Sophia Ananiadou
Head of ELIAS Node Manchester
Professor of Computer Science, Director of NaCTeM, Deputy Director of the Christabel Pankhurst Institute, ELLIS Fellow
Leads the Manchester ELIAS Node and represents it in the ELIAS Alliance.
ELIAS Alliance · Manchester, United Kingdom
European Leadership in Innovation with AI and Science
The Manchester ELIAS Node connects world-leading AI research with innovation, entrepreneurship and societal impact, as a north–south UK bridge into the Alliance alongside Cambridge.
Event · December 2026 Launch of the ELIAS Manchester Node A half-day launch at the Christabel Pankhurst Institute: an introduction to the node, short research presentations, industry and innovation engagement, and networking. Date and programme to be confirmed. More →
About the node
The Manchester ELIAS Node connects world-leading AI research with innovation, entrepreneurship and societal impact. As only the second ELIAS node in the UK, working closely with Cambridge as the first, Manchester creates a strong north–south UK bridge into the Alliance. The node contributes expertise in trustworthy AI, multimodal and agentic systems, optimisation and language technologies, while advancing talent development, translational research, open innovation and international collaboration.
The node builds on Manchester’s AI ecosystem, including ELLIS Manchester, the Centre for AI Fundamentals, the CDT in AI for Decision Making in Complex Systems, NaCTeM, the Christabel Pankhurst Institute and UK CEiRSI, strengthening links between AI, regulation, healthcare innovation and translational deployment. Through Unit M, the Turing Innovation Catalyst, IBIC, Bionow and the Cambridge–Manchester Innovation Partnership, the node connects AI research with venture creation, commercialisation and regional growth.
Manchester also collaborates with the ELIAS nodes in Finland, Franconia and Barcelona, and extends international links through partners such as AIST Japan.
What we do
Frontier AI programmes
Team
Mauricio Álvarez
Co-coordinator of ELIAS Node Manchester
Reader in Machine Learning, Department of Computer Science; Director of the AI Fundamentals CDT; ELLIS member
Coordinates research collaborations, seminars, workshops and engagement across node members.
Mingfei Sun
Co-coordinator of ELIAS Node Manchester
Lecturer in Machine Learning, Department of Computer Science; Open Source AI Fellow, The Alan Turing Institute; ELLIS member
Coordinates industry engagement, innovation opportunities and external partnerships.
Tamsyn Goodwin
Co-coordinator of ELIAS Node Manchester
Christabel Pankhurst Institute Administrator
Coordinates the website, publicity, events and communications.