26 Apr 2024
Biographies of Dowling Policy Fellows and guests
Amelia Armour joined Amadeus Capital Partners in 2009 and is a Partner in the Early Stage Fund. She is a Director on several boards including Xampla, who have developed a plant-based material to replace single-use plastics; iPronics who are building the world’s first programmable photonic processor; Riverlane a developer of the operating system for error corrected quantum computers and SLAMcore, a spin-out from Imperial College, developing spatial intelligence for autonomous robotics and drones. Prior to Amadeus, she worked at Barclays Investment Bank in the structured capital markets team and at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. She qualified as a chartered accountant with Deloitte in London in the corporate tax department. Amelia holds a BSc in Chemistry and Biology from Durham University.
Cinzia Basile is the Chairman of My Community Bank. In her role she has led the company to its fast growth with the use of fintech. Cinzia set up and ran the Credit Suisse Investment Bank multi-asset investment management business, Custom Markets. Cinzia currently sits on the board of several financial institutions across Europe including Eurobank, Nikko Europe Asset Management, Creditis Servizi Finanziari and Zenith Service S.p.A. Cinzia is also the Chair and Member of several committees including Risk, Pricing, Audit, Remuneration and Stewardship.
Hayoung Choi is a third-year undergraduate in the Department of Genetics with a distinct passion for environmental policy and food security. This passion aligns well with her interest in plant science. She also places significance on philosophical discussions about regulatory science, which involves the critical evaluation of the risks and benefits associated with technologies. Serving as a workshop team lead last year, she found it rewarding to facilitate discussions between the realms of science and science policy. This year, as President of the Cambridge University Science and Policy Exchange (CUSPE), she looks forward to strengthening the alumni network and forging connections with other science or science policy institutions.
Vanessa Colomar is a co-founder of Invoke Capital which forms, funds and develops fundamental technologies, often disrupting established methodologies and developing multi-billion pound businesses in the process. Invoke Capital created Darktrace, a leading AI cybersecurity company and was instrumental in getting the company up and running from inception, as well as helping it to scale rapidly prior to taking it public on the LSE in 2022. Vanessa has decades of experience helping founders create and scale technology companies. Throughout her career she has sat at the intersection of ideas and their development in a variety of roles spanning media, politics, technology, business, academia and the law. Invoke capital also formed Luminance, an AI platform that is changing the way lawyers work with documents and contracts. Invoke was an early investor in the Nasdaq-listed Sophia Genetics, which is transforming personalised medicine and cancer treatment. Her areas of expertise are in the practical application and policy implications of Artificial Intelligence and cyber security.
Oscar Hinze works as a Policy Adviser in the engineering biology policy team in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. He has worked on science and technology policy for several years, in DSIT and previously in BEIS. Previous roles include being the lead for quantum readiness in the Office for Quantum. He has also worked on investment and research collaboration policy in quantum technologies and advanced robotics, as well as cross-cutting export control issues. Before joining BEIS, Oscar worked as a crime and policing analyst at the Home Office. He holds a BSc in Astrophysics from University College London.
Filippo Lanza is Chief Investment Officer at Numen Capital LLP, a London-based multi strategy manager deploying a fundamental credit approach to event driven and credit opportunities. With offices in London and Malta, Numen Capital's expertise focuses on investments falling within the liquid aspect of the Credit spectrum. Filippo has also been a Venture Investor in several start-ups in EduTech across the UK and USA, and FinTech in the UK since 2017. Previous roles include Main Portfolio Manager at Ferox Capital LLP, Head of Credit Trading Europe at Lehman Brothers and Associate in the European Credit Trading Unit at JPMorgan Chase.
Dr Alex McGill is based in the Homeland Security Group – a part of the Home Office – where he oversees the delivery of research projects in the physical and biological sciences. This is his second posting as part of the Civil Service Science & Engineering Fast Stream, having previously worked on AI policy in the Ministry of Defence. His academic background is in mathematics and theoretical physics.
Nathan Medlock became a Managing Partner of the growth equity firm Planet First Partners in September 2023. He was a Partner in the Technology Team of Zouk Capital from 2013 to July 2023, where he led and managed the growth capital funds investing in sustainable technology companies. Before joining Zouk, Nathan was a Partner at Galaxis Capital where was active in operational roles with Private Equity backed companies, including that of CEO in a Swedish listed mining company and CFO of a private US biotech company. Prior, he worked at Warburg Pincus in a direct investment role where he invested, managed and restructured over a $1bn of investments in European growth capital companies. Prior to those roles, Nathan was with Lehman Brothers where he was a director in the private equity division. Nathan holds a Master of Business Administration with Honours from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Masters of Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Energy Systems (Nuclear) from the University of Manchester.
Evelyn Murrell is a Science and Engineering Fast Streamer in the UK civil service. Her current role is in Government and Strategic Partnerships at the Wellcome Trust. Prior to this, she worked at the UK Health Security Agency and in the International Science Team at DEFRA. Before working in government, she completed an Integrated Master's in Biology and Chemistry, including a research project focused on antibiotic resistance.
CSaP Staff
Karri Aston manages the Policy Leaders Fellowship programme at CSaP. She is responsible for termly meetings of the Policy Leaders Fellows, matching Fellows to relevant academics and developing the Fellowship’s interactions with other organisations. She is also responsible for the Horn Fellowship and the Dowling Policy Fellowship. Prior to joining CSaP in 2021, Karri worked at the Centre for Geopolitics, a research centre in the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS), University of Cambridge for two years as the Centre Coordinator. Karri has experience in the charity sector, fundraising, government relations and association management. Her first degree is in Political Science and she has an International MBA.
Jacob Bradbury became a Policy Intern at CSaP in April 2024. He is a DPhil student in Chemical Biology at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on the development of novel antimicrobials using both medicinal chemistry and chemical biology techniques at the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research and the Department of Pharmacology.
Kate Johnson joined CSaP in October 2022 as the Policy Leaders Fellowship Programme Coordinator. Previously, she worked in the Student Support Services team at the University of Leicester. Kate has front-of-house management experience in the luxury hospitality sector and has held administrative positions in the Building Surveying and Engineering sector. She supports the organisation of termly meetings of the Policy Leaders Fellows and assists with the Horn Fellowship and the Dowling Policy Fellowship.
