​We are gathering Bangalore's most ambitious scientists, AI researchers, hard-tech founders, and technical operators who are pursuing research at the edge of what is possible.

​UK’s Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) is coming to Bangalore! Join us alongside Lossfunk for an evening exploring how ARIA identifies new programme areas, develops ambitious funding programmes, and learn how exceptional technical leaders can shape entirely new research directions.

​​What is ARIA?

​The Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) is the UK's high-risk, high-reward R&D funding agency, created to unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs by supporting research that is too ambitious, speculative, or interdisciplinary to pursue elsewhere.

​Instead of traditional committees, ARIA operates through Programme Directors: Exceptional scientific and technical leaders who spot overlooked opportunities, define bold technical visions, and bring together the people and projects needed to pursue them.

​​Why This Matters for You?

​ARIA funds high-risk R&D to both academics and startups. Five of their team members will be in the room. Come to learn about how moonshot funding programmes get developed (and if interested, pitch them one), learn about what being a programme director at ARIA is like and how they are pursuing AI for Science capabilities to expand the speed and ambition of their frontier research programmes across the sciences.

​ARIA will also start recruiting its third cohort of Programme Directors, with applications opening in August 2026 for a May 2027 start.

​This is going to be night amongst peers, a curated assembly of frontier researchers alongside our friends from ARIA.

​​Who should attend?

​This event is intended for deeply technical subject matter experts who:

• ​Have experience leading ambitious, outcome-driven scientific or technical work

• ​Enjoy uncovering non-obvious approaches to difficult problems

• ​Care about shaping the future of science and technology

• ​May be interested in becoming a future ARIA Programme Director or applying for ARIA's funding

​​Schedule

​18:30 - 18:45: Registration and check-in.

​18:45 - 19:00: Introduction to ARIA.

​19:00 - 19:30: Q&A with the ARIA team.

​19:30 - 20:30: Design a moon-shot, research funding programme with ARIA. This will be an opportunity to develop your ideas into a £50M research funding programme that ARIA could possibly fund in the future. Using the ARIA team's collective wisdom, the designed programmes will aim for:

• ​100X improvement along an important axes.

• ​Uses previously unconnected ideas.

• ​Physically plausible

• ​Drastic system simplification.

​​Speakers

​Dr. Ivan Jayapurna (Programme Director @ ARIA): Ivan joined ARIA from the University of California, Berkeley, with a PhD in materials science and engineering. While studying, Ivan co-led several tech spinout efforts, was twice funded by the National Science Foundation I-Corps, and co-founded a technical consultancy for biotech startups.

​Dr. Maximilian Sichrovsky (Science and Technology Lead @ ARIA): Biochemist by training, Max focuses on high-impact opportunities at the intersection of biology, frontier science/technology, and venture. His work is centred on identifying, evaluating, and helping shape ambitious scientific ideas with the potential to open up new capabilities in biology. He was previously part of the early-stage biotech ecosystem through Nucleate and the 5050 Venture Fellowship, working across venture sourcing, founder support, and ecosystem building.

Dr. Alice Pettitt (Frontier Specialist @ ARIA): A biochemist by training, Alice work across the organisation to enhance ARIA's capabilities in identifying and developing new programmes. Alice was previously part of Creator Fund, a Deep-tech VC investing in PhD, academic, and student founders across the UK and Europe at pre-seed and seed.

​Edith Clare-Hall (Frontier Specialist @ ARIA): A mechanical engineer and roboticist by training, Edith's work focusses on robotics and physical AI at the edge of the possible at ARIA.

​Dr. Aayush Chadha (Frontier Specialist @ ARIA): Aayush joined ARIA from Entrepreneur First where he was building a neurotech startup. A material scientist by background, Aayush works across ARIA's initiatives in manufacturing, neurotechnologies and AI for Science.

​Hosted by

​Lossfunk: A research lab based in Bangalore, India, focused on exploring general intelligence in all its glory.

​Read our charter.