Dr Asieh Salehi Fathabadi, Lecturer in Computer Science, was selected for the Royal Society Pairing Scheme 2025/2026, a prestigious programme that gives policymakers and research scientists the opportunity to experience each other’s worlds, helping to build stronger connections between parliamentarians, civil servants and leading UK researchers.

As part of the scheme, Asieh was paired with Caroline Nokes (MP for Romsey and Southampton North and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons) and spent two days shadowing her in Parliament in March 2026. Caroline then visited the University of Southampton in April 2026, with Asieh organising her visit to the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS). During this visit, Asieh secured Caroline Nokes’ role as the ECS Showcase Ambassador, and the MP officially opened the ECS Showcase in June 2026. They also agreed to organise a visit to Parliament for ECS staff and students.

The visit to Parliament, which took place in July, included a guided tour and discussions about policy engagement and how researchers can contribute to policymaking. It generated excellent engagement, with a fantastic turnout and many inspiring conversations about opportunities for ECS researchers to become involved in policy.

The aim of this initiative was to provide ECS researchers with first-hand experience of the policymaking environment and to help build lasting connections between Parliament and the ECS research community, reflecting the spirit of the Royal Society Pairing Scheme.

Asieh commented on the impact the pairing scheme has already had on her:

Taking part in the Pairing Scheme has fundamentally changed how I think about my own research. My work looks at the gap between systems that are mathematically proven safe and systems that people actually trust, and shadowing Caroline in Parliament showed me just how central that gap is to policymaking too. Seeing first-hand how decisions are made, and how much appetite there is among parliamentarians to engage with emerging AI and autonomous systems research, has given me a much clearer sense of how to communicate the real-world stakes of formal verification work. It’s also opened a genuine, ongoing dialogue between ECS and Parliament, the visit in July was just the start, and I’m looking forward to building on it.

Share this article on social media: