From Monday 2 June 2025, Professor Sir Bashir M. Al-Hashimi and Professor Elena Simperl will become co-Directors of the King’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence, succeeding Professor Carmine Ventre who has been Interim Director since May 2023.
The joint leadership announcement comes as King’s makes significant investment in AI research, education and entrepreneurship. The King’s AI+ Academic Fellowships, which close to applications on 19 May, will help the university build critical mass of multidisciplinary research talent to accelerate the development and adoption of AI while ensuring its safe, responsible and beneficial impact.
"The King’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence will play an important role in supporting these new appointments and promoting networked and coordinated AI research communities to strengthen King’s position as a world-leading hub for interdisciplinary AI research and education", said Professor Sir Bashir M. Al-Hashimi. "Elena and I would like to express our sincere gratitude to Professor Ventre for his leadership of the Institute over the last two years."
Professor Al-Hashimi and Professor Simperl will assume co-Directorship after the Institute’s flagship public engagement programme, the King’s Festival of Artificial Intelligence, which returns for its third year from Tuesday 20 to Saturday 24 May. The Festival includes five days of events taking place across the Strand Campus, Guy’s Campus, and the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering.
"The King’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence has achieved much under Professor Ventre’s leadership", said Professor Simperl, "from the expansion of the King’s Festival of Artificial Intelligence and growing an affiliate community of over 150 AI experts at King’s, to delivering training to UK small businesses to use AI to their advantage. As advances in AI continue at rapid speed, so the next few years will be critical in realising King’s ambitions. I am looking forward to working with all nine faculties to shape the Institute’s agenda and our role in the wider AI world at this exciting time."
Reflecting on his time as Interim Director, Professor Carmine Ventre said,
Professor Sir Bashir M. Al-Hashimi is Vice President (Research & Innovation) at King's, providing leadership for our research and innovation strategy since January 2023.
Professor Elena Simperl is a Professor of Computer Science in the Department of Informatics. Between August 2022 and May 2025, she was Deputy Head of the Department of Informatics and served as the department's Enterprise and Engagement lead for the Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences.
