Our goal
Neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders are the leading cause of global disability, yet today’s most advanced treatments rely on complex surgical procedures. This limits access to only the most severe cases and prevents early intervention for millions.
We are developing a new class of brain surgery-free neurotechnologies that reach and interact with the central nervous system via the body’s natural pathways. Our ambition is a responsive system that can monitor and modulate brain activity systemically or with minimal intervention, deployable in under 30 minutes.
By dramatically lowering the procedural burden of advanced neurotechnology, we aim to open up new therapeutic targets and make powerful brain therapies accessible at scale.
Technical Areas
This programme is split into three Technical Areas (TAs), each with its own distinct objectives.
Delivery + Performance
Developing responsive neural interfaces that can reliably reach deep or other clinically validated brain targets without transcranial surgery.
Prototyping + Translation
Build the infrastructure for rapid iteration and real-world deployment across the full translational pipeline – encompassing regulatory navigation, manufacturing, and clinical readiness.
Adoption
Enhance public understanding and adoption, funding individuals with lived experience of brain disorders – including users of neurotechnologies – as well as organisations that work with these communities.
Funding: submit concept papers by 17 March 2026
We're now accepting concept papers for this programme. We believe that some of the most radical solutions to this delivery challenge may come from Creators who do not traditionally consider themselves neurotechnologists. So whether you are a synthetic biologist developing engineered cells or a biotechnologist developing new vectors to access the brain — we want to hear from you.
This solicitation is for TA1 phase 1 only. We intend to launch calls for TA2 and TA3 in Summer 2026.
Meet the programme team
Our Programme Directors are supported by a core team that provides a blend of operational coordination and highly specialised technical expertise.
Jacques Carolan
Programme Director
Jacques is an applied physicist and neuroscientist. Prior to joining ARIA as a founding Programme Director, he was a Discovery Fellow at UCL and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at MIT. His work involves applying the principles of physics, engineering + biology to create next-generation, scalable tools that aim to radically change our understanding of the brain and ultimately be used to repair it.
Anusha Rajamani
Programme Specialist
Anusha has a background in international development and public health, with experience managing complex programmes across government and multilateral sectors. She has worked on global health, climate, and health systems initiatives internationally and offers expertise in strategy, partnerships, and programme delivery. Anusha supports ARIA as an Operating Partner from Pace.
Gillian Koehl
Technical Specialist
Gillian, a bioengineer, is passionate about advancing health through neurotechnology. She brings expertise in neuromodulation product development and biomaterials from her time at Blackrock Neurotechnology and Imperial College London.
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Scalable Neural Interfaces
In the Scalable Neural Interfaces opportunity space, we are exploring how to advance highly targeted minimally-invasive neurotechnologies to understand and repair the brain.
Precision Neurotechnologies
This programme seeks to develop next-generation neurotechnologies that operate at the circuit level, across distributed brain regions and with cell type specificity.