Alex van Someren
Biography
Alex van Someren was appointed Chief Scientific Adviser for National Security in July 2021.
Alex was previously a venture capital investor and entrepreneur, focusing on investing in early stage ‘deep technology’ startups. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, an Honorary Professor of Computer Science at the University of Manchester, and a current member of the Royal Society’s Science, Industry and Translation Committee. During 2019 he was the Visiting Clore Innovation Professor at the Royal College of Art.
Alex participated in the development of the BBC Microcomputer & Acorn Electron at Acorn Computer in the 1980s. He subsequently co-founded several technology companies, including ANT Software plc and nCipher plc which achieved listings on AIM and the London Stock Exchange, respectively.
Alex’s scientific work is in the broad area of software engineering and computer science.
Chief Scientific Adviser for National Security
The Chief Scientific Adviser is responsible for:
- giving independent scientific advice on national security issues
- working with the wider network of Chief Scientific Advisers to address cross departmental issues