Speaker Bio: Melanie Knetsch is Director of GW4 Alliance. They joined GW4 in November 2025, coming from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), where they oversaw UKRI's programme of work to assess the financial resilience of the UK’s research and innovation system and evidencing the breadth of impacts of UKRI and the unique role it plays in supporting UK research and innovation. Melanie also has a proven track record of working with international funding agencies where she developed multiple international co-funding opportunities. She was the Deputy of two Industrial Strategy Challenges: Healthy Ageing and Next Generation Services, and created the conditions for the first ever arts, humanities, and social sciences commercialisation catalyst in the UK. During her time at UKRI, Melanie was also interim Programme Director of the new R&D Missions Accelerator Programme and was Deputy Director in the UKRI India office and Deputy Director of Innovation and Impact at ESRC. From September 2023 to April 2025 Melanie co-chaired an OECD Global Expert Group to support research funders and research policy makers on ways to embed citizen science/public engagement into science and research. Melanie is also a Companion of the British Academy of Management.