Empowering scientists to reach for the edge of the possible
Scroll to get to know ARIAARIA is a UK R&D funding agency built to unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs that benefit everyone.
Society’s most important advances have stemmed from those willing to think differently about what might be possible.
The Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) empowers scientists and engineers, from our Programme Directors to the teams we fund, with the resources and freedom to pursue breakthroughs at the edge of the possible.
Many will fail to meet their target, but their efforts will inspire the next generation. Those that do succeed will generate massive social and economic returns.
The latest from ARIA
New programme: Precision Mitochondria
Explore our new programme and submit your concept papers
Discover more
Introducing ARIA's Innovator Circles
Creating the right environments for breakthroughs
Learn more
Sustained Viral Resilience
Read the programme thesis and share your thoughts
Discover more
Robot Dexterity TA3: Expert Committee
Read the survey report and recommendations
Discover more
New funded projects in Safeguarded AI
Explore the projects we're funding in TA1.2 + TA1.3
Discover moreOpportunity spaces
Defined by our Programme Directors, ARIA opportunity spaces are highly consequential for society; under-explored relative to their potential impact; and ripe for new talent, perspectives, or resources to change what’s possible. Each opportunity space represents fertile ground we'll harvest for technical breakthroughs through programme and seed funding.
Discover our opportunity spaces below:
Bioenergetic Engineering
Programme: Precision Mitochondria
Genetic engineering now lets us control life’s information, yet the engineering of life’s energy remains underdeveloped. A powerful set of new tools could bridge the gap, enabling breakthroughs ranging from treatments for neurodegenerative disease to biohybrid solutions for environmental remediation and resilience.
Open calls
Programme Funding
Precision Mitochondria: Concept papers
ARIA is launching a programme backed by at least £55 million to make the mitochondrial genome programmable in vivo. The immediate goal is to achieve persistent, reproducible expression of a novel gene from engineered mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in a vertebrate system. The programme will fund the creation of a versatile toolkit to empower researchers with new capabilities. This toolkit will enable the delivery of nucleic acids into the mitochondrial matrix, the expression of functional proteins from the introduced genetic code, and the maintenance of engineered genomes through cellular replication.
Opportunity space
Bioenergetic Engineering
Programme Director
Nathan Wolfe
Application Date
27 October 2025
Featured news + insights
