Four UK scientists named first Sainsbury Science Management Fellows

Four scientists with ambitious plans to drive change across healthcare, pharmaceuticals and photonics have been named as the first recipients of a new scholarship scheme designed to improve leadership skills in UK business and enterprise.  

The inaugural group has each been awarded a £50,000 Sainsbury Science Management Fellows scholarship by business education charity Engineers and Scientists in Business Fellowship (ESBF), which launched the scheme to help talented scientists develop the business skills needed to turn scientific expertise and innovation into wider economic and societal impact. 

The programme is funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, established by Lord Sainsbury of Turville, whose long-standing support for developing business and leadership skills among the UK’s engineers and scientists began with the creation of the original Sainsbury Management Fellows programme in the 1980s. 

The quartet will now undertake full-time MBAs at leading UK business schools, joining the wider Sainsbury Management Fellows community of more than 400 engineers and scientists who have studied for MBAs at leading business schools around the world. 

The first Sainsbury Science Management Fellows are: 

• Amir Sohail, a doctor and global health specialist who will study for an MBA at Oxford Saïd Business School and hopes to improve healthcare systems, particularly in lower-resource settings. 
• Dr Lewis Hill, a physicist who will study at Alliance Manchester Business School while taking up a new role as General Manager of the Photonics Leadership Group. 
• Naheed Khan, a pharmaceutical scientist who will study at Alliance Manchester Business School, where he hopes to develop the leadership, finance and strategic skills needed to progress into senior leadership. 
• Rohid Zamani, a doctor who will study at Oxford Saïd Business School, with ambitions to develop new approaches to healthcare delivery for disadvantaged communities in the UK and internationally. 

The four scientists represent the breadth of talent the new scholarship aims to support, from healthcare and pharmaceuticals to advanced scientific technologies. 

ESBF announced the Sainsbury Science Management Fellows scholarship in 2024, expanding the long-established Sainsbury Management Fellows programme to scientists for the first time. The initiative aims to help scientists complement their technical expertise with business, leadership and entrepreneurial skills, enabling them to take on leadership roles and help turn scientific advances into commercial and societal impact. 

The first cohort now joins a Fellowship community of 450 whose members are estimated to have created more than 300 businesses worth almost £5 billion and generated more than 21,000 jobs in the UK. 

For Amir Sohail, the opportunity to combine his medical and global health experience with business education could help him move beyond treating individual patients to improving healthcare at a systems level. 

He said:

“Clinical work is incredibly rewarding, particularly when you are caring directly for cancer patients, but what really drives me is global health and health systems. Improving healthcare systems has the potential to impact entire communities rather than helping one patient at a time.” 

Rohid Zamani similarly hopes to use his MBA to tackle the organisational and financial challenges that can prevent healthcare systems from delivering the best possible care. 

“The MBA isn’t about leaving healthcare behind – it’s about giving myself the tools to improve it in a different way,” he said. “I want to understand how organisations grow, how they’re funded, how leaders make decisions and how innovation reaches the people who need it most.” 

For Naheed Khan, the scholarship represents an opportunity to add a new dimension to his scientific career. 

“I wanted to understand strategic leadership, finance, sustainable growth and how organisations make the decisions that shape their future,” he said. “Most importantly, I wanted to become the kind of leader people choose to follow, not someone they follow simply because of a job title.” 

Meanwhile, Lewis Hill is preparing to combine his scientific career with a new leadership role in the UK photonics sector. He believes developing his understanding of organisations and business will allow him to contribute more effectively to the wider scientific community. 

He said:

“What has become increasingly clear to me is that scientific and industrial progress depends on much more than individual contributions. It depends on talented people being connected, organisations working well together and communities having a shared sense of purpose.” 

The first Fellows will also become part of the wider Sainsbury Management Fellows alumni network, giving them access to a community of senior business leaders, entrepreneurs and fellow engineers and scientists. 

The Sainsbury Science Management Fellows scholarship is delivered in partnership with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). ESBF awards up to eight £50,000 scholarships each year to scientists who demonstrate leadership potential and a clear commitment to contributing to the UK economy. 

Miranda Thomas, Executive Director of ESBF, said the appointment of the first Fellows marked an important milestone for the organisation and the scholarship programme. 

Miranda said: 

“The Sainsbury Management Fellows programme was founded in the 1980s to help more exceptional engineers reach the top of UK businesses. Since then, hundreds of Sainsbury Management Fellows have led organisations and turned their ideas and innovations into enterprises. We’re delighted to be launching a new programme to offer the same mix of education and community support to talented scientists – helping them bridge the gap between technical expertise and commercial success. 

“Our first four Sainsbury Science Management Fellows are an outstanding group. They each bring clear scientific expertise, but also a clear ambition to use business and leadership skills to make a wider impact. We are delighted to welcome them to the Fellowship and look forward to seeing what they achieve.” 

The scholarship is now entering its next phase, with applications for the latest intake open until 30 September 2026.