Policy Advisor, BEIS

Yoanna Shams is currently a policy advisor in Laura Eden and Zoë Bond’ team looking at European Research and Innovation (R&I) policy and programmes. Yoanna’s current role looks at post Brexit planning for European Excellence Programmes specifically the European Research Council and Marie Skłodowska-Curie grants.

Yoanna has an MEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Liverpool. She researched digital technologies for the manufacture of nanomaterials based devices, and completed her PhD in November 2018 at the Institute for Manufacturing (IFM), University of Cambridge. During this time she developed an interest in Innovation Frameworks through her work in “Pathways to Manufacture”; a collaborative project between Fluids in Advanced Manufacturing (FIAM) and Centre of Science Technology Innovation (CSTI) at the IFM. She continued working on understanding science of scale-up during her time as a research assistant for Dr. Eoin O’Sullivan at CSTI. Yoanna also has experience working with advanced manufacturing companies Renishaw Plc and M-Solv Ltd during her time in academia. Her current role in policy ties in her interest and experience of understanding and developing innovation frameworks by bringing together academia, industry and government.