ADIA Lab Appoints Two Nobel Laureates to its Advisory Board
Professor Robert F. Engle and Professor Sir Konstantin Novoselov further strengthen the Board’s expertise with respective specialisms in financial econometrics and advanced materials science
Abu Dhabi, 15 October 2025: ADIA Lab, the independent Abu Dhabi-based institute dedicated to basic and applied research in data and computational sciences, has appointed two Nobel Laureates, Professor Robert F. Engle and Professor Sir Konstantin Novoselov, to its Advisory Board, bringing the total number of members to 12 globally recognized experts.
Professor Robert F. Engle is Professor Emeritus in the Management of Financial Services at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He was awarded the 2003 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, sharing the honor with Clive Granger, for his pioneering work on analyzing economic time series with time-varying volatility. His development of the ARCH (Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity) model revolutionized the field of financial econometrics and remains a cornerstone of modern risk management practices.
In addition to his academic achievements, Professor Engle founded the Volatility and Risk Institute at NYU Stern, which has now become the Volatility and Risk Institute (VRI) that he co-directs with Richard Berner. The VRI is home to the V-LAB platform, which provides real-time data and insights on global systemic risk and many novel risks as they arise. His recent research is focused on climate risk but continues to shape financial econometrics, macroeconomic forecasting, and quantitative risk modeling. With Eric Ghysels, he founded the highly successful Society for Financial Econometrics, SoFiE. He holds a PhD in economics from Cornell University and has held faculty positions at UC San Diego and MIT.
Professor Sir Konstantin Novoselov is internationally recognized for his pioneering work on graphene, for which he was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics alongside Andre Geim. Their discovery of this one-atom-thick material - the thinnest and strongest ever identified - has opened new possibilities in materials science, electronics, and nanotechnology.
Professor Novoselov, currently a Director of the Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials at the National University of Singapore, has authored more than 600 peer-reviewed publications. He has played a pivotal role in founding major research centers, including the National Graphene Institute and Singapore’s Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials. His outstanding contributions to science have earned him Fellowships with the Royal Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Institute of Physics. Today, his work bridges scientific discovery and technological innovation, with a growing emphasis on sustainable and intelligent materials.
Dr. Horst Simon, Director of ADIA Lab, said, “The Advisory Board plays an important role in guiding the direction and impact of ADIA Lab’s research. With the addition of Professor Engle and Professor Novoselov, we strengthen the Board with expertise in econometrics, risk management, and advanced materials. Their work exemplifies the high-impact, multidisciplinary research that defines ADIA Lab, and their guidance will be essential as we continue to develop our research agenda.”
The Advisory Board oversees the development and implementation of ADIA Lab’s research priorities and programs. Collectively recognized for their groundbreaking contributions to the scientific community, ADIA Lab Advisory Board members have received four Nobel Prizes, two ACM Turing Awards, an ACM Gordon Bell Award, and numerous other prestigious scientific honors. The expansion of the Advisory Board reaffirms ADIA Lab’s commitment to advancing cutting-edge research in data and computational sciences, with applications ranging from financial systems to materials innovation.
