Jonas Sandbrink

Head of Strategic Awareness, UK AI Security Institute

Researcher and policy expert working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, biosecurity, and technology governance. Leading efforts to understand AI trajectories and inform government preparedness for emerging technologies.

Jonas Sandbrink

About

Jonas Sandbrink leads work on strategic awareness at the UK AI Safety Institute, the government body that evaluates frontier AI systems. Previously, he founded and led AISI's chemical and biological evaluations team.

Before joining AISI, he researched synthetic biology and AI biosecurity risks at the University of Oxford, and advised the UK Cabinet Office, Google DeepMind, and the Nuclear Threat Initiative on biosecurity.

Jonas holds a PhD from Oxford's Nuffield Department of Medicine, where his interdisciplinary work combined scientific risk assessment, policy analysis, and ethics to examine misuse risks from synthetic virology and AI.

Select Publications

AI Trajectories & Evaluation

Heitmann M, Hinrichsen T, Africa D, Sandbrink J. AISI Report, 2025
Pencharz J, Flesch T, Sandbrink J. AISI Blog, 2024
AI Security Institute Technical Staff. AISI Blog, 2024

Biosecurity

Sandbrink JB, Watson MC, Hebbeler AM, Esvelt KM. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2021
Sandbrink JB, Alley EC, Watson MC, Koblentz GD, Esvelt KM. Gene Therapy, 2023
Sandbrink JB, Koblentz GD. Vaccine, 2022
Musunuri S, Monrad JT, Palmer MJ, Sandbrink JB, Koblentz GD. MBio, 2021
Pannu J, et al. Nature Protocols, 2021
Monrad JT, Sandbrink JB, Cherian NG. npj Vaccines, 2021
Sandbrink JB, Shattock RJ. Frontiers in Immunology, 2020
Pandemic Pathogens as Biological Weapons: Revisiting German Biodefense
Sandbrink JB, Schmitt J. 49security, 2023
As self-spreading vaccine technology moves forward, dialogue on its risks should follow
Sandbrink JB. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2022

Technology Governance

Sandbrink JB, Hobbs H, Swett JL, Dafoe A, Sandberg A. Science and Public Policy, 2024
Kolt N, et al. Proceedings of the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, 2024
Saadia H, Israiilov T, Mikhalevich E, Sandbrink J. Contemporary Security Policy, 2025

Epidemiology

How to minimize COVID's impacts once the federal emergency 'ends'
Sandbrink JB, Klotz L. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2023

Contact

Location

London, UK