The UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) is bringing in a heavyweight for its next chapter. The UK’s high-risk, high-reward research agency has appointed Kathleen Fisher, the computer scientist behind one of DARPA’s most influential cybersecurity programmes, as its new chief executive. She will take over in February 2026.
Fisher is best known for creating and leading HACMS, a project that once sounded like science fiction. In 2014, its software kept a Boeing Unmanned Little Bird helicopter secure while elite hackers attempted to hijack it in real time. They failed. The formal-methods approach behind the project has since shaped how major tech companies protect their most critical systems, and DARPA later called HACMS its most influential programme of the past decade.
ARIA is betting that Fisher can bring that energy to the UK’s own experimental research agency.
ARIA is growing up
Three years in, ARIA has moved from concept to operation. The agency has hired sixteen Programme Directors, launched nine programmes that range from AI safety to synthetic biology, and directed more than four hundred million pounds into UK research.
The early signs look promising. ARIA-backed work has already produced NHS trials of brain-computer interfaces and new UK subsidiaries from international deep-tech firms. The agency was built with term limits for its leadership to avoid turning into a slow, conventional bureaucracy. Now ARIA says it has reached a natural inflection point as its projects shift from launch mode to the phase where they need to deliver breakthroughs.
A track record of mobilising ecosystems
Fisher’s DARPA experience goes beyond individual projects. She later ran the agency’s Information Innovation Office, which oversaw a half-billion dollar portfolio and dozens of programmes. Her AI Cyber Challenge pulled thousands of participants into a single competitive push, while her Resilient Software Systems initiative activated industry and academic communities at the same time.
ARIA says this kind of ecosystem building is exactly what it wants from its next CEO.
A global search with a clear winner
According to the agency, the CEO search attracted 314 applicants, including researchers, founders, and veterans of ARPA-style organisations. ARIA argues that the scale and quality of the candidate pool reflects the UK’s rising credibility in advanced research.
Fisher emerged as the standout choice. Her decision to leave one of the United States’ most prestigious research institutions for a young British agency suggests that ARIA’s early momentum is starting to draw global attention.
What happens next
Fisher will replace founding CEO Ilan Gur, who will remain in the role until she is fully in post. The agency says its mission and model are not changing. ARIA will continue to give Programme Directors significant autonomy, long-term funding, and room to take calculated risks.
The big question when ARIA launched was whether the UK could pull off an ARPA-style approach. The question now is what results the agency will produce as its projects hit their stride.
