Waqās Ahmed

Carl is the Lead Academic at LIS and oversees curriculum design, teaching, and learning. He was previously a Professorial Teaching Fellow of Interdisciplinary Education at UCL and is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Amelia is a social scientist with a background in policy and consulting. She studies how education systems adapt to societal and economic change. Prior to LIS, Amelia taught in the Social Policy department at LSE. She received her PhD from Harvard and her BA from Oxford.

Anson is a theoretical physicist specialising in condensed matter and complex systems. Passionate about problem-solving pedagogy, he is a British Physics Olympiad trustee with secondary school management experience.

Ash is an interdisciplinary academic, consultant, and visual artist with an MBiochem in Biochemistry, MSc Environmental Anthropology, and a PhD in Sustainability Education. He has contributed to over 30 publications (most of them in a previous name) in diverse disciplines, including evaluation and program planning, healthcare, biodiversity management, design, and sustainability.

Rosita is a UCL BASc graduate living the polymath life with more than one career. She is a self-taught web engineer who loves building with code as well as traditional materials.

Bronwyn is a human behavioural scientist interested in the evolution of social behaviours, particularly music and dance. She completed her DPhil (PhD) at the University of Oxford and has continued her research in evolutionary anthropology and psychology there.

Emma was a Lecturer in Law and Data Science at the University of Birmingham before joining LIS. She also previously taught legal theory, political theory, international law, and philosophy of science at the University of Amsterdam. She holds a Master of Law (LLM) from the University of Cambridge and a BSc in Politics, Psychology, Law and Economics (PPLE) from the University of Amsterdam. Emma is currently completing a PhD in Law at the University of Birmingham, focusing on algorithmic regulation.

James is a computational linguist who uses artificial intelligence to understand the relationship between cognition and culture. He is especially interested in the intersection between interpretive, computational, and experimental methods of inquiry. His research has been funded by the Wellcome Trust, the European Commission, and Innovate UK. Previous to coming to LIS, James worked in Brunel University London, Lancaster University, and the University of Oxford (where he held a Junior Research Fellowship). He is also founding director of Texture AI, a data science company that has had the BBC, Google, ITV, Reach PLC, the UK Cabinet Office and other leading organisations as clients.

Mattia is a philosopher with a background in economics and interests in academic governance and innovation. His work is conceptual and the subject is social philosophy. Over the years, he has sought to connect and integrate concepts of social ontology across a range of intellectual discourses and styles, from cognitive science to theology. Before joining LIS as an Associate Professor, Mattia lectured on the philosophy of the social sciences at LSE and he managed a multidisciplinary program on the human mind in the School of Advanced Study at the University of London. As a postdoc, he held fellowships at Columbia University and the Jean Nicod Institute in Paris.

Lara is a designer who trained in architecture and spatial design in Glasgow, Madrid and London. Lara has worked in academia, city regeneration, government policy, design studios, think tanks and global organisations that are focused on the bettering of people and planetary life. Her interests are in social and spatial justice, spatial design, multilateral partnerships and innovative governance.

James in an intellectual historian who has published on aspects of seventeenth-century intellectual culture. Before gaining a PhD in History, he completed an undergraduate degree in languages and a Master’s degree in English Literature. Before joining LIS, he taught on interdisciplinary degree programmes at UCL and the University of Birmingham.

María Angélica is an artist, curator, and researcher who has exhibited in numerous cities including Los Angeles, London, Bogota, and South Corea. She has an MA in Art from the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL and a further MA in Philosophy and Critical Theory from Kingston. She’s finishing her PhD in Philosophy, Art and Critical Thought at EGS. She was Head of Art in Colombia from 2015-2020.

Waqās is the author of the internationally acclaimed book The Polymath (Wiley 2019) and founder of the DaVinci Network. He has edited several volumes for international organisations such as the UNESCO Universal Declaration of Cultural Diversity book (2022). He holds a BSc in Economics (SOAS) and postgraduate degrees in International History (LSE) and Neuroscience (King's College London). Waqas has been Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge and Visiting Fellow at the Open University Business School, with research interests including comparative theology, non-Western art, cognitive flexibility and interdisciplinary leadership. Outside of academia, he has been a diplomatic journalist, charity director and entrepreneur.

Isaiah is an award-winning polymathic creative scholar from Stratford, East London, passionate about belonging, education, and creative expression. His interdisciplinary career spans academia, investment management, law, venture capital, technology, and branding. Recipient of the inaugural Amos Polymath Award in 2021, Isaiah joined LIS in 2019, where he teaches anthropology, design, ethnography, and ethics, while leading the undergraduate and master’s coaching programmes. He completed his undergraduate degree at UCL, LSE, and Harvard, and is currently pursuing a government-funded PhD in anthropology at Oxford, exploring belonging and social mobility among diverse students. Isaiah has collaborated with organisations such as Adobe, Cambridge University, Depop, Airbnb, Hachette, the British Royal Family, and the NHS, and works as a writer, speaker, curator, consultant, and creative strategist.