Matt Clifford is stepping down as founding chair of the Superior Analysis and Invention Company, the UK authorities’s high-risk analysis funding physique, 5 days after taking a full-time government-affairs job at Anthropic. Clifford introduced his resolution on September 7, 2026, and ARIA confirmed that he’ll stay in submit on an interim foundation, in settlement with the Division for Enterprise, Innovation, Science and Commerce, whereas the company begins the seek for a brand new chair.
In his assertion, Clifford mentioned he had accomplished his first full time period the earlier month and had “determined to step down to make sure my new position at Anthropic doesn’t grow to be a distraction from ARIA’s unbelievable work.” He mentioned the Secretary of State had requested him to remain on for a brief transitional interval till November 6, 2026, to permit the division to launch a course of to pick a brand new chair, and that he had agreed to take action with applicable safeguards towards potential conflicts in place. The seek for his substitute, he wrote, would kick off shortly.
From Retaining the Chair to Stepping Down
The departure reverses the association Clifford set out 5 days earlier. On September 2, 2026, he introduced that he was becoming a member of Anthropic as Managing Director for Worldwide Affairs, main the corporate’s work with governments exterior North America. In that submit, he mentioned he can be based mostly in London and would work with governments throughout Europe and Asia-Pacific, and that he was staying on as chair of each ARIA and Entrepreneurs First, the enterprise agency he co-founded, whereas stepping again from every thing else. The reversal means his continuation as ARIA’s chair lasted lower than per week.
In his September 7 assertion, Clifford described ARIA as a daring nationwide experiment that, in his phrases, is paying off, pointing to a programme portfolio spanning neurotechnology, local weather science and life sciences. He mentioned the company had grow to be a beacon for world expertise and that, beneath chief govt Kathleen Fisher, it might go from power to power. ARIA’s personal assertion mentioned Clifford had performed a central position in constructing the company and that, by way of his management and steering, it was set as much as ship on its mission to unlock transformational breakthroughs for society.
An Official Report of the Company He Leaves
ARIA’s annual report and accounts for 2025 to 2026, revealed on July 15, 2026, information that Clifford was re-appointed as ARIA chair in September 2025, with a term-end date of August 14, 2030. The report describes ARIA as an govt non-departmental public physique and states that it had lively analysis and growth funding agreements totalling £514.1 million as of March 31, 2026, up from £295.0 million a 12 months earlier, with 15 programmes accredited by year-end. It names Fisher, who took up the chief govt submit on February 2, 2026 after main DARPA’s Data Innovation Workplace, as ARIA’s accounting officer.
Beneath its governance framework, all ARIA board members are required to declare any private or enterprise pursuits which will affect their judgement, or that could be perceived to take action, and people pursuits are revealed on the company’s transparency web page. The framework names the Secretary of State because the appointing authority for the chair, the position now set to be stuffed by way of the choice course of the division is making ready to launch.
From Founding Chair to Anthropic
Clifford was appointed ARIA’s first chair on July 19, 2022, in a authorities announcement that named Ilan Gur because the company’s founding chief govt. The federal government set out plans to create ARIA in February 2021 to fund high-risk, high-reward scientific analysis, and the laws establishing the company obtained Royal Assent in February 2022. On the time of his appointment, Clifford was co-founder and chief govt of Entrepreneur First, a global investor in technical expertise.
The division that requested Clifford to stay in the course of the transition is itself new. GOV.UK states that the Division for Science, Innovation and Know-how — ARIA’s sponsor division, which directed the preparation of its most up-to-date accounts — is being changed by the Division for Enterprise, Innovation, Science and Commerce, the Division for Digital, Tradition, Media and Sport and the Cupboard Workplace. ARIA’s assertion on Clifford’s interim continuation is dated September 7, 2026; the chair choice course of is predicted to start shortly, with Clifford’s tenure set to finish on November 6, 2026.
