Announcing BNA President-Elect: Professor Julie Williams

29th Apr 2025

The British Neuroscience Association (BNA) is delighted to announce Julie Williams CBE as our new President-Elect.

A senior figure in the field of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research and a Founding Director of the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University, Professor Julie Williams was announced as BNA President-Elect at the AGM, held during The BNA2025 International Festival of Neuroscience.

As a former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Welsh Government and Alzheimer’s Research UK and a member of the Neuroscience and Mental Health Board at the MRC, Julie has communicated and set strategy with Ministers, civil servants and those who fund research directly. Professor Williams has a strong commitment to supporting equality and diversity in science, indeed as CSA Wales she commissioned a report on women in science, the recommendations of which were adopted by Universities throughout Wales.  

Professor Williams has over 30 years of research experience at an international level. Global collaboration has been a cornerstone of success in finding over 91 susceptibility genes for Alzheimer’s disease.

Image: Professor Julie Williams

Professor Williams graduated from the University of Wales Institute of Science & Technology (BSc) in 1978. Following a career break, Julie took up a Research Assistant post in the Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine and quickly progressed to Professorial level. During this time Julie served on the MRC Neuroscience and Mental Health Board and the Scientific Advisory Board of Alzheimer’s Research UK. TIME magazine rated two of Julie’s research papers from 2005 and 2009 as within the top 10 breakthroughs of those years. She became Chief Scientific Advisor to Alzheimer’s Research UK (2008), using this position to broaden science funding options, increase research capacity and training and has actively campaigned to keep the importance of dementia research on the National agenda. She has advised UK and Welsh Governments on dementia policy, was Dean of Research at the School of Medicine, Cardiff University, and a member of the Senior Faculty of NISCHR. Honoured as a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honour list for her research on Alzheimer’s disease, Julie was subsequently appointed Chief Scientific Advisor to the Welsh Government (2013-2017) and developed the important science package ‘Ser Cymru’, which brought in over 450 new scientists to Wales.

Currently Julie is Director of the Moondance Dementia Research Laboratory in Cardiff, which supports the pathway to translation for current discoveries in dementia.

On her new role as President-Elect, Professor Williams says:

“The BNA plays a pivotal role in helping and promoting the work of neuroscientists across the UK and I am delighted to take on the role of President Elect. It has never been more important to highlight the strengths of British neuroscience and celebrate its successes”.

Julie's research focuses upon identifying and understanding genes which alter the risk of complex psychological and neurodegenerative disorders, with a particular interest in deciphering the genetics of AD. A pioneer of working collaboratively, having recognised early the complexity of AD genetics, and having participated in many world-wide, powerful consortia, the consortium she leads, GERAD (Genetic and Environmental Risk in Alzheimer’s Disease), plays a dominant role in the field, focusing on developing larger, more powerful studies. Her research has encompassed GWAS, sequencing, large exome chip association studies, and cross disease complex phenotypic and statistical analyses. Julie became a leader of the IGAP genetics consortium, which incorporates over 450 scientists world-wide, with access to a 900,000 strong cohort, mega-meta analyses of which have identified at least over 90 new susceptibility variants for AD.

She has published over 180 papers in journals including Nature Genetics, Science, Lancet and others. In 2017, Julie successfully led a bid for Cardiff University to be part of the £250m UK Dementia Research Institute (UKDRI) funded by the MRC, ARUK and AS (Alzheimer’s Society). She is now the Director of UKDRI Cardiff, where scientists will build upon strong genetic evidence in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntingdon’s diseases using cellular, animal and bio-informatic modelling to understand disease mechanisms and identify targets for therapeutic modification. In the first 3 years, they have recruited 7 group leaders, attracted 11 Fellowships, established 4 emerging leaders, trained 45 PhD Students, published 208 papers including 40% in high profile journals and attracted £60m in external funding including from industry such that for every £1 invested by UKDRI, £4 was brought in through external funding.

Image: From left – Professor Tara Spires-Jones (Immediate-Past BNA President), Professor Julie Williams (BNA President-Elect), Professor Narender Ramnani (BNA President) and Dr Laura Ajram (BNA Chief Executive).

BNA Chief Executive, Dr Laura Ajram says:

“We are thrilled to welcome Professor Julie Williams as President-Elect. Professor Williams will bring an exceptional wealth of experience, insight, and commitment to neuroscience. I very much look forward to working with her as we continue to grow and shape the future of the BNA together."