fore as a feature of many brain disorders – can cause clinically relevant cognitive and behavioural impairments, by disrupting functions of the disinhibited region and its projection sites. Methodologically, Tobias mainly combines behavioural testing with in vivo neuroscience methods to analyse and manipulate brain function in rat models and reveal causal brain-behaviour relationships. To facilitate translation of findings to humans, he uses cross-species methods applicable to animal models and people and runs studies with human participants.

Tobias studied Biochemistry Ruhr-University Bochum (1994-1999), before completing a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience at ETH Zurich (2002). He then held research positions at the University of Edinburgh (2003-2008), including a Caledonian Research Foundation Fellowship (2005-2008). In 2008, he joined the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham, taking up a research and teaching role.

His main research policy areas of interest are pre-clinical research in animal models, research credibility, research training and career support and fair access to these.